Apple has announced the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, along with the iPad Pro, iPad Air 3, and iPad Mini 4. While the biggest announcement of the year is over, with no announcement next month, Apple’s still busy working. No company in the industry can sit still when competing in the business, and the fruit company is included.
This week’s Apple Week in Review brings a discussion about the company’s self-driving car, the launch of iOS 9 to iOS users, Apple’s publication of its Move to iOS app at Google’s Play Store, and Apple WatchOS bugs and postponement. Since we’ve got lots of ground to cover, let’s get started, shall we?
iOS 9 launch and problems
iOS 9 was set to arrive on September 16th, and Apple delivered the latest update to its mobile operating system as promised. As with any update, though, users have happily updated but are now reporting problems with early installs. For some, they’re getting stuck at the upgrade screen where you’re prompted to tap to install or “slide to upgrade,” and others are noticing app crashes, lagginess, and are locked out of their devices with a black screen. Others are performing factory resets on their iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, and iPhone 6, with little to no success.
Apple’s latest OS update was designed to work with all iOS 8-eligible devices (including the iPhone 4s and iPad 3, among them), but older devices don’t work well with newer updates. The reason has something to do with RAM, which can impact multitasking, but it’s been a proven experience over the years that updates on older devices are like a lottery: it’s usually hit-and-miss. While Apple provides 3 years of support on older iPhones and iPads, it’s best if users update after 2 years. It sounds fun to get the latest from Apple but it’s no fun if your device gets bricked and rendered useless (as some iPhone 5 users are experiencing) while trying to catch the latest “drippings” of the fruit company.
Apple Car
Yes, Apple is preparing to launch a self-driving car. The company has met with the California DMV office to discuss driving regulations, which wouldn’t be happening if the company intended to produce a normal automobile without voice command or intelligence capabilities. Apple’s discussion with California’s DMV office makes sense in light of California’s published regulations regarding the operation and use of autonomous (or self-driving) vehicles. Whereas Google has always wanted to promote its fully autonomous vehicles sans a driver’s seat and a front-seat driver, California has said that it won’t allow such vehicles to operate at this time. Every autonomous vehicle will still be semi-autonomous for now, mandating a driver in the driver’s seat to take over the vehicle at any moment.
The Apple Car makes sense in light of Apple’s “iOS in the Car” feature it announced in iOS 8. Apple has approached BMW about making a luxury model vehicle together, and Apple’s own Eddy Cue sits on the Ferrari board, meaning that Apple will inevitably invest in vehicles in the long run. Samsung is also invested, as is Google, so the next race between these top mobile giants will turn to the car (autonomous vehicles) and the home (home automation, Internet of Things or IOT).
Apple WatchOS 2 update postponed due to bugs
Next on the list of this Apple Week in Review is the Apple Watch, which, as is the case with all mobile devices, is now the subject of software problems. Apple had scheduled an Apple WatchOS 2 update on the same day as the company’s iOS 9 launch but postponed it due to a bug within the new update. Apple told tech site TechCrunch, “We have discovered a bug in the development of WatchOS 2 that is taking a bit longer to fix than we expected. We will not release WatchOS 2 today but will shortly.” Of the improvements to WatchOS that are scheduled, Apple looks to make many apps native to the watch so that the Apple Watch is not dependent on the iPhone and its processor to operate apps remotely.
Apple Move to iOS app arrives at Google Play, gets pounded by Android faithful
Apple’s Phil Schiller said about Android on Twitter once that “it’s a dangerous world out there,” but he could never have predicted just how true that statement would be – well, with a few diehard Android users, that is.
Cupertino’s Move to iOS app arrived at Google Play this week, allowing former Android users to transfer their contacts and other information over to iOS for an easier transition process when abandoning their Android device for an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus. The responses have been nothing short of blasting towards the fruit company. Apple looks to bring Apple Music to Google Play this Fall, but it’ll prove to be a hard sell when it only grants a three-month trial with the same monthly fee as Google’s Play Music deal. Samsung users have a $3.99 Milk Music Premium alternative that proves better in many ways for those who want an exclusive, anti-Apple experience.
Have you noticed any issues with iOS 9 on your devices this week? Excited about the Apple Car, the new Apple WatchOS 2 update, or anything Apple? Feel free to share in the comments.
