Here were some highlights from Monday’s event:
- Apple is killing iTunes, replacing it with separate apps for music, podcasts and video.
- Apple shows off new features that restrict how iPhone apps collect your data.
- The Watch is getting its own App Store.
- Apple continues to try to make the iPad your work computer.
- The new Mac computer is leaning into the high-end.
Apple is killing iTunes, replacing it with separate apps for music, podcasts and video.
In the history of Apple software, few services were as important and influential as iTunes. It upended the music industry by creating a new digital economy for music, allowing people to buy songs for a dollar each. It also was a replacement for stacks of records or CDs, allowing people to store and organize their music collections on their computers.
On Monday, Apple said it was killing iTunes.
For years, Apple users have complained the service was outdated, particularly as streaming music over the internet gained popularity. Apple resisted change for years because iTunes was such a fundamental feature of its Mac computers. But with its new version of Mac software, Apple took the leap and split iTunes’ services into three separate apps.
Now people will access music on one app, podcasts on another, and TV and movies on a third. The approach supports Apple’s push to make its Apple Music and Apple TV apps sizable businesses. The services already have their own dedicated iPhone apps. Now they will have the same on Macs.
Apple shows off new features that restrict how iPhone apps collect your data.
Apple took a major swipe at the data-collection practices of other companies, including rivals Google and Facebook, with several new privacy features for its devices.
For years, smartphone apps have been notorious for collecting people’s location and using that data to better target them with ads, or worse. On Monday, Apple said that on the newest version of its operating system, iOS 13, users will be able to share their location with an app once. Each time the app wants to access the user’s location again, it will have to ask again.
The new iPhone software will also be more transparent when apps are tracking their location in the background, and it will block apps from using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections to figure out a user’s location.
Apple also unveiled a new way for people to sign into third-party apps and services using an Apple ID, a feature called “Sign in with Apple.”
Google and Facebook have leveraged their ubiquity for years by enabling people to sign into other apps and websites with their Google or Facebook accounts. But doing so sometimes meant the companies — Google, Facebook and the third parties — could collect more data about you.
On iPhones and other Apple devices, people can now sign in with a more private Apple ID. With the feature, Apple said that in some cases third-party apps will only receive the user’s name and email address. But if users choose, the feature also allows them to conceal their email addresses by generating a random address that forwards the messages.
[Read more: Apple is believed to be under scrutiny by the Justice Department, as government agencies set their sights on the tech industry.]
The Watch is getting its own App Store.
Apple introduced a new version of WatchOS, the software system powering its Apple Watch. Kevin Lynch, the Apple executive who oversees the watch software, said more Apple apps were coming to the watch, like audiobooks, voice memos and a calculator. In addition, the watch includes its own App Store, and third-party apps can now run independently. They no longer require a companion app loaded on an iPhone.
This move is a big step toward making the Apple Watch independent from the iPhone. What that means for consumers is that at some point in the future, they may be able to buy an Apple Watch without having to purchase an iPhone. In other words, Android smartphone users may one day be able to use an Apple Watch.
Apple continues to try to make the iPad your work computer.
Apple has wanted to make the iPad the laptop killer for years. While the hardware is svelte and lightweight, the software hasn’t been robust enough to make the iPad the primary work computer for many people. On Monday, Apple announced maybe its biggest effort yet to change that: a new operating system specifically for iPads, called iPadOS.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief, showed off how the new software made iPads work much more like a desktop computer. The software enables users to more easily switch between apps, use two apps at once, manage downloads, browse the web, and search and share files. In a clear sign of the new target audience of corporate workers, Mr. Federighi showed how he could now work in two Microsoft Word documents at once. “That’s enterprising right there,” he said.
One of the biggest applause lines was when he announced users could now plug in external hard drives.
The new Mac computer is leaning into the high-end.
Apple showed an update for its Mac Pro, its professional desktop computer. The last version, introduced in 2013, was widely panned by professional customers. Apple admitted the product was a failure.
The new Mac Pro looks like a bulky tower, abandoning a previous design that resembled a round trash can. It includes a 28-core processor and lots of memory. The new Mac is also expandable: People can add different graphics cards, for example, to enhance its performance.
The Mac Pro looks like an intensely powerful computer. The previous generation failed largely because it was not easily customizable and it had performance issues. The product left professional and creative users — people who work in design and video editing — to conclude that Apple had abandoned professional customers and only cared about mainstream consumers. With the new Mac Pro, Apple is suggesting it still has interest in this niche market.
The Mac Pro starts at a modest $6,000 and should be available this Fall.
Apple also announced its next computer operating system, MacOS Catalina. The new operating system has some new features, like the ability for an iPad’s screen to be used as a second monitor for the Mac. The Mac will also include Screen Time, Apple’s tool to help people restrict the time they spend on their devices.
The Mac Pro has a particularly illuminating Made-in-America history.
The last time Apple announced a new Mac Pro, it was 2012 and Tim Cook went on prime-time television to tout that it would be the first Apple computer in years to be made by American workers.
Then Apple discovered making a computer in the United States wasn’t so easy. The company ran into a number of headaches at its Texas plant that delayed the Mac Pro’s launch, including a shortage of screws, as we detailed in a piece earlier this year.
That experience is particularly relevant now, as the White House digs into a trade war with China. Apple assembles most of its products in China, including iPhones.
When Apple announced its new Mac Pro on Monday, it did not mention where it was building it.
Phone apps are coming to the Mac’s App Store.
Apple announced Project Catalyst on Monday. Developers will now be able to easily port their iOS apps to the Mac, which could bring more apps to the Mac’s App Store. (Compared to the iPhone’s App Store, the Mac’s App Store is very lacking.)
Sharing iOS apps with the Mac raises a number of questions about Apple’s app strategy. When using computers, many people rely on websites instead of apps, like Facebook.com, Twitter.com or the websites for news sites that they read.
So what’s the purpose of having iOS apps on the Mac? Apple might argue that apps load more quickly and do a better job at protecting people’s privacy than websites. Though it might have trouble proving the latter, in light of recent news reports that third-party iOS apps leak plenty of data to tracking services.
New map features are trying to match Google’s.
Apple said it invested a significant amount — flying and driving all around the United States — to improve its Maps app. The maps will now include an option to view photo previews of the street, similar to Google’s Street View project.
Apple’s maps effort has been a long game of catch up to Google. In 2012, when Apple updated its maps app, replacing Google’s mapping data with its own, the release sparked consumer outrage. Its mapping data was sparse, getting many people lost. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, eventually issued an apology for the hiccup, and a former executive overseeing Apple software resigned in the fallout.
Apple continues its focus on health, with apps to control screen brightness, track menstrual cycles and monitor noise pollution.
Mr. Cook has said “Apple’s largest contribution to mankind” will be improving people’s health. Given the iPhone’s enormous impact on society, that’s quite a claim. On Monday, Apple announced several more health initiatives:
A new feature that helps women track their menstrual cycles, similar to services now offered by third-party apps. Apple’s feature, called Cycle Tracking, allows women to log key aspects of their menstrual cycles and returns predictions on the timing of their periods and fertility windows.
A cosmetic difference to iOS 13 called Dark Mode. When activated, it essentially replaces bright parts of an interface — like a white part of an application — with black. The mode is designed to make the iPhone easier on people’s eyes when they read in the dark. It might also reduce battery consumption since the screen can light up fewer pixels.
An app for the Watch called Noise, which notifies people when they are in a noisy environment that could be harmful to their hearing.
A feature on the Watch that will show the user’s activity over the past 90 days compared with the past year, highlighting whether they are trending up or down. The new iPhone software will have similar health-tracking features.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/technology/wwdc-apple.html
2019-06-03 19:29:34Z
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