Apple iOS 8 Raises Question Marks For Developers

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently used its World Wide Developers Conference to announce the latest version of its operating system, iOS 8. All seemed to be entirely well at the time; Apple had recovered its share price somewhat from falls earlier in the year, and iOS 8 was pretty warmly received by the many developers who attended the annual Apple confab.

iOS 8 anticipation

However, although the release of iOS 8 next month is still anticipated by many developers and Apple fans alike, the beta release of the operating system has hit a few snags of late. Some developers are grumbling that while iOS 8 is as slick as one would expect an Apple product to be, the flagship Apple product still has its work cut out to satisfy all of the desires of developers.

Android Chief Sundar Pichai even felt emboldened enough to sneak in a jab at iOS 8 during the recent Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) IO keynote speech at its annual developers conference. Pichai pointed out that noted that custom keyboards and widgets have been part of Android’s armory for the last four to five years; a clear reference to features Apple recently introduced to iOS 8 amid much fanfare.

Apple naturally isn’t taken such sneering lying down. The company responded during the World Wide Developers Conference by questioning the security of Android products, while also taking strong steps to address security and management concerns around its mobile operating system. Apple’s operating systems are well known to be particularly secure, and Apple was keen to emphasize this during the keynote speech at the conference.

But some developers have been more critical of iOS 8, stating that the functionality built into the operating system is somewhat lacking. In particular, although Apple is looking to up improve IOS 8’s capabilities with regard to AirDrop, IT directors from the corporate sector have indicated that what Apple has attempted still fails to meet the desires of industry and commerce.

There is no doubt that Apple has had monumental success in the consumer marketplace. Both the iPhone and iPad have been met with huge public appetite and have enabled the company to carve out an exalted place in consumer electronics. But while its range of laptops and desktop computers receive almost uniform praise, they have yet to make the sort of impact that might perhaps be expected.

Lack of openness

With nine out of ten desktop computers in the world still being PCs, Apple was expected to attempt to claw this back somewhat with the release of iOS 8. As it turns out, at this point in time, developers and IT analysts continue to critcize Apple for something that they’ve receive opprobrium for in the past; failing to make its operating system ‘open’ enough.

With Android infamously being an open source operating system, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) seemingly exploring new ground away from its traditional Windows platform, there may be commercial pressure in the near future for Apple to be more open. For the time being, while iOS 8 will probably continue to deliver the sort of slick user experience which thrills consumers, Apple still has some work to do to convince the business community of its viability.

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