A Look At OS X Yosemite And iOS 8.1
by Brandon Chester on October 27, 2014 8:00 AM ESTConclusion
It has definitely been a busy few months in the Apple world. September delivered the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, along with iOS 8, and a preview of the still mysterious Apple Watch. This month we got the iPad Air 2, the iPad Mini 3, the iMac with Retina 5K display, iOS 8.1, Apple Pay, and OS X Yosemite. Those last three points are some of the most interesting, and they all happen to be part of Apple's software ecosystem. I don't think that's a coincidence. We're reaching a point where it's becoming more and more difficult to differentiate your products based on hardware alone. Great software driving a great experience is where the focus needs to be moving forward.
Apple's strategy to provide that experience appears to be deep integration of their services across all of their product lines. It starts with the cloud, with new additions to iCloud like iCloud Drive and Photo Library. From there it goes to software commonality, with a design language that exists on both iOS and OS X, and applications that exist on both platforms. On the opposite end of the spectrum from the cloud are the new continuity features which provide integration between all the devices that you have right there with you. SMS Forwarding and iPhone call transferring expands communication on iPad and the Mac to new areas, while Handoff makes the transition between applications seamless and accurate right down to where your cursor was.
What interests me the most about Apple's stategy is how it provides incentive for a user with one Apple device to buy other Apple devices. This exists to a certain degree with other manufacturers as well. If you own a Samsung smartphone, you may be more inclined to buy a Samsung tablet due to the similar hardware design and user interface. But apart from any brand loyalty you feel, you don't really have any incentive to buy a Samsung laptop which runs Windows and doesn't integrate with your other devices. Apple's integration covers their entire lineup of devices. An iPhone user has a lot to gain by choosing a MacBook over a Windows Ultrabook, and an iPad over a Nexus 9. It would be interesting to analyze what percentage of people purchasing a new Apple device already own one or more Apple products.
Overall, I'm happy with the work that Apple has done with iOS 8.1 and OS X Yosemite. It's clear that a lot of this has been in the works for some time now, and integrating products and services to this degree requires a lot of planning to position your hardware and software so that it will be capable of working together in the ways you want them to. The Yosemite redesign has also gone quite well, and there aren't as many jarring inconsistencies as there were with iOS 7 at launch despite OS X being a more expansive operating system. Apple has definitely learned from their experiences with the iOS redesign. That being said, there is still a lot of work to do. Apple Pay needs to expand rapidly, and iCloud Photo Library isn't as far developed as I had expected it to be.
It's hard to say where Apple will go as we move forward. It will be hard to outdo the work that has been done with Yosemite. However, history tells me that there are still great things yet to come from Apple. It seems that year after year Apple is able to make updated products and proclaim them to be the biggest advancements in that product's history, and regardless of my initial reaction, I somehow always find myself agreeing .
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Jamezrp - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
Yeah but have you used sidesync? It's crap. I had it on a laptop awhile back and with my GS3 it was next to worthless.That said, we have this thing called the cloud. Why the hell do we need so much damn connectivity between the phone and computer? I don't need to start writing an email from my phone and move over to a laptop most of the time. And the few times I do, the draft is saved in the cloud somewhere.
Hell, most of the Apple apps are garbage anyways on OS X. I have no problem with Yosemite, and certainly don't like Windows 8 whatsoever (love Win7 though), but handoff is a waste.
SirPerro - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
Thing is, using google services you have the same sync capabilities as iCloud. It's just you don't need OS X at all.Being attached to Apple acosystem, with their latest soldered-ram/batteries and other anticonsumer practices seem a really really bad idea.
If you don't like google services, you zip all your data into your computer, and kiss google goodbye. If you don't like Apple services you have to buy a plethora of new $1K devices in the first place.
tim851 - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
> If you don't like google services, you zip all your data into your computer, and kiss google goodbye. If you don't like Apple services you have to buy a plethora of new $1K devices in the first place. <If you don't like Apple's cloud, you can leave it just as easily as Google's.
There's absolutely no reason to rebuy all your devices, Apple's devices work fine without iCloud.
SirPerro - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
An undeniable truth is that you can enjoy google services in all the devices, but you can only enjoy apple services on apple devices.That for me is a showstopper on apple ecosystem. With iOS being a niche out of the US, and enterprise market completely neglecting OS X worldwide, binding your life to iCloud looks rather ackward.
If OS X had the type of hardware variety Windows/Linux have, I'd be less hessitant. But again, jumping into iCloud and be forced to pay for very expensive device replacements is very dangerous in my opinion.
I understand the love though. Thank god we're free to ignore ecosystems we don't want.
stranger-in-the-dark - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
That said, you can also use google services on iOS and OSX devices. I bought my iPhone because I liked the look, and at the time the android podcast apps I tried were bad. And I got a macbook for my birthday when I started at university. But on both most of the cloud stuff is either on feedly or through some google service or another. I since use both linux at work and windows at home. And who knows, my next phone might be run ubuntu or android.So yes, you can have apple product without using the ecosystem. And you can easily switch even if you dont (there are programs for that). But that said, I would not buy into apple FOR the connectivity.
stranger-in-the-dark - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
*even if you do*FATCamaro - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
Are you trolling? Your first post is oh I hate OSX now and my macbook pro will be the last after being an Apple customer for 13 years. Now you're talking about vendor lockin. It took you 13 years to realize that there is a degree of vendor lockin in Apple's ecosystem?And you can leave iCloud just as easily as Google drive, even though iCloud is on fewer devices.
retrospooty - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
"I am shocked that standards of journalism and market insight are slipping so low, so fast How long before this becomes yet another fanboy blog?"It's been that way for several years already. Anand now works at Apple and his disciples are now clamoring for Apple's teet... For whatever reason.
anactoraaron - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
It's only a matter of time before this site has a name change to 'AppleTech'austinsguitar - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
^ lvl up!