Apple's Next Era: Product Singularity
To describe the new integration between Apple's forthcoming mobile and desktop operating systems as tight would be a dramatic understatement. Make no mistake: Apple is very interested in forming the most symbiotic relationship possible between your iPhone/iPad and your iMac or MacBook, which also includes splurging for both at your friendly neighborhood Apple store.
With Monday's announcement of new versions of iOS and OS X, Apple has signaled to the world that when it comes to your personal computing arsenal, keeping everything in the family will provide the best user experience.
In fact, Apple is closer than ever to realizing the mantra of one experience for your entire digital life. If that sounds familiar, go and watch some of Microsoft's recent Windows spots. It seems that continuity is now the killer app. I mean that literally, because Apple has seen fit to commandeer the word itself, turning it into a product name as well as a noun. Continuity is Apple's vision for what your ideal user experience should be. You can start an email or document on your phone, then answer that unexpected ring at the doorbell, and then mosey over to your iMac and finish writing. The same goes for phone calls, which can now be received through OS X as well. It's all very zen. Apple is very determined to make you feel as if your iOS device and your OS X-powered computer are one in the same. Because pretty soon, they just might be.
With today's OS debuts, Apple is getting ready for something we all know was coming: the death of the PC. And while the non-Apple PC is much further along on its death march, Apple knows that its storied desktop era, which began in 1984, will come to an end at some point in the relatively near future. That's also why we'll likely see Apple introduce iPhones with the larger displays that execs havepreviously railed against. It's not a case of Apple catching up to Android in terms of beefy phones. Rather, it's more about Apple getting ready for the time when the concept of a desktop will simply mean plugging your iOS device into a larger display that may or may not sit on a desk.
Apple's current mission of continuity is just a prelude to its ultimate goal of product singularity. Getting there doesn't just include making its respective operating systems into one. As it demonstrated yesterday with many of its demo screens, it is going for the throats of companies like Nest Labs, WhatsApp, and pretty much every wearable health tracker on the market. And that's only the beginning, because Apple won't rest until every possible function of your daily life is integrated into iOS. When it achieves that, the last thing Apple will want to sell you is a computer that sits stationary on your desk.
For PCMag's first take on the Apple announcements, check out the video below.
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