Amazon Echo, WatchKit, iOS 8 in Context

Amazon Echo

Amazon this week announced a new connected home product called Echo, which listens to users throughout the home and responds with a friendly, Siri-like voice. Echo connects to Amazon’s cloud services to answer questions, set reminders, and stream music. The device will cost $199, or only $99 for Amazon Prime subscribers.

Free Microsoft Office

Microsoft announced that the iOS and Android versions of Microsoft Office will be free. Despite Office’s position as one of Microsoft’s primary revenue streams, the next versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will cost zero dollars to compete with the likes of Google Docs and iWork.

Google mobile apps adopt Material Design

Google has begun rolling out Material Design revamps of its core mobile apps. The updates started with a new Google Calendar app and retooled Gmail app last week. Maps also saw a design overhaul for both Android and iOS. It matches the company’s Lollipop-era design strategy moving forward.

WatchKit is coming

WatchKit, Apple’s developer APIs to write apps for Apple Watch, is coming before the end of November. The framework lets developers write custom notifications and even full Apple Watch apps for the wearable, which is expected to launch in spring of next year.

iOS 8 in Context

And Punchkick this week published our industry guide about iOS 8, entitled iOS 8 in Context. The ebook details all the need-to-know features of Apple’s new operating system for marketers and developers, and is available for free download at the button below.

A chapter for each of the developer features Apple introduced in iOS 8—iMessage, CloudKit, iCloud Drive, HealthKit, HomeKit, Extensibility, Touch ID, PhotoKit, Metal and Swift—on what it does and what it makes possible for the apps brands build on it.

Download the ebookPDF