In recent years it has become the tradition of the annual release of new major versions of iOS. Every year at WWDC, Apple presents a new edition with a large number of innovations and improvements, and in the fall, along with a new flagship iPhone, is releasing a public build of the OS. However, the recent announcement of iOS 9.3 shows that such a strategy can go.
According to the journalist Macworld’s Dan Moren, the release of iOS 9.3 shows a major change in strategy for Apple. The fact that the company not only released a beta version of the update, but also dedicate a page on the official website. In the past the company did so only in the case of a major system updates.
“Now Apple has another goal: to continuously release a small update for the iPhone, instead of every summer to do one major release”, – the journalist writes.
Moren believes that such changes may be a reflection of the maturity of smartphones. Since the release of the first iPhone nine years ago, he became an integral part of our lives and, in a sense, reached the pinnacle of development. “What large-scale innovations can offer to iOS developers Apple?”, – asks the journalist. He is sure that in June, Apple announces iOS 10 and iOS 9.5. So iOS 9 could be the final version of the mobile platform Apple.
“What if the biggest release in the worldwide developers conference will not be iOS 10 and iOS 9.5? Definitely, it will cause a wave of criticism against Apple and screaming about the end of the era of the company. But for users it will mean that Apple will focus on improvements in the quality and stability of their software products”.
The transition to a situation where iOS will be constantly updated minor releases will end the annual cycle and will allow Apple to focus on the development of new software to offer new features and then to Refine them based on user feedback, says Moren.
A similar strategy has recently applied Microsoft. Last year it stated that Windows 10 will be the last separate version of the OS, Windows 11 will not. Instead of regularly every few years to release a major system update, the company decided to develop the platform gradually, adding new functions to it.
