Apple integrates Facebook to iOS6, snubs Google Maps at WWDC

As the war between Apple and Google rages, Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President of iOS software, graced the stage to show off the new Maps app, readied for the iOS6 mobile operating system, to be released this year. "We're doing all the cartography ourselves. This is a worldwide effort, we're covering the world," he said.

Key features include crowdsourced traffic updates from other Apple users, setting the app apart from Google's offering. It is not known whether older devices will support Google Maps, as the new app uses a different software interface. One hundred million local business listings and Yelp results have already been absorbed into the map's database.

Facebook integrated into iOS 6

iOS 5 saw Twitter embedded within the operating system, but now it's Facebook's turn. Users will be able to log in once via their Facebook account and subsequently post with ease and access a higher level of interactivity with friends and brands alike. Facebook's Events feature will likely sync up with iCal in the cloud, as well as birthdays and contacts.

Forstall labelled the integration as the 'best Facebook experience' to date on a mobile device - a timely claim with rumours of Facebook's own handset being thrown around.

Apple's new retina display Macbook easy on the eye

The new Macbook Air and Macbook Pro laptops will feature the retina display, currently the staple of new iPhone and iPad products. The hi-res screens house a total of 5.18m pixels within a 2880 x 1800 display - double the number of pixels per side from the standard 1440 x 900 screen, producing 220 pixels per inch.

A new update to Mac OSX Lion will be available as a download from July and developers, of iOS also, have been treated to hundreds of new APIs during the rest of the week at WWDC, perhaps enough to keep them busy before the new iPhone lands later this year - we hope.