WWDC 2016: Our Takeaways From Apple's Annual Developer Conference

Live From Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference

Rejoice, third-party app developers! This week at Apple’s annual World Wide Developer Conference, Apple unveiled iOS 10, the latest installment of the mobile operating system that powers all things iPhone/Pad/Pod. The big news: Apple has opened up iOS 10 to third-party developers, giving them unprecedented access to Siri, Messages, Maps, and the Phone itself, a stab at crowd-sourced innovation. Anything wrong with that? As app developers in sunny San Francisco, we love it.

For years now there has been a sense of diminishing returns with each annual iOS upgrade, more a series of micro-refinements than revolutionary overhaul. It seems that every year on stage, Apple demonstrates a new way to use an iPhone to buy movie tickets. It’s clearly Apple’s favorite feature: “Siri, what movies are playing nearby? Oh look, you can seen showtimes and theaters and even watch the trailer, right here from iPhone.” [Cue overly enthusiastic applause from Apple employees in crowd.]

With updated APIs, you’ll be able to use Siri to call a car on Lyft or make reservations on Open Table directly from Apple Maps. The only problem is you will have to use Apple Maps. That said, the possibilities are endless for developers, especially for Siri integration, which apps need most of all. While Google and Amazon are developing artificial intelligence that knows what you want right now, Apple is hoping third-party developers will fill the innovation gap until Siri becomes self aware and runs for political office in 2020.

Of course, Apple’s key differentiator hasn’t been the iPhone for years now. It’s been the App Store. Playing to the strengths of the development community is a genius move as the big apps add functionality on iOS you won’t see on Android. If Facebook and Twitter and SnapChat and the rest of the big boys have the best experience on iOS, well, sorry Samsung Galaxy. Hardware is only as good as software. The door is open here for app developers to create apps so integrated into the iOS experience that they feel like they were built by Apple itself. This is exactly what Apple wants. 130 billion app downloads and counting.

Some caveats. According to CNET, “Only apps for audio/video calling, messaging, payments, photo searches, workouts and ride booking will work with Siri, and Maps appears to support only ride booking and restaurant reservations.”

But the door has been cracked open, and its up to developers to step through. “Successful developers translates to having the best apps on our platform for users,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “You are part of everything that we do and everything that we will do going forward.”

Contact Appstem if you have any WWDC 2016 questions!