The 3 things I’m looking for from Apple next week at WWDC
Next Monday, Apple will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference with its keynote video. Every year, everyone has their own internal list of things they want Apple to announce. My annual caution is that whatever you’re expecting, expect to not have everything on your checklist addressed by Apple. With that said, here are the top three things I’m looking for from Apple at WWDC:
AI
As I wrote recently, the tech press is clamoring for Apple to make major AI announcements at WWDC, and there have even been some juicy rumors about a potential partnership with ChatGPT parent company OpenAI. A lot of the commentary, even going back to last year, is about how “late” Apple is to AI, at least the generative AI capabilities pioneered chiefly by OpenAI. But consider post this from analyst Ben Bajarin on X:
Apple is in an interesting position with AI. A report came out the other day that only 4% of people use Gen AI regularly. So Apple will also have to implement this in a way that people actually care and find useful. If done right Apple will have the largest AI scale of anyone.
I highlighted the one sentence in bold, because I believe that’s the aspect of Apple’s potential move toward generative AI that I’m most curious about. Does Apple actually have an AI story that isn’t just “me too” ChatGPT-like functionality? Have they actually thought through how to make AI truly useful for every day Apple device users, marketed in such a way that people immediately get it?
What that would look like, I don’t know. But I hope Apple does, and I hope they’ll tell us that story next Monday.
iPadOS
As a reminder, my summer project is to daily-drive an iPad Pro to assess how capable it is as a Mac replacement for my daily work. So far it’s going very well. That doesn’t mean it can’t be improved though. There’s probably a thousand little ways I could think to make it better, but that’s also true of macOS, iOS, etc. But as I see it there are three things Apple could do to silence most of the negative feedback from the corporate tech press:
Background processes - iPadOS, like iOS, only permits certain types of processes to run in the background. That means that when you switch from one app to another, it actually freezes the state of the app you just switched away from in memory. The operating system generally does a good job of quickly unfreezing those processes when you return to them, but it’s time to give iPadOS Mac-like memory management. You should be able to switch away from Final Cut Pro during an export without the export failing because the process froze.
Stage Manager/external display improvements - The Stage Manager window management framework got significantly better in iPadOS 17. In fact, I quite like it. But it’s currently limited to no more than four windows per stage. Apple needs to increase that limit. It also needs even better external display support. Currently you can’t view any of your widgets or Control Center on an external display, and you can’t rearrange Dock icons on the external display. Fixing these items would be small changes that would result in huge quality-of-life improvements.
Better app support - Of course getting third-party devs excited about developing for iPadOS has always been a challenge, but it doesn’t help that Apple doesn’t even bring all of its apps to the iPad. I don’t really care that much about a calculator, but TextEdit, Terminal, and Xcode would be welcome Mac ports to have on iPadOS.
watchOS
The last category I’d like to see get some real love at WWDC is Apple Watch, and specifically Fitness. “Closing your rings” has been a great part of the Apple Watch’s brand since day one, but Apple needs to give Apple Watch users more AI-managed data and coaching. I’d love to see the Apple Watch use HRV data to guide you on how hard you should push on a given day. And the rings shouldn’t be a set value, but algorithmically dynamic based on your heart rate, respiration rate, and sleep quality/duration. I’d also love dynamic training for running and HIIT. It would be amazing to have Siri giving you audible, live feedback when you’re working out.
What about you? What are you hoping Apple will announce next week at WWDC?
I came here to read your latest and then hop over and read your iPad Pro review but you answered my main question in this article. Can I edit in Final Cut Pro on the iPad Pro. And can that task continue if I walk away from it and the iPad goes to sleep or can I multitask on the iPad while the video processes. Once Apple gets this figured out I will come back to the iPad Pro. I love the iPad. We worked together when it came out and at that time we called it a Possibility Machine. It still is but I am always, much like you, thinking ahead of what it could be or be better. C'mon Apple!!!