The apps that iOS 5 killed
The new features and apps announced in iOS 5 once again make a number of popular non-Apple apps redundant and threaten the future of many more.
(Credit: CNET)
The Safari upgrade will hit the largest number of existing apps, with new features like better readability, tabbed browsing and the ability to save pages for reading later to hurt the Atomic Web Browser app, which includes tabbed browsing, and the popular Instapaper app.
The new Reminders app deals a big blow to organisational app, Evernote.
iMessage coupled with the new notifications system seems to spell the end of WhatsApp, the app that allows iPhone users to message one another without incurring the costs of an SMS.
The camera update also adds a lot of features, such as zooming and photo editing, that apps like Camera+ had provided because the iPhone's camera app was just too basic.
And, of course, the announcement of the iCloud kills Apple's own MobileMe.
Apps that should watch their backs
The massive camera update should have social photo-sharing camera apps, such as Hipstamatic and Instagram, quaking in their stylish-yet-affordable boots. Now that Apple has recognised the popularity of being able to edit photos right on the iPhone, it probably won't be long before lens filters are added. And given the embedding of Twitter into iOS 5, and the ease of how photos can now be shared, Apple will probably want to move in on that area, too.
Although Twitter integration into iOS is a massive snub to Facebook, it's not inconceivable that better Facebook integration will appear in a future upgrade, as Apple seems quite keen to make iOS a social platform.
The swish Reeder RSS app might also be under threat by the new Newsstand app for magazine subscriptions. It is possible that this app could eventually include a user's RSS subscription from Google Reader (or an Apple equivalent from the iCloud).
Now that Apple is moving music into the cloud with the launch of the iCloud, it's also possible that music recognition app Shazam could be one of the casualties of a future upgrade. Apple already has its Ping service in iTunes to indicate what songs you like and it can't be long before Apple embeds this functionality so you can find the song you're hearing and buy it directly from iTunes.