iOS 10 in context

· 4 minute read · via Punchkick
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How we got here

The history of iOS is as much a history of tick-and-tock as iPhone hardware. Each year, Apple releases either a “tick”—a new phone with internal speed boosts and a handful of buzz-worthy new features, typically signified by an “S” moniker—or a “tock”—a landmark new phone featuring a brand-new exterior design and only modest performance improvements. But in a year when the new iPhone hardware design is a subtle refinement, holding out for the dramatic reinvention in 2017, the new version of iOS is the headline.

For previous versions of iOS, the cycle has largely matched its phones. One generation shores up imperfections and introduces subtle refinements that users feel the direct benefit of, while the next generation sets up groundbreaking new developer tools that will revolutionize what iOS apps can do for years to come. On the heels of iOS 8’s enormous developer releases, and following iOS 9’s refinements and end-user features, iOS 10 is a leap into the future with new frameworks and opportunities for developers to extend their apps in new directions.

In a year where Apple’s first platform, macOS, adopts its younger cousin’s naming style, iOS is as much Apple’s centerpiece as ever. Ten years on, the operating system sets out Apple’s strategy for the next decade, in terms of how Apple interacts with developers and how it respects its users. This year, iOS 10 makes the platform competitive in new spaces, showcases the latest hardware improvements like Touch ID and 3D Touch, and pushes Apple’s machine learning agenda forward. And, most importantly, iOS 10 opens the platform to developers in all-new ways, giving access to new corners of the operating system that most closely impact the user experience.

We examined how developers can begin to take advantage of these new features, and how new frameworks like SiriKit, richer notifications, and the Messages SDK can help brand marketers build better experiences for their customers. Apple has become the kind of company that only makes big moves—and iOS 10 is one of their biggest yet.

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What’s next

Apple is a secretive company by nature, but observers can read its intentions by its works. iOS 10 is a massive investment in third-party developers’ ability to integrate their apps with disparate parts of the operating system, making them a premiere presence everywhere from the first screen users see on their iPhones to the iMessage conversations that encapsulate their days. By analyzing these investments, and considering the strategic and development effort Apple made to bring them to life, we can discern what Apple itself values.

First, Apple values its developers, and with iOS 10 has given them ample opportunity to better connect with their users. No other release of iOS has so fully empowered developers to build the kinds of experiences they’ve imagined, and this dramatic “opening” of critical components of the iOS user experience represents the depth and permanence of this strategic shift.

Second, Apple values its users, and refuses to sacrifice their privacy at the altar of machine learning like some competitors might. Instead, Apple and its development teams have elected to invest millions of dollars to circumvent privacy concerns while still offering the AI features users expect, relying on cutting-edge computer science like differential privacy to collect data about usage without collecting data about users.

Apple recognizes that the power of iOS comes from the developers who build on top of it, and has given them all-new tools to delight their users.

And finally, Apple is committed to iOS, perhaps in ways we’ve only begun to understand, as the platform that will drive its successes this year and for decades to come. iPhone is certainly Apple’s biggest hit—indeed, the most popular consumer product of our and any other lifetime—but Apple isn’t resting on its laurels. Instead, it recognizes the power of iOS comes from the developers who build on top of it, and is equipping them with new tools to delight their audiences. Developers should hitch their wagon to iOS, because it’s only going amazing places from here.