Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is planning to offer more variety in its the emoji images, and will be working with Unicode Consortium on the project. As of now, the company has not given any specific date for the emoji upgrade. Blogger Joey Parker emailed a query to Apple over the issue, and got a response from Katie Cotton, Apple’s vice president of worldwide corporate communications.
More variety planned
In her reply to MTV Act’s Joey Parker, Katie Cotton said that the company’s emoji characters are developed on the Unicode standard, which is required for the characters’ to become fully compatible across many platforms. Katie added, “There needs to be more diversity in the emoji character set, and we have been working closely with the Unicode Consortium in an effort to update the standard.”
According to TechCrunch, an unofficial campaign to create more variety in emojis has been going on for more than a year. Emoji’s originated in Japan, and were later incorporated into Unicode, which made them available on various platforms. The series mainly features Caucasian icons, which Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) wants to change.
Apple expected to come with changes in iOS 8
Previously, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) updated the emojis with iOS 6 to include more characters, and made the icons available to all the users. Before this, users were required to run an additional app to access emoji on iOS. Apple made no changes to emoji with iOS 7, launched in 2013, so it is largely believed that the Cupertino-based firm could be planning major changes for emojis in iOS 8, which is expected to be showcased at the company’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in June. It is widely believed that the iOS 8 will include a full-blown fitness app called the HealthBook App, which would work together with the iWatch
Current Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) emoji sets include a number of smiley faces, foods, plants and symbols. Many people have expressed concerned at the distinct lack of diversity when it comes to ethnicity among emojis. A few emojis represent different ethnicities such as Chinese, Indians and Russians, but emojis for all ethnicities are not available to date
