Siri, the voice-activated digital assistant that debuted a year ago in the iPhone 4S, has been enhanced, Forstall said as he demonstrated her new-found skills at locating restaurants and movie theaters.

None of the Apple executives mentioned NFC (near-field communications), the technology that lets mobile device owners wave a phone over a short-range wireless receiver or tap the device to make a purchase, or bring a pair of compliant devices close to each other to transfer data or sync content.

as a possible part of the iPhone 5 intro, but concluded that the technology wasn't ready for prime time, or worth Apple's interest at this point.

But there were lots of improvements experts were ready to highlight, among them those in Siri, camera enhancements, better noise suppression and a new directional microphone system.

The last two seemed aimed straight at Siri.