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Lion, iOS5, iCloud. What did Apple do?

Alex Snyder

President Skroob
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May 1, 2006
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A few things happened during Apple's WWDC event that might not have been super obvious on the surface. If you haven't watched the keynote, you can view all 2 hours of it here: Apple - Apple Events - Apple Special Event June 2011 (bring :coffee: ). I watched it last evening appropriately on my iPad - I'm a good little Apple cultist :D

I like Apple as a consumer first and foremost. I think they push business in a way that is beneficial for consumers. I don't think anyone can deny that despite whatever you may think of their pricing and upgrade paths. When you think of them as innovators they're incredible.

A lot of innovation happened yesterday. Let's start with OS X Lion: the computer just took on more touch elements and dissolved a lot of old barriers. I'm not going to cover everything; just the pieces I think are really going to have significant impact on our technological practices.


  1. Save is no longer necessary - the operating system does the saving and it saves way more than you ever did. You don't need to hit the save button when working on a document (not a web document). There are also reversion settings. I can't tell you how many times I've lost work because I forgot to save. This is awesome.
  2. Full screen abilities are true - we've had the ability to maximize a screen in Windows forever, but it wasn't until Adobe Air that programs started showing you a completely different interface when maximizing a window. It was a better experience. This is now part of Apple's operating system and will create a different way of viewing computer programs.
  3. Get the web content you only want - Reader is what it is called and it pulls down an entire article or series of pages that are congruent. It formats the article in a standard Reader version that looks to just show the main content.

I have a lot of questions around Reader as those questions pertain to how or if it changes web states like pageviews and time on site. I'll be scouring the web to find those answers as developers play with the seeded version.

iOS 5 for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad does not bring as much new innovation as it brings "catch-up." The Android is outselling the iPhone right now and Apple needs to do something about that. The iOS play seemed more pressured to me than cool. However, one of the things they're doing is adapting Reader from Lion (or maybe it is the other way around).

Reader on the computer changes the web experience in a way that the webmaster did not intend for (I'm assuming). Reader on mobile devices is a different story. Reader makes absolute sense as most websites are not intended for mobile browsers. It is possible that this little feature could be the first step toward standardizing websites for mobile without having to make massive changes to the computer's web experience.

I was just getting over hearing all the "it's in the cloud" statements and Apple brought it back full force. I'm still tired of hearing that phrase, but I really like what Apple has done.


  1. Content syncing - having documents sync via iCloud is fantastic. Basically, if you're on a Mac with Lion, you don't have to hit save and you don't have to worry about getting your work to other machines. I won't be using DropBox as much (I barely use thumb drives anymore anyway). The same works for photos - too awesome....and free. Did we just hand our lives over to Apple?
  2. Music - Apple just ripped the rug out from underneath the music industry bastards for only $150 million. For $25 a year we can upload as much music to iCloud (ripped, stolen, or purchased) and Apple will upgrade that music to a higher sound quality (if applicable) and allow you to wirelessly sync it across up to 10 devices. If you buy your music through iTunes you don't have to pay $25 a year for this service. Everyone pays for convenience of delivery and backup without a subscription and guess who is now the music industry? I can't wait to see how they break new artists. Could Apple make music great again? Let's wait a few years for that one.
  3. Magazines & Newspapers - this is the most exciting thing for me. Ever since I got my iPad (thanks again Jeff) I have been wanting to completely divorce myself from pulp. I have already moved to digital newspapers but I have not been happy with the digital magazine formats and choices so far. Putting it all in one place (one app) with simple purchasing made my day.

Yesterday was a good day for me. I'm very excited to get my hands on all the new software. However, I think some of the things that were introduced yesterday will have small paragraphs in history in the story of how Apple changed _____. That is a ____ because it is more than just technology. You watch; there are massive things that have been happening behind the scenes with this company. Some of these things are starting to become more apparent.
 
I think the biggest announcement to me is the iPhone/iPad/Mac are now on a level playing field. I'm thrilled about the cloud service as well. I don't think people will realize just how significant these announcements are for a couple years, though.