Music streaming services like Spotify has definitely changed how people listen to music and so it goes without saying that companies are wanting to get a piece of that success. Apple is no exception and at this year’s WWDC in San Francisco, the company announced its answer to Sweden – Apple Music.

The service is brought about by the acquisition of Beats last year and naturally, Apple is relying heavily on the former’s expertise in the music industry to get its own music streaming service out in the market with a bang. 

The app will put all of a user’s music content in a single place – that includes album purchases, a streaming service and even a 24-hour live radio curated by real humans just like Beats Music. The app will also give users access to over 30 million songs on iTunes for streaming.

Apple Music just like Spotify will also take into consideration a user’s listening habits and create suggestions based on these information. The app also has a feature called “Connect” that will allow artists to post exclusive content into the platform giving them a direct link to their fans.

 

Furthermore, Apple has decided to integrate Siri into the app allowing users to listen to music by simply giving voice commands to their devices. The service will be available for free (at least for the first three months) by the end of the month. After the trial period expires, users are expected to pay $10 per month. 

There’s also going to be a $15 family bundle justs like Spotify, Rdio and other streaming services. The feature will of course initially be available on iOS but will eventually reach Android and Apple TV in the following months.

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iOS 9 is undoubtedly the biggest announcement at this year’s WWDC in San Francisco. The newest operating system for Apple’s mobile devices is designed to give users more power and functionality in hopes that these would keep or improve its advantage over its competitors.

The first major improvement in iOS 9 would have to be Siri. Apple has made its digital assistant smarter by giving it preemptive search capabilities. Moreover, Siri will now feature context-based intelligence, allowing users to give commands to it based on the current content the user is looks at. 

Apple has also given Siri the ability to observe a user’s habits and recommend content based on these observations. If you’re worried about Privacy, the Cupertino company promises that all the processing done to get this data is done on the device and nothing will be relayed to Apple’s servers (we hope this is true).

Other apps are also debuting in iOS 9. These include a Notes app, an updated Maps app that now provides transit-directions like Google Maps and a News app that delivers Flipboard-style news pulled from publications like the New York Times and Conde Nast.

iPad owners are also getting some love from iOS 9. Apple’s tablets will now feature split-screen multitasking (and if you’re using an iPad Air 2, that means you can use split-screen multitasking with both windows active). There’s also a picture-in-picture mode so you can run two apps at the same time.

Just like Mac OS X El Capitan, iOS 9 will now be available for developers, while a public beta will commence in July. As for the rest of us, the operating system will be fully available sometime in Q3 2015.

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Apple’s first generation smartwatch, the Apple Watch is bound to get pretty cool with the announcement of Watch OS 2 that’s scheduled for release in Q3 2015. The company’s new wearable operating system will bring various improvements to its smartwatch, which we hope can make it good enough for its expensive price tag.

The first improvement coming with Watch OS2 will be brought about by the new WatchKit SDK. The kit should allow developers to build native apps for the smartwatch that runs and performs better than those currently on the market. Moreover, developers will be able to gain deeper access to the Apple Watch’s hardware including the digital crown, the heart rate monitor and its accelerometer.

Watch OS2 will also bring new watch faces to the Apple Watch as well as a “Complications” feature that pull specific app features and displays them on the screen for easy access. Apple will also allow users to turn their Watch into an alarm clock by creating a nightstand mode where the Digital Crowne becomes the snooze button.

Furthermore, Watch OS2 will have a social function – the “add a friend” feature that helps people connect with other friends that are also using an Apple Watch. 

Lastly, those who are using or planning to use the Apple Watch as a fitness tracker, you’d be happy to know that Watch OS2 will allow third-party apps to run on the Watch independently. It will also respond to Siri commands and even play Vine videos on the screen.

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