Early June is Apple‘s time: its annual developer conference started yesterday in San Jose and saw several juicy announcements: starting from the location. The conferences from 1989 until 2002 were held at the San Jose Convention Center and then moved to San Francisco: returning to San Jose was defined by some Apple executives as a happy homecoming.
WWDC 2017: iOS 11
And Apple had many, many things to announce, in fact. Starting with the new version of the mobile operating system, iOS 11, which will officially debut in September, like always, but developers can already test most of the features introduced yesterday. Augmented Reality finally arrives on the iPhone with ARKit, which allows developers to create apps (games, but not only) where digital and virtual objects can be inserted into real-life environments, taken from the camera. A special focus has been devoted to the iPad to make it more competitive and more work-oriented. The introduction of Files, a new app that will manage your documents as if on a traditional computer, and a confident improvement in multitasking allow Apple to push the iPad into territories that were those of traditional computers.
WWDC 2017: Siri everywhere
If in 2011 Apple was among the very first in the revolution of digital personal assistants, it is also true that competition didn’t stand still, and according to many analysts, it has also surpassed it: see Amazon with Alexa or Google with its artificial intelligence. Investments on Siri have been remarkable in recent months, and some fruit begins to blossom, thanks to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and an incredible focus on user privacy.
WWDC 2017: new hardware
After MacBook Pro’s presentation last October, developers panned Apple a lot. Now that Intel has released a new family of processors, it’s time to improve last autumn’s offer and regain the confidence of professional users. Besides, a new 10.5″ iPad Pro has made it into the family. But the lion’s share was for the iMac: first, it was anticipated that at the end of the year an “iMac Pro” will come out of with powerful technical features. But the “usual” iMac line has been updated to state of the art components and will be able to support virtual reality: a train that has started some time ago, but that Apple seems willing to not let it go.
WWDC 2017: HomePod
Remarking that music is part of the company’s DNA, Apple has presented yesterday a “Siri speaker” of the latest generation, with very good – in theory – sound quality, connected to the internet and to iTunes or Apple Music library. If you say “Ehi Siri” in the room where the speaker is located, it turns on and is ready to execute your commands. The emphasis on privacy has been very strong: contrary to other similar devices, this Siri speaker only turns up when called for. It doesn’t listen or record anything before or after we speak.
WWDC 2017: Everything Else
Apple Watch and Apple TV have received maintenance updates, mostly. The most important news is perhaps that Amazon and Apple seem to have ended a silent war lasting a couple of years, and Apple’s setup box will receive an Amazon Prime Video app soon.