SYDNEY: The latest beta update to Apple’s iOS 8.3 beta 2 includes a radically redesigned emoji suite with skin tone modifiers, which includes 300 new Unicode based emojis of non-white color.
It also includes updated technology images with the latest iPhone picture and even the yet to be released Apple Watch. In its next update of the icons, the faces will be available in six different skin tones, US media have reported.
The new icons will not be available to the public until the update is released later this year, CNN added.
The task is not simple. The keyboard of illustrated icons is based on Unicode, the standard for text, numbers and emojis across all platforms.
Emoji originated in Japan and were added to the Unicode Standard in 2010, CNN said, and Apple first included them in iOS in 2011.
“Apple supports and cares deeply about diversity, and is working with The Unicode Consortium to update the standard so that it better represents diversity for all of us,” said an Apple spokesperson, according to CNN.
The Unicode Consortium sets international rules for text and characters to insure consistency across platforms.
Major companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and IBM use it.
This allows people to send, an emoji, for example, from an iPhone to someone with an Android device and it is still readable.
