Some Thoughts on iOS8

I’ve taken most of this week to digest all that Apple said and showed off at WWDC. Of everything I read and watched and listened to, my favorite was this A16Z podcast about WWDC.

Here’s my take:

1) Apple is making some great moves toward opening up iOS8. Allowing our portfolio DuckDuckGo’s search engine on Safari is one example. Allowing widgets and third party keyboards is another. My favorite is app to app sharing is now open to all apps, not just Facebook and Twitter. iOS8 is moving toward Android in some fundamental and important ways and I am super happy to see that.

2) Apple made some comments about allowing Bitcoin wallets on iOS. That’s really important because right now, you can’t have a bitcoin wallet on an iPhone. I don’t know exactly how that will play out but, like Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s founder and CEO, I am excited about it.

3) Apple is bringing the cloud more front and center in iOS8. Photos are now synced to the cloud. Data is now synced to the cloud. But they still use on device data to power things like word prediction on the keyboard. Contrast that with Google who uses the cloud to power word prediction and voice recognition. I think Apple needs to embrace the cloud for more than storage. Benedict Evans makes that point at the end of the A16Z podcast:

For Google, devices are dumb glass and the intelligence is in the cloud, but for Apple the cloud is just dumb storage and the device is the place for intelligence.

4) Healthkit and Homekit are very interesting. I don’t totally understand yet how open these “internet of things” services are to third parties. Can any device send data into Healthkit and Homekit? Can any app get data out of Healtkit and Homekit? Will Apple be building more of these kinds of services (Carkit)? Benedict Evans calls this the “personal cloud” in his post on WWDC. He describes it as the “Bluetooth LE/wifi mesh around you”. I really like that way of thinking about the “internet of things” and I like that Apple is pushing in this direction more agressively than Android, at least until we hear what Google has coming at IO.

I am not sure that anything that was announced at WWDC is a game changer for iOS8 vs Android and I think the current dynamic that is in the market remains in play. Apple is reacting to a strong competitor in Android by making their operating system better and more open. Competition is a good thing for the consumer and the market.

#mobile

Comments (Archived):

  1. RichardF

    I liked the Swift announcement. Haven’t dived in yet but am going to give it a try!

  2. jason wright

    so you’re gonna get an iphone?

    1. fredwilson

      i have onei keep it in my office so i can try appsmost of the companies that come to see us for investment have an iOS app in the market and nothing on Android yet

      1. jason wright

        that makes perfect sense. tool of the trade.everyone i encounter in web tech seems to have one, and often also an ipad and/ or a macbook.

        1. fredwilson

          i have five or six macs, an iPad, an iPhone, my main phone which is a Nexus 5, and about a dozen Nexus 7 tabletsi use all of these devices regularly

          1. William Mougayar

            I do the opposite with an Android.

  3. Brian Crain

    Just wanted to let you guys know that the CoinJar app has been live and fully functional in the App Store since Tuesday. If it doesn’t appear, you might have to change the address of the apple account to a different country. (UK works for example.)Very exciting!

  4. JLM

    .This is an example of the drumbeats of “convergence” being heard by all.Start with the cloud and work toward devices.Start with devices and work toward the cloud.Start with the desktop and work toward the phablet.Start with the phablet and work toward the desktop.Convergence, it’s what’s for breakfast.The cloud is the linkage amongst everything — phablets, tablets, laptops, desktops.Our lives will be lived on Earth but under the cloud.On Earth as it is in the Cloud/Texas, y’all!Is this a great time to be alive or what?JLM.

    1. hypermark

      Dead on. The three central themes that stood out for me — beyond a VERY confident and crisp Apple — were the Continuity features between Macs and iOS devices, and back; the app to app to app Extensibility features; and the emphasis on making the app store better, more transparent and more agile for developers. Put another way, Apple is tripling down on the “vertical” strategy, which when you get down to it, is their unfair advantage.

    2. Pete Griffiths

      The strength of last generation apple computers was their tight integration which enabled a very tightly managed user experience. The weakness was it wasn’t as open as wintel and not subject to the same brutal competitive dynamics – this relegated Apple to high margin niches.History is repeating itself. iOS may be more ‘open’ than it was but it still isn’t as open as Android and it continues to lose market share. As before, it will benefit from tight hardware integration and lack of fragmentation. As before it will be killed in market share and the insane product competition on Android – a competition by the ways that has barely started. The chinese companies are planning to take over smartphones and god help samsung in the next five years. They are likely to become the apple of android.The big difference between desktops and smartphones is that even a niche in phones is gigantic and hence viable, indeed lucrative.

      1. ShanaC

        Do you think apple will go through another Windows moment as Android phones take over

        1. Pete Griffiths

          I’m not sure what you mean by a ‘Windows moment.’

      2. melci

        Hardly. Apple will in the next quarter or so hit 1 billion iOS devices out there of which 85% are still active and will sell over quarter of a billion iOS devices in 2014 up from 234 million last year.Apple has more active credit-card attached users (800 million) than Amazon, eBay, Paypal, Zinga, Netflix, Pandora, Google Wallet and Spotify combined and the iOS platform continues to generate more developer revenue, more web browser share, 1,790% greater Advertising ROI, and 500% greater e-commerce revenue than Android.Market share is only a means to an end, not an end in itself but Android is failing to deliver as two thirds of Android sales are cheap and nasty junk phones that contribute nothing to the Android platform.The only history that is repeating here is that iOS is the new Windows in terms of App Ecosystem, developer revenue, e-commerce etc.Android is however the new Windows in terms of malware.

        1. Pete Griffiths

          I think you misread my comment.I was not suggesting that iOS would be unsuccessful. The last sentence makes that plain: “The big difference between desktops and smartphones is that even a niche in phones is gigantic and hence viable, indeed lucrative.”GIven the above obviously I wasn’t suggesting that market share is an end in itself.But neither is market share irrelevant. If (!) Android can be managed by Google into a more consistent environment it will represent a HUGE market. And that will matter.

          1. melci

            Fair enough but I think it is a bit of a stretch to call a Billion iOS devices and the world’s largest credit-card enabled active user base by far a niche. :-)With the fragmentation and forking that is going on with Android, particularly in Asia and even with Samsung and its growing emphasis on the Tizen OS it is hard to see Google being able to fix their broken OS model any time soon.

          2. Pete Griffiths

            I promise I won’t call it a ‘niche’ again.It is very hard to forecast the evolution of the fragmentation or consolidation of Android. Bear in mind that whilst OEMs love to install their own skins and apps to try to lock users in, this has the side effect of complicating the world for developers. And to the degree that developers are loath to invest on the platform to that degree all Android OEMs suffer. This is a cycle we’ve seen before and it has always been excruciating.(wrt Tizen, very very early days)

          3. melci

            The fact that Samsung switched the OS that runs of their new Smartwatch from Android to Tizen in the latest update for that device indicates it may be further along than we think…

          4. Pete Griffiths

            It’s a different device and they were having problems with android on the watches. I don’t know the detail but obviously they can customize Tizen a lot more so that may well have influenced the decision. They haven’t put it on a serious phone yet.(Tizen isn’t to be ignored, I just think it’s going to be a while if ever. One of the key objectives is to keep Google honest even if they never use it. They have to have something they can turn to.)

    3. Mark Essel

      Right on. Always a great time to be alive, the alternative is far less interesting

  5. JimHirshfield

    I saw the DuckDuckGo news yesterday. That’s awesome! Let’s see that search volume graph again in a few weeks please.

    1. jason wright

      i wonder if apple has negotiated a first refusal on DDG?

      1. fredwilson

        I would be shocked. Gabe has his own plan

        1. LE

          Your AMA: Does USV insist on or take out key man insurance with it’s investments? Does GG do the same with angel investments?

        2. jason wright

          everyone has an exit price in their head.

    2. Richard

      This was clearly (part of) a message to google. (As was the early strait on attack on Microsoft). Apple has its sights on the triumvirate phone, tablet, laptop.

  6. jason wright

    Google I/O may hint at whether Apple and Google have extended their cooperation pact beyond tech industry salary caps.

  7. Brandon Burns

    Are you feeling well today, Fred? So many positive things to say about Apple! Must have been a good yoga morning. 😛

    1. fredwilson

      I am rooting for them. There aren’t many who can keep Google honest. Amazon and Facebook and Apple and maybe a few Chinese companies

      1. Brandon Burns

        Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba… all so different. They compete, yet they don’t.If any company is most similar to Google, its Tencent with its similar “we’ve got our hands in everything” offerings. As they all jockey for world’s baddest tech company, Tencent is the one I’d keep an eye on.

        1. jason wright

          the enemy of my enemy is my friend.i think the threat from china is so great that the four horsemen have called a truce.

      2. David Semeria

        That’s very smart Fred.Even if you, like me, resent much of Apple’s “control freak” DNA, a world with just one dominant mobile OS is not a nice world…

      3. ShanaC

        I don’t think the Chinese companies are keeping anyone honest due to the fact that we’re hacking each other, creating some not fun front page stories

  8. Richard

    And as they say, but there is more, 1) apple spotlight. I think apple laid out a path to where they will take google head-on. I-message was another. Using 2) predictive reply words for messaging (generated within the device) was clearly an attempt to say we get machine learning. And then there was the big picture. At the highest level they 3) made a case for maintaining and purchasing three devices: the phone, the tablet and the laptop, all seemlessly interconnected acting as one. This was an ambitious plan. Let’s see how they execute.

  9. William Mougayar

    I knew you would stop bashing Apple after the DDG add-on :)Only thing missing now is a kick-ass iPhone 6 to complement this good stuff.

    1. Richard

      “When the facts change, I alter my opinion. What do you do sir?” Unknown.

    2. Elia Freedman

      September.

      1. William Mougayar

        I hope so.

      2. William Mougayar

        From your mouth to Steve Jobs’ ears 🙂

  10. William Mougayar

    Also, improved Siri and voice.

    1. JimHirshfield

      So they “say”.

    2. awaldstein

      no one uses siri

      1. ErikSchwartz

        My kids use siri as a game exploring the funny canned answers.

  11. Aaron Klein

    A small counterpoint: my understanding is that the major reason Google voice recognition is 10X better than Siri (even on iPhone in the Google or Chrome apps) is that Google is loading the voice intelligence onto the device, and Apple is transmitting everything in real time to the cloud.Siri has horrible, horrible latency. Plus the recognition is awful.Google is using the cloud for what it’s good at (the machine learning to make recognition way better) and the native device for what it’s good at (speed of execution).

    1. awaldstein

      Thanks for the explanation.Siri just sucked and that was my technical reason for not using it.

      1. Aaron Klein

        Siri is good for exactly one thing. “Remind me to get X tonight at 8:00 tonight.”Works 70% of the time.

        1. awaldstein

          If I worked 70% of the time that would be retirement.

    2. sigmaalgebra

      Oh, there’s nothing hard about machine learning. Machine learning is easy. Making machine learning actually work well? Ah, that’s a whole other story. That’s hard!

  12. Bruce Warila

    as a user of both IOS and Android, I overwhelmingly favour my Android device simply for the amazing word prediction capabilities.. Sometimes it’s the simple things that win the battle for hearts and minds…

  13. Tom Labus

    Being a contrarian investor, I see them at their top here and moving mostly on momentum.

    1. Richard

      There was a subtle comment by TC directed to their adoption rates in China. This seems to be the number to keep your eye on.

  14. John Revay

    I forgot what they called it….however I liked how the devices/os’s in their platform are all working better together….1. Start drafting an email on your iphone or ipad…and then finish and send from your mac book.2. The mesh network – of having your ipad or mac book auto connect to the LTE pipe on your phone,3. Interconnection of the phone between all of the devices re: answering an incoming call on your ipad.

    1. John Revay

      Oh ya…and the home sharing functionality seemed much better improved

      1. JimHirshfield

        They call it convergence. See @JLM:disqus ‘s comment below. It’s what’s for breakfast (in Texas, evidently).

  15. John Revay

    re: #3 – cloud front and center…I like the fact that apple is joining in the price wars to bring cloud storage prices down.I currently use Bitcasa b/c it is super cheap…I would rather be using drop box if pricing did not come into play.

  16. Barry Nolan

    The subtext of iOS8 is Trust.As smartphones increasingly control our personal world, trust is uppermost. Not only is Android saddled with hardware fragmentation, it’s riddled with malware and insecurities. Apple’s trusted HomeKit, HealthKit, TouchID for 3rd parties, alongside their no-tracking/indexing philosophy, is a powerful juxtaposition to Google’s p̶a̶g̶e̶PersonRank position.

    1. ShanaC

      Do you trust apple

      1. dylanized

        Yes

      2. Ryan

        Yes, and definitely more than Google and Facebook – because at the end of the day Apple sells devices, not advertising based on personal information.

      3. Barry Nolan

        Yes. But I also expect the them to fail on occasion – e.g. Go To Fail SSL Bug.

  17. ErikSchwartz

    If Health kit is well done it will be terrific for health tech start up is in the short term but be the death of them in the long term.I have not dug into Health Kit yet but a few medical informatics folks I do know have and they are unimpressed. There’s medical classification and taxonomy that structures this kind of data and in Health Kit it seems to be structured like a hypercard stack of your record collection.

    1. sigmaalgebra

      How to structure medical data has long been a severe problem, From that, I had to be skeptical that Apple had done much or that good medical data would be easy for software to use. My guesswould be the HealthKit is a toy and, then, sadly another ‘structure’ for medical data. People have dreams, and sometimes can sell them something that seems to them as their dream.

  18. Elia Freedman

    Doing everything in the cloud is not a very good option today. Latency is horrible and there are still way too many dead zones. Besides, these devices have some real power. Why not take advantage of that? Google isn’t wrong. Instead both companies are going about it their own way, one more device centric and one more cloud centric, with both companies utilizing both.

    1. LE

      and there are still way too many dead zonesComputer “types” are really good at insulating themselves from the day to day frustrations of end users. Microsoft gets the award for that. And look how much money they made.

      1. Elia Freedman

        I think a bit of that is that empathy is hard, and some of it is a desire to live in the future instead of today.

        1. LE

          Part of it is an aspie thing. [1]Otoh making money in business is correlated with making the hard choices (which may not actually be hard if you don’t have the ability to empathize) needed in your best interest.My dad was the type, for example, that would call two cabs and the first one that appeared he would take. He didn’t care about the second one. Otoh he was very caring with his tenants in helping them and got thank you letters etc. Never jacked up the rent. Tolerated all sorts of things. I guess the cab thing was different in some way to him. Likewise his word meant something but he would definitely pull out of a deal at the last minute if he changed his mind. This is all a continuum as I like to say. Nothing absolute but some people are more in the direction of doing things w/o care for others and some are just fucking Mother Theresa and would never do anything that hurt anyone. Over the years I’ve noticed tons of patterns I could write a book on what I have seen.Other level is some people know that “they have been a bad boy” but at least try to act nice in words to soften the blow. So they care enough (and know enough) to tell you some small lie (which shows something imo). (That will be chapter 8 in the book I will never write).[1] http://psychcentral.com/lib

  19. Elia Freedman

    I find it amazing that HomeKit and HealthKit both received about 30 seconds apiece. I’ve heard HealthKit may have some regulatory/HIPAA concerns to work through as well. My guess is we will see more on these later this year when Apple starts rolling these out with hardware partners.

  20. Twain Twain

    Here’s Google’s bigger 2030 strategy as the Cloud god……..Ray Kurzweil of Google, TED Talk March 2014:“Twenty years from now, we’ll have nanobots…They’re going into our brains through the capillaries and, basically, connect our neocortex to a synthetic neocortex in the Cloud, providing extension of our neocortex.”“You might think that (the frontal cortex) is more sophisticated but what’s morecomplicated is the hierarchy beneath them.But the frontal cortex (where we think “This is funny”, “That girl’s pretty”) is not quantitatively different really. It’s a quantitative expansion of the neocortex.That additional quantity of thinking was the enabling factor for us to take a qualitative leap and invent language and art and science and technology.”In other words:(1.) Google the cloud god will be transmitting thoughts and ideas into your neocortex.(2.) Quality and our subjective thoughts don’t matter. As long as Google has enough quantities of information, it assumes there’ll be a leap of Singularity to quality.Google wants to tap your brain:* http://www.cmswire.com/cms/…Apple treating the Cloud as dumb storage and the intelligence in the device is also a clear values indicator. You are the device and you control it.Unlike Google, Apple is not thinking (yet?) of how to use the Cloud to do mind control of you in 2030.Ray Kurzweil’s TED Talk March 2014:* https://www.youtube.com/wat…He thinks of hybrid thinking as our biological brains being fused with nanobots to Google Cloud as our source of intelligence and us being Cyborgs.Google has already hired up to 50% of the world’s AI experts to achieve their objective:* http://readwrite.com/2014/0…I think of hybrid thinking as enabling us to understand quant+qualitative signals, art+science, male+female, East+West etc.Plus I believe quality (words, meanings, subjective feelings) are fundamentally different from quantity (numbers, %, levels, limits).Quality is NOT derived from quantity as Kurzweil presents it to be, imo.Quality and quantity co-exist, intertwined, in the way our intelligence works and how we parse and make sense of information, I believe.Apple using Cloud as storage rather than as controller of our intelligence and our neocortex is how they and Google are different.

  21. MikeSchinkel

    @Fred – I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Swift programming language. I think that could be very significant in it’s ability to empower more businesses to be able to build their own internal-use and external apps because it will lower the skill barrier for development similar to what Visual Basic did for Windows in the 90’s.

    1. Michael Brill

      Unfortunately, 95% of the complexity is in the massive API set, not language syntax. I do agree that Swift is a good thing but take a look at functioning Swift vs. Objective-C examples against real APIs and it’s not all that different.So, yeah, it will reduce the skill barrier a bit… but just a bit.

      1. MikeSchinkel

        @michaelbrill:disqus The interesting thing is not that Swift will make it easier for people already coding iOS apps, it’s that it will empower more people to start coding iOS apps, myself included. I wouldn’t even try with Objective-C but am now interested because I’ve read skimmed most of the Swift book and I can definitely handle it. In large part because they’ve made it safe to program in.Let’s compare C++ and C# on Windows. Yes they are similar but C# has a massive API and yet it’s much more approachable than C++. Yes, Swift is unfortunately not at the simplicity level of Visual Basic, but I can see a lot more companies building internal apps using Swift than on Objective-C. Back in the 90’s and early 00’s Visual Basic and then .NET ushered in a lot more internal corporate development than when the the only approach for coding Windows was C++. I expect Swift will have a similar effect.

        1. ErikSchwartz

          Personally I find the whole xcode/dev center certificate/provisioningID/appID developer environment horror show to be one of the larger hurdles.I used to have a NeXT box so objective-c and I go way back, but most of my current iOS frustrations are environmental not developmental.

          1. MikeSchinkel

            @ErikSchwartz:disqus “dev center certificate/provisioningID/appID developer environment horror show to be one of the larger hurdles.”You do have a strong point there…

    2. ShanaC

      Swift right now makes me want to buy a new iPad just so I can learn it. I’m a horrible programmer (or at least not a great one) but swift seems doable

      1. MikeSchinkel

        @ShanaC:disqus “Swift seems doable” Exactly.BTW, I assume you mean a new iPad so you can deploy, right? You’ll need a Mac to write programs.

        1. ShanaC

          Yes. I’m a poor founder who has a used MacBook Air that I got last year for $400.But I want to deploy something, eventually. That isn’t a hacky python script for marketing.Hopefully the startup shall make money (soon):)

          1. MikeSchinkel

            @ShanaC:disqus – Good for you. I’m sure if you focus you will do fabulous, at least from evidence of your participation here.

    3. fredwilson

      i just havent’ groked it yet

  22. John

    The Apple HealthKit announcement is disappointing. I wrote about it: http://www.smartphonehc.com… The problem with health is that it’s so much more complicated than say music. Plus, we all know we get instant satisfaction out of getting access to music. What’s the satisfaction we get of instant access to health info? I think that one day we will get that instant satisfaction from healthcare, but it would take a focused effort and not a general platform like they’ve announced.

    1. MikeSchinkel

      I’m excited about HealthKit because I think it will empower some startups innovate in the admin and finance side of health care.

      1. ErikSchwartz

        If it is successful (and I doubt it), it will destroy health startups. It will be great short term, but in the long term it will kill any of them with value.The medical informatics people I know who have looked into what is available have not been impressed. No ICD, no snomed. This isn’t just an application for keeping track of your music collection.

        1. sigmaalgebra

          But, but, but, it’s HUGE! I mean, everyone on the planet cares about health! And the field is now wide open! Why, just everything is possible and just waiting to be done. Mobile, wearable, digital, real time, cloud connected health! How could there be any doubts? You’re so skeptical. How could you be so skeptical? </sarcasm>

          1. LE

            The problem is that while everybody cares about health [1] they are also addicted to food and the pleasure that they get from eating to much of the certain food (specifically quantity and quality are both factors). Brain pleasure center activation.[1] Actually they don’t. Best video past week on nightly news was vets being interviewed about the VA issues, in a bar, with drinks, with at least one of them smoking on camera talking about healthcare. And they all looked like “worn out” older people.

        2. MikeSchinkel

          @ErikSchwartz:disqus Time will tell. It interests me because I could see it as something to leverage for those interesting in premium medical services, something I’ve been exploring with some local health care providers.

      2. John

        I agree that it will empower some startups to enter healthcare, but it won’t have a transformative effect on healthcare like many are describing.

        1. MikeSchinkel

          @John Yes, but I wasn’t using the phrase ” transformative effect”, no? 🙂

    2. SubstrateUndertow

      What’s the satisfaction we get of instant access to health info?Maybe it is more about setting the table for an emergent market in “Health Data Collection” sensors ?

      1. John

        Could be. I can see it as a platform for the emerging sensors market. We’ll see what the sensor people do with it though.

  23. MikeSchinkel

    Michael  McCarthy – Since you veered off topic, I’ll just add my two cents. I really dislike Disqus from a user interface perspective; there are numerous things that I find annoying about it, and I’m constantly annoyed because so many websites use it.FWIW if Livefyre has some evil strategy for enticing big companies into dropping Disqus then I’m on the side of evil. 🙂

    1. Michael  McCarthy

      Hey Mike, I agree with some of your post. The old Dashboard of Disqus was far more elegant and functional before the recent changes. Yes, I’m also disappointed how Disqus killed off the old feature of showing the Top 10 forums where people posted.It’s very disruptive (in a bad way) when a site flips from one to the other. In the case of Apple 2.0, some new Livefyre people are happy to join in. Some of the former thought leaders are annoyed, and seeking new forums. Disqus and Livefyre remain 2 sharply distinct neighborhoods, with a solid barrier between them.

      1. MikeSchinkel

        @McCarthyMacSupport:disqus For me the issues with Disqus include the editing experience on the client, and the difficult of unsubscribing when I comment.

  24. danielbower

    While it was touted as an OS X feature I think the greater ties between your iPhone and your laptop are an important step forward.Far to much time is spent switching between these two devices during the day at the expense of time and attention.Part of the ‘openness’ theme should also mean greater ties between your phone and laptop both for core apps like calling and SMS but also third party developers.It seems a little odd that your phone might become better at communicating with your fridge freezer than your laptop!

  25. JimHirshfield

    Thanks Michael.It’s not a winner take all market. In simple terms, some publishers/blogs prefer a silo’d and highly customized solution – and so that’s Livefyre’s wheelhouse. Some parger publishers prefer that so much that they’re willing to pay six to seven figures a year to Livefyre in license fees. Disqus prefers a connected network, uniform user experience, and to give publishers the opportunity to earn revenue with us.Very different approaches addressing different business priorities. So, no evil strategy at play.

  26. Liban Mahamed

    Another great topic, thank you Fred. Additional factor working in Google’s favor is expansion of Android users in both phone and tablets. This will influence expansion of apps going forward. More users will translate into developers choosing Android ecosystem over IOS. I think Apple by charging more per device today maybe compromising future growth prospects. Apple risk becoming a niche player again in smartphones and tablets. History maybe repeating itself here.

  27. JimHirshfield

    Thanks

  28. Sinjin Lee

    The push towards the cloud for Apple makes total sense…looks like they no longer view Dropbox as a feature. I am in agreement that Healthkit and Homekit offer exciting avenues to build out the “personal cloud”.

  29. JG

    any news on apt-x support?

  30. Yaniv Tal

    This WWDC was definitely huge. Apple just has a way of knowing exactly what features users need, waiting till they nail it, and then delivering them on a silver platter. By waiting on extensions until they were able to get the model right, they’ll end up with a much better experience than Android. Also you left out the most exciting part from a developer’s perspective. Swift! Freaking gorgeous.I am really curious to see what they’re going to do with iBeacons / payments though. It’s an area they have the might to make big waves in and they have been filing a lot of patents in that space. My only worry is with all the hardware coming out in the fall, are they really going to wait till next year to release any of it? Guuuh.

  31. george

    Amazon, Apple and Google each have their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s interesting to see them all crossing over into each others core businesses – it’s definitely a hardcore battle! I think Apple of late is responding to a large number of nonlinear shifts capable of threatening their ecosystem. IOS8 and Beats sure up three immediate concerns; accelerating app development, cloud urgency and targeting the next generation of omnipresent consumers.Apple advanced the ball downfield pretty well this year and the new direction signals they are reinventing before the, “its too late” scenario is realized – great leadership!

  32. Ben Brown

    I disagree that intelligence in the cloud is the right solution for mobile devices. The cloud is not ready for that yet in most of the world. It should be obvious this is true in developing markets which live on EDGE or 3G connections. But even in the most developed markets, even in New York or London, you still find yourself in buildings or subways or whatever with bad cellular coverage.I am a huge fan of the cloud for asynchronous activities (e.g., data storage) but synchronous things (e.g., voice processing) should be done on-device.

  33. Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey

    Good insight, including many of the comments.Most biz folks missed the reference to the cloud as a data store for iOS8 app dev efforts. This is huge. If you have ever tried to integrate SQL [local or remote] into your iOS app, you stood to your feet and applauded this news. It is a game changer. Throw in Swift [if it is even half as good as the demo] and the best app dev platform went from an “8” rating to “10” or even “11”!The biggest reason [although I have several] I have been looking at returning to Delphi, now for iOS dev, is their Cloud Service (BaaS) integration. That reason just went by the wayside.Now, me and the rest of world are waiting for a Chromecast killer and a beautiful wearable.P.S. And Barry Nolan got it right: Trust. Forget the money for the moment [iOS is the only platform where I make money; note that I deliver on Android, Kindle Fire and Nook HD] — I use and promote iOS devices for the security and consistency of the tightly regulated iTunes Store. I have lost arguments with Apple over apps, but I still love them for making sure all iOS apps are held for the most part, to the same high standard.

  34. dfooter

    One thing missed is Metal – possibility that iPhone could be a powerful game platform that could encroach on consoles. Combined with Airplay and an eventual deal with the content producers and Apple finally dominates the living room as predicted for so long. Metal is something completely differentiable – Android’s fragmentation prevents something similar as it requires a strong bond between processor, hardware and OS. Not sure how big it will be, but potential there.

  35. fredwilson

    maybe, but its hard to walk away from the collective investment i’ve made in using android