Tomorrow is the start of the year for Apple. WWDC 2018 is the first look at the next versions of iOS and macOS…and whatever else Apple wants to show. Last year I had some hopes and wishes which turned out to be pretty good. New iPads were excellent and the improvements in iOS for iPads were beyond what I expected.
12 months on and here’s what I’d like to see Apple announce tomorrow:
- Siri is really at the heart of so much for Apple but is embarrassingly behind the competition. This isn’t new but I can’t understand how Apple have allowed themselves to get into this position. Google and particularly Amazon have delivered on voice assistants and left Apple for dust. The heart says Apple need to show something tomorrow, the head says this is next year based on recent hires. The Apple ecosystem is crying out for a Siri reset that is much more capable and is open to more developers.
- The Mac is another part of Apple that feels unloved. The hardware is great (keyboards?!?!) but the software is being left to wither. Where iOS is felt by many the future for Apple and the sales suggest that’s the right strategy that shouldn’t be to the detriment of the Mac. It could do so much more but either strategy or lack of engineering means it isn’t delivering what it once did. Would be great to see Mac get some love tomorrow.
- Not so much split iTunes, but give us an Apple Music app on the Mac that lets me access and stream music as quickly as I can on iOS.
- Default apps on iOS. This is another heart over head, but it really holds back the platform in many ways. Why can’t I set Todoist instead of Reminders, Chrome instead of Safari?
- Custom watch faces. I’m still rocking the original Apple Watch but hope to upgrade to a new version later this year. Would be great to get third party watch faces. Imagine a running app with a totally custom face that could show you competitors, last run times against a route? A Plex watch face that told you when the current film you are watching will finish and let you do some basic playback control.
- Release more frequently. Yearly updates don’t cut it anymore and it just makes apps like Photo’s seem dated when compared to Googles offering.
In many ways I’m looking forward to tomorrows announcements as so little has leaked. It also feels an important WWDC for Apple. They’ve already said they will focus on maintenance and releasing less and it seems like hardware is later in the year so you wonder what will make the headlines tomorrow…and the details and titbits that will come out throughout the week. Roll on 18:00 tomorrow.