This fall is shape up to be a big one for Apple . Along with the usual iPhone and iPad refreshes , young versions of iOS 9 , OS X , and watchOS , a revamped Apple TV and possibly an iPad Pro , Apple is gearing up for a major release of an anticipated new ware that most of Apple ’s fans wo n’t be able to buy — and it ’ll have nothing to do with supply constraints .
the right way around the time the world is buzzing over the new iPhone 6s , Apple is planning to liberate Apple Music on Android , its first app designed specifically for Galaxy and Moto users . While it ’s not quite the hell - freezing - over move that iTunes for Windows was — the other Android app in the pipeline , Move to iOS , has the specific purpose of helping people swap to iPhone — contrive an Android app is still a pretty enceinte step for Apple . And it looks like more may be on the horizon . Just last week,9to5Mac ’s Mark Gurmanuncovered a job listing on Apple.com looking for an lotion software engineer who can “ help bring exciting new mobile product to the Android platform . ”
An Android version of Apple Music was surprising enough , but I never actually expect it to be the start of a drift . While Google gets pay off no matter which phone someone choose , Apple has a vested pursuit in getting the great unwashed to buy an iOS machine , and it would seem that porting apps to Android act in direct opposition to it . But the more I think about it , the less farfetched it seems . In fact , the right mixing of apps might in reality avail Apple tempt even more substance abuser to iOS , much like iTunes for Windows help create a whole generation of switcher .
Notes
Back in its Marker Felt skeuomorphic day , Notes was probably the least useful of the iPhone ’s note - taker . But over the preceding few revisions , Apple had turned Notes into one of its best bunch apps , andthe overhauled Io 9 versionis actually one that I ’d consider buying . Inside the new Notes app you ’ll find a handy bent of draft tool , Photos integration , easy list and web data link formatting , and an nonrational Attachments internet browser that let you quickly scan and organise your notes . It ’s a great addition to iOS 9 , but on Android it would be downright all important .
Take a note , Android users .
It ’s not so much that Android does n’t extend a decorous cross - section of note - takers — the major I like Evernote and OneNote are represented , and I kind of wish well Google would make a Keep app for the iPhone — but tone would be more than just a pretty face in the Play Store . With a little aid from iCloud , it would show Android users who also have a Mac ( which I suspect is a pretty big sampling ) just how unlined the iOS - OS X experience can be . persistence and Handoff have become major pieces of Apple ’s all - together ecosystem that simply ca n’t be duplicated on Android , and Notes would extend a pocket-size sample of that desegregation to Mac users .
Messages
Apple fans have long enjoyed the pleasures of iMessage . From the amphetamine to the end - to - remainder encryption , there is n’t much not to like about it , but even though Apple has expound its Messages app functionality in El Capitan to sync and send MS messages from the Mac , it ’s still very much an Apple - only service .
We would love to see downcast bubble when chit-chat with our Android friends .
Google has been much more inclusive with its messaging app , releasing a version ofHangouts for iOSthat ’s even good than the Android one . message is n’t just one of the good way to communicate ; it ’s also one of Apple ’s best - designed apps , with nonrational controls for send photos and videos , excellent integration with your Camera Roll and simple , clean establishment . On the iPhone , no other service of process comes close , and an Android version would produce one of the right messaging services on the major planet , turning all of those green bubbles blue and making it gentle for people to seamlessly slide over to iOS .
And afterlast hebdomad ’s frightening exposure warning , Hangouts seems ripe for disturbance by Apple ’s ultra - secure , super - quick service . An Android app would inflate iMessage ’s outrank exponentially , touch WhatsApp for domination and show Galaxy and Moto X users just how secure and seamless messaging can be .
News
If there ’s one thing that iOS and Android users can harmonise on , it ’s thatwe miss Google Reader . The premier RSS app on any and every platform , Google Reader go away a void when it keep out down , and even with a cryptic catalogue of replacements in both the App and Play stores , many of us are still await for something that can match its personalization and pep pill .
While it ’s not a Google Reader clone , Apple ’s upcoming News appmight be the one that lets us finally let go . Even in in its scratchy - around - the - edges genus Beta form it appears that Apple has struck a nice equaliser between sort and function , put up beautiful layouts andcarefully curated listsof subject area and sites . It ’s one of the top fresh features in iOS 9 , and one of the few bundled apps that wo n’t straightaway be jettisoned to a deep brochure .
But while it ’s great on the iPhone , on Android it could go a foresightful way toward play up Apple ’s punctilious attention to every design detail , while also grow its drug user foot and enticing more publishing firm to contribute .
Photos
When Apple boot iPhoto as picture earlier this twelvemonth , Mac users rejoiced . Not only did it clear up many of the longstanding issue we had with iPhoto , it brought seamless cloud synchronize to our entire photo library , professional editing tools and a uniform , flowing user interface across all of our devices .
Android user concerned about privacy might prefer Apple ’s approach to photo management .
Google introduced a similar photo management app not long after Apple ’s debut , but while the Android - compatible service has bake in a revolutionary method acting of searching through your prototype , the theme of Google sleuth on every photograph you ’ve ever taken might be a little creepy-crawly to some people . An Android version of Photos would be a bully way for Apple to establish how serious it is about picture taking while further distancing itself from Google ’s data appeal manikin . And once someone switches , all of the photos they deal would as if by magic appear on their new iPhone .
Apple Watch
It ’s impossible to judge Apple Watch based on three paltry month of sale . Over the next few years , Apple will revise and revamp Apple Watch , try out various pricing tier and expand its scope beyond Best Buy and the Apple Store , all in an effort to get it on as many wrist joint as possible . But no matter how many Watches Apple sells , it ’ll never be as successful as it could be — by bind it to the iPhone , Apple is inherently limiting the reach of its new wearable .
This one … would be a lot arduous to pull off , since watchOS is so integrate with iOS . But if Apple could finally open up the Apple Watch to Android users , it could actuate a halo effect , like the iPod did .
It ’s kind of like how it was with the iPod . Over the first yr or so of its lifespan , critic were ready to eulogize it as another overpriced trip-up , but once Apple opened it up to Windows users ( first through Musicmatch and then through the superscript iTunes for Windows ) , it was able to inflate its reaching without sacrifice any of what made it great . open up up Apple Watch to Android users is one thing , but offering the same wanton app installation and management would act as a sort of annulus impression to tempt citizenry not just away from their Moto 360s but from the fractured Android experience as a whole .
Like Steve Jobs once said , “ It would be like pay a methamphetamine hydrochloride of methamphetamine body of water to someone in Hell . ”
