Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts
 Apple, Inc's World-Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) is fast approaching, and while Apple CEO Tim Cook has allued to having no new hardware arriving until this fall, software will be the big focus for Apple's annual developers event. A new version of Apple's mobile iOS and desktop OS X software is going to be shown, but perhaps more important than these fundamental pieces of Apple's ecosystem is iCloud. The future of computing, how we access and manipulate data is rapidly moving to server-side solutions, or "cloud" architecture, and Apple has been falling behind its competition at a rapid rate.
Google and others have taken an aggressive approach in developing a wide array of cloud services and tools, wasting little time in building robust ecosystems. Google, clearly out in front with an impress user base, has built a formidable Microsoft Office competitor in Google Docs. But Google's cloud platform has gone well beyond email or users loading and creating documents stored online. Google's entire cloud platform covers development for data mining, custom cloud storage, Enterprise search and much more.
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 Apple added Siri to the iOS, creating an easy way for users to search and perform tasks without the need for an on screen keyboard. With Siri, Apple basically created a smart operating system. While Siri is still limited, it shows the direction for the future of operating systems beyond mobile. For Apple, this means Siri is likely to be headed towards Macs and OS X.
The rest of the industry has already taken notice. Google has Google Now, and in April Amazon purchased a Siri competitor Evi. The industry sees voice control as the future, and the major players are working hard to integrate it into their Operating Systems. Apple will be announcing their next Mac OS (10.9) in June at WWDC. Developers are expecting Siri to be one of the main new features. Can Apple just drop in Siri as is, or do they need to improve it for the Mac?
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By all media accounts, Apple's Maps app was an absolute disaster, at least at launch. Apple should have either announced the product as a beta solution, launched it later as a production level product, or never launched it at all. Truth be told, I've used it from day one, well over 100 times and it's never steered me wrong. But going far beyond the hysteria that Apple Maps was going to lead you into a dark cave of death instead of your intended destination, Apple achieved a major victory with the launch. Google was forced to pony up and deliver a quality iOS maps application. Apple would be wise to play the same card on Microsoft.
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Google is a powerhouse within the realm of Internet services. From Adsense to YouTube, Google's services drives an amazing amount of web traffic through their front door. The biggest draw to these services is that they are free, because they are augmented with ads. Google makes money by selling their users to ad companies, much like free broadcast TV.
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 The iPhone, iPod, iPad and iTunes, all seamlessly working in harmony with iCloud. But one main player has been left out in the cold -- the Mac. It's left users wondering whether iCloud is as useful as advertised for the heavy lifting file and folder world.
OS 10.8, Mountain Lion, promised to change the paradigm and bring the Mac into the fold of iCloud management. But outside the realm of entertainment, iCloud's power for the Mac is fuzzy math at best. Without the Mac and iOS devices having some form of built-in Finder or directory app, the methods of syncing files seamlessly between the Mac and mobile without third party solutions is dubious at best.
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 Safari is Apple’s default web browser for both the iOS and OS X. The Mac version of Safari is a great browser with an almost complete feature set. It continues to be my main browser, even while keeping a watchful eye on other competitors like Chrome and Firefox. While Safari on the iOS is still a good browser, its simplistic nature gets in the way at times.
Apple designed Safari for the iOS to be simple and easy to use, but sometimes a simple browser can get in the way. When one wants to save a file, view the full webpage by default or switch between tabs easily, mobile Safari becomes hard to use instead of easy. If Apple can solve these problems, it will greatly improve the browsing on the iOS. Until then, there are alternatives which can help.
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If you've been following the AppGratis drama, you may believe that poor Simon Dawalt, CEO of AppGratis, was not only blindsided by Apple, but that Apple isn't justified in what they've done. AppGratis, is yet another victim of Apple's ruthless behavior that makes no sense. I don't revel in the idea of being the contrarian, but Apple isn't the ruthless monster it's often made to be, nor does it treat its developers like garbage.
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Have you ever had one of those moments when you think, “Wait a second, that was MY idea”? Well after watching the YouTube video of Facebook’s Home, I had that exact thought. Back in October I had started an article called “Rethinking the iPhone” but didn't finish and publish it until late last month. If you read my article and then watch the YouTube video you'll think what I did, “that was MY idea.” However, as I was watching the Home presentation, by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, I realized something new — Facebook’s Home is much more of a threat to Google's Android OS than it is to Apple’s iOS.
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Since Steve Jobs took the MacWorld stage by storm in 2007, launching the most revolutionary product this past decade has seen, the pursuit of a smaller, lighter and faster iPhone has been Apple's mantra. But making the incredible shrinking iPhone is not easy. Custom components, ever lighter weight materials married to a larger screen, while being superior in every way to it's predecessor are monumental engineering feats. Apple's competition gave up chasing the iPhone into the world of Lillputian's, instead opting for larger and easier. Apple may now be the only tech company remaining who has the ability to design devices that are iPhone small and powerful. It is this know-how that will soon become a huge Apple advantage.
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It seems since TIm Cook took the controls at Apple it's been one ho-hum Keynote after another. Whatever happened to the day when Steve Jobs would say, "... oh, and one more thing..." and then that thing would be revolutionary. I remember when Steve did this in 2007 at MacWorld with the iPhone. It was totally awesome. Then three years later he did it again with the launch of iPad. However, since 2010 Apple has released new versions of existing products, making them better and better, but nothing revolutionary.
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