Apple’s arguably most hated piece of legacy software – iTunes – may be killed today at the WWDC keynote, reported Bloomberg over the weekend, and the interesting part is that it won’t be renamed to something else, but different modules will be taking its place instead.
The iTunes syncing and download service is a relic of the past anyway, and will be phased out as Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will be announcing a move away from the iPhone as the centerpiece of the company’s strategy.
The Apple Watch will reportedly gain more independence from the iPhone, the iPad will be getting new software that will aim to close the gap with laptops, and Apple will be pushing its new healthcare solutions, according to the report. Anything but the iPhone.
The transition might not be finished for a couple of years, but this is the strongest push Apple has made toward the unification of its two platforms. Apple and developers can put more effort into one version of things instead of having to build everything twice.
With Watch OS 6, the company is eventually going to introduce a dedicated App Store, compartmentalize messaging, and add stock utility apps of the everyday type like a calculator or a voice recorder that will make you keep the iPhone in your pocket for longer while using the Watch.
One of the slower and more cumbersome to use of Apple’s legacy software, the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none iTunes will be replaced with apps that now duplicate its functionality. Instead of using it for watching videos, or listening to music and podcasts, Apple’s new Music, TV, and Podcasts apps for the Mac will be taking over. What about shuttling files to and from and managing the phone, though, what iTunes used to do?
Well, those functions will reportedly be taken over by the new Music app, of all things. Apple even started purging the iTunes accounts on Instagram, Facebook and the like, indicating the ancient software’s imminent demise. Good riddance?