WWDC first look: How Apple is improving its ecosystem

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