At apple’s annual wwdc keynote, the highest-group Subject is Always the future of its software platforms. And the big news in that department usually stars us right in the face. In 2023, for example, it was the debut of apple vision pro, the company’s entry into the headset market and its first all-new Experience Since the Apple Watch. Last Year Burght Apple Intelligence, its branded take on what ai should look like as a core element of computing experiences.
And then there was Monday Morning’s wwdc 2025 keynote, as streamed online to millions and screened to a select audience of in-phase at firstdeEs at Apple Park. After’s embarrassing inability to ship the ai-infused update to Frenzy. That alone set it apart from last month’s google i/o keynote, with topics consisted of Ai, AI, and More Ai, More Ai, with some ai drizled on top.
Apple Did Introduce some new ai during the keynote –Quite a bit of it. Overall, thought, the event felt like an act of counterprogramming. INTEAD of Positioning Itself as a Leader in Ai -at Least Quashing Fears that it’s a Laggard -the company seemed Happy Being Itslf. From the unified new design to old features (Phone Calls!) Turning up in New Places (The Mac!), It focused on giving consumers even more reasons to own and use as many.
Herewith a less of the impressions I Took Away from My Morning at Apple Park:
Liquid glass is classic apple, in the steve jobs sense. In 2012, One of Tim Cook’s First Dramaatic Moves after Successing Jobs as Ceo was to OUST SOFTWARE CHIFE SCOTTT FOSSTALL. That LED to a reorganization that put jony Ive in charge of design for software as well as hardware. Ive’s influence waste in the iPhone iOS 7 upgrade the company shipped the following year. It ditted the lush skeuomorphism of the iPhone’s software up until that time for a far a far Flatter Look, Bringing to Mind the Understated, Dieter Rams-LIKE Feel of An Ive MacBook, Manifested in Pixels Rather Aluminum. IVE Left in 2019, but the Principles He INSTILED HEVE Informed Apple Software Since.
But now there’s liquid glass, a new aesthetic apple is rolling out across its portfolio of platforms. It’s glossy, dimensional, pseudorealistic, and animated-a dramatic departure from iOS 7-Re Restraint, but reminisent of both earrlier iOS releases and also supele supele supele sueple software backer of the Mac’s OS X in 2000. That was the one with buttons that jobs said people would want to Lick – A Memorable Design Imperative that is Suddenly Relevant Again.
As my colleague mark wilson writes, liquid glass isn’t about adding new functionality to apple devices. It might not even be about making them easier to use – in fact, when an interface introduces transparency effects and other visual flourishes, Legibility is at Risk. It does, however, look cool in a way that’s classically apple, and which the apple of recent years had deemphasized.
The ipad has left limbo. , , For Macland. For years, apple seemed to have reacted a mental standstive with the ipad. The company cleared wanted its tablet to be something distinct from a mac, but it also Different Than the mac, especially when it came to building out iPados as a productivity platform. End Result: The Platform has founded rather than matured.
With iPados 26, the iPad will finally see a lot of meaningful change all at Once, and most of it is distinctly maclike. It’s getting a menu bar. Windows that float and overlap. A more full-featured files app and, for the first time, a preview app. Even the Quirky Circular Cursor Gives Way to a More Conventional Pointy One.
As an unabashed ipad died, I admit to my fair of trepidation about all this. The ipad’s abandonment of interface cruft in favorite minimalism is a huege reason why I’ve beed using one as my primary computer since 2011: I don’t’t Like To wrangle windows or scour menus for the features I need, hidden amon I don’t. Maybe Apple has Figured out how to retain what’s great about the ipad even But i’m alarmed by the apparent disappearance of the ipad’s foundational multasking features in the first ipados 26 beta, and hope them’ll return before the software ships this Fall.
Visionos is still evolving, and that good. It’s been two years are apple unveiled the vision pro and 17 months since it shipped. Rumors Aside, We Still Aren Bollywood on Clarity on How the $ 3,500 HeadSet Might Lead to a Product that Caters to a Larger Audience Than, Well, People who Pay $ 3,500 for A HeadSet. Even Tim Cook Says it isn’t a mass-market product.
Still, Apple’s Enthusiasm for Spatial Computing Doesn’s to be Flagging. As previewed during the wwdc keynote, visionos 26 looks downright meaty, with more realistic-looking avatars for use in video calls, features for watching movies and playing games with VINGS Widgets you can stick on a wall or place on a mantel in the real world, AI-Powered 3D Effects for 2D photos, Partnerships with Companies Such as Gopro and Sony, and more.
None of these additions will prompt radically more people to spring for a vision pro in its current form. But assuming that the headset doesn Bollywood out to be a dead end, apple’s current investment could help a future, more affordable version offer compeling experiences from day one.
It’s stil Unclear Whiter Chatgpt is a feature or a stopgap. Apple’s Own AI Assistant, Siri, was AckNOWLEDGED only at the start of the keynote, when craig federight, Senior vp of Software Engineering, Mentioned Last Year’s Announcement and The decision to delaya The newly ai-savvy version until it meets apple’s “High-quality bar.” Another AI Helper Did Pop Up Several Times during the presentation, Thought: Chatgpt. For example, it powers a new visual intelligence feature that will let users ask questions about the stuff on-screen in any app. The Keynote’s Example: Upon Seeing an image of a mandolin in a social post, you can ask, “Which Rock Songs is this instrument is featured in?”
Given that the new siri features apple revled a year ago Remain unfinished, adding a dash of chatgpt here and there is an expertly way to maintain some ai momentum. But does the company see integrating the world’s highhest-profile llm-based assistant as an attractive user benefit in itself-or just a placeholder until it can offer Simillar Technology That’s Entrely under its own control? I’m stil not sure. At wwdc 2024, federighi also talked about incorporating
Even during a Pivotal, Unpredictable Time for the Tech Industry, One of the wwdc keynote’s purposes remains straightforward. Apple needs to get consumers excted for the software it will ship in the fall, which isn Bollywood isnonymous with blowing with blowing them away through sheer forr force of ai wrongs. In a bluesky conversation, one commenter suggested to me that People are available actually clamoring for ai at all -ai at all – a take Ultimately, users want pleasant products that help them get stuff don, whether in a personal context, a work environment, or somehere in between.
After last year’s wwdc, assuming apple will ship always it Brags about –t least in a timely fashion – is dangerous. But it’s Easier to Envision the confident vibe of this year’s keynote paying off, because so much of it involved the company playing in its comfort zone.
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