Apple Rolls out a Triple Threat

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June is a great month for Apple as they introduced new products to the market, including the newest incarnation of OS X, the Snow Leopard.

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system. If you think that Apple is rolling out something new and fancy, think again. The name suggests that it’s not a major step from the current Leopard version. And though performance will be improved, the OS adds no new end-user features.

It will instead address stability issues and fix a number of bugs, and adds performance-improving enhancements. Snow Leopard is intended to take better advantage of multicore processors, graphics processors, and to avail itself of lots more RAM¡ up to a theoretical 16 terabytes, which would outstrip all other desktop PC operating systems. Developers will also have an easier time making creating programmes that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs.

Code-named ‘Grand Central’, Snow Leopard has been introduced to developers, and Apple has said that it will ship in about a year’s time.

Apple has also introduced the MobileMe Internet Service – a new internet service that will allow users to copy or move email, contacts and calendars from the MobileMe service to native applications on the iPhone¡ iPod touch, Macs and PCs.

MobileMe comes with a suite of elegant, ad-free web applications, such as Mail, Contacts and Calendar, as well as a Gallery for viewing and sharing photos, as well as an iDisk for storing and exchanging documents online. With a MobileMe email account, all folders, messages and status indicators look identical whether you are checking your emails on the iPhone, iPod touch, on a Mac or a PC.

New email messages are synced instantly to the iPhone over the cellular network or Wi-Fi, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads. This function, called ‘Push’, will also keep contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically pushed to the other devices.

It is slated for a mid-July release this year, and will run on a subscription-based service with 20GB of storage for S$148 per year for individuals and S$228 for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each.

Users can sign up for a free, 60-day MobileMe trial at www.apple.com/mobileme. Good news for current .Mac members — your accounts will automatically be upgraded to MobileMe accounts.

Also new is the iPhone 3G, which will be available in more than 70 countries, with local telecommunication company SingTel collaborating with Apple to bring the iPhone 3G to Singapore later this year. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with it you can browse the web, get directions, or check your email while you are on a call.