Product announcements from Apple have become buzzworthy annual events. The unveiling of the company’s latest operating system for the iPhone and iPad earlier this month has had people talking about everything from its new capabilities to finally being able to delete the stocks app.
Some of the new features in iOS 10 can help small business owners. Here’s a sample from tech writers and their early notes on Apple’s latest.
More privacy and security
Smartphones are a big part of many entrepreneurs’ ways of conducting business, and security and privacy are always a hot topic. So these are among the more scrutinized elements of iOS 10. Here’s how Michael Guta describes some of the new capabilities in a story for smallbiztrends.com.
- “The privacy features in iOS 10 now requires your permission if an app in Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, Photos or others want your location information or personal data.”
- “Your conversations in iMessages and FaceTime are encrypted, so hackers waiting in the middle of a conversation won’t be able to see, hear or read what you are communicating. And when you are on Safari surfing the web, you can browse privately, block cookies, and prevent websites from tracking you.”
- “The new features help secure your personal protection with hardware and firmware that have been designed to protect against malware and viruses throughout the entire system.”
IT work
One of the big collaborations that went into iOS 10 is Apple’s arrangement with Cisco, known as “the worldwide leader in IT.” In a story for CIO.com, Matt Kapko writes that these connections translate into significant time savings for IT teams. He includes commentary by Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager at Cisco.
“The customers we’ve been testing with, they’ve come back to us and told us it’s about half as much work to manage iPhones on their corporate networks because they don’t need all the complexity in the network itself,” Trollope says in the story. He goes on to say that speed and reliability are increased in businesses that use Cisco equipment and software and devices with iOS 10.
Business apps take priority
The Cisco connection has also led to a “fast lane” feature for apps on corporate networks, according to Kapko’s story. Those apps that are related to the business and are needed to complete important tasks can leap ahead of apps that are being used on the network that are not as crucial. “With a single click,” Kapko writes, “IT administrators can prioritize any app on their organization’s network, according to Trollope. Some businesses manage a number of different networks in order to prioritize apps, and that has further complicated corporate network management, he says.”
New-and-improved Siri
Now that most of us have become accustomed to having a faceless tour guide through electronic products, iOS 10 has strengthened Siri’s abilities. Brett Nuckles writes about how “the virtual assistant app” has been upgraded in a story for Business News Daily:
“Siri will now be able to control third-party apps, meaning you can use voice commands to initiate a Skype call with a client or colleague, hail a cab or Uber ride, or send a message on Slack, a chat app designed for work.”
Continuity
The abundance of Apple products in the market created the need for the company to better connect them, as in Mac computers with iPhones and iPads. As Nuckles explains, these continuity features have updates and new capabilities in iOS 10.
“For starters, you’ll be able to view and access all your desktop files and folders on your iPhone, which will be synced across devices, thanks to the iCloud,” he writes. “Then there’s Universal Clipboard, a nifty new tool that makes it easier to copy text, photos and more from the iPhone or iPad to your MacBook or Mac desktop. That means you can forget about emailing links from your phone to your computer, which will save you time.”
Translated voicemail
Here’s one that will surely get everyone excited, small business owners included. The ability to scan the translated text of a voicemail can be a big time-saver, and allow for steps to be made before another conversation is needed. Here’s how Nuckles puts it in his story:
“Tired of scrambling to jot down information in a client’s voicemail? With iOS 10, your iPhone will use voice recognition to automatically transcribe every voicemail that comes your way, converting it into text that you can view at a glance. Of course, you’ll still be able to listen to the full message, complete with pause and rewind functionality.”
Car capabilities
It’s true that we don’t need any additional distractions when we’re driving. (See the many anti-text campaigns that are aiming to get people off their phones while behind the wheel.) Guta notes in his smallbiztrends.com story that the car can sometimes be “your second office,” and CarPlay on iOS 10 can make things easier without requiring the user to stare at the screen.
“CarPlay makes it possible to safely and easily use your iPhone to make calls, send and receive messages, get directions and more so you can focus on your driving,” he writes. “It puts the functions you want to use on the built-in display of the vehicle so you can control them with your voice, touch or the knobs and controls of the car. Currently CarPlay is available on more than 100 automobile models, with more on the way.”
Parking assistance
Few things are as frustrating as forgetting where you parked in a large lot or garage, especially when on a business trip and in need of efficient travel time. Now iOS 10 has come to the rescue, and you won’t have to keep hitting the “lock” button on your key fob. Paul Szoldra writes about this for Business Insider, sharing some of his own parking frustrations as well.
“Have you ever walked around the parking lot of Dodgers Stadium for about an hour searching for the car that you could swear was parked toward that back area? Well, I have,” he says. “And it’s totally not fun. Fortunately, iOS 10 solves this common problem by remembering where you parked your car, automatically. Instead of snapping a picture of your surroundings or jotting down GPS coordinates in notes, iOS 10 will remember your car’s location anytime you stop at a place other than your home.”
