5 things Apple borrowed from Android for iOS 5

Apple's iOS 5 is slated for release this fall, presumably with iPhone 5. But the Android Army doesn't have to wait, like the iPhone idolators. Android users can have some of those features now. Looks like Apple has been doing a little copycatting. Again.

It's funny, since hardcore Apple enthusiasts are so quick to accuse whenever they see anyone copying the slightest thing from Steve Jobs' company. They're not as fast to acknowledge when Apple does the, ah, borrowing. I'm glad to do it for them.

With that brief introduction, here's my second top-5 list within 12 hours presented in order of importance.
It's coincidental there are two so close together; don't expect this to be habit.
1. Cloud Synchronization. iPhone users had pseudo-sync with MobileMe, which Apple is retiring, but it was nothing like what Google offers Android users. On Android phones, signing into the Google account syncs up all the search and information giant's services -- and when switching phones also restores apps, settings and personalized features, like desktop wallpaper. With iOS 5 and iCloud, iPhone users will get most of the sync benefits Androiders have long enjoyed.
2. Notifications Center. Apple gets kudos for better presentation, but Google had the concept first. Just about Android's best user interface feature is the notifications bar across the top of the phone's screen. Now, instead of annoying notifications that interrupt or are lost in numerical count on an app in another screen, iPhoners can enjoy the convenience of notifications collected in one place and pulled down for easy reference. Google be warned: I know lots of would-be iPhone switchers who stick with Android because of notifications.
3. Over-the-air updates. Apple has made iPhone slave to iTunes for far too long. How ridiculous that iPhone users have to plug in to a computer to update. Androiders have long enjoyed the convenience of OTA. It's about time Apple cuts the update cord that binds the iPhone chain gang. Free them! Freedom!
4. Photo sharing. Android users know the many benefits of using an open system, where developers are allowed to tap into the platform capabilities. One of my pet iOS peeves: Photo sharing. On Android, from the camera or photo gallery, I can send photos to any supported service installed on the phone. So if I want to take a photo and send to Twitter, Android let's me do that from the camera. Oh, but not iOS. Apple presents sharing options for its services but none other.
That will change with iOS 5, which will take Apple's grubby hands off and let third-party apps grab on. Photo sharing will be available from the camera and photo gallery. But why wait, when Android has your back? Today.
5. Twitter. On Android, Twitter is perhaps too much of a good thing. Who really wants to sync Twitter with their contacts? Twitter, like many other apps, can tap deep into Android -- like the aforementioned photo sharing. Apple is following Google, but I must concede going seemingly deeper. Androiders can tweet from some apps, like the browser and YouTube, a capability iPhoners will get from Twitter being integrated into iOS 5.

Apple's iOS5 - breaking ground or breaking hearts?

Many iOS5 improvements were borrowed from existing apps and services.
From what we’ve seen so far, there’s a lot to like about the latest iGadget software update. Previous iOS upgrades have mainly focused on playing catch up with other smartphone platforms, but I’d say iOS5 is perhaps Apple’s biggest update in terms of assimilating great features previously offered by third parties.

Adding handy third-party features to iOS is one of those areas where Apple is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t. Assimilate new features and it’s accused of acting like the Borg, but leave them out and it’s seen as lagging behind competing platforms such as Android. So should third-party developers take it as a compliment or a slap in the face? If they’re smart, they’ll see it as an opportunity to grab new customers by expanding features to stay one step ahead of Apple.

In many cases Apple’s new iOS features only partially replicate the functionality of existing third-party apps and services. Look at the impressive Dropbox and how it compares to iCloud’s new integration with iWork. It’s a mistake to think that one negates the need for the other, because they actually specialise in different tasks.

Dropbox is handy for getting files onto your iPad, especially if you’re dealing with a wide range of formats from a wide range of devices. Dropbox’s Achilles’ Heel on the iPad is that it won’t sync edited files back to the Dropbox service (there are webDAV workarounds but they take some extra messing about and aren’t foolproof). This is where iOS5’s new native iCloud sync features are certainly useful, if iWork is your productivity suite of choice, as it promises to sync edited files between Pages running on iGadgets and Macs.

Apple isn’t likely to replicate Dropbox’s wider format and platform support any time soon because it’s more interested in improving the i-centric ecosystem. Meanwhile there’s a place for both on your iPad.

Another example is Mobile Safari’s new Reading List feature and how it will impact Instapaper. At first glace Reading List is a death sentence for Instapaper, as it also lets you easily mark webpages that you want to reader later on other devices. Once again, Apple has restricted itself to its own ecosystem - with Reading List only syncing marked webpages between Mobile Safari on iOS5 and Safari on MacOS 10.7. This leaves the door open for services such as Instapaper to cater to a much wider range of devices and platforms, plus add extra features to integrate with other third-party services.



In both cases, Apple’s new features could be a blessing for Dropbox and Instapaper as iGadget lovers discover iOS5’s built-in features and then go searching the App store for something with a little more advanced functionality.

The future isn’t so bright for one-trick pony apps and services which can easily be completely assimilated into iOS. If anything, iOS5 is a timely reminder for developers that you need to think big in order to stay one step ahead of Apple.

Apple's iCloud paves way to simplicity

The way CEO Steve Jobs and his colleagues described it, Apple's new iCloud service is an express lane to computing bliss. By allowing users to synchronize music and other content wirelessly through the Internet instead of being held hostage by a stodgy old desktop, Apple has taken the most comprehensive step yet into consumer-based cloud computing.
"Keeping all those devices in sync,'' said Jobs, "is driving us all crazy.''
Cloud-computing, which allows a user to store content on a provider's remote servers and then tap into it easily from any desktop, laptop or mobile device, has been widely used for years now by business and government. With iCloud, Apple now seems to have flung open the doors to the much-vaunted "post-PC world'' and invited the rest of us in -- or at least those of us who use Apple products to increasingly manage our lives.
"I don't know how much easier you can make it for users,'' said Michael McGuire, vice president of research at the tech consultant firm Gartner. "If we keep moving in this direction, putting more and more of our content in the cloud, the next generation of users won't even know what a hard drive is anymore.''
Although some details of iCloud's inner-workings remain a mystery, Jobs presented tantalizing examples of ways that cloud-computing could soon change the lives of Apple consumers, and in a more indirect way, the lives of those who own neither an iPhone nor an iPad.Users of mobile devices, for instance, can use the free iCloud service to automatically upload documents, music and other content to Apple servers, then call them up on any Apple device. In the past, users had to "sync'' their music onto their iPhones, a slow and laborious process that iCloud now eliminates. The PC or Mac, said Jobs, was the hub of all this computing traffic, and it was time for Apple to "demote'' that hardware as the center that all other devices had to go through to grab content.

iCloud will allow users to sync files, apps, app data, and media across iOS devices, Macs and PCs. Essentially, all Apple devices will be able to "talk'' to the cloud, and users can move content to and from the cloud seamlessly, no matter where they are. The new service will let you share your online calendar with your spouse or buy new apps directly using any device you like. You buy the Yelp! app using your iPhone, and it automatically loads onto your Mac and iPod Touch.
iCloud will also automatically use Wi-Fi to back up your content each day, including your latest downloaded book or photo or even device settings. Work on a document on your Mac, shut it down, then work on that same document on your iPhone once you've left the house. Photos can be shared seconds after you take them with anyone in your Photo Stream network, or beamed up onto your Apple TV.
"It all just works,'' said Jobs. "We've made it so that you don't even have to think about it anymore.''
Competitors like Google and Amazon, both of which recently announced their own cloud-based digital music services, "will have a hard time keeping up with Apple now,'' said Jeff Buhl, a product manager in Denver for Jeppesen, which provides aeronautical data for pilots, including through an iPad app. "No one else is anywhere close to Apple as it moves into the cloud. And while companies have had access to it, Apple's now making it the consumers' cloud.''
Where it will all lead remains to be seen. Jobs raised

nearly as many questions about the new service as he provided answers for.
Australian researcher Daniel Woo, head of the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of New South Wales, was on hand for Jobs announcement. He points out that even while iCloud offers a way for users to seamlessly move documents and photos among their iPhones and iPads and between friends all linking to the same cloud storage locker, "bandwidth constraints are still a huge challenge.
"So with content like movies, which require so much space, we'll have to see what happens," Woo said. "But just starting with documents, cloud computing will fundamentally change how we write and collaborate on projects.'' Apple, he said, "has planted a flag in the sand, and what developers will do with this will be really interesting.''

Analyst Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, said Apple's strategy "will legitimize the cloud for consumers. If they only include their own devices in the new service, that may limit the overall impact a bit, though this also might force non-Apple consumers into the Apple world. Either way, this will also provide an opportunity for others, like Amazon, to grow in the space. And Apple has paved the way.''