WWDC 2015 thoughts.
I watched a number of rather sarcastic live Twitter feeds as I was busy at the time of the live stream so my source is admittedly second-hand. But here is what I gathered:
OS changes largely amount to wholesale stealing a plethora of Android and Windows features. Loved the snap functionality which not only rips off Windows, but rips off the now defunct form found in the original Windows 8 with 2 snap sizes. I'd call it terrible, but I have to contend that I generally found the 50/50 or one big and one small pretty much ideal for anything.
Still, the improvements in Windows 8.1 whereby you could have more screens based on screen size and size them individually did present more control, and Windows 10 allowing them to be windowed and sized both vertically and horizontally is again another level of improvement. So, it is worth noting that they are already effectively 2 generations behind their nearest competitor on this one.
Noting that one company stole another's ideas is really kind of pointless. They all do it. What IS intriguing here is that, by the sounds of it, in many cases all Apple is doing is playing catch-up. Historically when the company released a feature with a counterpart on a competing system they could claim to be doing it better or differently, but this time around it just feels like they are plugging holes and they aren't even bothering with meeting the feature sets elsewhere, let alone exceeding or differentiating from them.
The next is what amounts to a wholesale admission that the Apple Watch is crap. Apple, of course, would never admit this. But the fact that there is already a watchOS Beta for the next version speaks volumes. It makes no sense. At least, if you acknowledge that the first iteration was a solid product it makes no sense. Why? The product hasn't been out long enough for them to be far enough on a next version based on user feedback to have a beta ready already and that means that they must have known internally that the original release wasn't good enough long before they released it.
Apple Music! I don't get it. I really don't. If this is wildly successful, I will be displeased with humanity. The two things this seems have going for it have nothing to do with the quality of the product and that is a family subscription and a 3 month trial. Many services don't have family plans (though in general do little to stop sharing of accounts so maybe moot) and offer a 1 month trial or less. I could see people abandoning other services just because of the 3 month free trial however.
Where I think that they missed the mark is not delivering something focussed around downloading music. iTunes gets a lot of exclusive content, especially around tie-ins to reality TV shows and the likes. Radio-esque streaming of channels is great for some people. But it has been beaten to death. There are an army of competitors. It is still possible that even with 3 months free and a family plan that this will lose. What I was truly hoping for was a service to compete with Xbox Music Pass.
And while I'll wager Apple will support offline play as many of its competitors do, the problem for me has always been a simple one. Cellular bandwidth. I can't afford to stream when I'm away from a Wi-Fi network. And offline play for radio-centric services is only helpful if you know what you'll want to listen in advance. At which point isn't it better to just build your own playlists and library and download the music rather than cobbling together radio stations that mostly fit your needs? At which point... why Apple Music over Xbox Music Pass? Aside from the fact that most people don't know XMP exists. Probably none.
OS changes largely amount to wholesale stealing a plethora of Android and Windows features. Loved the snap functionality which not only rips off Windows, but rips off the now defunct form found in the original Windows 8 with 2 snap sizes. I'd call it terrible, but I have to contend that I generally found the 50/50 or one big and one small pretty much ideal for anything.
Still, the improvements in Windows 8.1 whereby you could have more screens based on screen size and size them individually did present more control, and Windows 10 allowing them to be windowed and sized both vertically and horizontally is again another level of improvement. So, it is worth noting that they are already effectively 2 generations behind their nearest competitor on this one.
Noting that one company stole another's ideas is really kind of pointless. They all do it. What IS intriguing here is that, by the sounds of it, in many cases all Apple is doing is playing catch-up. Historically when the company released a feature with a counterpart on a competing system they could claim to be doing it better or differently, but this time around it just feels like they are plugging holes and they aren't even bothering with meeting the feature sets elsewhere, let alone exceeding or differentiating from them.
The next is what amounts to a wholesale admission that the Apple Watch is crap. Apple, of course, would never admit this. But the fact that there is already a watchOS Beta for the next version speaks volumes. It makes no sense. At least, if you acknowledge that the first iteration was a solid product it makes no sense. Why? The product hasn't been out long enough for them to be far enough on a next version based on user feedback to have a beta ready already and that means that they must have known internally that the original release wasn't good enough long before they released it.
Apple Music! I don't get it. I really don't. If this is wildly successful, I will be displeased with humanity. The two things this seems have going for it have nothing to do with the quality of the product and that is a family subscription and a 3 month trial. Many services don't have family plans (though in general do little to stop sharing of accounts so maybe moot) and offer a 1 month trial or less. I could see people abandoning other services just because of the 3 month free trial however.
Where I think that they missed the mark is not delivering something focussed around downloading music. iTunes gets a lot of exclusive content, especially around tie-ins to reality TV shows and the likes. Radio-esque streaming of channels is great for some people. But it has been beaten to death. There are an army of competitors. It is still possible that even with 3 months free and a family plan that this will lose. What I was truly hoping for was a service to compete with Xbox Music Pass.
And while I'll wager Apple will support offline play as many of its competitors do, the problem for me has always been a simple one. Cellular bandwidth. I can't afford to stream when I'm away from a Wi-Fi network. And offline play for radio-centric services is only helpful if you know what you'll want to listen in advance. At which point isn't it better to just build your own playlists and library and download the music rather than cobbling together radio stations that mostly fit your needs? At which point... why Apple Music over Xbox Music Pass? Aside from the fact that most people don't know XMP exists. Probably none.
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