WWDC 22: What Apple’s Big Plan Means for Business

Apple hosted a complimentary feast for developers (and Apple device users) at WWDC 2022 on Monday, and while we’re waiting for more granular details, here’s a brief overview of some of the big additions and features that make the difference between you and you. Will create. Your business when they roll out this fall.

Messages and Mail

Apple has finally put some much-needed effort into the app, with most business users spending most of their time using mail. It has also improved messaging.

Mail improvements are welcome. It includes support for rich links, scheduled send, follow up and reminder suggestions so you don’t forget to manage some. You’ll also get the ability to undo and an advanced mail search. The latter means that recent emails, contacts, documents and links should appear when you start searching for emails, Apple said. (For me, I want to make mail better for handling terribly large mailboxes, but we’ll see if there’s any improvement.)

Apple did not release the messages. This will allow users to mark messages as unread, not send messages and edit sent messages, all of which are useful additions. When users send an invitation to collaborate via message, each thread is automatically added to a document, spreadsheet or project.

Apple invents the search industry

Apple didn’t replace search on Safari, it just made it less necessary. Spotlight – available on every Apple device – now supports rich results, and, in macOS (newer version “Ventura”), it offers QuickLook access to those results. The results themselves use a myriad of databases, including Apple’s own, and the presentation means you can easily drill down through various forms of results from within the spotlight – no search engine is required.

We know AppleBot has been trolling the web for some time; We must find out what the new rules of the spotlight search game might be SEO experts everywhere will wake up to the significance of this right now. Given that Spotlight can enhance all of this with the help of delicious tools such as the ability to search text in an image and much more, these rich results, provided on a platform basis, can still become a more personal search engine for the rest of us.

Siri adds the ability to run shortcuts automatically from the app without the need for any setup – and it can process more types of requests offline without an Internet connection.

The future without passwords? It’s here

Apple is bringing Paskey. They interact with biometric IDs to prevent pasky fish from being leaked or stolen. They will work easily on apps on the web and will be securely synced across your iCloud keychain device. Given that Apple also provides tools to support the keychain on Microsoft devices (and an associate member of the Microsoft FIDO Alliance) I think the password-free future is slowly emerging.

Stage manager, stay focused on the main attraction

Available on Macs and iPads, Stage Manager lets you focus on the app you’re using without confusion. You activate the tool in the Control Center and it will place all the current windows on one side of your display, creating a clean desktop to help you focus on important things. Check back later this week for a closer look at Apple’s huge iPad improvements.

Apples

Display zoom

This should be really useful. In short, Display Zoom lets you increase the pixel density of your M1-powered iPad’s display on the fly, making it even easier to see in your apps – especially when using Split View. IPads also gain new capabilities optimized for iPad displays, “from system components and interactions to new features available on Mac, including a consistent restoration and redesign experience across the system, a redesigned search and replacement experience, customizable. Toolbar, Capabilities Change file extensions and view folder size in files and more, ”Apple said.

Freeform is a collaborative whiteboard

Apple has not invented a project management suite, but it has managed to turn FaceTime into a collaborative super hub with Freeform. See it as a whiteboard so everyone can input, share and comment, enabling scattered teams to work together on project plans. Users can see the contributions of others when they add or edit content, all while enjoying a real-time collaboration space.

There are other whiteboards, many of which integrate better with project management tools, but Freeform will almost certainly become a creative industry space for project development.

Apples

Continuity camera and deskview

Apple has a new feature that lets you use your iPhone as a collaboration session camera instead of a camera built into your Mac. This is great, but it also hosts a second feature that handles both the amazing (and awesome) and shows the future of machine vision intelligence. It uses your iPhone camera as a webcam, which is great and includes centerstage support, which is great. But in doing so, it offers a deskview feature that lets you continue to see what’s happening at your desk (so you can look straight ahead when you use your keyboard).

It also shows how Apple can replace keyboards and mice with gesture controls and virtual tools for both text input and pointer positioning – and highlights the sheer amount of data that can be collected by a video camera connected to Apple’s increasingly powerful AI.

M2 processor and new Mac

Apple has announced the first M2 Macs (a MacBook Air and 13-in. MacBook Pro). Pre-WWDC estimates that the chip will be in 5nm process technology were correct, but Apple has still been able to deliver impressive performance results from it. Users are looking at 50% more memory bandwidth with 18% faster CPU and 35% faster GPU and the ability to deliver performance at a fraction of the competition PCs.

Given this M2 processor, and we know that the performance difference Apple was able to replicate within its M1 range, the future of the Mac platform looks strong. (Keep in mind that in a few years, we’ll probably see the first iterations of the M3 chip built on 3nm technology.) Apple claims that it can get 2.3x the performance of a 10-core PC laptop in just 15 minutes. Watt power consumption and 25% GPU performance increase compared to M1 Mac, thanks to M2K.

I don’t know if your company is working on a roadmap, but I can’t help but imagine that a 25% performance boost every 12-18 months is more than enough progress for most technology-based businesses. And for some enterprise professionals, the best way to ensure that MacBook Air continues to support MagSafe is to always have a power cable with you.

Apples

Widgets in iOS 16 and more

Your iPhone will support a fully personalized always-on-on lockscreen and widgets inspired by the intricacies of the Apple Watch, including a new live activities tool that looks at things like ride share and food delivery orders as you progress.

Apples

Apple Watch and Health

What Apple is creating is an argument that says employees in every enterprise should be given an Apple Watch as part of their healthcare package if they want to reduce their insurance overhead (and make employees happy). The mild incentives that Afib History, the Heart Rate Zone, and the watch provide for the promotion of better habits can save the lives of your employees.

Apple Pay gets a new business opportunity

Apple today launched a new service business called Apple Pay Letter. Where this is supported (and assuming you have passed a credit check), Apple has become the best resourced player in the “Buy Now Buy Later” league – and its customers tend to get a little richer, I suspect, once we get through T&C However, Apple has just created a strong new profit line.

With Apple Pay, the company took a piece from each user’s wallet and helped promote mobile payments. With Pay Letter, each user pulls out a slice from their expected wallet one day.

Happy Anniversary, Apple Map

Two years ago today, Apple taught me to play maps. Maps are getting a lot better now: multi-stop routing, trips that can be planned on one device and then shared with another, and – perhaps most appealing to enterprise developers – look around (Apple’s equivalent street view) is now available in the map kit. This means there should be a much deeper integration between your customer-centric Apple-compatible apps and services and maps. And it provides attractive opportunities for any industry where location is important.

Translation and melodic improvement

Apple has added live translation to its iOS 16 app using the iPhone camera. This means you need to point your camera at a sign to get a glimpse of what this notice says. The company also says that its audio-visual equipment is used 18 billion times a month – and has added translation to video so that you can translate a sign when you point your camera at anything (both video and photo mode).

Security check

This is an important feature which means that those in abusive relationships will be able to review and revoke access to apps and passwords held by their abusers if they try to escape. I argue that any employer should support this because such abuse is not always obvious and the main goal should always be to free the victims from corrupt control.

What devices are supported?

Big news? iOS 16 will require iPhone 8 or later. This may look a bit like the return of iOS 15 supported devices to the iPhone 6S, but it implies that the iPhone 8 will be five years old when it arrives on the iOS 16 ship. While this may annoy cash-strapped businesses who did not expect to upgrade older devices, I suspect the A11 chips will still be a few years inside smartphones.

When will the Betas ship leave?

Developers including your own developers registered with Apple can download the beta software today. When the public beta opens, members of the public will be able to take the beta test next month (July).

And there’s more …

There is plenty of extra subtlety to explore; This initial collection of significant enhancements will help you pivot your enterprise to take advantage of Apple’s digital opportunities as they become fully baked.

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