iPhone 4S makes its entrance

Apple's new iPhone 4S made its debut in October at Apple Stores and at ATT, Verizon and Sprint.

The new phone features the form-factor of the iPhone 4 but uses the significantly faster Apple A5 processor from the iPad 2 as its CPU. It also features 1080p video and an 8 megapixel still camera.

It also boasts Siri, a personal digital assistant who provides on-screen answers in response to voice queries.

New mobile operating system is released

iOS5, the new mobile operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod, was released in October, two days before the appearance of the iPhone 4S.

The free operating system upgrade is available through iTunes. iPads 1 and 2, iPhones 3GS and 4 and third- and fourth-generation iPod Touches will be able to install the upgrade.

A new version of firmware for the iPod Nano was also released. This enables last year's Nano to use the same new look as the new Nano.

iCloud opens

Apple opened its new iCloud synchronization and storage system in October, in conjunction with the release of iOS5.

The new service synchronizes addresses, calendar items, reminders and some documents among mobile and desktop Apple devices.

iCloud replaces Mobile Me. Existing Mobile Me accounts and data can be migrated from Mobile Me to iCloud.