Newsletter Issue #964: As the WWDC Approaches
May 21st, 2018My waking hours are not consumed wondering what sort of goodies Apple will reveal on June 4th, the date for the WWDC keynote. Last year’s announcements were more voluminous than than many expected, so it may well be there will be lots to predict, lots to talk about this year too. So it’s natural that the tech media is getting set to talk about it.
Last year, we had the predictable demonstrations of iOS 11 and macOS 10.13. While the superstitious among you might have felt a letdown that Apple didn’t succumb to the unlucky 13 stigma, such as it is, High Sierra still wasn’t such a compelling release.
It has worked all right for me, but I’m somewhat disappointed that the “future update” promised by Apple to add support for the Apple File System (APFS) to Macs with Fusion Drives has yet to arrive. Indeed, after the initial claim that it would come, there has been little or no discussion about it. The option to convert the Fusion Drive on my iMac to APFS is still grayed out.
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There are some important things Apple could announce but won’t. In no particular order:
1. A seriously improved Siri (for a series of dud WWDC announcements to that effect that never panned out see https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/05/21/apple-teasing-new-smarter-siri-new-voice-new-look-wwdc/630725002/).
2. Good news about an improved Air Play featuring full implementation of Home Pod stereo and multi-room capability (a full six months after the first release of Home Pod!).
3. A vastly improved Watch, with significantly larger battery capacity, a wrist-shake way of waking the screen that actually works, a replacement of that “cluster” of app icons that rapidly becomes a Chinese cluster f**k when you add a few apps, a “dock” that is actually accessible, the ability to use third-party faces so I can get the ones I like rather than the ones Jony Ives does, and sundry other improvements. In other words, a watch that even begins to compete with the Samsung Gear S3 (which, incidentally, works with iPhone). 4. A replacement for iTunes which is first and foremost genuine tool for helping the individual user ride herd on his media rather than primarily designed to be a come-on portal for Apple Music.
In other words, I’d like to see Apple announce some changes that would make it once more competitive with its rivals in the marketplace. A lot of what Apple has to offer is beginning to look old and tired. It’s time for Apple, maybe under new leadership, to convince the world its mojo is still working.
But I’m pretty sure none of this will happen. If Steve were still running the show I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple would be using this WWDC to stun everybod by announcing the world’s first solar-powered smartwatch with photoelectric cells embedded in its wristband. With Tim Cook at the helm and Jony Ives calling all the design shots nothing of the kind is ever going to happen.
Within the past couple of months I’ve swapped Apple’s wireless network equipment for an EERO mesh setup, and Friday my Samsung watch is supposed to be delivered. I expect my gradual replacement of Apple gear with modern stuff that works will continue.