Apple (AAPL 1.27%) detailed iOS 8 yesterday at WWDC, and a lot of the new features are being conveniently borrowed from Google's (GOOG 0.74%) (GOOGL 0.55%) Android. That includes relatively minor details like support for third-party keyboards and widgets, but it also entails a new system that Apple calls Extensibility. With Extensibility, apps can communicate with each other on a much deeper level and share features, which has been an important of feature of Android.
To a certain extent, it seems that Apple is acknowledging that Android has some advantages and that there are users that value customization and greater app communication. It's those users that Apple is now aggressively going after by offering feature parity. Tim Cook noted during the presentation that half of the new iOS users in China were switching from Android, a trend that he would certainly like to see continue.
Apple has a lot of opportunity in emerging markets to get people to switch, as most users in those markets typically just use smartphones as a browser and do not purchase much content. That reduces platform stickiness. The bigger challenge will be the intense price competition that exists in those geographies.
In this segment of Tech Teardown, Erin Kennedy discusses iOS 8 with tech specialist Evan Niu.
