To tell the truth, I didn’t have God knows how big expectations for the iPhone OS 4.0 keynote. Sure I was hoping that Apple would announce new features and functions, but I actually didn’t really expect the event to turn out this good. Because yes, in my opinion the latest keynote has been one of the most important since years, which is gonna be remembered in the future as the day Apple marked the path for something new and revolutionary. Yesterday, Apple showed us that there could…there should be a better way to work with a mobile phone. To use a mobile phone. To enjoy the web on a mobile phone.
Apple has reinvented mobile operating systems.
Multitasking is not a new concept at all. People claim they can multitask, but computers are actually multitasking. My iPad is currently multitasking, I’m not. That said, people wanted multitasking so badly on their iPhones that I don’t know if a feature has ever been wanted more than the possibility to run multiple apps on the iPhone at the same time. And after months of speculations, rumors and alleged leaks, Apple has delivered multitasking to iPhone users. Just like I predicted, it’ s not multitasking though: it’s fast switching between backgrounded apps. You’re given this dock-like interface that allows you to background applications and quickly switch back and forth between them, without having to mess with windows, thumbnails and such. It’s elegant and polished, just I expected from Apple. The current beta has its quirks, though: you can’t choose whether you want to simply quit an application or send it to the background, as the OS simply backgrounds every app every time you press the home button to quit. So yeah, it’s like multitasking by default. As I mentioned here, you have to hold an icon and press an additional button on screen to actually quit an app. Obviously, this is going to change, but it’s curious nonetheless that Apple decided to ship a first beta with this “problem”. Perhaps they just wanted some free feedback.
The big deal about multitasking is that it opens so many new scenarios for the end user: you want to write and listen to Pandora at the same time? Now you can. What about leaving Tweetie open to fetch tweets and check your stats on Ego at the same time? Now, you can. And it’s simple. Even simpler than the solutions we’ve seen with the jailbreak apps, actually: why worrying about windows when everybody recognizes an application by its icon? When you think of Ego, do you think of its black grid or the gold user icon? We know the answer. This way of implementing multitasking also shows that Apple isn’t afraid of listening to the user base: being a company focused on people, it was the right decision to listen to what people wanted the most and deliver it in a unique way.
I think the whole event was geared towards people, actually. iAd? It’s an advertising platform based on user’s interactions and emotions. Game Center? A social gaming network. Folders? People wanted it, a lot. Places and Events? They bring people to your iPhone photos. In a way or another, whether it’s user driven or user centric, iPhone OS 4.0 is the most human mobile OS ever. It’s made by people, for people.
The iAd preview we were shown yesterday is a clear example of how people are indeed Apple’s primary weapon in doing better than Google. Yes, it’s a fight between Steve and Google, but I think that ultimately Apple wants to prove that they can win because they do better. Obviously they don’t have half the power Google has to support an advertising structure; but still, they can do just better. And by doing better, by providing a superior experience and a more natural way to approach people, win the war and have advertisers on board. It’s the David and Goliath metaphor, where stones are banners and Apple knows exactly what’s the next move. They aim at people, they aim at people using apps. The concept is simple: why on earth would one click on in-app ads if those ads make you leaving the app? That’s why mobile advertising has never been a huge market. Until now. Apple wants to deliver rich, interactive, focused ads that let the user play with them an collect useful information with them. It’s first person advertising, the one we used to dream about years ago and it’s happening now somewhere in California. You don’t have to leave the app, because that app can benefit from that ad. It’s how Apple reinvents the stagnant world of online advertisement and proves that they can do better. And yes, it’s opt-in.
All the other features that will come with the OS 4.0 are in some way aimed at users. Folders for example, are clearly a way to let people organize their home screens the way they want. It’s rethinking the home screen, breaking the rules established 3 years ago and let people sort apps without restrictions of any sort. It’s a great concept. Same applies for wallpapers: you’re not forced to have a black background anymore. Icons that previously used transparencies to convey fancy effects are now at serious risk, obviously.
If you look at the big picture, the big deal about OS 4.0 isn’t multitasking, folders organization or the Game Center: it’s the feeling that Apple finally made the operating system people wanted and needed and, indeed, built it upon features that will allow people to get the most out of their iPhone in their own way.
If the goal was to stand at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, there’s nothing more artistic and modern than creating an OS like this.
