All eyes have been on Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose this week. App creators, journalists and Apple fans gathered for development sessions and workshops. But most of the attention has been on Apple CEO Tim Cook’s opening keynote.
Shelly Brisbin, Texas Standard’s web editor, is there, and says the company’s energetic keynote featured big announcements about privacy and accessibility, as well as news that a piece of hardware will get an overdue update.
“The mood around here is enthusiastic,” Brisbin says. “But it’s hard to get a feel for what consumers are thinking outside the Apple bubble.”
For an outside-the-bubble perspective, tech expert Omar Gallaga has been following the conference’s developments. He says iTunes may be singing its swan song, but its phaseout will affect users in different ways. He also says Cook unveiled a revamped – and pricey – desktop computer, and Apple is going into the so-called sign-on business, which will make logging into apps and websites with an Apple ID more seamless. It will also help Apple better compete with Google and Facebook.
“If you go to websites and you see ‘Log in with Google, Log in with Facebook,’ this is Apple’s attempt to do the same thing,” Gallaga says. “But they’re promising it will be more privacy-focused.”
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– What users can expect from upcoming software updates, as well as from new hardware
– What Apple plans to do with iTunes
– How Apple’s new sign-on feature will be different from that of its competitors
Written by Geronimo Perez.
