Apple wowed a lot of people with previews of its new version of OS X, called Yosemite, which looks beautiful. Equally impressive was the the performance of Craig Federighi, the Senior Vice President who delivered most of yesterday's WWDC keynote.
Federighi's high energy performance was in stark contrast to that of his boss, CEO Tim Cook. While Federighi was charming and self-deprecating, Cook’s sections were filled with rubbish jokes, mostly at the expense of Android.
Good Cop, Mean Cop?
Even if they had been funny, the digs at Apple's major mobile rival were in poor taste. Many of the new features being announced for iOS 8 have long been standard on Android devices, most pertinently access to the third party keyboards.
It also revealed the full extent of Apple’s paranoia about it’s more dominant rival. While Apple yesterday seemed to be keen to bring in Windows users, by announcing features like iCloud Drive, it was actively antagonizing Android users.
The approach did not seem to go down well with those I was watching it with, and that was the Mac User Group in London! These user group members are obviously hugely passionate about Apple products, and were excited by many of the announcements, but had little interest in the partisan tone Cook so often adopted.
It’s clear that Apple is trying to make sure that the next PC or laptop a Windows user buys is a Mac. They are letting them get a taste of the improved syncing between devices, while depriving them of the the full power of Continuity.
However, the company seems to be taking a ‘you’re either with us or against us’ approach to Android users, saying we now have many of the features you like, so choose. Oh, and if you don’t join us we aren’t going to make your life easier. Mr. Cook’s dubious punchlines and mocking graphs personified this attitude, trying to make Android users feel stupid.
OS X Yosemite is a knockout, and iOS 8 vastly improves the entire Apple ecosystem. It’s just a shame that Mr. Cook decided to mock his rivals, instead of focusing on the positive message about the two new operating systems.