Apply some breaks, Apple: Enhance your iOS apps before going to Android

Android fiends may consider acquiring Apple apps, though they are not going to put up with the same old Apple kinks.

In a bid to make more of its software and services available to Google’s mobile OS, Apple Music for Android is turning out to be Apple’s gateway to accomplish its mission. This news came out as Apple CEO Tim Cook committed a faux pas as he was addressing his staff at a town hall meeting.

This appears to be contradicting since Apple has always been spreading the single message that their software and hardware are a perfect match and work well together. It may have finally dawned on them after realising a steady infiltration of both Google and Microsoft’s excellent apps into their domain, that this is not the case. Cook may now feel impelled to counter attack by bringing more Apple apps to Android, though he needs to recognize that making his company’s software run better on its hardware than it currently does should be his first move.

It is a common tune to most of you, that a majority of Apple’s apps and services are becoming less useful to deserve a recommendation for full time use, or they’re simply embarrassingly outclassed by what Google offers. Now raise your hand if you have a folder on your iPhone crowded with redundant and archaic Apple apps you no longer use … as expected, that’s a lot of you. Now raise your hand if you use iCloud Mail, iCloud Drive or the default iOS Notes or Reminder apps instead of third-party options like Gmail, Dropbox, Wunderlist, Evernote and so on. Not nearly as many of you are raising your hand this time.

Far be it from me that I am down playing the worth of Apple’s software. I actually use almost all of its services quite extensively. Furthermore, I find some of their apps user friendly and are absolutely better at working across multiple Apple devices than a lot of third-party options. ICloud Calendar, Notes, Reminders and even Apple’s email app with iCloud Mail work just fine if your needs are basic, especially the way they integrate between iOS and OS X is a fantastic feature. Despite this wonderful qualities, it has to be mentioned that customization and flexibility are necessary and wanting qualities.

Apple’s apps have either become over blown and complex or too basic with key features missing.

And if the app isn’t mundane, it’s too frenzied and complicated. These undesirable qualities bring themselves out well in iTunes, which has sadly grown into an ungainly, monster of an app that unnecessarily perform everything at once. Apple Music is another powerful app but not terribly intuitive.
Other difficult to understand Apple apps are the iCloud photo Library for iOS and the new Photos app for the mac. This two can actually satisfactorily serve you though after employing vigilance in finding out how they function.

Then there are the bugs. So irritating and inconveniencing to the user because it’s the last thing expected. Unnerving is the experience that I frequently go through as I have keep on making AirDrop work. Shockingly, my first experience with the company’s new Music Memos app made some song sketches disappear and reappear uncontrollably. Unresponsive is the other issue with App Store that doesn’t download though it’s always on auto-update.

Apple’s competitors are not having a walk over here. Continuity and Handoff between the Mac and iPhone are fantastic features. The iMessage for Android should be a killer app. It can be even better if Apple tightened up its software ship first. We all get excited and anxious whenever Apple unleashes their upcoming iOS and OS X updates at WWDC, unfortunately the real deal is not as impressive as their professionally managed demos.

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Microsoft on the other side has been struggling to sell its phones, though this is set to change under CEO Satya Nadella, and now the software giant is offering Office, Bing and even Cortana on iOS and Android. As for Google, it has been delivering excellent services on Apple’s platforms for years.

Apple might try the “put your apps where everyone is” strategy that Google and Microsoft have used.

Apple is known for succeeding without making their apps available on different OSs, but the tradition has been broken by iTunes and now Apple Music which are the notable exceptions. These two had a strategic purpose. iTunes for Windows boosted iPod sales, while iTunes Store dominance enticed everyone to get an iPhone. Mobile is probably the most important place a streaming service should be and not having Apple Music on Android which would be almost impossible to compete with Spotify.

The case for bringing other services to Android is a little murkier, but basically it comes down to the same “put your software where users are” strategy that Google and Microsoft already follow. Android won the fierce market-share battle, and their position isn’t changing anytime soon. Google and Microsoft are following from a distance by making their soft wares available to users on any hardware. Apple has now made their apps available on Android and is relying on its growing services like iMessage, the iCloud suite, the iTunes Store and Apple’s new photo-syncing solution in order to drive their revenues up.

Cook needs to fine tune Apple’s software design and functionality so as to appeal and impress his clientele. Then and only then can he lodge a further attack into Google’s territory.