WWDC 2014: A love letter from Apple

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

WWDC 2014 was a love letter from Apple. Not just to customers, not just to developers, not just to partners or media or any one specific group, but to everyone who makes up the community. It was a love letter not from a "new Apple" but from an Apple as integrated, empowered, and energized as the event itself. All of this was the result of decisions and directions months and years in the making, carefully, exhaustingly brought together this past week at Moscone West in San Francisco, California. Surprising, delighting, and amazingly dense, here's what happened and what it all means.

Roughly a year and a half ago Apple was reorganized into clean, clear, collaborative groups, including Craig Federighi as head of all software engineering, Eddy Cue as head of all internet services, and Jony Ive as head of all design — what I called at the time Tim Cook's Apple. At WWDC 2013 we saw the beginnings of that collaboration with iOS 7. This week we saw its bookend with OS X Yosemite, iOS 8, and a new generation of capabilities and tools that transcend mobile, transcend desktop, and transcend cloud to create something more.

Scuttlebutt leading up to the keynote sounded insane: The biggest developer release since iOS 2 (iPhone OS 2). The biggest feature fill since iOS 4. And none of it had leaked. Given the demands of an OS X redesign, the level of competition, the rumor mills, it was almost impossible to believe. Yet it turned out to be true. Those Apple employees visible before the show were energized in anticipation. Hell, they were almost glowing.

Then the keynote started, Tim Cook took the stage, and from the moment he stepped out and smiled the attitude for the event was set — "we got this."

There was no Phil Schiller and no new hardware. No Eddy Cue and no new iTunes services. No Jony Ive video and no new design manifesto. No Angela Ahrendts and no Apple Retail. There was no need. OS X Yosemite, iOS 8, and the dev news had this.

Tim Cook has come to fully embody Apple's "we believe" mantra. Great products. Accessibility. Environmental responsibility. Listening. 1000 no's for every yes. Perfecting. He not only takes the stage but sets it. And this WWDC, he set it for Craig Federighi.

Flashback 4 years ago and Federighi, new to the keynote, wrestled with a Magic Mouse and struggled to find his rhythm. Flash forward to this week and he was, as Cook called him, Superman.

Federighi covered an incredible breadth and depth of topics — from OS X to iOS to developer tools — in an incredibly short period of time. Sections that could easily have been their own events, slides that could have been their own tentpoles, bullet points that could have been their own sets of slides, sped by at blipvert-like speeds. Yet Federighi's delivery remained funny and near-flawless. He hit both the highlights for the mainstream and the deep details for developers.

When Federighi did make a call-out or handoff, it wasn't always to the people or even types of people we've come to expect from an Apple keynote, the fellow executives and members of the marketing team. Kim Vorath got a moment. So did Darin Adler. Chris Lattner got stage time, not during the developer State of the Union but during the mainstream event. And well that he did, because the Swift programming language Lattner has been spearheading for the last 4 years was the centerpiece for the developer section.

Swift wasn't the only nerdy part of the show. Extensibility was another major feature. Apple has been working on delivering a comprehensive inter-app communication system for years but they wanted to do it in a way that didn't compromise security or usability. That iOS is as insanely popular as it is, as big a target as it is, and has effectively no malware is a miracle of modern system design. Haphazardly punching holes in that security is a non-starter, as is creating remote views that can't subsist if the system jettisons their memory-hogging parent apps. Having widgets and interactive notifications that don't leverage the same technology is also less than desirable in modern, mobile world. So, like copy and paste took until 2009, Extensibility took until 2014, and despite many of us hoping it would have been sooner, I can't imagine anyone thinking, given how its been architected, it could have been better.

Same with Continuity and its ability to detect other devices — iPhone, iPad, or Mac — on the same Apple ID, within Bluetooth LE proximity, and pass content points and actions seamlessly from one to the other. It doesn't require opening a web browser, logging into a web site, and all the traditional overhead of cloud-centric systems. It makes the internet transparent. It puts the person and what they want to do front-and-center where they belong.

The amount of technology that had to all come to together, all at the same time, to deliver OS X Yosemite, iOS 8, the new dev tools, and features like Swift, Extensibility, and Continuity is stupefying. It's literally years in the planning, coordinating, and engineering. It's a foundation that will let Apple and developers deliver even more and better apps and features for years to come.

If there was a theme for Apple and WWDC this year it was integration. If there was a feeling it was energized. If there was a message it was empowerment. If there was a differentiator it was security-first, privacy-first — people-first. Apple didn't race to get features out before they were secure or services before they were private. They didn't center their strategy on thin clients or standardized interfaces. They centered it on us and our stuff.

From Family Sharing to Handoff to TestFlight, Apple IDs are now the glue that connects us to each other and to all of our content. Whether we want to pool our purchases, translocate our activities, or share our works in progress, we're no longer bound by devices. We're bound to people.

Beyond the technology, from the increased sessions for designers to the multitude of student scholarships to Swift Playgrounds to accessibility labs to women developer meet-ups, getting more — and more diverse types — of people involved in the community was strong and recurring theme this year and a critically important one. The future is limited only by the scope of our collective vision. The greater our diversity the wider our scope and the better our future.

Not everything was perfect at WWDC 2014, of course. The Yosemite grand tour could have been shorter. The call to Dr. Dre tighter (and he could have answered faster!). The hair bit backstage could have been less slapstick. The cracks at Windows and Android could have been left on the writers' table. But minor quibbles aside, this was Apple at the top of their game. Forget foot on the gas or pedal to the metal, this was Apple hitting the turbo boost.

There's a lot left to discuss, to digest, and to explain. In a year when what would have previously been tent-pole features barely got a slide and a moment, how could there not be? We're going to be spending the next few months doing just that.

Sure, if you squint and turn your head sideways just enough, you can probably see how headless apps, Metal, scalable story boards, and all the other technologies announced at the show could one day power wearables and consoles, bigger phones and phablets, more powerful tablets and longer-lasting portables, and who knows what else. But right now they're focused on empowering us.

For now, for today, Apple, its evangelists, engineers, designers, communicators, editors, and support teams have delivered a fantastic event. An ode to integration. A moment of surprise and delight. A love letter to us all.

I thank them for that, and I thank all of you for joining in on our coverage. We're in for one incredible 2014!

  • iMore show 405: WWDC 2014 highlights
  • Debug 38: WWDC 2014 developer roundtable
  • Vector 43: WWDC 2014 vs. Android
Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

64 Comments
  • Family sharing isn't getting enough credit. My family is going back to iOS for good because of it. Just being able to have access to all of the shows, books, magazines and music that we collectively buy... like a family buying a physical item... is enough to lock us in to an ecosystem. Once the new products drop, we are updating our media lives.
  • Out of everything that excited me the Family Sharing was towards the top of the list. It is the removal of a large pain point for me. That and actionable notifications.
  • That was the thing that I liked the most at 1st until I saw that all the accounts need to have the same credit card, in my family every has there own credit card assigned to there own account. I would have preferred if they allowed you to share with 3 to 4 people regardless of credit detail but not sure how possible that would be. I do like the kid friendly feature where it gives a notification to the parents to either allow the purchase or not. Posted via the Android iMore App!
  • A) I should also qualify that the upcoming screen size and keyboard (and hopefully NFC) are a big factor as well... I don't know if I could pull the trigger without that. B) I think it is aimed at a young family or couples. I don't think that *most* families (spouse and 2 kids) have that problem. I'm not calling my parents to ask them if they want to join a family plan. (Though, in today's damaged society with 30% of adults living with their parents, who knows)
    And I'd wager that you can choose between credit card options when you purchase, so you can have joint and separate items. Just a guess though.
  • Zero chance for NFC. It's a flawed technology, and Bluetooth is capable if doing everything it can and more without the power drain or security issues.
  • I'm sure Apple has tested NFC, and as a Canadian with NFC pretty much in every store, it would be super-convenient, but Apple seems to have hitched their future to Bluetooth LE and it's tough to argue against that on the merits.
  • I just want to pay for things with my phone in real time, and have a way to split checks easily. Google has a great system, but Apple hasn't adopted it, so few businesses support it and individuals aren't using it. I'm still not sold on the death of NFC.
  • Apple has some great people on mobile payments, hopefully we'll see the results soon.
  • You are making the wrong argument, granting Apple the default position it does not (yet) have. Since NFC is secure and widely deployed, the argument is not that BT LE is the default you have to "argue against" -- BT LE has to put forth an affirmative argument as to why a different system is needed or desired.
  • I don't see NFC anywhere, and I don't know anyone who's using it. (Lots of Android users included.) And it most certainly is not secure. It can easily be hijacked. Plus it's a major drain on battery compared to Bluetooth 4. Bluethooth has much greater reach than NFC and it is already on everything.
  • "I don't see NFC anywhere"
    You are not looking very hard. If you have ever seen "MasterCard PayPass" at a store or gas station, that is NFC, and you just did not know it. See http://www.mastercard.us/cardholder-services/paypass-locator.html to get a list. "It most certainly not secure"
    Presumably you are referring to articles such as http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/26/3188098/android-beam-nfc-flaw-charlie-... But, as the article says, "The issue is not with NFC as a protocol, which remains secure, but rather with the Android and MeeGo's software implementation of the standard." In other words, NFC is not the problem, but it is an additional vector through which attacks can come, if the software on the phone's end has holes. Guess what? BT LE is going to have the same problem if there is shoddy software on the phone's side. For the example closest to Apple fans' hearts, in 2007, a group demonstrated remote shell exploits -- that is, *taking complete control of an OSX machine* via a bluetooth attack. See the wikipedia page on bluejacking; there is a history of successful attacks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth#Security Whereas an NFC hack requires you to be within a couple of feet of the mailicious device, a BT attacks can occur and much longer ranges. "Major drain on battery"
    NFC is off except when activated by proximity. When active, it does drain battery. Bluetooth does not have as low of a lower-power mode, and can be activated at much longer ranges.
  • Ug Sent from the iMore App
  • As a European I could not agree more. But the dream for me is NFC iWatch with a Touch ID on the leather band somehow done in a non ugly way...
  • Given that they're dealing with recording studios and Hollywood, that would be impossible :) One credit card forcibly ensures it's the same family, or otherwise people you're so close to you trust with your card. Sadly, sharing content with any random other person (card) is a non-starter.
  • Their lack of developer focus in past years was frustrating. They really did focus on the D of WWDC this year. Bravo.
  • This is by far the most fired up I have been by a WDDC at least since the SDK was introduced. I might not go so far as to characterize Apple and developers as an "abusive relationship" as Christina said in the most recent Vector, but traditionally Apple has treated developer concerns as irrelevant unless they happened to coincide with a goal Apple already had. This marginalization of developers was annually made manifest at a developer conference with a keynote pitched squarely at the end users not in attendance. The shift in focus back to devs this year was a breath of fresh air. As important as the style was the substance. That Rene did not even mention one of the biggest things for third party apps -- that WKWebView means in-app WebViews can get the same performance as Safari -- is a testament to how much stuff was packed in this release. Apple did not go nearly as far as I wanted (hello, default user-selectectable apps!), but they went much further than I expected of them, with developer access to several areas previously considered sacrosanct. Good for them, and for us. However, BOO! on no announced on-device voice processing -- still one of my biggest peeves on my iPhone. I'll keep my fingers crossed that Apple will announce that at a consumer event later in the year, because they wanted to keep WWDC refreshingly developer-focused.
  • I liked Jury's line of "animal husbandry". UKWebView! I know! The most impressive thing to me is, like WebGL, Apple took the time to completely harden the stack from top to bottom for security. Running JIT in apps or giving the web direct access to the GPU have had long standing security implications and rather than rush out the tech, they fixed those problems first. And now that we have a secure stack from chip to driver to software, we're better set for a better future. Default user apps is probably a political thing, but like you said, they went pretty far for Apple already. On-device voice processing could be a licensing thing or it could just be waiting on a co-processor. So yeah, like you, fingers crossed. Siri barely got a slide and a second this time around. Hopefully more to come!
  • ...which is why we can never concede Apple is showing their confidence and "strength" as you said in a recent podcast -- as long as they are using their OS position to shield their apps from equal competition, they are hiding, and doing a disservice to their users by allowing substandard apps from having to get better. We should encourage them on the track they have started this year, though, and hopefully by next year they will find the courage to step fully into the sun.
  • In overall I like what I saw on that stage, it looks like there's hope for iOS again with this more open attitude. It took them a long time to understand this but freedom brings new exciting possibilities and since it's Apple I don't think it'll be just unimportant/unused vaporware or Passbook without mobile payments (Health with iWatch has real potential), certainly new games for A7/A8 will be great next year. They're playing the long game but I believe when Cook promised new products he wasn't talking about light bulbs + HomeKit. And finally they finished tweaking their abandoned ideas/elements like NC widgets etc. (introduced in iOS5). OSX Yosemite is what Mavericks should have been (why it wasn't is beyond me). I loved translucency since Vista and this version feels like a great farewell for the Mac, last gift before the grand sendoff and deserved retirement (of course it'll be supported longer and next year it'll get some kind of incremental update with Siri or something else). Nothing else significant won't happen with the desktop, Apple has almost finished tweaking with this part of their history and those products, preparations for iOS 10 era are obvious (that's where we are headed and it's iOSX will see all the action, iOS 9 will be another improvement not a gamechanger). They have said all they had to say on the Mac subject and we know it's not the future. They didn't even bother to change that unprofessional spinning beach ball for something modern in all those years with this 'redesign' (of course they are bluntly lying with "completely new" statement but it doesn't change the fact it's still good).
  • Just like you couldn't have iOS 7.1 until you digested iOS 7, you couldn't have had Yosemite without Mavericks. There just wasn't time, engineering resources, or foundation in place.
  • Yep, but this feels like Apple is soooo slow with introducing meaningful updates and looks like they have problems managing both systems at the same time (can't wait to see those spectacular things when they'll focus only on one without distractions). After the negative feedback a reasonable thing to do would have been to release iOS 7 faster followed with version 7.1 or 7.1.2 in September (instead they took a whole year and it still wasn't bug free). Where's that perfect smooth experience ? Because iOS 8 beta feels like they started working on it only two months ago, makes you wonder what they are doing all the time because we know they considered all those features probably in 2010. I understand it's hard and it takes time and that's why Microsoft blew it with annual updates and WP 8.1 wasn't available last year.
  • Really? You think Jobs and Forstall were talking about inter-app communications, widgets and 3rd party keyboards in 2010? I think the reason we're seeing some of this stuff now is you have a new regime at Apple that is willing to open things up more. Like this comment from a developer in my twitter feed: "My 2¢: for the past few years it's felt like Apple's only goal was to put us in our place. Now it feels like they might want to be friends." Check Instagram and you'll see numerous photos of Federighi and Ive taking selfies with developers. In fact one photo I saw Federighi had a huge line of people waiting to have their picture taken with him. I don't think you would have seen that under the old regime.
  • Most of this stuff has been explored for years. Some of it Jobs and Forstall killed. Federighi definitely skews geekier. But some of it just didn't meet the requirements (especially security and usability) that Apple sets for itself.
  • I've listened in to a few post-WWDC podcasts and everyone who was there is remarking about how energetic and excited the Apple employees were. This is really exciting to me as a consumer. To me, Apple is a company that I buy in to because of its vision, design, and passion. When they are firing away on the first two and that fuels the third that tells me I can expect a great experience. It's a good time to be a customer.
  • Person-first, security first, privacy first? There was no mention of Apple fixing the gaping security hole in keychain in iCloud after it was revealed by Steve Gibson that Apple very oddly chose to use the known vulnerable Eliptic Curve P265 - generated by the NSA. How can we possibly trust iCloud or Apple in general after this revelation? Cognitive dissonance anyone?
  • Vintuitive: Come back with more FUD when you learn how to spell "elliptic." And it's "P256," not "P265."
  • "FUD"? Try and look past the typos. The security issue is very real and has yet to be explained by Apple. Until then there will be users who are rightly concerned about that and will probably avoid using iCloud. Seeing that Apple is moving to more dependance on iCloud then this will possibly flow on to concerned users moving away from Apple products and services.
  • And what are they moving on to??? Google? Microsoft?
  • We don't yet know what the current version of iCloud Keychain uses. The vulnerability in P256 wasn't disclosed until after Apple — more specifically the engineer in charge of iCloud Keychain — implemented it. I'm waiting to see if it's fixed before I get too stressed over it.
  • Thanks for your response Rene. Does that mean that you are not currently using iCloud keychain now that we know about this vulnerability? Do you recommend others avoid useing it until it is fixed? Considering that, as you say, it was only discovered AFTER it was implemented, shouldn't we expect the same for iOS8 - that we won't find out until sometime down the track if P256 was used again?
    Steve Gibson points out that to use this known vulnerability in iCloud Keychain and no where else is a stunning surprise. They could have easily avoided using P256 but they didn't.
    Have you explored the reasons behind how and why Apple chose to use p265 for such sensitive data as sorting passwords?
  • I don't use iCloud Keychain because there's no master password function. Once you unlock the phone, if you hand it to someone else, they have full access to your passwords and credit cards. So, I use 1Password which has a master password feature. I'm less concerned about P265 than I am about that. Unless/until iCloud Keychain gets master password, or iOS gets a guest call/surf mode, I won't use it regardless of encryption. And "Apple" didn't choose to use anything. iCloud Keychain was simply made by a different engineer than the other stuff. It's not a corporate blob, but different people.
  • Thanks Rene. Surely the use of P256 was not a secret only known to the engineer who was responsible for putting it in there? Considering that P256 was generated by the NSA it seems more likely that Apple was pressured by the NSA to include this vulnerability so that they could have access to all Apple users' passwords. We've seen this has been the case with other tech companies so it is not an unlikely scenario to also be the case with Apple. Steve Gibson states there is no explicable reason for using this curve over the much more secure curves used everywhere else in iOS: "They used the proper curve, Curve25519, Dan Bernstein's bulletproof, solid elliptic curve, and said so proudly throughout this document in every single other instance." Why do you think P256 was chosen only when it came to the iCloud Keychain?
  • I was a little surprised Eddy cue wasn't on stage considering a lot of the keynote focused on iCloud. Maybe that's because Apple has figured out that Craig Federighi is their best presenter and they're going to use him whenever possible.
  • Cue typically demos stuff that wasn't center stage at WWDC this year.
  • Dre is a pimp, he doesn't answer on the first ring. Sent from the iMore App
  • I thought that was a supremely awkward moment. Super-exhuberant, "ultra-white," Federeghi ringing up sullen black dude. These guys come from, and live in, completely different universes and it was really obvious by how stilted and awkward the exchange was IMO. Possibly the most cringeworthy moment at an Apple event ever.
  • I laughed HARD when he actually referred to him as "doctor" during their conversation... as if that were his first name. Sent from the iMore App
  • It was memorable though.
  • What the heck does "ultra white" mean?
  • I realise these are generalisations, I don't mean to be racist, and it's all in fun, but ... What I meant was, that when a black comedian does an impersonation of a "typical" white guy, that guy bears a striking resemblance to Federighi, right down to the voice and the way he moves. If you had to pick the "whitest" guy in the room, it would be Federighi. Federighi (IMO anyway) is the classic, super privileged, rich, handsome, "never had to struggle with anything in his life" kind of guy. Whereas many black folks had to struggle a LOT to get even close to the same position as he. It's a complete culture clash. I mean can you really imagine Federighi and Dr. Dre out having dinner together, or partying together? Nope!
  • As always, well said Rene. Although I have to disagree that the Windows and Android remarks should have been left on the writer's table. Especially since Samsung has had a grand ol' time publicly mocking Apple in their commercials. This was definitely the appropriate forum for Apple to throw in a little tongue in cheek joke or two - unlike their rivals who use prime time tv. In the end, it's a great time to be an Apple customer and developer - we all have a lot to be excited about.
  • I agree. Apple pokes Android and Samsung throughout the areas that matter: the numbers. We live in a world of mudslinging and when you're up against competition you have to mudsling, but you can do it and stay classy. :)
  • Exactly!
  • I don't want to make it seem that The Discussion Point is did the Keynote go two jokes too far, but I will agree with Mr. Ritchie. It wasn't preaching to the choir, but it was the Methodist minister getting a laugh from the congregation at the expense of Episcopalians. Yeah, so what? Of more importance is this: one's platform is not better for another's being lesser. If the grass isn't greener on the other side, it doesn't mean you have a great lawn. And when one attempts to elevate something by reference to the negatives of something else, then one is in a lesser of evils discussion. So I say, well, no big deal, but they should rethink the Windows or Android jibes for next time. Present data, let the facts speak for themselves, and move quickly on to what the folks are waiting for: what Have you done for us lately.
  • Gawd. I've heard this from Mac fans and now the same thing goes for ios. "it effectively has no malware". Even if people didn't study computing, do they even bother to look for exemplary infections before concluding that Mac and ios are totally immune to malware?
  • Nobody (here) has claimed that iOS is immune to malware, though I think Rene is giving iOS more credit than it deserves. Prior to iOS 6 (or was it 5?) App Store apps could (and did) harvest personal data from calendar and contacts without asking the user -- there may not have been "malware" per se, but primarily because there was little need -- a lot of personal information could be siphoned by any app in part due to some poor decisions on Apple's part. There have been bugs, too, some quite serious -- to the best of my knowledge, iOS is the only phone I have ever seen allowing SMS phishing ( http://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-sms-vulnerability-not-present-in-other-o... ) More to the point, there have been holes found and exploited within a few days of *every single* iOS release, though, instead of calling them what they are -- root level exploits of security holes -- they are instead lovingly called jailbreaks and celebrated by the community, and they usually (but not always) require tethering, which makes it less likely a third party can exploit them, since they would need physical access to your device. Where Apple *has* succeeded is in making it very difficult for run of the mill efforts, especially social engineering hacks, to gain traction. Script kiddie attacks are much less likely to succeed because they have to get by two levels, the intial attack *and* the sandbox, rather than just one, to do anything of note. Talented attackers can still get through -- witness the speed at which jailbreaks come, or look at any of Charlie Miller's presentations, but, generally speaking, it is more difficult.
  • Social engineering and code errors are very difficult for any system to prevent entirely. What Apple has pretty much killed is the Windows XP-style malware where going to a website could turn your machine into a bot. Even Jailbreak these days pretty much requires direct user action to work, which takes it beyond the realm of attacks into user action.
  • To be fair to Windows, most attacks there require user interaction too. Apple products make it more difficult for a user to do stupid things, and enjoy slightly better security here, due to sandboxing and the UNIX user model, but they are far from invulnerable. The biggest danger is the prevailing attitude OSX/iOS are perfectly secure, as that complacency could lead to mass levels of exposure (like we saw with flashback) if and when Apple does slip. Use your Apple stuff, love your Apple stuff - just don't rely on it being 100% perfect. Sent from the iMore App
  • Agreed. The system's job is to minimize. I'm happy with where most major platforms are heading.
  • Will Apple deliver? I want them to. Sent from the iMore App
  • This time it was a 'true' developer's conference ... well done Apple for making this event worthwhile for developers who deserved a proper software & code focussed event. Sent from the iMore App
  • "... sped by at blipvert-like speeds." Heh. Max would be proud. Sent from the iMore App
  • Well said, Rene!
  • Agreed - well said Rene. As an Apple consumer myself and not a developer, it feels like Apple are accelerating recently. Not just competing or steadily improving but actually pulling away from any other comparable tech. Awesome stuff and we haven't seen the 2014 hardware yet. Sent from the iMore App
  • A love letter from Apple sounds like a bit of a groupie statement and although most people reading this forum are probably fans of Apple products, it does get a little tiresome listening to people blow smoke up Apple's you know where.
    A great WWDC it was and some fantastic enhancements were announced for both OSX Yosemite and IOS 8, as well as some exciting news for developers too.
    I do however think that Apple had to come with some innovative enhancements and anything less would have been fraught with disappointment.
    They did a great job and also holding back any hardware announcements was no bad thing and allowed everyone to absorb all the software enhancements and developer announcements.
    Looking forward to the rest of the year. Sent from the iMore App
  • Rene, use the summer to talk about all you saw feature by feature. By September you'll have new hardware to power it all. Then it gets really interesting.
  • This felt like the Borg release plan to me..."Resistance is futile, assimilation is inevitable". I'm very excited about all the integration. I think it finally makes the "ecosystem" concept more of a reality....assuming it deploys as intimated. Apple already has a great platform and one that feels less congested than other options. The integration features outlined will just make it even smoother and hopefully eliminate the current black holes. But much of this is hard to see and feel from the outside. It is as if Apple is selling tech gestalt and not a single feature or device. That is not something that you see often. It is easier to sell a single point of entry like an application or device. It is quite difficult to sell a system or collective. I think maybe Microsoft is the closest example with its backend infrastructure, but that is a much simpler concept as it is all software integration.
  • I really enjoyed the key note presentation this year. Very excited for Apple's surprises this year! Sent from the iMore App
  • A love letter? iPhone 4 users, many of which got the device last year or early this year on a two-year contract are not upgraded to iOS 8 and are stuck with iOS 7 for the next two years. I know three such persons, one in my family. This is no love letter; this is fragmentation and leaving first-time Apple customers in the dark -- or how has Cook been calling that on the Adnroid side? Yes, that's the word, fragmentation. Had these people got, say, a Nokia WP, as I recommended them, they would have a guaranteed upgrade roadmap available and support availed throughout their contract period. Well, perhaps, even hopefully, they learnt their lesson the first time around and iP4 will remain their last Apple purchase. Even Samsung would have granted them better support, LOL.
  • iPhone 4 came out June 2010. By the time iOS 8 comes out it will be over 4 years old. If they bought an iPhone 4 this year I doubt they care about the latest and greatest sw. Anyway you're an obvious troll so doesn't matter what you say.
  • Happens to everyone. Windows Mobile 6.5 wasn't compatible with Windows Phone 7 which wasn't compatible with Windows Phone 8. Buy a brand new Windows Phone 7 device, next month you're SOL. However, your old WP7 device still worked fine, just like your old iPhone 4 will still work fine with the years of updates its gotten since 2010. What were you trolling about again? :)
  • This is the iOS we've been waiting for..
  • G Sent from the iMore App
  • Well written. iOS 8 is really gonna change everything. Sent from the iMore App