Software is boring. Platforms, the software that underpins all applications, may be even more boring. WWDC 2024, with a conference dedicated to platforms and a keynote on Monday at 1pm ET, with up to two hours of talk about software that almost all ends in “OS”, sounds deadly. I understand, but once you consider that a change in operating systems is akin to removing your brain, and possibly the circulatory, muscular, and skeletal systems from your body and replacing them with new parts, it might sound, if not more interesting, than in any case, a lot more important.
Depending on the scale of changes to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS, the hardware in Apple’s vaunted ecosystem could look and function significantly different than it does today.
Considering we know (or believe) that Apple will unveil its own AI brand – hello, “Apple Intelligence” – it’s almost a given that the changes will run deep and wide. They will change some fundamental aspects of how these platforms work, but will also extend to simple day-to-day interactions with the systems. Think of it as an intelligence that goes deeper for more proactive systems, but also surfaces at the top to connect the dots between Apple’s hardware, applications and services.
Memorable upgrades
I think Apple could use AI to make every piece of hardware more self-aware. iPhones and iPads that know their home screen and can gauge your interests by the way you organize them. I hope Apple doesn’t force the “Apple Intelligence” feed, but I’m also ready for tvOS that automatically organizes the homepage and learns and relearns my current binge interests, and an Apple Watch that understands my morning routine well enough to automatically create a functional training to load at 5:30 am.
Apple can communicate this to causal observers in a clever way. WWDC’s software and development focus feels as dry and antiseptic as a CPU cleanroom, so it tends to fill the keynote with relatable moments, highlighting how each new feature can improve a consumer’s life.
The challenge is a little different this time. For consumers, it’s already been two years since they’ve heard how AI will improve their lives, a sentiment they find hard to believe when AI is full of bias and seems ready to take over their jobs (it really isn’t), the chatbots and large language models still So much is done wrong, and AI development companies are capriciously going too far. According to some reports, Apple has climbed into an algorithmic bed with OpenAI, the leading company in AI, but also the same company that causally (or accidentally) ripped off Scarlett Johanssan’s voice.
To combat this, Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote should not only inspire consumers, but also reassure them. Caution and care, especially when it comes to AI and privacy, are important, but they’re a lot less sexy, meaning Apple’s efforts to inspire may require twice as much effort.
Inescapable
That, of course, is the show portion of the keynote, the flash that will inspire thousands of stories about every facet of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, watchOS11, and visionOS 2. These stories are less about why you should ultimately upgrade than about why you should ultimately should upgrade. It will be about what is to come.
In Apple’s ecosystem, unlike Android, there is ultimately no escape from upgrades. They are available for all iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs and Apple Watches. Your world will change. You may not want the change, you may not understand it, but you will live by it. Maybe you should get excited about it. However, I know this is a tall order.
As I said in the beginning, operating systems are usually confusing and boring. I think back almost 30 years to the launch of Windows 95 and how Microsoft has been working for at least the past 18 months to educate people about the existence of this new platform. That worked to the point that in the summer of 1995 I couldn’t meet a friend or family member who didn’t have a question about it. No one was excited about the prospect, but at least they knew what to expect from new Windows PCs.
That’s why WWDC 2024 is important for Apple fans. There will rarely be a big Vision Pro-level moment, but since we now live our lives through this technology, virtually every word out of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s mouth (and those of his colleagues) will ultimately matter to you.
That’s sexy in a scary way, right?