And a lot of folks agreed with him. Not only did the hashtag ‘WeWantAnOpeniOS’ hit trending status on Twitter, but more than 11,000 people signed the corresponding petition. Well it appears that someone at Apple was listening, because Tim Cook says that’s the plan…
And today we’ve got some good news for you, While Tim Cook was at D11 interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, he told them that Apple will open iOS more for developers. . It won’t do anything that risks the user experience, but it will make it more open.
Walt: Let’s talk about control. There’s a lot of talk about open versus closed. Facebook did Facebook Home, which hasn’t done very well. Eric Schmidt said it’s great, it’s fine. I understand that they came and talked to you about it, and Apple wouldn’t let anyone take over the lock screen. Your keyboard and your recognition, predictive typing and all that stuff, hasn’t kept pace with Android. They allow other people to make that technology, third parties can give you a choice. Have you given any thought to a little bit less control?Cook: Yeah, of course. On the general topic of opening up APIs, I think you’ll see us open up more in the future, but not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience. So there’s always a fine line to walk there, or maybe not so fine. We think the customer pays us to make choices on their behalf. I’ve see some of these settings screens, and I don’t think that’s what customers want. Do some want it? Yes. But you’ll see us open up more.Walt: So there’ll be some features you’ll let third parties do?Cook: Yes.
If these words are true, then I am really very sure it will be a great move from a company like Apple which kept in a “Closing statue” for a few years..
Speculation on what Cook was referring to in the comments is already running rampant. Previous reports suggested Apple is exploring widgets— so perhaps it’ll open up the Notification Center or Lock screen to developers, allowing them to serve up app data at a glance.
Whatever it is, here’s hoping that we’ll get a glimpse of it at WWDC next month. Apple has confirmed that Tim Cook and team will be using the high profile developer conference to show previews of its next generation desktop and mobile operating systems, OSX and iOS.
