World Wide Developers Conference
The World Wide Developers Conference is one of the tech industry’s most eagerly awaited annual events. The conference is organized by Apple in San Jose and is used to showcase Apple’s new software and technologies. The WWDC regularly sells out as tech enthusiasts eagerly await exciting new announcements from Apple.
This year’s event has been no different so far. Even though lockdown guidelines have meant that the event is being held online, there have been some interesting announcements. The biggest WWDC keynote revelation was Mac computers shifting to ARM-based Apple Silicon processor from the existing Intel processors. The shift will be gradual and the first ARM-based Macs are expected to hit the market by the end of 2020.
Before the event began, there were WWDC rumors that Apple will introduce iOS 14. That is exactly what happened as Tim Cook introduced MacOS Big Sur. The OS looks similar to a mobile OS and is a significant redesign of Apple’s desktop OS. The MacOS Big Sur includes important privacy features that allow users greater control over what data websites track about them. These developments may have a bigger impact on Apple’s competitor OS Android, developed by Google.
According to Bennett Cyphers, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “Android still allows all apps, and all third-party trackers, to access a user’s mobile ad ID by default. This clearly favors the interests of advertisers and data brokers over the interests of regular people. There’s now no excuse for Google to continue allowing this kind of tracking without clear and specific consent.”
Another interesting development was the addition of a handwash tracking feature in watchOS 7. Handwashing has become a big deal since the pandemic broke out and Apple Watch users will now be able to get feedback on how well they are washing their hands.
Apple stock closed at $358.87 on 22nd June 2020, up more than 2% for the day when the WWDC began.
