Apple Stock News
This week Apple Inc. (AAPL) held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Cupertino, CA. In the event, Apple showcased broad improvements to its software only and did not present any new hardware upgrades. The 27th WWDC started off by presenting some raw numbers referring the Apple world: 13 Million Registered Developers, 2 million apps available on the app store, downloaded 130 billion times, and 50 billion dollars paid directly to developers.
WatchOS
The new version of WatchOS – WatchOS 3, didn’t see major improvements that can necessarily be seen by the everyday user – Apple mainly improved its more portable operating system performance wise.
- Keep favorite apps in memory
- Background updates
- Refreshed information
- Instant launch
All these are the key features that will allow the Apple Watch users to use it more instantly and regularly. Users can now use their own handwriting to respond to texts, alongside some quick smart responds, and can easily change watch faces with no problem. Keeping the activity app a part of the Apple Watch, Apple has now made it possible to interact with your friends and compete, or simply share your daily scores.
tvOS
Since last fall, Apple developers have had the opportunity to use a modern platform, similar to iOS, to develop apps for the TV operating system. AppleTV has now 6,000 available apps, in just 7 months, including streaming services and games. A new hardware-like improvement would be the move from the regular remote-control to the iPhone. The iPhone TV app will enable the viewers to use Siri as a search engine, touch for navigation, and it will use the accelerometer and gyroscope to play games. Apple also offers a list of live channels, such as sports, kids etc. and with “live tunein” you can simply talk to Siri and request a specific channel you want to watch. Another familiar feature is “continuity” – Up until today when you downloaded an app to your iPhone it automatically appeared on your iPad and other iOS devices, now it will also include the TV.
Since gaming has lately become a big thing, and people like to record and share their gaming experience, tvOS will also include the option to record, save, or live stream your gaming experience. Also, multiplayer gaming will be available for up to 4 people in one living room.
Apple’s operating system will also introduce you to what is commonly known as the “internet of things” – people can now download and develop apps that will control various machines and systems in their home. The internet of things has taken shape in the past few years, and it is destined to be in everyone home in the not-so-far-future.
OS X -> macOS
The first thing presented to the audience is the name change of the operating system’s name, for 15 years it’s been called OS X, and from now, to align it with all other OS names, it will be called macOS. And just like every version of the computer operated by Apple, this year’s version of the OS has a unique name – Sierra. The main focus of the developer team was the continuity. Continuity refers to the connection between your different Apple products, the vision is for them to act as if they can sense each other’s presence. Apple wants to allow their users to freely move across different platforms without the problem of covering what was already done on a certain device. For example, a feature that was introduced last year, and is already available in most version of Apple products, once receiving an incoming call on your iPhone, you can easily pick up the call on your Mac. This year, apple introduced the option to also use a universal clipboard. That means that you can “copy” an item on your iPhone and “paste” on your Mac. Apple also introduced a new safety feature, this feature can save you time in entering your password every time you login to your Mac. The computer “senses” the presence of your AppleWatch and skips the login in screen. Another new improvement in the continuity area is the files availability. The coming version will allow its users to have their computer desktop available across all Apple computer, as well as their iOS devices. This feature is an upgrade to what was familiar by only using the iCloud drive. But now it’s available more broadly. The iCloud drive has one more upgrade – It can now free up space on your computer. It simply deletes old files that you haven’t used for a while on your computer, and it saves them on the iCloud drive.
ApplePay is a great way to pay in stores using the iPhone and the AppleWatch. Apple’s idea was to bring the experience of ApplePay to the computer as well. Now when you’re about to make a purchase online on your Mac, you will have a “pay with ApplePay” button available. Pressing this button would prompt a message on your computer screen and iPhone. The iPhone will wait for your fingerprint, and once your identity was confirmed your purchase will be made. This option has already been approved by many retailers and companies on the web. The ApplePay platform is now available in the U.S, U.K, Canada, Australia, China, Singapore, and from now on also in Switzerland, France, and Hong Kong.
The biggest improvement to the macOS is the arrival of Siri. Now that Siri is part of the macOS, it can be asked almost anything – files you recently worked on, pictures containing various items, or even to play music.
iOS
We don’t know much about the new iPhone coming this fall, but we do know that it’s going to run the new iOS – iOS10. The new iOS will showcase new notification visuals, along with some force touch (also known as 3D touch) capabilities. The relatively new feature of force touch now supports more apps, and can show more widgets by pressing icons on your homepage. Another big announcement is the availability of some of Apple’s biggest project to developers – Siri, Maps, etc. Another shot of Apple into using machine learning is applying QuickType – bringing Siri intelligence to the keyboard. Siri will suggest your replies to chats, and it can learn what subjects you talk about with your friends. Intelligence suggestions is only one way Apple is using machine learning. From now on, looking for pictures is going to be a lot easier, you imply search for the object you look and for. Dogs, Nature, Kids, even friends by their names.
Coming this fall
All these great features will be available to customers in the coming fall, with macOS arriving for beta users this coming July.
Most of the features Apple showcased in this last event are not necessarily ground breaking, or something we haven’t seen before, but this is how the game is played. Apple is now taking part the home network and the internet of things, what might imply on some future projects in the home area – such as implying machine learning into more commonly used objects around the house.
