If I ever… work at Apple
A blueprint on how I hope to inspire change for an app that’s been quietly forgotten.
If I ever work for Apple, my goal is to work on the News app, to help shine the spotlight on local news. This initiative of mine comes just after the 2016 US election and the rising crisis of fake news.
Fake News
Let’s pause and dive a little deeper into the subject of fake news. The reporting of fake news has placed the media in a grey area of uncertainty — lack of trust from people. Since the result of President-Elect Donald J. Trump, I’ve seen more and more stories popping up on my news feed and on Medium about how to spot fake news, looking for trustworthy sources and the rapidly growing importance of supporting local news. One of those supporters for local news is John Oliver. He said it best in his last episode of Last Week Tonight:
College
As I reached the home stretch of third semester in Radio and Television, I was convinced that I never wanted to be in traditional news. I wanted to tell stories in a more creative way with new technology and different mediums (including the ones that aren’t even here yet). As for my skill set, there were a few that stuck out: being a producer (a leadership and management role), video editing, and using social media.
Going into my practicum at Shaw TV Edmonton, I knew I’d be doing all three of those things, plus others as well to brush up on. I’d be working on some projects — such as the youth of Edmonton, with the Edmonton Youth Council (CEYC) being my go-to contact for story ideas. Another potential project is looking at the growing need for computer science in order to fill the job vacancies, and the gender gap in that industry. That particular idea came after I started watching the documentary, CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap on iTunes. Taking that issue and localizing it should prove to be an interesting story.
News (the app)
Back to the matter at hand — whether you know me or not, I can sometimes get off topic.
Apple introduced News in the iOS 9 update at their annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). It was Apple’s entry into the news curating world. Unfortunately, they faced two significant problems. First, they’ve been unable to get as many news outlets outside of the US publishing content for the app. Second, News is only available in the US 🇺🇸, the UK 🇬🇧, and Australia 🇦🇺. As always, Canada 🇨🇦 has been excluded from accessing the app. That’s not to say that users have not found a way around it — they have. According to iMore, Canadians could change some regional settings to acquire the app. The only sign of the Apple News app for Canadians on iOS 10 is a widget when you swipe to go all the way to the left. The release date for Canada is unknown. It’s no flop like the release of Maps, but at least that was available right from launch.
News has such great potential to focus more on local news sources in order to enter more countries. This could put News ahead of the rest of the other news apps that clutter up the App Store. Without knowing how the entire experience works with News, I’m left with only what’s available to me online (WWDC demo, website, app reviews and YouTube videos). That being said, I know with absolute certainty that it needs improving. Since Apple Music doesn’t seem to want to inherit The Sentence feature from Beats Music fully, I’d like to bring it over to News. My reason being that it would provide a more interactive search tool for users to discover news stories. They would have the option to be either specific or broad (same as normal search, but catering to the user’s mood). To make it all about the user, The Sentence would be the second option underneath the regular search by typing in key words that will best curate to their mood. Back when it was released with Beats Music (now Apple Music after Beats Electronics was acquired by Apple), The Verge published a hands-on review about the streaming service:
They said The Sentence,“lets you mad lib your music.” I couldn’t agree more. Everyone loves to customize in order to make it their own. In this case, it’s customizing using your mood, lifestyle, and taste in music. Partnering up with podcasts, news startups, and so on — who want to all create good stories, and deserve to be on the News platform — would allow us to have the variety of stories needed for true customization. This could be a valuable option to help save many newspapers by allowing them to breathe some new life — I’m not saying it’s going to work, but to at least try has to be worth something. Many freelancers, including those who were laid off from newspapers, could take this opportunity to form a new news group that would publish different stories that matter to them, and would matter to readers on this platform.
Any cover photo for stories that appear in search or browse, GIFs, videos, and photos are acceptable. Audio tracks of a specific clip or show will be possible using SoundCloud and Apple’s Podcasts as the primary platforms; however, it will be open to other third-party platforms as well. The structure and style would seem to be similar to Medium in some aspects. On the bottom navigation bar, there are five tabs: For You, Favourites, Explore, Search, and Saved. Under the Explore tab, besides browsing through categories, you’d be able to browse based on City. The new Apple Newsroom would also be available to view in the Explore tab as well. Under the Saved tab, all articles can be categorized based on publication, date saved, category. History stays the same. The colour that fills the buttons within the app would change from blue to red. A brief welcome screen appears to greet the user based on the time of day. If there isn’t already, there should be a Breaking News section at the top before Featured Stories, under the For You tab. For a story block that’s under Breaking News or any other section, there could be a bar on the top half of the block that says LIVE, or just a red box in the top left hand corner with the LIVE text (similar to the layout of a Facebook LIVE).
I am not the only one who shares a passionate interest in Apple News. Here’s an in-depth story by Matthew Alecock who tells us why we need this particular news app.
Local News
What do I mean by local news? Well, I’m not just talking about the Edmonton affiliate of CBC or Global News. I’m focusing more on the local startups that are looking to find new and untold stories. There are also the local blogs, podcasts, newspapers and magazines. To get right to the point, I’ll localize it with Edmonton:
Here are the types of outlets that would be taken under consideration:
- 630 CHED (and any other radio stations that are trusted for news)
- The Yards
- Avenue Edmonton
- Edmonton Journal (a new direction in digital for the newspaper)
- Metro News Edmonton (yes, it’s an affiliate of Metro News)
- Edmonton Community League News
It’s all about the different types of media. That’s why (if it isn’t already), a publisher will be able to share original video and audio in a story. There will be a couple different options for customizing the video/audio player. It will be similar to Apple’s default video player that’s QuickTime-like. The audio player will be similar to the embeddable Apple Music player.
There will be a strong, new form of journalism — storytelling — for the app, but still staying true to the sources that do all the dirty work out in the field.
Newsroom
The Newsroom. No, not The Newsroom, but Apple’s Newsroom. The new source for media releases, announcements and contacts to get a hold of. This is strictly news about Apple, but what better way than to publish content about Apple than on the News app by Apple. One small issue is that it can be found at Apple.com, not at Apple.ca.
Design Note: Some adjustments for media releases on the app under the Newsroom publication may be necessary:
- Phone numbers and email addresses will of course be hyperlinked, if they are not already on News.
- Press and Hold on the email address for options to: send email, add to contacts, copy email, etc.
- Press and Hold on the phone number for options to: call, add to contacts, copy, etc.
Verify & Manage
Verification seems to be forgotten with the rise of fake news. Verifying sources, photos, videos, and tweets. It’s not easy, but it’s sloppy when you’re completely off from the truth. To further verify in order to flag fake news, News could include partnerships with fact-checking organizations. When it comes to management of social media and news, it can be a bit challenging. There are several tools available to help manage, monitor, and search. In the News department at Apple, I would suggest that we collaborate with SAM and other partners associated with First Draft Partner Network.
Collaboration is essential for the News app to succeed, that is why journalists, media outlets, and in-house reporters will be using various digital tools to help further improve the storytelling of each story. Some of those resources are Journalism Tools.
Story
The story needs to matter. Being a storyteller is a big responsiblity, because one has to try really hard not to become just another salesman. For the viewer or reader, you as the storyteller have to move, inspire, teach and engage. Sounds easy, yes, but if it were easy, everybody would be doing it. Janessa Lantz published a fascinating article about telling your company story like Tesla — Facts fade. Stories stick.
Not just News
Let me be clear, working on the News app or Newsroom wouldn’t be the only thing I’d want to work on at Apple. I’d be interested in working on partnerships as well as overseeing the interest in potential startups and other larger companies of being acquired — Twitter, Tidal, and whoever else seems beneficial for Apple.
As a proud Canadian, one of my many goals is to improve the Apple Canada branch — currently residing in Markham, Ontario. My plan is to bring the office over to the west, preferably in Edmonton. It can be in downtown, obviously so that there’s the opportunity to grow as a tech community.
Conclusion
I would like say that this is the end of my If I ever scenario, but I’m afraid I would be lying to you. I’ll always have something to add to this story and the others as well, because if I ever do work at Apple, things that I set out to change from this moment would be adapted and changed to best suit the time and experience of tomorrow.
