If you’ve ever actually been near Moscone Center during WWDC’s opening extravaganza, you know what the scene is like – crazy. If you haven’t been, imagine thousands of guys walking around with their iPhones, iPads, iPods, iEverthings all waiting to hear their cult leaderesque, black mock turtleneck wearing guru tell them the “one more thing…” Now, that’s WWDC. We obviously didn’t get an invite to this year’s festivities – Katie Cotton swears she gave our invite to Gray Powell for safe keeping, but we never received it – but we did take some time to follow the excellent live blogs out there (including Engadget, gdgt, MacRumors, Technologizer and Wired) to bring you what we think are some of the highlights.

iPad

The big item already in market for Apple is the iPad, the tablet device that’s changing the way we look at mobile computing. With over 2 million units sold, Apple is averaging one iPad going out the door every three seconds – say what? Steve Jobs noted that there are 8,500 native iPad apps in the App Store and thousands of apps downloaded every day… blah, blah, make with the iPhone news, Steve.

iPhone

Just when you think it’s all iPad, Jobs brought out the trusty iPhone (3GS style) and showed us a couple new items in the arsenal, but the one that stood out most was Netflix streaming over WiFi and 3G for the iPhone coming soon (free). This means you can now watch your Netflix videos and pick up where you left off on your PC, Xbox, iPad, and now iPhone. Zynga came on stage to show off Farmville for the iPhone (a meh for us, but wow for them). Activision also talked about Guitar Hero ($2.99 in the App Store). The big numbers were:

• 5 Billion (with a B) downloads
• With Apple now paying 70% of revenues to devs
• $1 Billion in revenues to developers.

Jobs threw a study out that showed RIM with 35% of market, iPhone with 28%, Windows with 19% and Android with 9%. To give a more-telling look, he also noted that iPhone is accounting for 58.2% of mobile browser usage and Android is 22.7% And then, the moment all the fanboys were waiting for… iPhone 4

Jobs actually joked about the fact that people had seen the phone “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this… you ain’t seen it.” This humble blogger still thinks it would have been great to have the guy who left his prototype in a bar bring the phone out. “24% thinner than the 3GS. Thinnest smartphone on the planet.” We’re going to spare you all the actual physical specs here and just link you to Engadget, but the fact that the actual bezel/band of the phone is being used as part of the antenna system is engineering genius. You can catch the well-produced video featuring Ive and his crew here. Retina Display is basically one of the big selling features of the new iPhone 4, with crazy specs. This does mean that existing apps will look better, but if devs do a bit of work, they can take even more advantage of the new resolution and deeper levels of color.

From the teardowns of prototypes left in bars and the likes, we knew the battery would have a much-improved life – we just didn’t know how much. For the first time, Apple introduced a gyroscope to the iPhone, and coupled with the accelerometer and compass, created six-axis control movements – yay for gaming. Now you can actually drive the tractor to plow your crops in Farmville.

Camera updates to the iPhone were definitely expected, and with a 5 megapixel camera, Apple actually was able to up their megapixels and still capture great low-light images by increasing the number of photons that hit the sensor and adding an LED flash. The camera can also take 720p HD video at 30fps. But, Steve, how will we ever edit those videos on the iPhone? Well, they’ve got an app for that – iMovie for iPhone ($4.99 from the App Store).

The ability to capture, create, and syndicate HD video that can use geolocation means you have a fully-functioning social video device right in your pocket. No longer will you have to run around with your Flip HD and your iPhone getting footage and then heading back to your computer to do a quick edit before uploading to YouTube. This single factor could change the way we look at self-produced video on the Web – it’s the next level of usability. At this point in the talk, there had been problems with the live demoes which required WiFi access and Jobs actually asked attendees to turn off their laptops and stop using wireless… funny.

iPhone OS 4 = iOS 4

Here’s the good stuff, the stuff that actually changes the way we interact with the mobile device. The biggest feature in the new OS is the ability to multitask (run numerous applications at one time). This means users aren’t logging out of their favorite applications, but simply switching to a new one just like they would on their laptop. This means more time in social networking applications, more time when advertisers can be running ads through iAds, and more time being productive (given that you're not spending all your time playing Zynga games). It’s yet to be seen how much this chomps away at the battery life, but Jobs did mention that the reason Apple didn’t come out with multitasking in earlier versions was because they were perfecting how to do it with an eye on battery consumption and performance.

There are also folders on the home screen (like we all knew) which allow you to place applications within them. The enterprise crowd will love the increased support for enterprise mail systems (exchange) and Bing has been added to the search engine list available on the iPhone.

iAds

This recently-announced program would bring standardized advertising to the iPhone and help developers continue making free and low-cost applications. The platform launches July 1, 2010. Brands on board already: Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Campbells, Sears, JC Penny, Target, Best Buy, Direct TV, TBS, and Disney. And they’re spending a lot of money, enough money in fact that Jobs said iAds are projected to represent 48% of all mobile display advertising in the second half of 2010. These numbers are big time when you think about the recent report on who is actually clicking on ads (hint: it's not iPhone users).

And then, in classic Jobs style...

“It's called FaceTime. WiFi only. iPhone 4 to iPhone 4. No setup.” The video chat feature uses both the front-facing and rear cameras to provide a face-to-face experience over WiFi, which is pretty awesome. The video they showed had some incredible uses, including the one below where users were actually chatting using American Sign Language (yay for accessibility!).

And that's it! Check out the blogs I mentioned up above, and even Gizmodo, who wasn't invited, but played nicely with everyone else throughout the day.

What's Next?

Well, as Apple often does, they've changed the game a bit. This isn't truly monumental, but whenever a product comes to market that shifts the way you use an everyday device, things change. It will be an interesting time as we see what comes out of Palm's acquisition by HP, developments in the Android operating system and handsets, and the planned introduction of Windows Phone 7 Series devices further down the road. It's an exciting time to be addicted to shiny objects.

Bye, Steve.

*Note: Microsoft, maker of Bing, Windows Phone and Xbox is a client of Spring Creek Group**Another note: All photos in this piece are property of Engadget. We weren't in attendance, and couldn't take as beautiful of pictures even if we were.