Yesterday was a big day for Apple developers and customers. Three big announcements were made at Moscone West: Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud. The trend here is clear: convergence. We’ve already seen this before with Microsoft not long ago at D9. And now it’s Apple’s turn. I will break this into 3 parts, one for each piece of news announced and then go for some comments and conclusions.
Mac OS X Lion
This one was already previewed later last year, and I had the opportunity to see the first developer betas as well. And it was looking very good, although I fired some criticism on it because the iOS-fication of Macs was looking a bit dull at the time. I have to take it back now, though, since what was shown yesterday is amazingly cool.
Apple didn’t make the same mistake as Microsoft’s and didn’t try to bring something old disguised as something new. The new version of Mac OS X is and evolution of the old version that takes some lessons learned from iOS (as Microsoft did with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7), but it obviously doesn’t try to be something it isn’t, and that’s good because it still maintains the identity of Macs.
I will not go through the list of features presented, since you can find them described at Apple’s website here. Instead, I’ll try to describe what they mean in practice. First, the multitouch gestures. Lion really leverages their full potential. Apple is really trying to kill the mouse here, and I agree with them on this one. Apart from some specific uses (games, and other tasks that require precision), for daily use it doesn’t really make any sense to use a mouse anymore. Multitouch trackpads are way easier to use and more productive as well. I’ve been using them since 2008, when it first appeared in the aluminum MacBook Pro, and never looked back. At least for the Apple ecosystem, it’s the beginning of the end for the traditional mouse.
Next, is the iOS influence over Mac OS X. Things like the Launchpad, Mission Control, Full Screen Apps and Autosave were clearly inspired by iOS. This is good, as it will make the transition easier between devices. And it’s a mandatory step for true mobile-desktop convergence.
But the coolest thing I’ve seen in Lion is the way it’s going to be distributed. Goodbye discs, welcome App Store. This is really important, as it’s the first time a commercial OS update is distributed this way (Linux distributions already do this – sort of… it usually doesn’t work, unfortunately). And the price, at $29.99, is something for Microsoft to think about. Windows 8 cannot cost a fortune, as Windows 7 does nowadays.
iOS 5
The iOS 5 introduction showed something I don’t recall seeing in a long time when it comes to Apple announcements. They are learning from their competitors – and not admitting that the lack of certain features was a ‘lack’, of course. Examples here are the improved notifications system, inspired by Android’s (but a bit better IMHO), and the camera app access from the lock screen, which is clearly taken from Windows Phone 7 (WP7). Another source of inspiration is the app developers themselves. The Read It Later feature in Safari is clearly inspired by Instapaper’s service and the geo-location-based Reminders are somewhat similar to what the OmniFocus app offers.
Integration with 3rd-party services is improving with the added in-OS Twitter support. But it has to improve a bit in order to get to Android’s or WP7’s levels. The Threads feature in WP7 is way ahead of anything that iOS 5 is offering, for instance. And Facebook integration is clearly missing.
Another trend we can see in iOS 5 is the pavement for a post-PC era. By adding some complex features like image editing to the built-in package of apps, Apple brings some ways of actually getting rid of the PC for the non-power users. This started with iMovie and Garage Band for the iPad, and it’s clear now that this is the trend for the future. And the PC-free feature is another variable in that equation. We can finally get, activate and use an iThing without having to connect it to that monolithic piece of crap called iTunes (ok, I’ll be fair and tell that iTunes 10.5 beta is actually better, but far from ideal).
In sum, iOS 5 will make iThings actual mobile devices. There are some missing features I’d like to see, but it’s good they’re going in the right direction.
iCloud
I’ll be honest with you. iCloud isn’t revolutionary at all from a technical standpoint. But Apple might have gotten sync right. The solution is simple, elegant and it seems it’ll require almost no setup. Differently from Microsoft’s Windows Live Mesh sync service (which you probably have never heard of) and Google’s cloud-only approach (ChromeOS), Apple’s solution seamlessly give users the data that matters where they want it and when they want it. And for free. The iTunes Match feature is another example of simplicity that works (at least it seems that it’ll work). I was thinking about signing up to Amazon’s offer, but I’ll defer that and wait until iCloud is out there. It really looks that good. And don’t forget I’m probably the most picky guy ever about functionality. I won’t tell it’s perfect because it’s lacking the same services for videos. But that’ll probably be an upgrade feature in the future. And it’ll cost just $99. 🙂
Conclusions
Some trends we can see here:
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Mobile-Desktop Convergence: iOS-fication of MacOS X, usability-wise and interface-wise. I strongly believe that the next generation of Apple’s operating systems will see (almost) no differences between what’s running in what device, the same way Microsoft seems to be going on the Windows platform. Google seems to be a company with an identity crisis in this scenario, with its executives trying (and failing) to explain that ChromeOS and Android aren’t conflicting platforms, even though they clearly bet in different ways of using technology. Another interesting thing I want to see is how Linux will survive on the desktop in this scenario. I see a lot of opportunities for it on the enterprise servers side, but I can’t really see anything interesting at all in the desktop area (maybe Unity).
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Multitouch is the new interface paradigm: looks clear to me, as multitouch gestures are present throughout all of Apple’s product range (except for the smaller iPods and Apple TV). Same thing as we saw in the Windows 8 demo. Apple has the advantage here for already having a great touchpad for laptops and desktop computers.
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New software distribution paradigm: the Mac App store will probably be taken more seriously now. By eliminating the OS X discs, Apple is trying to show the world that we don’t need retailers to sell software. And that’s good.
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Apple seems to be learning from the competition and from its developers: most features showcased at WWDC were present in some product before. Apple just made them their way.
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Mobile means mobile: we don’t need cables, period. Finally Apple realized that.
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Cloud use for data only: this seems to be the trend that’ll stick for the end consumer, at least for now – the power will be in the apps, not on the cloud. Google’s cloud-only approach seems immature, unattractive and it seems to require some fast connections we still don’t have. Apple’s solution, on the other hand, seems to attack the problems in a way that will actually help people do what they want. And in the end, that’s what matters.
- Software and content is more relevant than hardware: this was obvious to me for quite some time now, but some people still insist in looking at the hardware specs only when buying their devices and claiming the best gadgets are the ones with the best hardware. This WWDC keynote didn’t show any piece of new hardware and no one is disappointed that an iPhone 5 wasn’t unveiled. Nowadays, it’s all about apps.