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Apple opens up iOS, struts Mac-iPhone-iPadintegration

At WWDC reveals pieces of iOS 8 and OS X 'Yosemite' to developers, trumpets healthand home, touts 'Continuity'

Gregg Keizer

June 2, 2014(Computerworld)

Apple CEO Tim Cook and one of his top lieutenants today outlined the next iterations of the

company's critical iOS and the less-important OS X before an enthusiastic audience of

developers.

Monday's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote focused on software -- the

weeklong smorgasbord is for developers, not customers -- and for the first time in the last threeyears passed on delivering a small side of hardware.

But Apple hammered hard on the software side, trumpeting changes both for end users, and in a

departure of sorts, dedicated a large swath of keynote time to talk up the new iOS SDK (software

developers kit), which will offer some 4,000 new APIs (application programming interfaces) --

including ones that Apple had previously kept to itself.

"This was more about the future of Apple than the present," said Carolina Milanesi, chief of

research and head of U.S. business for Kantar WorldPanel Comtech, in an interview after the

keynote. "This is not something we can digest today and see the impact, but it's very important.

It's not just about theirstuff now."

Milanesi was talking about the long-awaited openness that Apple demonstrated as it ticked off a

host of ways developers will be able to access iOS at the system level, create cloud-based apps

that rely on Apple's iCloud service for the back end, and tie home automation and health care

hardware to the iPhone as the ultimate controller.

Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, concurred with Milanesi.

"Today was about getting more open and growing the ecosystem, by letting developers' apps

access key parts of iOS. That's been a key attribute of Android, but now Apple's matching that,"

said Moorhead.

The other major theme, said analysts, was the enhanced integration between iOS and OS X,

exemplified by "Continuity," an umbrella term to cover several features, including the existing

AirDrop, which now works between the two OSes the new "Handoff" that uses proximity

awareness to let people start a task on one device, then finish on another and the ability to

create an ad hoc Wi-Fi hotspot with, say, an iPhone, without having to pre-configure the

smartphone or enter a password, as is now the case.

Milanesi was impressed with Continuity and its implications for Apple. "Really, if you have an

iPhone and iPad, how long will it take you to get a Mac after today?" she asked.

Milanesi has been a believer in Apple's multi-device strategy -- as opposed to Microsoft's push tocombine devices, best demonstrated by Redmond's own Surface Pro 3 -- and saw Continuity as

evidence that it would find favor among the customers Apple wants most to court: those with one

Cupertino-designed device who have not yet been convinced that an all-Apple ecosystem can

work.
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The 'Continuity' features built into OS X Yosemite allow a desktopuser to answer phone calls coming into an iPhone.

Cook boasted that iOS 8, this year's

iPhone and iPad operating system, was

"the biggest release since the launch of

the App Store" and required "two

stories, not one," which the keynote split

into different presentations, one that

highlighted end-user changes, another

targeting developers.

Both were conducted by Craig

Federighi, who leads OS X and iOS

development and spent nearly the entire

two hours on stage.

While iOS 8 will not be visually tweaked

-- that was iOS 7's job last year -- it will

include a host of new or enhanced tools.

Computerworld's Ken Mingis and IDG Enterprise's Keith Shaw discuss what they liked (and didn't) about Apple's WorldwideDeveloper's Conference keynote.

The Notification Center will be refined to offer in-context, interactive notifications, where a reply to

an incoming message, for instance, can be written and fired off without leaving the center or

opening an app. iOS 8 will also receive new keyboard skills, dubbed "Quicktype," that support

predictive suggestions and opens the iOS keyboard to third-party modifications the Continuity

features substantial enhancements to Messages, including individual threading and a "do not

disturb" by discussion thread and as reported earlier, song recognition via Shazam.

iCloud Drive will let iOS users access documents system-wide, breaking down the app-specific

silos that files have been forced into previously. Content purchased by up to six members of a

family, even on different credit cards, can now be shared using Family Sharing, said Federighi.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247768/Apple_has_bigger_plans_than_just_song_ID_with_Shazam_deal


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The Healthkit dashboard aggregates health info from a variety ofapps.

And Photos, iOS's photograph-management app, will now store all photos and video in iCloud for

access via any Apple device.

iCloud storage allowances, however, will remain parsimonious: just 5GB for free. Additional plans

of 20GB for 99 cents per month and 200GB for $3.99 monthly will be offered the former

represents a 70% discount from Apple's current pricing.

As anticipated by the rumor mill, iOS 8 will include new APIs for an initiative called "Healthkit,"

and a dedicated app dubbed "Health," as well as "Homekit," the collection of APIs for managing

home automation devicesfrom an iPhone.

"Healthkit is a personal medical lock box, where users can put all their health information, then

allow only certain apps access," said Moorhead. "Consumers are looking for a trusted name, and

Apple's got a good shot at that."

Apple touted the Health app as the place where various health care-related devices and their

supporting apps will contribute data to create a more holistic picture of wellness.

The same approach was evident in Homekit, said Moorhead. "Apple's trying to be the epicenter

of your digital home life," he said. "Instead of having multiple apps, you will have just one where

all your [home automation] devices work together."

iOS 8 will launch this fall -- most likely simultaneously with the newest iPhone -- and will run on

the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S the iPad 2, iPad with Retina, iPad Air, iPad

mini with and without Retina and the fifth-generation iPod Touch. Developers get the preview

today.

As expected, Apple also spent considerable time trumpeting OS X this year. At the beginning of

the keynote, which was webcast live, Federighi unveiled a refreshed visual look for OS X, the

desktop operating system, that was reminiscent of last year's iOS 7 with a "flatter," more

minimalist feel.

Federighi again demonstrated his

comedy chops by first suggesting that

Apple considered OS X "Oxnard," then

OS X "Rancho Cucamonga," even OS X

"Weed" after northern California's

reputation for growing marijuana, as

potential names. Last year, Apple

changed its naming convention to label

its next decade of desktop OSes after

prominent locales in its home state."Saner heads prevailed," Federighi

joked about OS X Weed, then

announced OS X 10.10 as "Yosemite"

after the national park in central

California.

The new look of Yosemite relies heavily

on translucency, especially in the Dock,

where frequently-used applications are

displayed, and in the recrafted andexpanded Notification Center.

As has been par for WWDC, Federighi

highlighted only a handful of the new
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OS X gets a new name this year: Yosemite.

features in Yosemite, many of them changes throughout Apple's first-party applications, including

Mail -- which will get an encryption option -- Maps, Messages, Contacts, and the built-in

calendar. He also introduced iCloud Drive, which lets OS X and iOS users view documents

created and stored by their respective apps, and even upload third-party files to online storage.

Safari will also be updated alongside

Yosemite to add a new tab view that

stacks tabs for each site. And Apple

wedged its way between its customersand Google by offering Spotlight-driven

alternatives to standard browser-based

searches. "Safari will suggest search

results before you go to Google. So

what? Well, it means Google doesn't

suggest them any more," said Jonny

Evans, Computerworld's resident

blogger, in a tweet today.

Developers will receive a pre-releaseversion of Yosemite today, with a public

launch "this fall." Customers who have

registered with the recently-revealed

Beta Seed programwill also get access

to pre-launch copies.

OS X Yosemite will be free.

No shows during the keynote included Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, the co-founders of Beats

Electronics, which last weekApple said it would acquire for $3 billion. Some had speculated that

the two would make a brief appearance on stage today, but that didn't happen, althoughFederighi phoned Dre during part of the presentation.

Also AWOL was any mention of Apple's iBeacons technology, which debuted at WWDC a year

ago. The Bluetooth-based micro-location and proximity system was thought to be a key part of

today's talk, but that, too, did not pan out.

Nor was hardware mentioned, not even a Mac refresh of some kind. Since 2011 Apple has made

a habit of introducing new Macs at WWDC, giving the company's oldest platform some stage

time after shifting iPhone releases to the fall.

But there was plenty to assimilate.

"This is, after all, a developer's conference," noted Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology

Business Research. "And Apple's empowering developers to sell more stuff and make the

platform more appealing."

A replay of today's WWDC keynotecan be viewed on Apple's website.

Gregg Keizercovers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology

breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or

subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is [email protected].

See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com.
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