Apple, the WWDC and the Wacky Run-up
June 3rd, 2014After quite a run, and ahead of a 7-to-1 stock split, Apple’s stock price had declined slightly before the WWDC keynote on Monday. I suppose this was to be expected. The event was presaged with optimism, skepticism and silly claims about what the company must do to survive.
Some weeks back, for example, one online pundit who doesn’t deserve to be named or linked suggested that the company would be toast if the iWatch wasn’t released in 60 days. When that date passed, and Apple was still here, it merely represented yet another example of commentators lying through their teeth or making downright foolish claims to generate online traffic. Having a respect for facts and logic played second fiddle.
There was also the “Apple must” meme, that the WWDC keynote must be filled with new hardware and new product categories, even though it was ostensibly for developers. Thus, we know there would be news about iOS 8 and OS 10.10 because Apple said as much. But expectations that there would be new hardware weren’t met. There was no Apple TV or iWatch demonstration for developers, but the people who build apps for Apple gear still got plenty to consider, including a new simplified programming language known as Swift.
But OS 10 Yosemite? What about that Looney Toons cartoon character? Clearly Apple isn’t taking that into consideration with OS 10.10, which will sport the rumored flatter look and feel, reminiscent of iOS. The improved transparency effects and cleaner text and windows seem interesting enough if a new OS X skin appeals to you.
While Mavericks was heavily laden with hardware improvements to use RAM and power more efficiently, Yosemite is heavily disposed towards improvements for Mac users. Front and center is Continuity, which greatly simplifies the passage from Mac to iPhone to iPad, and back again. Email and messages can begin on one, and be completed on another. You can also use your Mac or, with iOS 8, your iPad to make and receive phone calls on your iPhone. Of course your iPhone has to be active on the same Wi-Fi network for this Handoff process to work. SMS messaging is also supported; again with a networked iPhone. You can also use your iPhone to set up an Instant Hotspot, though that would appear to require support from your wireless carrier, as Apple indicates on their site.
Clearly Apple’s critics will complain that Continuity is yet another way for Apple to rope you in to depending on their ecosystem. But there’s nothing wrong with that. Other companies and their sycophants in the tech media are probably jealous.
So iCloud becomes iCloud Drive, since you can now use it as an online repository for all your files, and even set up a traditional file/folder hierarchy that can be accessed on all your Apple gear, including your iPhone and iPad, along with a Windows PC. In a sense, Apple is going after Dropbox and the cloud storage systems from Microsoft and Google to set up seamless ways for you to store and easily transfer larger files. Mail for Yosemite, with the promise of greater speed and efficiency, has a new feature, dubbed Mail Drop, which lets you use your iCloud Drive as an intermediary for file attachments of up to 5GB. This will help you avoid the usual problem of sending large files to a recipient.
Email services traditionally limit attachments to less than 20MB. Windows users will simply receive a link in their email to retrieve the file, which definitely rains on Hightail’s parade.
Since iCloud now plays a larger role in storing your stuff, new storage plans are coming. You’ll still get 5GB free, but 20GB is just 99 cents per month, and 200GB is $3.99 per month. For small businesses, or families with loads of photos and other files to store and back up, the latter plan is the sweet spot. You’ll be able to get up to 1TB of storage once all the options are in place.
Spotlight has been enhanced to include both online and local searches, which is something you can already do under Windows. I suppose Apple is hoping you’ll move away from Safari searches and rely on Spotlight to find everything. Here’s why: While Google search is still supported and remains the default on Safari, Spotlight uses Microsoft Bing. I wonder how Google will react when they get the memo.
As with Mavericks, OS X Yosemite will be available this fall, probably between late September and late October, as a free download and is reportedly compatible with the very same Macs that can run OS 10.9. While developers are already downloading the first Yosemite preview, up to one million Mac users will receive access to Yosemite betas this summer. So be prepared to sign up as soon as possible. I expect they will want to get a few releases out before letting non-developers gain access to the seeds.
While iOS 8 also comes across as a compelling release, Apple has yet to say anything about side-by-side multitasking for iPads. I suppose that could come later. Meantime, in addition to the Swift development language, Apple is moving towards giving developers more flexility in building and selling iOS apps. There is, for example, support for Touch ID and third-party keyboards.
So, although the new QuickType predictive keyboard scheme may appeal to most users, those who want a Swype or another third-party keyboard to replace Apple’s will get full system support. Would that were true with other apps, and it would be nice to be able to pick something else as the default for such tasks as email and browsing.
As predicted, HealthKit will be designed to allow developers of health and fitness apps to seamlessly communicate with your iOS device and the new Health app. Such major medical institutions as Mayo Clinic have announced full support, which means you’ll be a tap away from monitoring your physical condition, and your doctor can receive immediate updates should test results require their attention.
Apple, by the way, promises what appears to be bulletproof security for Health and also for HomeKit, a tool for developers to build apps to better integrate your connected home. The HomeKit feature is called Secure Pairing, which supposedly means that only a registered iOS device can unlock your home, adjust the lights, turn on the microwave, or perform many other functions in your home.
Developers will be able to bundle apps at a special discount and offer beta testing functions via the App Store. A new “Explore” feature will make it easier for you to discover the more than 1.2 billion apps now available for iOS users.
While iOS 8 won’t look altogether different from iOS 7, and thus isn’t apt to be quite as polarizing, that can’t be said for Yosemite. Right after the initial announcement appeared in the tech media, one of my friends, who has already had a love/hate relationship with Mavericks, responded with just one word, “YUK!” Her concern is that it looks more like iOS, but I reminded her that it’s still OS X and her Mac will still run like a Mac despite the changes.
Oh, and by the way, the iPhone 4 is not on the iOS 8 compatibility list. It was hit or miss with iOS 7, so it makes sense it has been retired from future iOS updates.
In any case, Apple’s stock price resumed its upward climb Tuesday morning. Evidently Wall Street was impressed.
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A few comments on OSX.10. First, there were two features I expected it to contain. One it does, one it doesn’t. It’s been an open secret for some time that in OSX.9 the folder User>Library>Mobile Documents is a good deal more useful than Apple has told us. Anything you put in that folder will appear in the same folder of any other Mac logged in to the same iCloud account. This has meant that, except for iOS devices, we have been able to use iCloud as a sort of rough-hewn Dropbox. I’ve been anticipating that Apple would eventually leverage this technology into something more obviously useful by giving it a more user-friendly interface and extending it to iOS. Now they have, and anything that helps me share data between my Mac and my mobile devices is great. On the other hand, I understand why Apple originally limited Siri to iOS devices — that by itself put enough strain on the company’s bandwidth capacity. But Siri has been around for some time, Apple has presumably beefed up is bandwidth in the intervening years, and I fully expected OSX.10 to bring Siri to the Mac. I can’t for the life of me understand why Apple didn’t do this. If I had an iPhone I’d be genuinely excited about the new telephony capacity. I wish I could take advantage of it even just to dial phone numbers from within Contacts with my USB modem, but I doubt that will be possible (yes, I know about Dialectic, but it’s slow and cranky). As for the new, flat look, those of you know even the least little bit of Yiddish will understand me when I say that my reaction is somewhere between “meh” and “feh.”