WWDC expected to bring Safari, Health, Maps, iMessage improvements

Posted:
in General Discussion
Apple is said to be bringing updates to Safari, Health, Maps, and iMessage during its WWDC keynote -- updates that would increase customer lock-in.

The Steve Jobs Theater
The Steve Jobs Theater


When a user buys an iPhone they are met with iMessage, FaceTime, AirDrop, Apple Health, and a slew of services provided by the manufacturer itself. This is referred to as "lock-in" or the "walled garden" effect and Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal thinks Apple's operating system updates will make lock-in even worse.

Of course, next week at WWDC the walls will get even higher. I hear there are big updates coming to Safari, Health, Maps and iMessage at WWDC next week.

-- Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern)


Apple is expected to announce updates to all of its primary operating systems and first-party apps. The updates announced at Apple's developer conference are usually more significant than others made throughout the year and can greatly impact the user and developers.

Getting a customer to buy the iPhone then use a multitude of apps and services only available on that device ensures customers are less likely to switch platforms. One of Apple's biggest draws, iMessage, has been brought up as an unfair advantage of the Apple ecosystem during anti-trust trials.

Adding new features to Apple Health could create yet another avenue for customer lock-in. Once a user starts logging every aspect of their life, medical records, and symptoms into an app, it can be hard to move away from such a system.

Apple's ability to integrate hardware and software vertically has often been a pain point for competitors. Since Apple controls the "entire stack" in a device from silicon to the entire operating system, Apple can implement features Android manufacturers have difficulty replicating.

Follow all the details of WWDC 2021 with the comprehensive AppleInsider coverage of the whole week-long event from June 7 through June 11, including details of all the new launches and updates.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    Joanna Stern is a buffoon… I had an Android phone for 7 years before switching to iPhone and I will never go back… Android World sucks… and I started on Windows PCs years ago before switching to the vastly superior Mac OS Garden. BOZO: Moniker Steve Jobs gave to Inept, Incompetent, and misinformed people both inside and outside of APPLE!
    edited June 2021 cornchiproundaboutnowwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 12
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,949member
    Improvements to Maps?!?! 

    Surely it won’t be….

    Could it be?! 

    Flyover and Lookaround for everywhere in USA?! 

    No… no, it won’t. 
  • Reply 3 of 12
    7omr7omr Posts: 6member
    Spare us the inane “walled garden” articles.  Let’s hear more about Apple’s brilliant integration and how it kicks ass on the competition. People can choose to buy into the platform that works best for them, so no one is being locked into anything. 
    Wgkruegerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 12
    I’m all for updates to the referenced apps but “making the walls higher” is a stretch.  The OS smoothness, security, overall lack of bugs, 5 years of support, and design/quality of hardware is what “locks me in”.
    roundaboutnowFidonet1279secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 12
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    Why is the article grabbing onto the “wall” part of her quote, then explaining, in depth, what that means to a bunch of Apple fans on an Apple news website? We already know what a walled garden is, and we willingly choose to enter and stay. How about some explanation about what these possible “big updates” are in Safari, Health, Maps and iMessage? Ugh. 
    uraharaFidonet127watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 12
    Bring the health app to the iPad !  Not all iPad users have an iPhone, but still want to track health info.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    Fidonet127Fidonet127 Posts: 507member
    Bring health to the desktop and make it easier to analyze and send to the doctor. 

    Allow Bitmoji and other apps to work seamlessly with Messages on the desktop. 

    Maps? Allow easy downloading of States so areas with no or little cell service can still use maps to view and route. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 12
    waveparticlewaveparticle Posts: 1,497member
    Recently, Safari browser is becoming unstable, A page will scroll back to top after a while. This is very annoying. Is that a bug? 
  • Reply 9 of 12
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,707member
    iMessage being an advantage is a good thing. 

    All of apples apps have advantages. 

    Heck, Apple invented visual voicemail. 

    The fact that Apple does give away all their apps to the competition is not anti competition. That’s the dumbest thing ever. It’s a differentiator. 

    You are supposed to try to make better products for YOUR customers. Not theirs. 

    Even the games console industry has software advantages. You can’t get Mario or Zelda unless you buy Nintendo. Amd now you can’t get Bethesda games unless you buy Microsoft. 

    That’s how winning works. It’s ok to win. Some of the people speaking to antitrust nowadays are speaking like they grew up in a vacuum. 

    Apple develops. Apple profits. That’s a good thing. 

    Sony develops and profits from their labors, that’s a good thing too. 

    If you put in the work, you should be rewarded. 

    Apple makes great devices. And they make great services. They have cross platform software and they have strategically advantageous software exclusivity. 

    All good things. People forget that apples model is not the Microsoft /Google model where you ONLY offer services or perhaps also have a hardware hobby - Apple makes the hardware. That’s a cute business. They also make the software. 

    Of course ms amd Google have their software wverywhere. That’s not because they are competition friendly. It’s because that’s their model. They would fail and fold if they didn’t do that. 

    Apple meanwhile is out to sell the entire computing  experience, carefully crafted from birth to use to recycle / trade time. 

    Apple just makes better stuff. And they expect to profit from the incredibly hard work it takes to do so. 

    That’s not anticompetitive. That’s good business and good ethics. 

    Weird how this article about software updates would become one about antitrust. Came outta nowhere. 

    The fact that epic filed a frivolous lawsuit and smokescreened their breach of contract shouldn’t start the industry filtering perspectives through epics train of non-thought. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 12
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,707member
    Recently, Safari browser is becoming unstable, A page will scroll back to top after a while. This is very annoying. Is that a bug? 
    Not on any of my devices. 

    Have you tried resetting non volatile ram? 

    Barring a malware issue, this Sounds like either 

    1) the website itself has code which confuses the browser. A lot of unfortunately coded ad packed sites do this. It’s super lame. 

    2) software corruption. 

    If you are noticing other software issues, You may wish to take a ultimate option and back up all of your files, then do a reformat reinstall your OS. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 12
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,707member

    7omr said:
    Spare us the inane “walled garden” articles.  Let’s hear more about Apple’s brilliant integration and how it kicks ass on the competition. People can choose to buy into the platform that works best for them, so no one is being locked into anything. 
    This. 

    The subject at hand did not warrant that type of hyberbole. 

    It’s not about any of that. 

    It’s about app updates. Boom done. 

    Total overreach to go where this article did. 

    I mean, I can appreciate the zeal and creativity put into it, but it’s just not grounded in reality or relevance. 

    Years ago, this was the popular thing to do in journalism. But in an era of fake news, etc. people don’t listen to that. They just want the facts. They are smart enough to fill in the editorial part themselves. Do t mix and match. 
    watto_cobra
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