Top 5 Biggest Disappointments from the WWDC Keynote

There is plenty to be excited about following Apple’s plethora of announcements during the recent WWDC keynote. However, the event did leave many with a laundry list of disappointments. Here are a few major misses from Monday’s keynote.

1. No Hardware Announcements

Yes, WWDC is a conference for developers, and as such it is primarily focused on software. However, rumors have been swirling about updated MacBook Pros and the Apple Watch 2.

While the current Apple Watch has been on the shelves for barely over a year, making its absence forgivable, the MacBook Pro line is in desperate need of a major refresh. Rumors before WWDC pointed to a Q4 release, but at least a preview of the machines would’ve been nice.

2. No iMessage for Android

The Messages app for iOS dominated the WWDC keynote receiving a load of both features and stage time. Missing however was an announcement that Apple’s iMessage service was heading to Android. Rumors have been pointing this direction, and WWDC seemed like the perfect opportunity to announce the new Android app.

Unfortunately, Android devotees surrounded by iPhone using families and friends will have to continue waiting. Last year Apple Music was released for Android, and users of the platform can still hold out hope iMessage will show up on Android by the end of the year.

3. No Apple Pay peer-to-peer payments

Yet another long rumored feature that failed to make the cut at WWDC is Apple Pay peer-to-peer payments. As digital currency continues to boom in popularity along with peer-to-peer payment apps, Apple Pay expanding into this space only makes sense.

With the NFC hardware and other Apple Pay infrastructure already built-in, it doesn’t seem this feature would be too difficult for Apple to implement. Developers of apps like Square Cash and Venmo certainly aren’t disappointed about this missing announcement, but for the rest of us the absence of Apple Pay peer-to-peer payments was a letdown.

4. No Multi-user support for iOS

For those of you with children, I don’t have to explain why multiple user accounts on an iOS device would be spectacular. It is incredible how little time it takes a two year old to get an iPhone completely out of whack.

While shared iPad functionality for multi-user log-ins on one device showed up in iOS 9.3 with education use in mind, a system wide multiple accounts feature has yet to see the light of day. There are many use cases for multi-user support, and I consider the lack of this feature a miss in iOS 10. Again, this is another rumored feature allegedly on its way, but I for one thought it would be here by now.

5. No Update for iTunes

It was refreshing to watch Apple take the wraps off of a completely new version of iTunes on the Mac…wait, that’s only the dream I’ve been having for the past 3-4 years leading up to WWDC. Yet again, the keynote has come and gone and I’m still disappointed.

Sure, iTunes on the Mac isn’t an application used by the masses anymore, as is an app like Messages on iOS, however there are many customers who still listen to a bulk of their music from the desktop. I’ve been wishing Apple would break up iTunes on the Mac and divided it into separate Music, Videos, iTunes Store, etc. just like on iOS for years. I’ve grown weary waiting, but here’s to another year of doing just that. Maybe the change will come next year in macOS Malibu.

What do you think the biggest disappointment from WWDC was? Or, were you completely satisfied with the event? Let us know in the comments below.