Apple kicked off their World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) yesterday with a Keynote that introduced new hardware and software. This was the first WWDC without Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, whose last appearance brought the announcement of iCloud in 2011. Outside of new Mac hardware, with the MacBook Pro receiving a Retina display being the major update, OS X Mountain Lion, the operating system for Mac computers, was announced to be available next month. But Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 6, piqued the most interest for developers.
What Apple outlined yesterday is more than an OS update, but rather their vision of exactly how the most advanced mobile operating system should function and what it should be able to accomplish. With iOS 6, it’s clear that Apple sees mobile as the platform of choice, particularly for developers. Since October of 2011, 80% of iPhones, iPads and iPod touches are running the latest software, iOS 5. This is a major selling point for developers because the latest OS makes the best features available to developers. In contrast, Android’s latest OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, only has 7% of users on this version. This is more of an Android fragmentation issue than it is software features.
Arriving this fall, iOS 6 will see the following major upgrades:
- Siri – launch apps, Eyes Open for automobiles, tweet and post Facebook updates
- iCloud – sync Safari bookmarks across devices, document changes, enhanced Photo Stream sharing
- Maps – turn-by-turn directions, 3D Flyover, graphics, real-time traffic, maps in lock screen
- Facebook integration – built into App Store, iTunes, sync contacts, easy to share and Like content
- Passbook – home to coupons, boarding passes, and movie tickets. A solid hint at NFC integration in the future
There were a number of other major features, but these stood out the most.
Siri, the virtual assistant, opened the Keynote with a few jokes and jabs at Google and Samsung. Although it was surprising to see Apple specifically target their competition, it was a friendly reminder to developers – their primary audience at WWDC – which platform offers the largest base of customers using the latest software that pay the most for apps.
New Maps w/ real-time traffic updates.
Siri and iCloud are the future. Hardware will plateau, if it hasn’t already. Smartphones can only get so thin and so fast. While Wall Street will frown on this, it’s reality. Software is going to be the most important part of the future for mobile devices, and having a virtual assistant that understands its owner and can provide value is a significant competitive advantage. iCloud provides a file system for the cloud, making content, photos and documents seamlessly accessible across iOS devices and Mac computers.
And then there’s the new Maps. Apple ditched Google’s backend for what they believe is better technology. The software team at Apple built an incredible client for Google Maps, which made it beautiful and easy to use. The new Maps looks even more promising from a functionality perspective. This also allowed Apple to distance their reliance on Google, which is their major competitor in the mobile world when it comes to software.
Overall, iOS 6 offers major improvements over the incredibly capable iOS 5 platform. I’m anxious to grab the developer release and see how these new features give developers more tools to make even better apps.
