Jun 20, 2014

Apple Releases iOS 8 SDK with over 4,000 New APIs

Biggest Developer Release Ever Includes Extensibility Features, HealthKit, HomeKit & Swift


A research from eMarketer shows that 4.55 billion people worldwide to use a mobile phone in 2014. Mobile adoption is slowing, but new users in the developing regions of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa will drive further increases. Between 2013 and 2017, mobile phone penetration will rise from 61.1% to 69.4% of the global population.


Mobile phone users are rapidly switching over to smartphones as devices become more affordable and 3G and 4G networks advance. Smartphone users currently account for a majority of mobile phone users in 10 of the 22 countries included in our forecast. eMarketer expects this to increase to 16 countries during 2014.


More than 2.23 billion people worldwide, or 48.9% of mobile phone users, will go online via mobile at least monthly in 2014, and over half of the mobile audience will use the mobile internet next year. Mobile data network expansion—especially in areas outside of urban centers in emerging markets with rising middle classes—and the adoption of smartphones and feature phones with internet capabilities will fuel growth of the mobile phone internet consumer base. Research estimate that the total number of mobile phone internet users will rise 16.5% in 2014 and maintain double-digit growth through 2016.


Taking the mobile market as a whole — so looking collectively at both smartphones and basic mobiles Android took a 44% share of the market in Q1 (up by 24% year-on-year). According to ABI’s data, with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) which companies including Amazon and Nokia have used to fork Android taking 13%.


Android and iOS combine for 92.3% of all smartphone operating system shipments in the first quarter while Windows phone leapfrogs BlackBerry, according to IDC.

The question is not merely academic. In Q4 2013, according to research firm IDC, Google's Android mobile operating system had a 78% share of all users globally. Apple's iOS had just 18%. Now, IDC predicts that in 2014 Android will claim 80.2% of users and only 14.8% will be on Apple's iOS system.

Google’s has different approach with Android than Apple and its free of cost which is making it most popular mobile OS globally. Any hardware maker can use Android free of charge. Since Android is packed with excellent Google services like Gmail, Google Now, and Google Maps, most of the hard work has already been done for manufacturers like Samsung and HTC.

To beat the competition with Android, Apple just (June 2, 2014) released its iOS 8 SDK, the biggest developer release ever with more than 4,000 new APIs, giving developers the ability to create amazing new apps like never before.

iOS 8 offers some innovative features, that’s why it is being considered that iOS8 will be the most powerful mobile OS.

Customize User Experience

iOS 8 allows developers to further customize the user experience with major extensibility features like Notification Center widgets and third-party keyboards; and introduces robust frameworks such as HealthKit and HomeKit. iOS 8 also includes Metal, a new graphics technology that maximizes the performance of the A7 chip and Swift, a powerful new programming language.

HealthKit for Better Health Care

iOS 8 offers developers robust frameworks including HealthKit APIs that provide the ability for health and fitness apps to communicate with each other. With your permission, each app can use specific information from other apps to provide a more comprehensive way to manage your health and fitness. For example, your blood pressure app could share its data with a physician app, such as the Mayo Clinic app, so your doctor can provide high-quality guidance and care.

“We believe Apple’s HealthKit will revolutionize how the health industry interacts with people,” said John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and CEO. “We are proud to be at the forefront of this innovative technology with the Mayo Clinic app.”

HomeKit for Better Home Manageability

As HealthKit combines health data to help you take better care of your health. HomeKit lets your home accessories connect seamlessly to better manage your home. HomeKit delivers a common protocol, secure pairing and the ability to easily control individual or groups of devices throughout the house including integration with Siri®. For example, you can tell Siri you are “going to bed” and it could dim the lights, lock your doors, close the garage door and set the thermostat.

“We are excited to be part of the next step in making home automation a reality, in a safe and integrated way,” said Eric Rondolat, CEO, Philips Lighting.

“HomeKit will allow us to further enhance the Philips Hue lighting experience by making it simpler to securely pair devices throughout the house and control them using Siri.”

Innovation in Gaming Development

Gaming on iOS takes a huge leap forward in iOS 8 with Metal, a new graphics technology that maximizes performance on the A7 chip. With its dramatic 10 times improvement in draw call speed, Metal enables leading game providers for the first time to bring console-class 3D games to mobile devices. For casual games, iOS 8 now features SceneKit, making it easy to create fun 3D games, along with major enhancements to SpriteKit, including field forces, per-pixel physics and inverse kinematics.

Innovative Programming Language - Swift

Swift is a powerful new programming language for iOS and OS X that makes it easier than ever for developers to create incredible apps. Designed for Cocoa® and Cocoa Touch®, Swift combines the performance and efficiency of compiled languages with the simplicity and interactivity of popular scripting languages. By design, Swift helps developers write safer and more reliable code by eliminating entire categories of common programming errors, and coexists with Objective-C® code, so developers can easily integrate Swift into their existing apps. Xcode® Playgrounds make writing Swift code incredibly interactive by instantly displaying the output of Swift code. A beta version of Swift is available immediately for iOS and OS X Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. The final version will be made available this fall, and apps written in Swift can be submitted to the App Store and Mac® App Store when iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite are released.

Better Security

iOS 8 also includes Touch ID™ APIs enabling developers to securely authenticate users within apps, protect logins and user data, and unlock keychain items. With iOS 8, developers can provide authentication with a successful fingerprint match while keeping your fingerprint data safe and protected in the secure enclave.

Additional iOS 8 developer features include:

  • PhotoKit, so developers can tap into the power of the same robust framework as the built-in Photos app for faster performance, nondestructive edits and the ability to both read and write to the Photos library;
  • new Camera APIs, giving developers fine grain control over focus, white balance and exposure;
  • CloudKit, a complete and scaleable back-end solution helps developers eliminate the need for writing server code and maintaining servers; and
  • New App Store™ features for developers like app previews and app bundles, the new iTunes Connect with free analytics and TestFlight for beta testing pre-release apps. iPhone, iPad and iPod touch customers have access to the revolutionary App store, which offers more than 1.2 million apps in 155 countries around the world. The App Store receives more than 300 million visitors each week and iOS users have downloaded more than 75 billion apps.

The iOS 8 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. This fall iOS 8 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini™ and iPad mini with Retina display. iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Drive use your iCloud storage with the first 5GB free. Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

“With more than 800 million iOS devices sold worldwide, the opportunity for developers is huge,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “This is the biggest iOS release since the launch of the App Store. The iOS 8 SDK delivers more than 4,000 new APIs including amazing new frameworks, greater extensibility and a revolutionary new programming language.”

We hope that these new capabilities of iOS8 with new programming language, Swift, will make iOS 8 stand out from cloud.

Image and content are credited from:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/06/02Apple-Releases-iOS-8-SDK-With-Over-4-000-New-APIs.html
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Users-Worldwide-Will-Total-175-Billion-2014/1010536
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24108913

Omnie Solutions is an enterprise application development company providing custom web and enterprise mobile application development services for leading mobile platforms like iOS, Android, and Rim to global business. Follow Omnie Solutions on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

1 comments:

  1. iOS 8 is world best and popular OS because its many reason like Send last location to Apple before your battery dies, Identify songs and Phone calls over Wi-Fi. iOS8 is best solution for iOS 8 application development. It is easy to develop and easy to customize.

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