5 Features From Apple WWDC's First Day That Stand Out To Gene Munster

Apple Inc.'s AAPL Worldwide Developers Conference 2021 started Monday as a virtual event, with some key items being announced. 

Famed Apple analyst and managing partner at Loup Ventures Gene Munster offered his take on Apple's software-focused event.

Five Features That Stood Out: Out of the slew of announcements, Munster sees the following as key features:

1. Mail Privacy Protection that will lead to spam reduction
2. FaceTime scheduling, and music, video and document sharing features
3. Apple Wallet driver's license support
4. Siri voice control expansion to Apple TV and third-party hardware
5. watchOS 8 biomarker update

Calm Before The Storm: Apple's announcements Monday collectively add up to a tighter ecosystem, improving the ease of use of products, Munster said.

Apple's exciting hardware announcements, the analyst said, typically arrive in September and October.

"From a high level, this year, and maybe even next year's WWDC event, will amount to a calm before an Apple innovation storm," the analyst wrote in the note.

Apple's intense ongoing development related to new product categories around augmented reality wearables and transportation was evident from the announcements, Munster said.

Related Link: 10 Things Apple Investors May Wish For In 2021

Apple Shows Intent On Appstore Commission: Although Apple did not directly discuss the ongoing issue with Epic Games, it made a subtle overture to remind developers what it is doing to earn its 15%-30% commission, Munster said.

This included reporting for the first time the App Store's reach, which is currently 600m unique users per week, he added.

For developers, Apple announced In-App Events, a feature allowing developers to promote live events to engage users, and Xcode Cloud, a cloud-based solution to make it easier to build, test and deploy apps across Apple devices, Munster noted.

Other Announcements: With the iOS 15, FaceTime was overhauled with better sharing and scheduling features, Munster said. On a feature-by-feature basis, FaceTime now looks superior to Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM, although from a branding perspective the latter still owns the lucrative business market, the analyst noted.

On privacy, the analyst delved into Mail Privacy Protection, which will hide a user's IP address, location and whether they opened an email or not, and iCloud+, which will use a private relay to ensure traffic leaving your device is encrypted.

The MacOS Monterey comes with a "Universal Control" feature that will let users control a Mac and iPad with the same mouse, the analyst noted.

"Essentially, an iPad can be used as a Mac's second monitor," he added.

Anticipated Announcements That Did Not Quite Materialize: Apple did not reveal new MacBook Pros with M1 chips, which Loup Ventures had predicted, Munster said.

There was no mention of MR goggles either, he added.

"Our best guess is that an MR device will be previewed at next year's WWDC," Munster said.

APPL Price Action: Apple shares were up 1.21% to $127.42 Tuesday morning at publication.

Related Link: Why Apple's Stock Sell-Off Is A Golden Buying Opportunity

(Photo: Apple)