Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference is a week away, and the guy with the best sources is between jobs.
There will be no published WWDC round-up from Mark Gurman this year, neither at his old outlet (9to5Mac) or his new (Bloomberg).
But the one-man Apple scoop machine did spend 15 minutes with the New York Times‘ Farhad Manjoo Saturday doing what for four years (2012-2015) he did better than anyone: Spoil Apple’s biggest party of the year by spilling its secrets in advance.
The venue this year was a podcast—the Jay (Yarow) and Farhad Show. The audio is attached below.
The highlights:
- Sustaining improvements in what Apple will now be framing as four tentpole operating systems (iOS, MacOS, tvOS, watchOS), each with its own marketing thrust and software development kit (SDK).
- Major updates in apps—particularly Photos and Apple Music—but iTunes is still iTunes for the foreseeable future.
- A center-stage role for Siri, with a new icon on the Mac and an SDK to open it up to developers.
- Finally whispers—”nobody report this,” says Gurman—that Apple will introduce a way to send cash securely (and presumably invisibly) from one device to another via iMessage and Apple Pay
Below: the audio. The WWDC stuff starts at the 10:24 mark.
Not hearing the audio? Try the website.
“…Apple will introduce a way to send cash securely (and presumably invisibly) from one device to another via iMessage and Apple Pay.”
True or not, it’s an intriguing idea. And right behind it comes Apple Bank.
Ever used Square Cash? The idea Isn’t new.
Apple doesn’t have enough capital reserves to be a bank. /s
Ha! I wonder, if Apple formed a banking arm, would it immediately be deemed “too big to fail”?
I wonder if that’s the same Jay Yarow made famous by The Macalope?
Yup. Yarow has matured somewhat. Farzad Manjoo, ex Slate, now New York Times, is very good.
Oops. I went snooping in old Macalope archives and wrote my scathing comment below– before I saw your reply, Mr. Dewitt. I guess I WAS too harsh.
Part of Apple’s business model is secrecy until launch. Gurman comes along and leaks. Thing is, he’s making money doing it. Maybe this is too harsh, but that seems parasitical. At least distasteful.
Yarow, or at least BI, is famous for click bait, “Apple is Dead in the Water” articles. Also, parasitical, but more malignant because Yarow’s business analysis lead people to think Apple was failing– investors and consumers.
Both parties are making money off of Apple’s work.
Again, maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe the relationships are symbiotic in a way I’m not aware of.
Yarow wasn’t there for the interview. Just Gurman and Manjoo.