Thoughts on WWDC 2013
Ok first let me start with a full disclosure. I am an iOS/OSX developer which limits what I can say and or post due to the NDA agreement signed as a developer. That being said many people lately are braking their agreements left and right. However we are allowed to discuss products and features that were announced at WWDC 2013. With that being said I wanted to share some of my thoughts about the announced at WWDC 2013.
AirPort Extreme (Available Now: Apple store)
This new airport boasts The new 802.11ab. On paper this protocol is awesome and we should feel a noticeable difference in speed especially in streaming HD content. This airport is also a bit larger to accommodate the ability to install an internal hard drive. This gives you the same functionality as a Time capsule. This may be nice for some but I personally never bought into the time capsule thing. Just never worked good enough for me. I make my one-to-one backups. Now I don't suggest that everyone run out and buy one of these. Once you have a product that supports 802.11ab in hand is when you should consider picking one up. This is when you will be able to appreciate the 802.11ab. I'm also interested to see how well the new Beam forming works.
MacBook Air (Available Now: Apple store)
The new MacBook Air's have increased battery life up to 12 hours on their 13in. This Macbook air had me thinking for a moment or two about switching over from my Macbook Pro. If they had a retina version with 12hrs of battery life, I might be more inclined to make the switch. I will hold out and hope for a new MacBook Pro this Fall.
I also wanted to point out that the Macbook air 13" is at 12hrs of battery life with mountain lion. I am curious to see how much of a difference maverick will make with its new power and CPU saving features.
iOS7 (Avaliable this fall)
There are so many developers or so-called developers out they're voicing their comments and concerns. Firstly this should be done on the Apple developer forums. Secondly this is a FIRST beta let me reiterate this it is a FIRST beta. This mean's there are things that do not work. We will also have allot changes before it's done and nothing is written in stone.
From what I saw at WWDC 2013 I think apple is trying some new things. I applaud them for their courage in taking such big steps. The re-skinning of the GUI is drastic change. People will be at extremes either loving or hating it. I'm interested in seeing where apple can go with this new "Flat Look". The fact they have moved to using layers makes me wonder if their is something else under their hat. With that being said it feels more android-E (maybe that's what consumers want). Personally if I wanted an android I would have purchased one. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of comparisons floating around comparing features. I honestly don't care where the features came from, as long as they are features I would love and use. Again everything we see is subject to change at any given time. If you're a developer I urge you to voice your thoughts and options to apple via the dev forums
if you're not part of the solution you're adding to the problem.
OSX Maverick
Maverick what a name seems Apple ran out a cat names.. (a WWDC 2013 joke). It seems with this release they're aiming towards better power and CPU management. At the same time they is a mix of catchup and innovation going on. Things like finder tabs should have been part of the OS along time ago. Tagging is another, which seems more like rebranding of an existing feature "labels".
Apple has expanded on and added to existing features creating innovations and welcome additions to Multiple displays, Airplay, Apple TV, better CPU management and Memory compression.
iCloud Keychains is another new additions. GIving you the ability to store your secure keychains int eh cloud. I'm glade Apple has added this as it will raise awareness to security. For the average person this will be a great step in the right direction. I still don't see myself giving up Lastpass and Yubikey for a one platform service.
Apple also shown us a glimpse of their new OSX Map's app. It seems their will be some nice cross app integration with apps like Calendar and Reminders which sounds awesome. It's basically Apple's spin on Google Now.
New Mac Pro (Available later this year)
I was very excited when I head Apple was building a new MacPro. I’m still running using an 08 MacPro. With a few upgrades over the years it’s still going strong. MacPros have always had longer life cycles. Which has been fine with me due to their high price. These machines have always been high-end and solid builds. After seeing the new MacPro which I might add was a SNEAK PEEK and not an announcement. Again in my mind its subject to change.
All that being said and the new design/look aside. Most pro users will not care about that. However not the limitations to scalability and being able to upgrade is huge. Apple has stated you can scale and upgrade using Thunder bold 2 but the real question to me is Price…
I see this new non upgradable MacPro as the same business model as an iMac or Macbook. Something they plan on upgrading yearly. Now with the old MacPro’s you expect to spend around $5000.00. However you would not typically upgrade every year. It would tend to be every other year if that. So $5000 become $2500 a year which is acceptable to me. But if the New MacPro is still at that $5k mark and turns into yearly upgrade business model that is not going to work any more for me.
Also keep in mind any real pro user is going to have to go thunderbolt to an external raid. Most MacPro users currently run some form of Raid in their MacPro’s like me. So right out the door anyone going from an old MacPro to a new one will have an additional cost to consider for an external raid. Something like a Drobo with thunderbolt 2. Also i’m not sure what type of prices we are looking at when considering Thunderbolt 2 peripherals
I love the design but that doesn’t say PRO to me it says high end consumer.
iTunes Radio
In the last 10 minutes Apple slide in their iTunes Radio annulment. Their really wasn’t a whole lot talked about. They are basically going to give Pandora a run for their money. I don’t feel they will be competing with Spotify and other On-demand music services this is more like a radio station service.
what we didn't hear about
We heard nothing about wearable computing devices nor anything along the lines as a Television or even an AppleTV. Their eco system is moving towards 802.11ab so we should expect refreshes of all new products in the works.
Final thoughts
Apple has a lot on their plate almost too much if you ask me but if anyone can do it they can. WWDC 2013's conference was a bit dull at times seeing features that should have been their. However Craig Federighi saved the show with his personable and funny injections. All these new features and devices are set to be released this year most with most of them in Fall. I think were in the mist of the transition from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook. Hold on and lets see where Apple's ride takes us.
I also can see sales going up due to the new 802.11ab protocol and system refreshes to support them. If Apple can get from Theory to Implementation i'm sure everyone will be wanting that extra speed.
