Apple on Monday revealed dozens of new features in the latest versions of its mobile and desktop operating systems at the kickoff of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. «The emphasis of the whole presentation seemed to be making Apple products more useful for consumers,» observed Gartner Senior Principal Analyst Tuong Nguyen.
Apple on Monday revealed dozens of new features in the latest versions of its mobile and desktop operating systems at the kickoff of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. «There were lots of incremental improvements in the areas of health and security,» observed Kevin Krewell, a principal analyst with Tirias Research, a high-tech research and advisory firm in San Jose, Calif. «They also continued the theme of Apple stuff works better with Apple stuff in the Apple ecosystem,» he told TechNewsWorld. «The emphasis of the whole presentation seemed to be making Apple products more useful for consumers,» added Gartner Senior Principal Analyst Tuong Nguyen. In the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 15, the company added features to its FaceTime app to make online interaction by groups of people more realistic through the use of spatial audio, voice isolation and use of «portrait» mode for faces. It also expanded the sharing capabilities of the program and its reach outside Apple’s «walled garden.» «They really expanded FaceTime’s capabilities so it can be used in collaboration,» noted Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in Campbell, Calif. «But Apple didn’t remove the 32-user restriction for FaceTime,» he told TechNewsWorld. «Businesses that use video conferencing need 50,100 or more users in their conferences and seminars so I don’t see the new features enabling Apple to compete with the Zooms of the world.» «Rather they’re providing richer features for their broader consumer audience,» he added. However, Mark N. Vena, a senior analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology analyst and advisory firm based in Austin, Texas maintained that competition in the online group meetings space influenced Apple’s upcoming changes to FaceTime. «They’re clearly feeling the heat on their videoconferencing apps,» he told TechNewsWorld. «They’ve come to the conclusion that they have to open it up and allow access to FaceTime calls with Android or a browser.» «That takes conferencing out of the ‘walled garden,'» he continued. «It will be interesting to see what that portends for Apple’s messaging app.» While acknowledging the new additions to FaceTime were nice improvements, Krewell asserted that the software is still very much locked into Apple’s ecosystem. «It’s not an open platform,» he told TechNewsWorld. «There’s a new API for developers now so we’ll have to see if they pick up the mantle and connect it to other platforms.
