On the whole, WWDC 2015 brought less news and less change than its two immediate predecessors. Apple is still on top of the world, but this year, it’s about refining and polishing, not wide-reaching changes.
That’s not to say there isn’t news to be talk about. As someone whose tablet is basically a Netflix machine most weeks, I’m excited Apple finally realized they can do cool things with it. Unshackling the iPad from the iPhone’s feature set is a huge change with tradition, and one I welcome.
For years, Apple has relied on videos to help tell the story of their products, but this year’s WWDC keynote videos were especially well-done. The entire keynote — including the hilarious intro video — can be seen over on Apple’s website.
In this film, Phil Schiller, Neil deGrasse Tyson and others talk about the importance of apps, not only to Apple’s platform, but to the way people work, play and live.
Dr. Drang, on the history of multitasking on Apple products:
When the iPad came out, it was deja vu all over again. One screen, one app. Before the end of 2010, iOS 4 provided the Switcher-like multitasking bar and the ability to quickly shift from one app to another. Still only one app on the screen at a time, though. And while the multitasking bar has grown from a strip of icons into a set of screenshots, it’s still more like the Switcher than the MultiFinder.
While I can’t wait to be able to leave my iPhone behind and listen to an episode of a podcast stored just on my Watch, the idea of recording a show with it is downright laughable.
In a week full of WWDC news, this new article jumped out at me:
Apple is driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps. Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates.
We are committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data. For example, we will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication. If you have comments or questions about this process, please contact us.
Yesterday on stage, Drake joked that he had purchased a vintage Apple jacket for the occasion. It can be seen in this photo, from The Verge:
Of course, eBay is full of fun examples of such merchandise. There is one seller attempting to capitalize on Drake’s purchasing decision, but there’s a lot more where that jacket came from:
I’m looking forward to digging into this to see how I can pipe 512 content into News.
This change is not surprising, given the company’s video today pitching Apple Music as the next chapter in the history of music listening, but it is still a little sad.
WWDC 2015 was a big one. New versions OS X, iOS and watchOS were shown off, along with the Beats-inspired Apple Music service.
The keynote itself is interesting for a couple of reasons. While there’s still a lot of news to digest, talking about the art of the keynote is fun, too.
After a rather hilarious intro video, Tim Cook skipped his normal “state of the company” segment, assumedly for the sake of time. The cynical voice in my head thinks that if he had gone into the numbers, and had glossed of Watch sales, part of the news cycle would have been taken with Watch sales speculation. Whatever the reason, Apple jumped right to its operating system updates.
My friend and fellow podcast host Christina Warren, in an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook:
I sat down with Cook, a relatively reclusive interviewee, and asked why it was important that Apple ramp up its efforts in diversity. His answer was unequivocal: “It’s the future of our company.”
Cook added: “I view these people that I talk to today as the future generations of the company, and they will either be a part of it directly or a part of the ecosystem.
Brian Chen:
Yet one much ballyhooed device will be absent from the conference: a new Apple TV, Apple’s set-top box for televisions. The company planned as recently as mid-May to use the event to spotlight new Apple TV hardware, along with an improved remote control and a tool kit for developers to make apps for the entertainment device. But those plans were postponed partly because the product was not ready for prime time, according to two people briefed on the product.
The Verge’s Chris Ziegler makes the argument that with iOS and OS X probably moving to the San Francisco font — coupled with Apple’s recent naming scheme — “iPhone” doesn’t work anymore:
Disclaimer: This theory is definitely bunk, and I will surely be proven wrong both this year and next. But hear me out.
“i” is an endangered letter at Apple: the iBook died many years ago, and we now have Apple Watches on our wrists, not iWatches. iThings are passé.