Enhancements to Apple's HomeKit are expected to be among a flurry of software and platform advances in tow for the Worldwide Developers Conference next month. According to sources, the Cupertino company is thought to be announcing a new app in iOS 9 called Home for managing and controlling HomeKit-certified accessories for the connected home, 9to5Mac learned Wednesday.
The San Francisco font used throughout the Apple Watch's operating system is expected to replace Helvetica Neue as the new default font in iOS 9 code-named “Monarch” and OS X 10.11 code-named “Gala,” according to sources with knowledge of the preparations who spoke to 9to5Mac.
In addition to achieving a consistent look across Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple Watch devices, it should help alleviate much of the criticism leveled against Apple over its use of thin weights of Helvetica Neue in iOS 7, iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite.
Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities claims Apple may call the next line of its iPhone the "iPhone 7", instead of the "iPhone 6s" like previously thought. The name change will be because of significant changes to the iOS user interface, including Force Touch technology for better interaction, the analyst says.
We reported a couple of days ago that Apple was set to launch iOS 9 with few, if any marquee features, instead focusing on fixing bugs and adding stability to a platform that has seen such rapid iteration over the last few years that it is almost unrecognizable from iOS 1.0. It seems, if reports are to be believed, that Apple is doubling down on stability.
And about time too.
A new report by 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman alleges that iOS 9 will mark a Snow Leopard-style release, one said to pause on innovation in order to focus on stability and reliability improvements.
A “huge” focus of iOS 9 is on fixing bugs, maintaining stability and boosting performance “rather than solely focusing on delivering major new feature additions,” writes the author.
iOS 9 is reportedly codenamed Stowe after a ski resort in Vermont. Selling stability as a tentpole feature isn't that peculiar in light of Apple's recent software woes that have culminated with a botched iOS 8.0.1 release, a plethora of bugs and various user complaints about iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite feeling unfinished and rough around the edges.
Earlier in the month, Instapaper creator and Tumblr co-founder Marco Arment offered a scathing critique of Apple's declining software quality. I generally disagree with Marco on most topics he blogs about, but this time he got me thinking that Apple's “it just works” mantra no longer applies. And as software woes continue to persist, the problem clearly is much larger than the relatively benign Maps debacle.
From that botched iOS 8.0.1 update, delayed improvements and an over-the-air iOS 8 installer requiring a whopping 4.6 gigabytes of free space to a bunch of issues plaguing OS X 10.10 Yosemite such as performance bottlenecks, its insatiable resource requirements, ridiculous Apple Mail hiccups, intermittent Wi-Fi issues and more - the firm appears to have “lost the functional high ground,” as Arment put it.
And with plenty of far-reaching technologies being introduced simultaneously — Handoff, iCloud Drive, custom keyboards, photo and storage extensions, new ways to share content, HealthKit, HomeKit, WatchKit and CloudKit, to mention but a few — small wonder Apple is finding itself in the middle of a pretty rocky transition, to say the least.
Throw in things like iCloud and CarPlay and suddenly diminishing software quality exhibited in the latest releases of iOS and Mac OS X becomes a major customer pain point. Apple is an aspirational brand so winning back user trust is paramount.
So, what should Tim Cook & Co. do? Do they continue to stick to the annual OS release schedule? Or should they give engineers enough time to smooth out the rough edges and ship software when it's ready rather than for their marketing benefits, even if it means making us wait longer for latest and greatest software innovations?
Just as our own analytics showed a very clear spike of traffic emanating from devices running Apple's unreleased iOS 8.1.3, now word comes that several publications are starting to see versions of iOS 9 showing up on web analytics for their sites.
Assuming version numbers have not been spoofed, this would indicate Apple may have begun testing first prototype builds of iOS 9, ahead of a developer preview expected at its annual developers conference in the summer.