bostonidealist's Journal: Ensnared In Apple Extensions

"Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?"

The brush continued to move.

"Like it? Well, I don't see why I oughtn't to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"

That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth - stepped back to note the effect - added a touch here and there - criticized the effect again - Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed. Presently he said:

"Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."

- The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

There's a dishonesty - a trickery - fundamental to Apple's corporate character that confounds loyalists and adversaries alike. While many fans insist that Apple's products are the best designed and executed in their respective categories and cynics lament the company's tendencies towards the proprietary, the reality is that both are true. Apple's products are both unnecessarily restrictive and better executed than its competitors'. What's most remarkable is not that Apple has been able to skillfully exploit the allure of beautiful design and ease-of-use to box users into its ecosystem, but that even critics have missed important signposts signaling the direction the company is headed.

Though it has gotten little attention, the Extensions system Apple included in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite in 2014 has far-reaching implications. Up until now, there have been rough one-to-one mappings of various applications on different platforms. An Instagram user on iOS could switch to Android without too much fuss by downloading the Instagram app on an Android device and signing in; Microsoft Office has been available on Macs and Windows PCs and OpenOffice is available on both operating systems and Linux. The wide array of alternative solutions has made replicating workflows across different devices and operating systems clunky but possible.

In contrast, if Apple's Extensions system can gain traction, it threatens to dramatically increase the difficulty and complexity of switching platforms. Workflows become dependent on something approaching the complete graph of how every application on a device interacts with every other application's Extensions. Between various potential software keyboards, image filtering, and graphics editing Extensions, it may soon be the case that an app like Instagram appears and functions very differently for each iOS user. Apple could leverage users' familiarity with their favorite Extensions as a strong subjugating influence over both third party developers and end users alike.

Apple has both a successful general computing and a successful mobile platform, which uniquely positions it in the industry to implement a pervasive Extensions system across all of its devices. Yosemite's Markup foreshadows the looming iPhoto replacement, "Photos," which will likely serve as a launching pad to popularize third party Extensions.

From there, Apple will surely work to resolve the challenges around user identity and authentication in ways that further bind users and third party services to Apple. Through Touch ID, the iPhone knows when its owner is holding it and the Apple Watch, in either its first or in some future incarnation, will know when its owner is wearing it. There is a huge market for a device that can securely, accurately, and conveniently tell all other devices and services who a user is. If successful, the Apple Watch may end logins, passwords, pin codes, keys, and many other archaic and insecure technologies.

There are so many opportunities to implement solutions to all of these challenges in ways that are simultaneously open, portable, interoperable, and profitable. As in the past, though, it seems that Apple will opt for proprietary standards. Unless there is significant, rapid consumer education and backlash, a viable alternative product line, or government regulation - all of which are extremely unlikely - Apple's continued success seems inevitable. The increasing dependence of Apple devices on Apple-provided services - iMessage, Apple Maps, FaceTime, iTunes in the Cloud, and many others - means that Apple can effectively make its customers buy things whenever it wants simply by tweaking its centralized cloud services to break compatibility with older devices in the field.

Apple's recent history has consisted of cycles of withholding features until demand becomes overwhelming, then debuting cleverly proprietary solutions that the development and user communities receive with such enthusiasm that few question the particulars of Apple's implementation. Just as with the shift from open web applications to a curated App Store, it is alarming to see such hasty adoption of a proprietary programming language like Swift, especially in the wake of Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc. And while developers have ceded more and more control to Apple on the promise of App Store revenues, customers have likewise followed in lockstep, buying more devices, increasingly out of necessity as much as desire.

Amidst the whirling energy, the gleam and glamor of the Apple Store, it's hard to see the far-reaching tethers these shiny little devices have to Cupertino. From a distance, though, the glass walls muffle the din of the sales pitch and you can see it. Those smiles and sidelong glances: don't you want to wear this beautiful thing? Don't you want to do all this hard work writing software just for these platforms, the best platforms? I mean, it's not like a chance like this comes along every day?