Apple’s new iOS 7 “operating system makes a year-old iPhone feel brand new. There’s no disputing that Apple needed the clean break,” Hilton Tarrant writes for memeburn. “But, hidden in the new OS are a number of features and technologies that are going to fundamentally change the way people use their phones. These aren’t buried deep in code, waiting for a switch to be flipped. We’re already using (most) of them.”
iTunes Radio: This is the most obvious of the three… The free streaming service baked into iTunes (or Apple’s ‘Music’ app to be more accurate) is going to change the way we consume music. In the handful of days since iOS 7 has been available, I’ve seen every friend of mine (with an iPhone) wowed by the service. Listening to music via iTunes Radio is now the default. What this means for the future of Pandora, Spotify, Simfy and hundreds of similar services remains to be seen.
AirDrop: AirDrop needs zero configuration. Its localised, system-level peer-to-peer that just works. It made its debut on the desktop in OSX Lion. But its integration in iOS7 changes the rules… This is going to be difficult for Android to copy. Yes, Android Beam exists (so does S-Beam), but its quite a stretch to imagine the process being as frictionless on Android because of fragmentation. In a year’s time, we won’t be able to remember a time before AirDrop. And NFC? Yeah, that’s dead in the water.
iBeacon: Anything that supports Bluetooth Low Energy can be turned into an iBeacon – that obviously includes any number of iOS devices, but also extends to third-party hardware. iBeacons are going to fundamentally change the way ‘location’ works.
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
Related articles:
Pandora founder: Impact of Apple’s iTunes Radio ‘will be modest on Pandora’ – September 24, 2013
At this pace, iTunes Radio beats Pandora in less than a month – September 24, 2013
Pandora drops as much as 12% on Apple’s iTunes Radio competition – September 23, 2013
Apple releases iTunes 11.1 with iTunes Radio – September 18, 2013
Pandora: iTunes Radio roadkill – September 17, 2013
Apple’s iTunes Radio is going to put Pandora into a world of hurt – September 14, 2013
Anticipating customer surprise, Apple begins training support staff on iOS 7 and iTunes Radio – August 29, 2013
Pandora would be wise not to write-off Apple’s potent iTunes Radio – August 26, 2013
Apple’s iTunes Radio to debut in September with McDonald’s, Nissan, P&G, Pepsi sponsorships – August 21, 2013
Apple’s new iTunes Radio is designed to be the largest streaming radio service – July 13, 2013
Apple announces iTunes Radio – launches this fall – June 10, 2013
Apple makes iPhone more like a computer than ever before with iOS 7 Multitasking, AirDrop and the Share widget – June 17, 2013
Apple’s brilliant iBeacons system will enable purchases, contextual marketing, automated check-ins and much more – September 14, 2013
Apple’s NFC killer: iOS 7′s iBeacons – September 11, 2013
iBeacons may prove to be Apple’s biggest new feature for iOS 7 – August 29, 2013
Apple v. Android: Bang per watt – Apple’s massive advantage – August 13, 2013
Love AirDrop, but right not you can’t go between iOS AirDrop and Mac AirDrop. Hope that changes.
I hope that’s a feature in Mountain Lion.
Scratch that. Mavericks.
As of now, it is not supported in Mavericks.
bummer ! was hoping this feature will make it into the GM at least
That’s still possible. I’m hoping for it too.
This is exactly what I thought Airdrop for iOS was. (no I didn’t research it until after I had upgraded to iOS 7)
I hope 10.9 adds this at some point.
Eat it out BLN!
iOS 7 adoption rate much higher than previous releases, now approaching 60 percent overall as per 9to5Mac!!
Clown BLN should be barred from MDN!
Not a fan of free speech, are you?
Sorry, the iOS7 GUI is highly unattractive. It needs legible fonts, visible borders, textures, color gradients, and it needs to lose the cheesy animation and allow users to opt out of the juvenile colors.
Yes, you got that right — while the functionality is great, I too strongly prefer the controls that the Mac offers, and i don’t understand why Apple offered such a hideous GUI for its next generation iOS.
I hope BLN continues to exercise his freedom of speech despite the unfounded scorn you attempt to toss on the lovable old curmudgeon.
Obviously, you are a liar. If you really owned an iPhone, you’d know that you can modify the system font. If you hate the light font used in iOS 7, you can go to a heavier version of the typeface by going to Settings/General/Accessibility. Click where it says Bold Text. The phone will want to reboot. After reboot, you’ll have an easier bolder font to read.
God, I hate these worthless trolls. I wish they’d all move out of their Mommys basements and get a job instead of annoying us non-losers.
Obviously you presume to much. The font is already set to bold.
But making font bold cannot take fix the ugly Helvetica sans-serif font into a proper serif type font, which is far easier for _me_ to read. The only reason sans serif fonts ever became popular is because low-resolution computer screens mangled beautiful and more legible serif fonts. The Retina display should have changed all that. Sadly, Apple doesn’t allow the end user the choice.
Oh, i forgot, you are always 100% with whatever your God (or Apple) chooses for you. Got it.
Odd. Of all the people that I have talked to about iOS 7, the only ones who don’t like the new look are posting here. Everyone else appears to really like the new look, and only the people here seem to think it “was designed by a 14 y.o. Girl.” Perhaps some of you should get out of your house and experience the real world where iOS 7 is nothing but a hit.
I am fortunate enough to teach a class containing a large number of extremely intelligent 14 year old girls. I would be happy to take design advice from them rather than the Chunky Chap at Microsoft or which ever robodoofus is sat in the Android Chair of Evil. The girls all have iPhones and/or iPads, so I rest content in their design maturity.
So, are those 14 year old girls hot?
I love iBacon!
Eggs-actly
🍚
Yes, I toast it’s true grit, buttery smoothness that doesn’t waffle on reliability and leave me in a jam.
(I’m a let you others milk this cheesy thread)
-Sir Up
Always love me a little TowerTone. Nice to see you popping in.
That’s what she said….
(Thanks)
Domination or do my nation?
iTunes Radio is fun. I’ve already configured my stations playlist. I have all my Barney The Purple Dino Greatest Hits….EVER on all my devices. My friends and family will love to hang out with me. 😉
I suspect iTunes Radio will improve with time. No doubt the fact that most-favored-crap tunes are being consistently skipped will sink into even the densest of media corporate oligarchy skulls. People demand fulfillment of their own taste in media, not the taste of some marketing moron at Sony, ad nauseam.
I can honestly say that iBeacons is the HUGE hidden feature. They barely mentioned it, but it will be a massive addition to retail. I was at a meeting today with a number of retail visionaries all of which are thinking NFC stands for “Not for Commerce”, but they are salivating over iBeacons and the possibilities.
And NFC? Yeah, that’s dead in the water. . . . iBeacon: Anything that supports Bluetooth Low Energy can be turned into an iBeacon
Now that I’m getting the hang of how iBeacon works, and the fact that it murders stupid NFC, I kind of like it!