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What a long, strange trip it’s been.

From its inaugural release to today, Android has transformed visually, conceptually and functionally — time and time again. Google’s mobile operating system may have started out scrappy, but holy moly, has it ever evolved.

Here’s a fast-paced tour of Android version highlights from the platform’s birth to present. (Feel free to skip ahead if you just want to see what’s new in the most recent Android 15 update and the still-under-development Android 16 release.)

Android versions 1.0 to 1.1: The early days

Android made its official public debut in 2008 with Android 1.0 — a release so ancient it didn’t even have a cute codename.

Things were pretty basic back then, but the software did include a suite of early Google apps like Gmail, Maps, Calendar, and YouTube, all of which were integrated into the operating system — a stark contrast to the more easily updatable standalone-app model employed today.

width=”700″ height=”358″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>The Android 1.0 home screen and its rudimentary web browser (not yet called Chrome).
T-Mobile

Android version 1.5: Cupcake

With early 2009’s Android 1.5 Cupcake release, the tradition of Android version names was born. Cupcake introduced numerous refinements to the Android interface, including the first on-screen keyboard — something that’d be necessary as phones moved away from the once-ubiquitous physical keyboard model.

Cupcake also brought about the framework for third-party app widgets, which would quickly turn into one of Android’s most distinguishing elements, and it provided the platform’s first-ever option for video recording.

width=”700″ height=”480″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Cupcake was all about the widgets.
Android Police

Android version 1.6: Donut

Android 1.6, Donut, rolled into the world in the fall of 2009. Donut filled in some important holes in Android’s center, including the ability for the OS to operate on a variety of different screen sizes and resolutions — a factor that’d be critical in the years to come. It also added support for CDMA networks like Verizon, which would play a key role in Android’s imminent explosion.

width=”720″ height=”491″ sizes=”(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px”>Android’s universal search box made its first appearance in Android 1.6.
Google

Android versions 2.0 to 2.1: Eclair

Keeping up the breakneck release pace of Android’s early years, Android 2.0, Eclair, emerged just six weeks after Donut; its “point-one” update, also called Eclair, came out a couple months later. Eclair was the first Android release to enter mainstream consciousness thanks to the original Motorola Droid phone and the massive Verizon-led marketing campaign surrounding it.

Verizon’s “iDon’t” ad for the Droid.

The release’s most transformative element was the addition of voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic info — something previously unheard of (and still essentially unmatched) in the smartphone world. Navigation aside, Eclair brought live wallpapers to Android as well as the platform’s first speech-to-text function. And it made waves for injecting the once-iOS-exclusive pinch-to-zoom capability into Android — a move often seen as the spark that ignited Apple’s long-lasting “thermonuclear war” against Google.

width=”700″ height=”494″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>The first versions of turn-by-turn navigation and speech-to-text, in Eclair.
Google

Android version 2.2: Froyo

Just four months after Android 2.1 arrived, Google served up Android 2.2, Froyo, which revolved largely around under-the-hood performance improvements.

Froyo did deliver some important front-facing features, though, including the addition of the now-standard dock at the bottom of the home screen as well as the first incarnation of Voice Actions, which allowed you to perform basic functions like getting directions and making notes by tapping an icon and then speaking a command.

width=”700″ height=”532″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Google’s first real attempt at voice control, in Froyo.
Google

Notably, Froyo also brought support for Flash to Android’s web browser — an option that was significant both because of the widespread use of Flash at the time and because of Apple’s adamant stance against supporting it on its own mobile devices. Apple would eventually win, of course, and Flash would become far less common. But back when it was still everywhere, being able to access the full web without any black holes was a genuine advantage only Android could offer.

Android version 2.3: Gingerbread

Android’s first true visual identity started coming into focus with 2010’s Gingerbread release. Bright green had long been the color of Android’s robot mascot, and with Gingerbread, it became an integral part of the operating system’s appearance. Black and green seeped all over the UI as Android started its slow march toward distinctive design.

width=”700″ height=”400″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>It was easy being green back in the Gingerbread days.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android 3.0 to 3.2: Honeycomb

2011’s Honeycomb period was a weird time for Android. Android 3.0 came into the world as a tablet-only release to accompany the launch of the Motorola Xoom, and through the subsequent 3.1 and 3.2 updates, it remained a tablet-exclusive (and closed-source) entity.

Under the guidance of newly arrived design chief Matias Duarte, Honeycomb introduced a dramatically reimagined UI for Android. It had a space-like “holographic” design that traded the platform’s trademark green for blue and placed an emphasis on making the most of a tablet’s screen space.

width=”700″ height=”638″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Honeycomb: When Android got a case of the holographic blues.
JR Raphael / IDG

While the concept of a tablet-specific interface didn’t last long, many of Honeycomb’s ideas laid the groundwork for the Android we know today. The software was the first to use on-screen buttons for Android’s main navigational commands; it marked the beginning of the end for the permanent overflow-menu button; and it introduced the concept of a card-like UI with its take on the Recent Apps list.

Android version 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich

With Honeycomb acting as the bridge from old to new, Ice Cream Sandwich — also released in 2011 — served as the platform’s official entry into the era of modern design. The release refined the visual concepts introduced with Honeycomb and reunited tablets and phones with a single, unified UI vision.

ICS dropped much of Honeycomb’s “holographic” appearance but kept its use of blue as a system-wide highlight. And it carried over core system elements like on-screen buttons and a card-like appearance for app-switching.

width=”700″ height=”533″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>The ICS home screen and app-switching interface.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android 4.0 also made swiping a more integral method of getting around the operating system, with the then-revolutionary-feeling ability to swipe away things like notifications and recent apps. And it started the slow process of bringing a standardized design framework — known as “Holo” — all throughout the OS and into Android’s app ecosystem.

Android versions 4.1 to 4.3: Jelly Bean

Spread across three impactful Android versions, 2012 and 2013’s Jelly Bean releases took ICS’s fresh foundation and made meaningful strides in fine-tuning and building upon it. The releases added plenty of poise and polish into the operating system and went a long way in making Android more inviting for the average user.

Visuals aside, Jelly Bean brought about our first taste of Google Now — the spectacular predictive-intelligence utility that’s sadly since devolved into a glorified news feed. It gave us expandable and interactive notifications, an expanded voice search system, and a more advanced system for displaying search results in general, with a focus on card-based results that attempted to answer questions directly.

Multiuser support also came into play, albeit on tablets only at this point, and an early version of Android’s Quick Settings panel made its first appearance. Jelly Bean ushered in a heavily hyped system for placing widgets on your lock screen, too — one that, like so many Android features over the years, quietly disappeared a couple years later.

width=”700″ height=”533″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Jelly Bean’s Quick Settings panel and short-lived lock screen widget feature.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android version 4.4: KitKat

Late-2013’s KitKat release marked the end of Android’s dark era, as the blacks of Gingerbread and the blues of Honeycomb finally made their way out of the operating system. Lighter backgrounds and more neutral highlights took their places, with a transparent status bar and white icons giving the OS a more contemporary appearance.

Android 4.4 also saw the first version of “OK, Google” support — but in KitKat, the hands-free activation prompt worked only when your screen was already on and you were either at your home screen or inside the Google app.

The release was Google’s first foray into claiming a full panel of the home screen for its services, too — at least, for users of its own Nexus phones and those who chose to download its first-ever standalone launcher.

width=”700″ height=”579″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>The lightened KitKat home screen and its dedicated Google Now panel.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android versions 5.0 and 5.1: Lollipop

Google essentially reinvented Android — again — with its Android 5.0 Lollipop release in the fall of 2014. Lollipop launched the still-present-today Material Design standard, which brought a whole new look that extended across all of Android, its apps and even other Google products.

The card-based concept that had been scattered throughout Android became a core UI pattern — one that would guide the appearance of everything from notifications, which now showed up on the lock screen for at-a-glance access, to the Recent Apps list, which took on an unabashedly card-based appearance.

width=”700″ height=”578″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Lollipop and the onset of Material Design.
JR Raphael / IDG

Lollipop introduced a slew of new features into Android, including truly hands-free voice control via the “OK, Google” command, support for multiple users on phones and a priority mode for better notification management. It changed so much, unfortunately, that it also introduced a bunch of troubling bugs, many of which wouldn’t be fully ironed out until the following year’s 5.1 release.

Android version 6.0: Marshmallow

In the grand scheme of things, 2015’s Marshmallow was a fairly minor Android release — one that seemed more like a 0.1-level update than anything deserving of a full number bump. But it started the trend of Google releasing one major Android version per year and that version always receiving its own whole number.

Marshmallow’s most attention-grabbing element was a screen-search feature called Now On Tap — something that, as I said at the time, had tons of potential that wasn’t fully tapped. Google never quite perfected the system and ended up quietly retiring its brand and moving it out of the forefront the following year.

width=”700″ height=”605″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Marshmallow and the almost-brilliance of Google Now on Tap.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android 6.0 did introduce some stuff with lasting impact, though, including more granular app permissions, support for fingerprint readers, and support for USB-C.

Android versions 7.0 and 7.1: Nougat

Google’s 2016 Android Nougat releases provided Android with a native split-screen mode, a new bundled-by-app system for organizing notifications, and a Data Saver feature. Nougat added some smaller but still significant features, too, like an Alt-Tab-like shortcut for snapping between apps.

width=”700″ height=”460″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Android 7.0 Nougat and its new native split-screen mode.
JR Raphael / IDG

Perhaps most pivotal among Nougat’s enhancements, however, was the launch of the Google Assistant — which came alongside the announcement of Google’s first fully self-made phone, the Pixel, about two months after Nougat’s debut. The Assistant would go on to become a critical component of Android and most other Google products and is arguably the company’s foremost effort today.

Android version 8.0 and 8.1: Oreo

Android Oreo added a variety of niceties to the platform, including a native picture-in-picture mode, a notification snoozing option, and notification channels that offer fine control over how apps can alert you.

width=”700″ height=”613″ sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”>Oreo adds several significant features to the operating system, including a new picture-in-picture mode.
JR Raphael / IDG

The 2017 release also included some noteworthy elements that furthered Google’s goal of aligning Android and Chrome OS and improving the experience of using Android apps on Chromebooks, and it was the first Android version to feature Project Treble — an ambitious effort to create a modular base for Android’s code with the hope of making it easier for device-makers to provide timely software updates.

Android version 9: Pie

The freshly baked scent of Android Pie, a.k.a. Android 9, wafted into the Android ecosystem in August of 2018. Pie’s most transformative change was its hybrid gesture/button navigation system, which traded Android’s traditional Back, Home, and Overview keys for a large, multifunctional Home button and a small Back button that appeared alongside it as needed.

Android 9 introduced a new gesture-driven system for getting around phones, with an elongated Home button and a small Back button that appears as needed.JR Raphael / IDG

Pie included some noteworthy productivity features, too, such as a universal suggested-reply system for messaging notifications, a new dashboard of Digital Wellbeing controls, and more intelligent systems for power and screen brightness management. And, of course, there was no shortage of smaller but still-significant advancements hidden throughout Pie’s filling, including a smarter way to handle Wi-Fi hotspots, a welcome twist to Android’s Battery Saver mode, and a variety of privacy and security enhancements.

Android version 10

Google released Android 10 — the first Android version to shed its letter and be known simply by a number, with no dessert-themed moniker attached — in September of 2019. Most noticeably, the software brought about a totally reimagined interface for Android gestures, this time doing away with the tappable Back button altogether and relying on a completely swipe-driven approach to system navigation.

Android 10 packed plenty of other quietly important improvements, including an updated permissions system with more granular control over location data along with a new system-wide dark theme, a new distraction-limiting Focus Mode, and a new on-demand live captioning system for any actively playing media.

Android 10’s new privacy permissions model adds some much-needed nuance into the realm of location data.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android version 11

Android 11, launched at the start of September 2020, was a pretty substantial Android update both under the hood and on the surface. The version’s most significant changes revolve around privacy: The update built upon the expanded permissions system introduced in Android 10 and added in the option to grant apps location, camera, and microphone permissions only on a limited, single-use basis.

Android 11 also made it more difficult for apps to request the ability to detect your location in the background, and it introduced a feature that automatically revokes permissions from any apps you haven’t opened lately. On the interface level, Android 11 included a refined approach to conversation-related notifications along with a new streamlined media player, a new Notification History section, a native screen-recording feature, and a system-level menu of connected-device controls.

Android 11’s new media player appears as part of the system Quick Settings panel, while the new connected-device control screen comes up whenever you press and hold your phone’s physical power button.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android version 12

Google officially launched the final version of Android 12 in October 2021, alongside the launch of its Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro phones.

In a twist from the previous several Android versions, the most significant progressions with Android 12 were mostly on the surface. Android 12 featured the biggest reimagining of Android’s interface since 2014’s Android 5.0 (Lollipop) version, with an updated design standard known as Material You — which revolves around the idea of you customizing the appearance of your device with dynamically generated themes based on your current wallpaper colors. Those themes automatically change anytime your wallpaper changes, and they extend throughout the entire operating system interface and even into the interfaces of apps that support the standard.

Android 12 ushered in a whole new look and feel for the operating system, with an emphasis on simple color customization.
Google

Surface-level elements aside, Android 12 brought a (long overdue) renewed focus to Android’s widget system along with a host of important foundational enhancements in the areas of performance, security, and privacy. The update provided more powerful and accessible controls over how different apps are using your data and how much information you allow apps to access, for instance, and it included a new isolated section of the operating system that allows AI features to operate entirely on a device, without any potential for network access or data exposure.

Android version 13

Android 13, launched in August 2022, was simultaneously one of the most ambitious updates in Android history and one of the most subtle version changes to date.

On tablets and foldable phones, Android 13 introduced a slew of significant interface updates and additions aimed at improving the large-screen Android experience — including an enhanced split-screen mode for multitasking and a ChromeOS-like taskbar for easy app access from anywhere.

The new Android-13-introduced taskbar, as seen on a Google Pixel Fold phone.Google

On regular phones, Android 13 brought about far less noticeable changes — mostly just some enhancements to the system clipboard interface, a new native QR code scanning function within the Android Quick Settings area, and a smattering of under-the-hood improvements.

Android version 14

Following a full eight months of out-in-the-open refinement, Google’s 14th Android version landed at the start of October 2023, in the midst of the company’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro launch event.

Like the version before it, Android 14 didn’t look like much on the surface. That’s in part because of the trend of Google moving more and more toward a development cycle that revolves around smaller ongoing updates to individual system-level elements year-round — something that’s actually a significant advantage for Android users, even if it does have an awkward effect on people’s perception of progress.

But despite the subtle nature of its first impression, Android 14 delivered a fair amount of noteworthy new goodies. The software introduced a new system for dragging and dropping text between apps, for instance, as well as a number of new improvements to privacy and security — including a new settings-integrated dashboard for managing health and fitness data and a more info-rich and context-requiring system for seeing exactly why apps want access to your location. And it brought about a new set of native customization options for the Android lock screen.

Android 14 includes options for completely changing the appearance of the lock screen as well as for customizing which shortcuts show up on it.
JR Raphael / IDG

Android version 15

Google technically released Android 15 in September 2024, but in an unusual twist, that was only the launch of the software’s raw source code. The new Android version didn’t show up even on the company’s own Pixel devices until just over a month later, in mid-October.

With Google increasingly offering Android enhancements outside of the formal operating system context, some of the more interesting updates in recent months are not connected directly to Android 15 itself. For instance, the Android Circle to Search system and new theft protection features have shown up throughout 2024 for devices running even older Android versions.

As for Android 15 itself, though, the update introduces a number of noteworthy new features — including a system-level Private Space option that lets you keep sensitive apps out of sight and accessible only with authentication. The software also further enhances the multitasking systems introduced in Android 13 with the new option to keep the large-screen-exclusive Android taskbar present at all times and the new ability to launch specific pairs of apps together into a side-by-side split-screen with a single tap.

Once you set up Android 15’s new Private Space feature, certain apps appear in a special protected — and optionally hidden — area of your app drawer.
JR Raphael / IDG

Beyond that, Android 15 includes a redesigned system volume panel, a new option to automatically reenable a device’s Bluetooth radio a day after it’s been disabled, and a Pixel-specific Adaptive Vibration feature that intelligently adjusts a phone’s vibration intensity based on the environment.

Adaptive Vibration and a redesigned volume panel provide welcome upgrades to the Android audio experience.
JR Raphael / IDG

Add in a new charging-time connected-device-control screen saver, a space-saving app archiving option for infrequently used apps, and a long-under-development predictive back visual that lets you see a peek at where you’re headed before you get there — and this small-seeming update is actually shaping up to be a pretty hefty update progression.

Android version 16

In a marked change from recent Android upgrade cycles, Google decided to go with two new Android versions per year as of 2025 — starting with Android 16 in the spring and then following that with another release in the fall. (It’s not entirely clear yet if the second annual update will get its own full number or act as an extension of the Android 16 moniker, but Google says it’ll be a “major” release.)

True to that promise, Android 16 catapulted into the world in early June, just before the start of summer. Somewhat confusingly, while Google has shown off or in some cases been quietly developing a slew of new features that add up to create Android’s most dramatic reinvention in ages — including a bold new design language, a smart new system for multitasking, and an ambitious desktop mode that lets you plug your phone into a monitor and use it like a computer — most of those elements aren’t included in the initial Android 16 release and will instead show up later this year.

Aside from serving as a foundation for those advances, Android 16 marks the start of Live Updates — a new type of notification designed to support persistent, ongoing alerts, similar to what Apple does with iOS’s Live Activities.

Android 16’s Live Updates system makes it easier to keep tabs on persistent, ongoing alerts such as those from delivery apps — at least, once all of those apps begin to support it.
Google

It also adds in a more advanced standard of hearing aid support that should make a meaningful difference for anyone relying on such devices. And, perhaps most significantly, it debuts a new Advanced Protection security supermode that provides a simple new single-switch way to activate a whole slew of advisable Android security settings in one fell swoop.

The Android 16 Advanced Security control panel, as seen on a Google Pixel phone.JR Raphael, Foundry

Combined with a sprawling series of other new security strengtheners, that makes protection seem like the true centerpiece of Android 16 — for now, at least, before the rest of Google’s still-bubbling-beneath-the-surface surprises arrive.

This article was originally published in November 2017 and most recently updated in June 2025.

Source:: Computer World

As much as enterprise IT executives complain today about the sky-high cost of generative AI (genAI) model access, some fear those costs will skyrocket in the next couple of years. 

Why? The theory is that the large language model (LLM) makers will wait until their code has become such an integral part of the enterprise environment that unraveling it and starting over with a different model will be cost-prohibitive. Once that happens, genAI firms will pretty much have their customers over an LLM barrel.

Manuel Kistner, the CEO of software development group New Gravity, recently wrote on LinkedIn about those potential genAI price hikes.

“Remember when Uber rides cost $3 across town? When they threw promo codes at us like confetti? Venture capital was bleeding money to get us addicted to convenience. Then the subsidies stopped. That $3 ride became $25, then $100. We were hooked, so we paid. AI is following the exact same playbook, and the signs are everywhere,” Kistner wrote. “Look at enterprise software pricing. Salesforce charges $300/user/month. Adobe Creative Suite went from $50/month to $600/year per license. These companies price based on value delivered, not development costs.”

New, improved — and pricey

Others echo the point. Dev Nag, the CEO of QueryPal, said recent IT industry history suggests that any technology that is sufficiently different — and delivering materially better value — can obliterate pricing expectations.

“When Netscape tried to charge for browsing, Microsoft answered with a free Internet Explorer and the price of web navigation never recovered,” Nag said. “Chrome later cemented the zero-dollar norm. Let’s Encrypt vaporized the certificate market so completely that 300-dollar SSL fees are now folklore. Skype wrecked international-calling tariffs by moving minutes onto IP, flipping the surplus to consumers in a single release cycle. Smartphones then did the same to point-and-shoot cameras, slicing shipments from 109 million units in 2010 to under 2 million in 2023, while photo taking surged. Each case shows that once a digital good can be cloned at near-zero marginal cost, the lion’s share of value sticks to users.”

Aaron Cohen, an AI consultant, offered his own examples. “Think about Amazon. Is shipping for free and not making a profit still happening?  No, they changed certain practices,” Cohen said. “Expect different pricing models. Like Uber, expect surge pricing for AI.”

Cohen argued that this problem is almost certainly going to get worse. “As the models get better, the dependency will get worse and the prices will eventually be, well, they are going to be stuck with a very large bill,” he said. 

The sad reality is that there are two mostly unrelated issues going on here, both of which could deliver even more stratospheric genAI price issues for very different reasons. 

The old vendor lock-in game

The first issue is good, old-fashioned vendor lock-in. GenAI companies are pushing these models globally, urging every business unit to use it in a variety of ways. Let’s say an enterprise has mainly invested in a language model from just one company, say, maybe AWS, Google or OpenAI. Imagine how disruptive and expensive it would be to reverse that decision in two years if prices rise. (And since most companies are already using multiple models, doesn’t that make tossing everything overboard if prices jump even more complicated?)

The second issue is value pricing, where model makers start to charge based on the value delivered. 

Some have argued that any big price increase won’t happen — at least not to an overly painful extent — because of the large number of genAI competitors. That might be true now, but it won’t be true forever. GenAI consolidation is inevitable. Still, even consolidation will likely leave a good handful of viable players.

But the competition factor only influences the second issue, the value pricing one. It does nothing to help a company that went almost all-in on one model maker.

The vendor lock-in is more than end users relying on a model and the code being deeply embedded in your systems. Your team will have by then spent a massive amount of money fine-tuning those models and feeding it your company-specific data.

That combination is likely to mean vendor lock-in. But there are steps companies can take now to reduce the chance that any one genAI firm could soon hold you hostage for whatever price hike they feel like imposing.

“It’s similar to what the old mainframe timeshare model was in that they are renting not owning. [IT is] literally stuck paying token charges in perpetuity. It’s absolutely insane,” said Stephen Klein, CEO of Curiouser.AI. “It would be just as easy to implement an agnostic, multi-LLM model or, even better, open source [option] that (IT) can own. The problem is that open source is kind of like buying furniture from Ikea. It needs assembly and fine tuning.”

Klein’s point is valid, but enterprises are already doing a lot of assembly and fine tuning. That is a big part of what is going to create the lock-in problem.

Could competition keep prices in check?

Not everyone fears big price hikes. Take James Villarrubia, for example. Until May 30, Villarrubia was a head of NASA digital innovation and AI, serving as a presidential innovation fellow for a NASA unit called the Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project. 

Villarrubia said he doesn’t see any upcoming pricing changes as being materially different from what IT experienced in the past. “This does not strike me as any different than the panic we saw during early cloud migration,” Villarrubia said, when feared price hikes never materialized. One reason he’s sanguine about pricing involves the way many genAI vendors have been interacting with each others’ systems.

Enterprises have been “designing their systems to be linked to tools in the lightest way possible,” Villarrubia said. GenAI vendors “were all so desperate to get in on OpenAI business that they were using an OpenAI-flavored API. That made swapping way cheaper.”

Also, Villarrubia argued, the extensive fine-tuning that enterprises are doing will also not likely lock them into any one model. Most are “going straight to a core model” such as Meta’s LLama 4, Villarrubia said. 

“I see the [customized] fine tuning tasks significantly dropped from where it was a year ago,” he said — mostly because Meta made Llama more open, basically telling IT to use it to do model fine-tuning.

“I don’t see a deep monopolistic play yet,” Villarrubia said. “The vendor lock-in is not the thing I see driving up costs. When the new models come out, that is when prices will increase.”

Even then, he doubts price hikes will be unreasonably large because model makers will very much want to encourage upgrades.  “It simplifies their architecture,” Villarrubia said.

Some have suggested trying to negotiate longer-term contracts — such as five-year agreements — to avoid exposure to unlimited price hikes. But Villarrubia questions whether that makes business sense.

“A five-year contract seems insane for products that haven’t been on the market for five years yet,” he said. 

Source:: Computer World

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Source:: Fossbytes

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Source:: Fossbytes

By Megan Carnegie Tinny music plays in a dimly lit basement as we watch a teenager pull football shirts off a nearby clothing rack and hold them up to the camera. He describes each item monotonously — the team, season, colour, and condition — before sticking on a numbered label and transferring them to another rack. Each item gets less than a minute in the limelight. Bid rates and prices are listed at the bottom of the screen with eager buyers swiping a yellow bar to bid, while exchanging questions, comments, and emojis in the live chat box. When a buyer wins a…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

While the new user interface design Apple execs highlighted at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) might have been a bit of an eye-candy distraction, enterprise users were not forgotten, with announcements unveiled that could make a difference in the business world.

Apple’s WWDC keynote speech was far from the disappointment many had anticipated, given the number of changes announced. In addition to that new user interface, which will show up across all Apple products and is called Liquid Glass (we’ll look at it in more depth elsewhere), there were also APIs designed to help developers work AI into their software. The last is a nod to the company’s slow efforts to make Apple Intelligence the showcase tech promised at last year’s WWDC.

But for now I’m focused on just some of the changes Apple introduced that should have the most impact on enterprise users. Many, but not all, of these changes will be similar across all Apple’s devices, whether that’s macOS, iOS iPadOS, or others.

What’s a computer? The iPad

For me, the big news concerns the iPad, which gains noteworthy improvements that will transform its use. Not only can you open multiple app windows at once, but Apple has done this with a clever and versatile windowing system that even supports windows resizing, pervasive position memory and more. (You can even see all your currently open windows in Expose.)

These multitasking and windowing improvements should make it much easier to engage in professional work on an iPad and are the kind of improvements people have wanted for years. Changes on the iPad extend to the Files app, too, which gets important updates that will make it particularly useful.

Files for the rest of us

All Apple users, not just iPad owners, should see benefits from changes coming to Files. For iPad users, they make it easier to find and work with the files you need, and to add additional sorting options in the Files window; but Files is an app, which implies that at least some of those improvements will be available across other Apple devices. Pro users will likely also appreciate the new ability to customize folders with symbols, emoji, and colors.

The transformation of automation

Apple rolled out improvements in Shortcuts, including the capacity to create them and the ability to use Spotlight to identify and invoke them. And since the Shortcuts you do create can sync across all your devices, users will be able to build powerful productivity shortcuts on one device and use them on another, where they’re supported. This integration is, of course, also reflected by the Liquid Glass UI, which should create a real sense of familiarity as you move from Mac to tablet to iPhone.

Spotlight is evolving

Apple also announced big changes in Spotlight search on the Mac, including intelligent actions built around Shortcuts and Apple Intelligence, as well as Spotlight actions and quick keys; the latter automatically surface actions you might want to take with a Spotlight-selected item and commit those actions from within the search. This is powerful — you can find an item, change and save it, and share it, all from within Spotlight. The software can also learn from what you do, offering personalized actions for what you might want to do. 

“During a search, all results — including files, folders, events, apps, messages, and more — are now listed together and ranked intelligently based on relevance to the user,” Apple said. N”ew filtering options rapidly narrow searches to exactly what a user is looking for, like PDFs or Mail messages. Spotlight can also surface results for documents stored on third-party cloud drives. And when a user doesn’t know exactly what they’re searching for, Spotlight’s new browse views make it easy to scan through their apps, files, clipboard history, and more.”

You can also take hundreds of actions from directly inside Spotlight, such as sending an email or writing a note. While many of these features are being promoted as for the Mac, Spotlight operates across Apple’s platforms, so it will be interesting to see where else these features might show up as beta testing begins and future support rolls out.

App Intents

That brings me to App Intents. App Intents have been around for a while, but the framework will now let developers make actions in their apps in available across the system via Shortcuts or Spotlight. If nothing else this, should make work itself easier to get on with, and as those improvements percolate across Apple’s ecosystem, the hardest task will probably become simply remembering what actions you are able to take.

App Intents also gain support for visual intelligence, which means apps will be able to provide and make use of visual search results.

Etsy CTO Rafe Colburn explained what this means in a statement provided by Apple: “The ability to meet shoppers right on their iPhone with visual intelligence is a meaningful unlock and makes it easier than ever for buyers to quickly discover exactly what they’re looking for while directly supporting small businesses,” he said.

Vision Pro

Enterprises are already using Vision Pro devices, and Apple talked up the spatial computing headset during its WWDC keynote. Given the cost of these devices ($3,499), it is a welcome change that it’s now much easier to share them in workgroups; each user can save their own vision OS profile to their iPhone and then set the vision device up to suit. Apple also unveiled a new Vision Pro tool that lets you save a piece of content as Protected Content. (There are new APIs app developers can use for this, too.) The intention here is to ensure content shared on a Vision Pro doesn’t get shared outside your business.

There’s also support for a new Vision Pro peripheral, one that doesn’t come from Apple. Logitech Muse is a new pen/control device for spatial reality that lets you tweak and draw when working on projects with others. Look to Scroll allows users to explore apps and websites using just their eyes, and users can customize the scroll speed to their liking. Not surprisingly, developers will be able to integrate Look to Scroll into their visionOS apps.

Apple Intelligence was everywhere

Reading between the lines, you can see that artificial intelligence is actually everywhere in this year’s WWDC announcements. One of the biggest announcements does hint at the contextual intelligence Apple has previously told us about: Visual Intelligence now understands what is on screen, lets you ask questions about what you are looking at, and allows you to search for specific items or add events to your calendar. Apple has, of course, made it possible for developers to build support for this feature within their apps. 

“Last year, we took the first steps on a journey to bring users intelligence that’s helpful, relevant, easy to use, and right where users need it, all while protecting their privacy. Now, the models that power Apple Intelligence are becoming more capable and efficient, and we’re integrating features in even more places across each of our operating systems,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.

What this means: developers can now use Apple Intelligence APIs to build its tools within their apps, thanks to the Foundation Models Framework.

Developers can also look forward to Xcode 26, which can connect large language models (LLMs) directly into their coding experience, thanks to built-in support for ChatGPT. (Developers can also use API keys from other providers or run local models to support Xcode.)

Apple Intelligence features will be coming to eight more languages by the end of the year: Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (traditional), and Vietnamese. 

Live Translation

Live Translation is profound. It’s built into Messages, FaceTime, and iPhone and runs entirely on device. In use, it can automatically translate messages between languages, offer translated live captions on FaceTime calls, or speak the translation aloud during a conversation while on a phone call. It’s a fantastic feature I can’t wait to try and I expect to see it used in very interesting ways. 

Apple also did confirm a new system to help promote accessibility in apps. Accessibility Nutrition Labels for App Store product pages will let developers tell customers what accessibility features their apps support.

Summing up, even if this is a lean year for flashy announcements, the size of Apple’s ecosystem is now so vast the company is still capable of introducing changes that will delight customers, while also helping them get things done.

Apple rolled out the first betas of the new operating systems on Monday, with public betas following over the next few weeks. So you will be able to see for yourself which improvements make the most difference to you. Follow me through one of the networks below to learn more about these changes as I explore them.

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Source:: Computer World

Sluggish sales of Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset haven’t dampened the company’s enthusiasm for advancing the device’s 3D computing experience, which now incorporates AI to deliver richer context and experiences.

Apple has upgraded the newly renamed visionOS 26 operating system to improve usability, blending AI into the background to enhance images and user interaction, Apple executives said at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday.

Apple calls Vision Pro a “spatial computer” in which users can watch movies or interact with digital experiences in the real world using hands, eyes, and other senses.

A new feature called “spatial scenes” uses AI to give a 3D feel to traditional two-dimensional photos, which will be available in the Photos app. The AI model uses computational depth to add more perspectives to images, Haley Allen, senior director of visionOS program management, said during the presentation.

“Spatial scenes will make your web browsing experience more engaging, too,” Allen said.

In Safari, users will be able to select a feature called “spatial browsing” to view two-dimensional inline photos in supported articles in a three-dimensional format. Apple also introduced a curated app called “spatial gallery” to showcase curated spatial image content.

And the company is making major AI-driven changes to its Persona feature, which will now create more realistic avatars of users for the FaceTime video chat application. Previous avatars had lifelike renditions, but the updated Personas will be more personal and familiar, Allen said.

“Hair, lashes, complexion, all look remarkably accurate,” Allen said.

Apple also added many AI-driven improvements to apps such as Image Playground, which are supported across Apple devices. Apple has updated Image Playground to create more creative emojis by tapping into OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI application, which supports text and image creation.

The company also introduced a variety of non-AI features.

Vision Pro users will now be able to access widgets using their headset. The widgets will remain fixed within the visual field and will be clearly accessible at all times, Mike Rockwell, vice president of the Vision Products Group, said during a pre-recorded Apple video detailing the new features.

Widgets such as calendar and battery indicator are already popular in macOS. The company also introduced new widgets, such as a circular clock, music, real-time weather, and photos that can show snapshots of pictures from personal collections.

The widgets are blended into a user interface built around the new “liquid design” color scheme, which focuses on sharp colors and window edges.

Users can also now share Vision Pro experiences with others, which could help enterprises collaborate on three-dimensional engineering and design applications. Teams in hundreds of companies already use Vision Pro headsets for design, sales, training, and more, Rockwell said.

With that in mind, companies can also now create a pool of Vision Pro devices that can be shared among team members and guest users. Users can save their hand, eye, accessibility, and prescription information to their iPhone and activate a shared headset.

Apple also added new APIs such as “Protected Content,” which can show confidential materials to authorized users.

The company is also adding new input options such as the Logitech Muse, a pen-like device that can be used to draw within the 3D interface, and support for the Sony PlayStation VR2 Sense Controller; the latter can be worn on the hand to play motion-controlled video games within the headset.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said it is time to “push past” concerns that AI poses a threat to human jobs — contradicting the concerns of some of tech’s biggest players. Speaking at London Tech Week today, Starmer called for industry to embed AI throughout the UK economy, from healthcare to education.  By taking on administrative tasks, Starmer argues that artificial intelligence tools can free up people to focus on the “human work.” For this reason, he said, “AI will make us more human.”   Starmer’s assertion that AI is not here to replace humans, but to relieve them, is…This story continues at The Next Web

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By Deepti Pathak Infinite Craft is a super-fun sandbox game where players combine different elements to create new items…
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By Hisan Kidwai Garena Free Fire Max is one of the most popular games on the planet, and for…
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By Hisan Kidwai Garena Free Fire Max is one of the most popular games on the planet, and for…
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Although the US unemployment rate held steady at 4.2% in May with 139,000 jobs added to the US workforce, nearly 100,000 layoffs were also announced — up 47% from last year, according to new data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and others. Tech and federal cuts led the way in layoffs, driven by economic pressure, programmatic firings and AI-driven shifts in workforce needs, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Technology remains a top sector for cuts amid ongoing disruptions, according to the firm’s data. In May, tech companies announced 10,598 layoffs, bringing the 2025 total to 74,716; that’s up 35% from 55,207 at the same time last year.

“Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending, and overall economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies’ workforces. Companies are spending less, slowing hiring, and sending layoff notices,” Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

Uneasiness continues to weigh on tech hiring, according to CompTIA, a provider of IT training and certification products. The unemployment rate for tech jobs in May was 3.4%, roughly in line with April’s 3.5%, CompTIA data showed. The tech unemployment rate continues to sit below the national rate.

CompTIA

Tech sector companies added a modest 1,571 net new employees in May, analysis of the BLS jobs report by CompTIA showed. Job growth in cloud infrastructure and tech services was offset by reductions in the telecommunications sector.

Tech employment across the broader economy declined by an estimated 131,000 positions. “With prior month employment gains, tech occupation employment remains in the positive for the year,” CompTIA said.

“It is undoubtedly a challenging time for employers and job seekers facing uncertainty on multiple fronts,” said Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s chief research officer. “At the same time, it requires taking a measured approach given the data continues to hold up reasonably well.”

One bright spot for tech hires in May was the finance and insurance industry, which collectively saw a 21% increase in new tech job postings; new tech job openings also rose by 16% in the retail sector, according to CompTIA.

Even so, tech layoffs have continued as AI adoption soars and economic pressures drive a major shift toward new roles and skills in the workforce. “AI isn’t replacing jobs,” said Kye Mitchell, president of tech workforce staffing firm Experis US. “It’s fundamentally redefining how work gets done. We’re seeing AI augment skillsets and make professionals more capable, faster, and able to focus on higher-value work.”

Technology only displaces jobs when about 80% of tasks can be automated — and AI isn’t close to doing that, said Mitchell. Right now, AI is enhancing skills, boosting productivity, and freeing up time for higher-value work.

Hiring for AI positions and those requiring AI skills continues to grow rapidly, according to a CompTIA analysis of data from Lightcast and Stanford University study. CompTIA found that employer job postings related to AI are up 117% year-to-date year-over-year.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas

Skills-based hiring remains core to many employers’ recruiting strategies. About half of all tech job postings did not specify a need for a four-year academic degree, seeking instead a combination of work experience, training and industry-recognized certification, according to CompTIA’s and other data.

Even so, employers are hesitant to hire. “Economic uncertainty is absolutely creating a cautious hiring environment, but it’s more complex than tariffs alone,” Mitchell said. “Our data shows employers adopting a ‘wait and watch’ stance as they monitor economic signals, with job openings down 11% year-over-year.”

Still, the tech job market is adjusting as AI adoption grows. AI skill mentions in job postings fell 10% in May but are still up 10% for the year, showing steady demand, Mitchell said.

The tech industry had been nearly bullet-proof from mass layoffs prior to 2022. After a hiring surge between 2020 and 2022 to meet digitization efforts as more people worked from home, the market shifted and began slashing jobs to readjust to the new reality.

Tech companies such Google, Amazon, Meta (Facebook) and others laid off tens of thousands of workers  as an adjustment to over-hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023 alone, 1,186 tech companies laid off about 262,682 staff, compared to 164,969 layoffs in 2022.

In January 2024, job cuts leaped 136% over December and hit a 10-month high, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

While the labor market remained steady, there are signs that hiring across the board is softening. Open job postings fell 7% this year and new postings dropped 16% in the past month — the first full contraction of 2025. Year-to-date, new postings are flat compared to last year, according to Ger Doyle, ManpowerGroup’s regional president for North America. Doyle, however, was optimistic.

“This is a chill, not a freeze,” he said. “Workers and employers are holding steady, awaiting clarity.”

For example, he said, project management roles are up 483% year-over-year, and as the broader outlook improves, a rebound could follow, he added.

 Demand for data roles is surging as companies shift from AI experiments to execution. Database architect postings are up 2,140% year-over-year, with data scientist postings up 280% — clear signs of companies building the backbone for an AI-driven future, Experis’s data showed.

“This shift is also reshaping how talent enters the industry. Entry-level opportunities are becoming more limited, making it harder for recent graduates to gain a foothold,” Mitchell said. “For those looking to break in, deep analytical and technical skills are no longer optional.”

Source:: Computer World

To get some sense of the speed with which we’re hurtling into dystopia, it’s always worth taking a look at Apple’s latest Transparency Report; it shows the extent to which governments are requesting information about people, the ways in which they seek it, and the scale at which the requests are made.

The report itself is a little inexact — this particular edition has been updated with information covering January-June 2024, meaning we have no insight into data requests across the last 12 months.  There are also limits to what Apple can say. The company isn’t always permitted to be completely transparent in the information it shares about these requests, and in some territories it might no longer be permitted to decline some data requests.

The report has some concerning insights about the UK, where the government has decided people shouldn’t even be made aware of the extent to which it uses digital devices for state surveillance. 

Which nation makes the most requests per head?

Ignorance is bliss, I suppose — but US politicians are not at all happy with the UK approach. That’s not surprising when you consider that on first glance, at least, the UK as a nation makes far more requests per head of population than most other countries.

This indicates the extent to which the nation, already insisting on deeply unsafe backdoors into personal data, is using technology to monitor people.

Returning to the Transparency Report, Apple shares information concerning several categories of data request:

Device Requests

Financial Identifiers

Account

Account Preservation

Account Restriction/Deletion

Push Token

Emergency

US National Security

US Private Party

Digital Content Provider Requests

App Removal

The US continues to lead the world in the sheer number of such requests made. 

No other nation, not even China, makes anything like as many. You can see for yourself, but China (population 1.4 billion) made 1,212 device requests, 465 financial identifier requests and 398 account requests (and one emergency request) in the reporting period, while the US (with 340 million residents) made 12,043 device requests, 1,341 financial identifier requests, 12,812 account, and 793 emergency requests.

The UK (population 68 million) made 2,925 device requests, 138 financial identifier requests, 2,550 account, and 726 emergency requests. By those numbers, the UK makes more requests per head. 

Fun with numbers

Except, that isn’t quite true; while China made just 1,212 device requests, it specified 365,980 devices within those requests — and Apple complied with 96% of the requests.

In the UK, those 2,925 device requests specified 8,211 devices, and Apple complied 78% of the time. In the US, 42,747 devices were specified and 86% of those requests were met. 

Fun with numbers aside, it’s pretty clear that all three nations are united by their zeal to access this kind of information, more so than anyone else, except possibly Brazil. (Brazil, with a population of 211 million, made 8,776 device requests and specified 42,276 devices in those requests, to which Apple complied 78% of the time.)

Looking through the data, on the basis of the number of requests made per unit of population, the UK has the dubious distinction of being the most invasive government in the world.

Though it is important to note that Apple exists under different legislation in each nation, which means it may not be able to report some of the information it has — we just don’t know whether that is the case.

Top of the spooks

There are other highlights. The data shows a surge in US (and global) requests for Push Token data. This is data that can identify which device receives a specific notification from an app and can sometimes help access message content. The report reveals that requests for this kind of data have surged, but indicates Apple is approving fewer of them. Another trend seems to be an increase in requests for financial identifiers, which generally seek information concerning fraudulent transactions. Taiwan is the world champion in making such requests and Apple complies with 97% of those. The US, Japan, and Germany are also high in the list. 

Account requests are also increasing fast and in this category the UK is up there with Germany, Japan, China, and Brazil, with the US accounting for over half of all such requests worldwide. Data requests made in the cause of US national security have also increased. 

Transparency, where possible

Finally, while all this information is interesting, it really has to be read with a pinch of salt, since in at least some of these cases the information Apple is permitted to report may, or may not, enable it to be completely transparent with the information it shares. 

All the same, the implication is that data privacy continues to be something that must be fought for. “This is surveillance,” as Apple CEO Tim Cook told European privacy commissioners in 2018. Seven years later, of course, Europe is insisting Apple make your data more easily available to third-party firms. George Orwell’s book 1984 was, it seems, an instruction manual after all.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt British fintech Wise said this week it would shift its primary listing from London to New York, joining a growing list of firms snubbing the London Stock Exchange. UK chip designer Arm opted for a New York IPO in 2023, while food delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway quit the LSE for Amsterdam in November.  Sweden’s Klarna has confirmed plans to go public in New York, following in the footsteps of fellow Stockholm-based tech darling Spotify, which listed on the NYSE in 2018.  The draw? Bigger valuations, deeper capital, and more appetite for risk. “The US economy continues to perform far…This story continues at The Next Web

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When it comes to Apple, all eyes are on AI. Generative AI (genAI) is the most disruptive technology we’ve seen in years; it is weaving itself into all parts of life – so why should IT management be left unscathed? It won’t be, and the latest AI-powered IT management features within the Jamf platform will soon be the kind of tools IT expects.

Jamf is a leading Apple-in-the-enterprise device management (and security vendor recently began offering enterprise support for Android devices). The company has been working away on AI features to support its solutions for some time, and has at last introduced some of these at its Jamf Nation Live event. The tools are designed to boost efficiency and support better decision-making when it comes to handling your fleets.

Of course, you’d expect anyone fielding genAI solutions to say something like that, so what do these tools do?

Introducing Jamf AI Assistant

Available as a beta, AI Assistant is designed to support tech support! That means it will help IT admins find what they need and help them understand how and why devices they do find are configured. Jamf splits these two paths into two categories: Search skill and Explain skill.

Search skill lets admins perform natural language inventory queries across their managed fleets, enabling them to quickly find devices within their flotilla that meet the search parameters. The goal is to make it quicker and easier to audit managed devices for compliance, and to troubleshoot when things go wrong.

Explain skill caters to another facet of an IT admin’s daily challenges. As Jamf explains, it means the genAI can translate complex configurations and policies into clear, easy-to-understand language. This helps admins make informed decisions, streamline troubleshooting and manage policies more confidently, says Jamf.

While these new Jamf tools don’t automate much of the workload facing IT, it’s not hard to see how once the AI can understand what’s happening on a Mac and identify those devices that meet a set of parameters, the only missing piece is to automate some of the workflow in between.

This, of course, is the direction of travel and will likely ripple across IT and every platform. Who knows, it might even make the cost of supporting Windows fleets almost as affordable as that of managing fleets of Apple devices. (Though I doubt it.)

Beyond AI

Jamf also made a handful of announcements outside of AI, including the general availability of Blueprints, a set of tools the company announced at JNUC last year. Blueprints builds on Apple’s Declarative Device Management framework and is designed to simplify and accelerate device configuration by consolidating policies, profiles and restrictions into a single, unified workflow.

This makes a lot of sense on a road map to further AI deployment, as well as for anyone attempting to manage and deploy large Apple fleets. I imagine admins preparing for mammoth college- or school-wide deployments will have some optimism that Blueprints could help save time. Don’t neglect that education tech is expected to deploy thousands of devices in a few weeks, so these tools should be significant to them.

Jamf continues working on Blueprints, and has introduced a beta release of Configuration Profiles within Blueprints. This tech consists of a new dynamic framework designed to help teams manage devices at scale, thanks to the new dynamic framework for MDM key delivery.

Ticket to ride

Jamf has offered a Self Service+ portal since earlier this year. Aimed at end-users, the system lets users request, download and update apps, as well as monitor their device security. Those features have been expanded with identity management tools, so users can view their accounts change passwords, and request things like temporary admin access.

The beauty of Self Service+ is that it enables users to do these things autonomously while keeping their devices fully auditable and compliant. The idea is that it’s a lot better to focus the expensive tech support teams on the big problems, rather than seeing them bogged down in small, transient (albeit important), challenges. 

The company also introduced Compliance Benchmarks. Based on Apple’s macOS Security Compliance Project (mSCP), this system helps IT automate the process of securing their Apple devices.

Jamf has also added malware detection to its App Installers module, which means every application made available through that system is scanned to maintain security confidence. That’s really important to companies attempting to provision apps to employees, particularly if they want to avoid accidental installs of hacked malware posing as the original app.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt Two satellite heavyweights are about to form a European rival to Starlink. But they’ll face an uphill battle to compete with Elon Musk’s firm. Luxembourg-based SES’ proposed $3.1bn takeover of Intelsat is set to get the green light from EU officials, Reuters reports. A final verdict is expected by June 10.   SES first announced plans to acquire Luxembourgish-American rival Intelsat in April 2024, calling it a “transformational merger” that could reshape the satellite internet market. The merged company would have a fleet of more than 100 geostationary and 26 medium Earth orbit satellites. Intelsat would contribute 75 of those probes,…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web