iOS 8.2 Uses Your Home Screen as an Apple Watch Advertisement
During Monday’s Apple press conference in San Francisco, Tim Cook announced that iOS 8.2 would immediately begin rolling out to compatible iDevices—as in, any device that could already run the original version of iOS 8. Along with expected bug fixes, the update’s biggest addition was support for the upcoming Apple Watch. It’s a fact that users are now being bonked over the head with thanks to the creation of a dedicated, mandatory app.
Apple, along with its smartphone-making peers, has a long history of forcing branded apps, and occasionally their respective ecosystems, onto users. Past examples include iTunes, the App Store, and Nike’s iPod app (along with the new Tips and Podcasts apps in iOS 8.0). Most of us have tucked our least favorite mandatory apps into a “crapware” folder by now. But the Apple Watch app available on iPhones compatible with the Apple Watch is the first iOS app meant specifically to advertise and connect to an unreleased Apple device. Today, it’s already popping up on thousands of home screens before its compatible device is even available for pre-order, let alone purchase.
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