The State of Apple

WWDC 2021: Apple is Officially Out of Ideas

Copying things and fixing things is all the software progress we can now expect, apparently

A flashy two-hour presentation did not succeed in hiding the fact that, on the software front, Apple seems to have hit a wall it’s not interested in breaking through. Which is a shame. (Image: Apple)

Apple’s keynote for its software-focused annual event, WWDC, wrapped up a few hours ago and — for many journalists — there’s this traditional comparison to be made. It’s not the “what we expected” versus “what we got” comparison (reporters stopped thinking that way about Apple events long ago). It’s the “what was my impression about all this while watching it” versus the “what’s my impression now that I’ve gone through all the actual press material” comparison and, in the case of WWDC 2021, there is no “versus”. It was underwhelming while watching it and underwhelming while collecting all the information necessary to report on it.

What has, furthermore, become painfully obvious is that Apple cannot “innovate” on the software front anymore.

During the WWDC keynote — which lasted almost two hours that seemed more like four — Apple executives went through all the additions and changes of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, tvOS 15, watchOS 8 and macOS Monterey. All of these changes are things that Apple should have fixed a long time ago and every single one of these additions is something that others have already done in the past (years ago even). Many of these features are proof that Apple is playing catch-up, while most are still implemented in a way that just promotes the use of more Apple products and services.

All iPadOS got for version 15 was a few adjustments in widget management and multitasking gestures. Justifying buying an iPad Pro for work is getting harder and harder these days. (Image: Apple)

The list is long but here are a few characteristic examples. Facetime is enhanced to work more like Zoom or Teams, also allowing for video or music sharing. The only truly noteworthy feature: people on Android or Windows devices can be included in Facetime video calls through a web browser by clicking on special links the Apple device owner can send. iMessage now resembles Viber or Whatsapp in the way it manages messages but also makes sharing of external content easier. Live Text is Apple’s version of Google Lens, recognizing text in photos and letting you manage it in different ways. Universal Control allows…