DiogeneX

The WWDC 2011 Keynote is over. Lots of new features, services and APIs were announced, the implications of which will not be truly felt for months or longer. But a few quick thoughts on today’s event:

• Apple’s vision of the cloud makes native apps better. Others see the cloud as a substitute for native apps.
• Some will say that the Mac was “demoted”. I prefer to say that iOS devices have been brought on par with the Mac. The toddler stage for iOS is over. Unsurprisingly, Apple dropped the “Mac” from “Mac OS X.” Over-reading the tea leaves, I’m sure this will prompt speculation about the next version of OS X, in which I believe the distinction between iOS and OS X will become negligible. Perhaps to the point of (gasp) validating Microsoft’s Windows 8 approach.
• The mobile game has changed (again). It’s no longer about app counts (425K by latest count for iOS), app stores or hardware. Apple is making the compelling case that none of this matters without the knitting (a robust services layer) tying each piece together. Anyone can put puzzle pieces in a bag, but it takes a certain skill to assemble the total picture.
• Some fundamental changes were made to Apple’s development tools, which (I believe) go some way toward addressing many of John Siracusa’s points in Copland 2010 Revisited.
• Apple TV was, for me, the elephant in the room. Other than Photo Stream, no new features have been publicly announced for it. Hopefully, more to come here, especially going into a Fall event.