Apple CEO Tim Cook brought senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall onto the “Let’s talk iPhone” keynote stage to chat about iOS 5 developer adoption, recap forthcoming iOS 5 features and unveil a new Cards app from Apple which revives the long-lost iCards feature from the .Mac days, this time for the iPhone.
Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall followed up the flagship keynote introduction by CEO Tim Cook at this morning’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event, proudly proclaiming there are now 250 million iOS devices in the market -- a number that make iOS the number one mobile operating system with 43 percent market share, followed by Google’s Android at 33 percent, RIM’s BlackBerry at 17 percent and everyone else making up the remaining seven percent.
Forstall touts half a billion apps now available on the App Store, with more than 140,000 made specifically for the iPad. “In just a little more than three years, customers have downloaded 18 billion apps” -- more than a billion per month, Forstall reveals, with more than three billion dollars now paid out to developers, handily cementing the App Store’s position as the number one store for mobile apps.
Of course, Apple is also one of those iOS developers, so Forstall used part of his time on stage to introduce a new app called Cards. “It's a new app that let's you create cards on your phone, and we'll do the rest,” Forstall explains. “We'll print them out, we'll emboss them. You can choose between 21 designs."
“Beautiful letterpress cards. You make it. We’ll send it. They’ll love it,” reads the Cards app description on Apple’s website. “Create and mail beautifully crafted cards personalized with your own text and photos -- right from your iPhone. Just take a quick snapshot and with a few taps and swipes, an elegant letterpress card is on its way to any address in the world.”
The new Cards app will be available on October 12 as a free download, but the actual cards themselves will cost $2.99 each when mailed within the United States or only $4.99 when mailed anywhere else in the world.
Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” event wrapped up this morning with announcements of a refreshed iPod nano and iPod touch, iOS 5 and iCloud arriving on October 12 and the new iPhone 4S hitting stores on October 14, with Sprint added as a third U.S. carrier and a 64GB model available for the first time at $399 with two-year agreement.
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