What’s next for Apple?

Watch is just the start of a bumper 2015 for the tech giant

he rest of 2015 promises to be exciting for Apple. Aside from Watch, which could be its most important launch since the iPhone, we might see a brand new version of iTunes that has the Beats Music streaming service integrated. HomeKit devices should start to appear in volume from mid-2015, and Apple Pay should make it to the UK and the rest of Europe.

iOS 8’s HealthKit makes it easier for developers to use the sensors in the iPhone and Watch, and so we should see a wave of new and improved health and fitness apps. Towards the end of the year, developers will be able to make apps which run natively on Watch, rather than on an iPhone using Watch as a display and controller.

The last quarter of 2015 should also see new versions of OS X and iOS – Apple has upgraded both annually for long enough that we can be reasonably confident it’s committed to that cycle. This should see an evolution in Continuity and Handoff, perhaps adding more features to both. And we can expect greater integration of iCloud Drive, perhaps with a dedicated app in iOS 9.

At the time of writing, the Photos app for OS X was in public beta (in OS X 10.10.3). Developers received their beta version in early February, and

Tpeople who signed up to OS X’s public beta service received one in early March. iCloud Photo Library should also come out of beta soo, it’s been rather a while! Apple TV has moved on from being a hobby and is now taken much more seriously by Apple. What this means in 2015 is unclear. It’s been reported for a couple of years now that Apple has been attempting to sign rights deals with both cable companies and content producers. Those negotiations haven’t proved fruitful yet. Likewise, analysts in the sports rights industry expect Apple to use some of its vast pile of cash to bid for the right to show live sports events. As bidding for the next round of English Premier League football rights got underway in February, there was even speculation that Apple could bid for the right to show live football.

Much of what Apple launched last year was aimed at developers. HomeKit, HealthKit, WatchKit, and the new programming language, Swift, were all designed to make it easier than ever to develop apps for both iOS and OS X. Apple’s intention is clear: by making it as easy as possible, and potentially lucrative, to develop for its platforms, it hopes to attract the world’s best software developers. And that can only be very good news indeed for us, its customers.