At WWDC 2014 on Monday, Apple “unveiled its answer to Microsoft’s vision of the future, where multiple devices collapse into one, where compromises are allegedly not allowed, with a recognition that compromises and multiple devices are not only the reality, but potentially lucrative if leveraged,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld. “”Continuity,” the term Apple applied to a wide range of features and technologies it will insert into both OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 this fall, was the key to Apple’s multi-device acknowledgement, said analysts, its reply to Microsoft’s — and its OEM partners’ — theory that customers want to reduce the number of things they carry. ‘These were the most important capabilities Apple unveiled yesterday by far,’ said Bob O’Donnell, principal analyst at Technalysis Research, in a post to Techpinions today. ‘Finally, we can start to see a world where the devices play a secondary role to the people and what it is they want to get done.'”
“Continuity is Apple’s umbrella label for several distinct technologies. Prominent among them is ‘Handoff,’ where iOS 8- and OS X Yosemite-powered devices, using proximity awareness, will be able to hand off in-progress tasks, like a half-finished document or email, from one to the other. Start a Pages document on a Mac, for instance, and pick it up on the iPad for completion,” Keizer reports. “Other Continuity features included receipt of text messages on Macs, taking and receiving phone calls from the Mac, and an instant ad hoc Wi-Fi hotspot triggered when an iPhone is near a connection-less Mac.”
“Adjuncts like iCloud Drive, a Dropbox-like enhancement of Apple’s online storage service, and Family Sharing — content-, calendar-, notification-sharing between multiple devices in a household — also play roles in handling multiple devices.,” Keizer reports. “The play is certainly to an Apple strength — its hardware lineup of smartphone, tablet and personal computer — and self-centered in that it’s a naked ploy to sell more of its own gear, not accommodate others’. But it is a clue to how it sees things.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It is so very nice to be all-Apple users!
Related articles:
OS X Yosemite first look video: Handoff – June 5, 2014
Why Apple’s Continuity for Mac, iPad, and iPhone is great for investors – June 4, 2014
Continuity: Apple is now moving in new directions and beyond where Steve Jobs might have gone – June 3, 2014
At WWDC 2014, Apple unleashes thermonuclear war against Android – June 3, 2014
Why developers are going nuts over Apple’s new ‘Swift’ programming language – June 3, 2014
Apple just delivered a knockout blow to Android with iOS 8 – June 2, 2014
Xcode 6 features resizable device simulators, paving way for iPhones with new screen sizes – June 2, 2014
WWDC 2014: Apple sets the scene for its next decade – June 2, 2014
Apple unveils new versions of OS X and iOS, major iCloud update with iCloud Drive – June 2, 2014
Apple’S WWDC news bores investors, not developers – June 2, 2014
Apple’s HealthKit aims to unite wearables and fitness apps – June 2, 2014
Apple releases iOS 8 SDK with over 4,000 new APIs – June 2, 2014
Apple unveils iOS 8, the biggest release since the launch of the App Store – June 2, 2014
Apple announces OS X Yosemite for Macintosh – June 2, 2014
I love how this is finally progressing. The idea has been there from Apple years ago but the hardware and infrastructure wasn’t there yet. Now that is is Apple can finally flex it’s muscles and bring another revolutionary change in the industry.
You can guarantee the usual suspects to try and slavishly copy this. You can also be sure how they will do their best to dismiss Apple with BS talking points, media manipulation and the hordes of the zombie iHaters army oozing their vile mouth of hate and “oh we can do that years ago, no big deal Apple is copying again, pffft we did that while taking a dump”. Just watch, it’s already happening.
And just wait until they REALLY make a play for the TV and the House.
Apple is just going to get stronger and stronger, while the competitions hacked-together wanna-be imitations get clunkier and clunkier. Nobody else is in a position to offer anything remotely like this degree of integration.
Another good reason for non Mac iPhone users to ditch Windows.
Suprised that Apple does not advertise the Mac on TV any more,, this is the perfect time for them to strike while Windows vulnerable right now.
I bet they will once this is all released officially. It’s too good to not show the public.
Steve’s vision is coming true…
Look, you can NEVER get seamless integration UNLESS the iPhone, iPad, AND the Mac use the SAME chip. Who are you kidding ? O.K., I want to transfer my FCP X work to my iPad (double screen iPad)
Yeah, right, the ” cloud’s gonna do that ?
Certain things can be seamless no matter what chip you use, some will have certain limitations due to the nature of the devices well beyond chip design but yes certain software on an iPad will indeed have certain limitations seamlessly working with its brother software on a Mac, you are right there though I doubt many would not have been able to work that out without your personal intervention. After all it’s pretty amazing that they work together at all between these devices.
Every year the gap between mobile and desktop OS’s narrows. One day the technology will advance enough so things like bumping a FCP X edit around various devices will be possible. Apple is in the best position to deliver this sort of thing given the waning popularity of Windows and the fact Google’s Chrome OS still has a ways to go.
I am pleasantly surprised now to find reminders or photos on my MacBook and iPad and iPhone. But I don’t see any real need.
you are right there though I doubt many would not have been able to work that out without your personal intervention…
What intervention? I WISH I COULD do something, but all I can do is HOPE Apple eventually uses an A8, 9 10.
I know it’s easier said than done (easy for me to say), but it’s ALSO TRUE ! It WOULD be BEST for the customer, and Apple would be using it’s OWN chip.