TestFlight, Apple is baking beta-testing right into its developer tools, and will allow developers to distribute their unfinished software to up to 1,000 users- users, not devices-using a simple mechanism that requires very little user intervention or technical savvy. With iOS 8, all this will change: Following its acquisition earlier this year of the popular beta service Many new features, like extensions and low-level access to the cameras found inside iPhones and iPads go a long way towards giving developers a freer hand in building apps that communicate with each other and integrate with the operating system at an unprecedented level. OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, however, seem to be bucking this trend. To make things worse, Cupertino is often cagey when it comes to new product announcements, and, in the past, has imposed onerous confidentiality clauses as a requirement for joining its developer program and attending WWDC.Īs you can imagine, this does not go over well with developers, who chafe at being artificially prevented from creating the apps they want and having to deal with complex non-disclosure agreements that hinder their ability to freely exchange ideas and knowledge with other programmers. On one hand, the company obviously likes the great variety of apps that developers build for its products, but on the other it carefully limits the ways in which third-party apps can interact with its operating systems, particularly when it comes to iOS. Everyone gets an APIĪpple’s relationship with its developer ecosystem has, at times, been contentious in nature. With his mix of self-referential humor and surprising approachability-during last year’s WWDC, he would stand in line chatting with other attendees while waiting for his turn to get into one of the many technical sessions-the 44-year-old is exactly the kind of figure behind which third-party developers can rally and feel that they-and their needs-are taken seriously by the company. Federighi is the perfect choice to lead this revolution.
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