

Apple's iPhone launches no longer excite - timmillwood
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19557497

======
corporalagumbo
Linkbait. Writing an article, one year on from Jobs' death, proclaiming Apple
dried up and dead, is at best ignorant, hyperbolic, impatient "journalism." He
basically lauds Apple in one breath for being the slow and steady company that
created the modern smartphone and tablet spheres, then hammers them for not
instantly becoming a rapid-fire "see what sticks" Samsung-style company in the
next! And of course, like everyone not actually in the inner sanctum at Apple,
he has zero idea what Apple has planned in the long-term. Zero. But he acts
like he knows everything.

This is just garbage. Some people should stop complaining so much - the same
qualities they praised Apple for yesterday they slam them for the next.

~~~
Slackwise
Did you see the bold disclaimer at the top of the article?

It points out that this is a requested op-ed piece and not a normal BBC
article. The author of this piece is the guy who writes the fake Steve Jobs
blog "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs". I wouldn't start condemning the BBC
just yet.

~~~
corporalagumbo
I wasn't condemning the BBC, I was criticising the guy.

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digitalengineer
This entire "article" gave me a bad taste in my mouth. The LEAST this guy
could do is actually wait for Apple to do their Keynote. Now he's responding
to rumors and leaks. I suppose it's no fun to write an article based on things
like _facts_.

I think the Passbook alone could create a surge in new Apps. Here's an article
about just that: [http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2012/09/04/apples-
ios-6-passbo...](http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2012/09/04/apples-
ios-6-passbook-is-a-new-game-center-for-retail-apps/)

~~~
moystard
The article does not only rely on rumors and leaks, but on previous iPhone
versions. When you think about it, Apple has copied a lot of features
(Notification Drawer, Interactive Lockscreen, Social Network integration,
etc.) from Android, and it is true that the UI has not changed since 2007.

The latter point is the reason why I switched from iOS to Android a while ago,
it becomes boring to use an iPhone, no novelty, no surprise. It works, is
probably more reliable and stable than Android, but it is damn boring, and
surprise/excitement are what matter for me.

~~~
digitalengineer
You have a point. Me, I like things that don't get in the way of the tasks I'm
trying to perform. I like it if complex things are presented on a simple and
predictable way. Whenever I use my friends Android I'm always looking for how
to do something. Swipe up? Down? Left or right to find some functionality. Not
much consistency around the OS and Apps. I do think this will change for
Android and it'll be more like Apple now that android has the new User
Interface Guidelines
[http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/i...](http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/index.html)

~~~
moystard
I think your point was valid before the release of Android 4.0 (ICS). It
brought proper design guidelines and a common UI pattern for applications, and
the experience now looks polished compared to 2.3 and below. What I love about
it is that they don't enforce the rules as does Apple, they consider that if
users don't like your UI or the user experience you propose, they will simply
uninstall your app and you will be the loser, not the platform.

What you could blame ICS for was that the user interface was not always as
smooth as it should have been, but JB has fixed the issue with Triple
Buffering, and VSYNC (the famous project butter) and now Android just looks
and feels great. Give it a try if you have the occasion.

~~~
digitalengineer
Yes it was before ICS (4.0). The entire experience was horrible and I was
asked to help out the person using it because even the easiest things proved
difficult. Her phone can't update even though it's about a year old now.
Sigh... I've just seen the Xtreamer Mobile (Android) teaser. Looks good.
Standard Root Access, dual sim and more.

------
zachinglis
I agree with most of these points. Good design is iteration though - you want
it to be familiar to the last. However, iOS was good design from 'nothing.' 5
years on, it's boring design now - it should have had some serious
reiterations.

Going from 0 to iPhone 1 was a huge advancement. It would be nice to see half
of that again. Each new iPhone comes out with one or two gimmicks, and an iOS
update that'll run on the last version anyway.

Saying that; I'll still be replacing my 4 with a 5 at this event. And I'll
still continue buying Apple products. Not trying to suggest we boycott them,
but I am feeling like they're not showing their innovation qualities.

I do disagree with the Samsung point. I think their case was beyond fair.

------
adrianhoward
The thing that confuses me about this kind of article, and I've seen a good
few in the months since Jobs died, is the misconception people have on the
lead times of product development.

Whether the new iPhone sucks or rocks will have been mostly under Jobs
leadership. He's not been dead a year yet. Lead time for product development
is a _tad_ longer than that.

We've not seen the post-Jobs Apple yet.

------
timmillwood
I agree, Apple has gone a bit lazy and a bit boring. As they have become more
and more popular it's as if they have stopped trying. I haven't bothered
upgrading to the latest OS X I switched to Ubuntu. I am not going to switch my
iPhone 4s for the iPhone 5, but I am tempted by some of the new Android
phones.

~~~
rimantas
Tell me, how more exciting will the new version of Ubuntu be compared to the
next version of OS X?

Mature products are just that—mature products.

~~~
ekianjo
I cannot really speak for OSX because I do not use it, but Ubuntu just keeps
getting better and better on the SAME hardware. On every update it seems to be
getting more optimized, less buggy, and introduces new features (sometimes
interesting) that make you want to give it a go. The only time when I felt
that Ubuntu was going backward is when they introduced Unity for the first
time (it was slow as hell) but after that step they just kept getting better
in every iteration. That's exciting.

~~~
nitrogen
It really depends on the hardware, I guess. For me, Ubuntu peaked around 8.10
or 9.04. It ran great on my tablet (yeah, those existed before the iPad,
though it was a lot heaver, and that was perfectly fine), sound worked, etc.
Every version since then has broken something, and according to benchmarks,
Unity is the slowest desktop environment available for Linux.

But, if Ubuntu works for you, don't let the opinion of one random guy on HN
change your mind. Just consider yourself fortunate to find something you like
and can use.

~~~
ekianjo
Well, I have different distros on my home computers, and I switch between
Mint, OpenSuse and Ubuntu on a daily basis. But Ubuntu is really nicely put
together, and while I realize Unity is definitely slower than the rest, on the
hardware I run it it is still fast enough for most of what I do, so I do not
mind it so much. Sorry to hear you have a hard time to get Ubuntu working
well...

------
blvr
Are the new form factors boring? A little.

Would people be going on about how boring they were if Steve Jobs were around?
I doubt it.

The biggest problem Apple faces right now is that people expect them to lose
their magic now that Steve Jobs is gone. Then as they watch Apple confirmation
bias sets in and articles like this are written.

Apple is pretty well equipped to continue leading the tech sector, but this
perception people have is going to be a major problem.

~~~
georgespencer
I agree, but people have been saying it about the iPhone for a while. The 4S
was touted as a huge disappointment in the tech press.

------
Tloewald
In related news, Dan Lyons no longer amuses.

------
lis
This is probably why Cook said that they will "double down on secrecy". The
event is really boring if you have seen all of the parts on the internet prior
to the event (might be different for people not following the rumor mills).

~~~
Tichy
Blaming it on the others again (copy cats, spies, and so on...)? I think Apple
benefited a lot from all the rumor buildup before their presentations. What if
there were no rumors at all - would people even still notice that there is a
new Apple launch event?

If the rumors were exciting, people wouldn't be able to contain themselves
with excitement for the actual launch.

I wonder if Apple should introduce an abo model, that automatically sends
their new products to their fans (charging their credit cards).

~~~
overcyn
> If the rumors were exciting, people wouldn't be able to contain themselves
> with excitement for the actual launch.

Why would people be excited for the announcement of something they already
know. And if you're talking about the release date of the product, people
still line up outside apple stores for days ahead of time when new devices
come out.

> Blaming it on the others again (copy cats, spies, and so on...)?

How is saying that you're "doubling down on security" blaming others? Note
that Tim Cook said this in response to the question "What have you changed?
What's different?"

------
NameNickHN
Are there any studies or opinion polls about how consumers are seeing the
iPhone? The fact that experts and early adopters are bored with the iPhone
doesn't mean that the normal customer isn't still excited about the product.
The customers didn't read or hear iPhone stories on an almost daily basis. For
them all the Apple products might still be those exciting, desirable gadgets
that they must have. Not to mention the Apple fanboys and girls who buy every
new product that Apple offers and wouldn't touch any other.

~~~
atirip
I dont know about studies, but I have observed - if tech goes gaga (original
iPhone) it does not sell very well, if tech calls it absolute failure (iPhone
4S) it will sell like crazy.

~~~
bergie
Tech press often gets it wrong. The Galaxy Note "phablet" was another example.
The original reviews called it ridiculous, but they actually sold well. And
I've seen a lot of seemingly happy users with them.

[http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/16/3246378/samsung-galaxy-
not...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/16/3246378/samsung-galaxy-note-
sales-10-million-worldwide)

10 million is of course not iPhone-big, but then again, this is just one phone
in Samsung's lineup. And it is more than Nokia has sold all their Lumias, for
instance.

------
yread
I miss Fake Steve Jobs

~~~
twsted
I miss the real one

------
maratc
Dan Lyons' writings on Apple no longer excite. FSJ was completely hilarious.
This isn't.

------
Tichy
Is this part of a buildup for a huge surprise? Make people expect something
boring, then come up with something entirely new?

If the rumors are true, though, the iP5 will definitely be too tiny.

------
cm-t
404 ?

~~~
blvr
It's back up now.

~~~
Sander_Marechal
And now down again apparently....

------
Toshio
> "This is what happens when a company is too cheap to invest in research and
> development. Did you know that Apple spends far less on R&D than any of its
> rivals - a paltry 2% of revenues, versus 14% for Google and Microsoft?"

Funny he should mention that. Little known fact: at microsoft R&D expenditures
are really technical evangelism expenditures. Whenever you legitimately
complain online that vista sucks / metro sucks and someone else calls you an
idiot, that's microsoft's "R&D" money hard at work.

~~~
huxley
Putting R&D as a percentage of revenue is a bit of a dodge. Apple has
significantly higher revenue than Google. Apple in the quarter ending Dec 2011
brought in $46.3 billion in revenue, while Google brought in $10.6 billion.

So plugging in the numbers for Apple you get $928 million in R&D for the
quarter, while Google spent $1.4 billion.

Less spent in R&D? Yes, but spending almost $1 billion per quarter in R&D is
hardly paltry.

~~~
Flenser
And everything Apple spends R&D money on is something that may one day end up
in customers hands; whereas MS R&D often never sees the light of day, or gets
canned, and Google spend a lot of their R&D making custom hardware for data
centers.

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zakshay
Its amazing that the BBC article has 11 links to 'share it', but nothing to
actually comment on it.

~~~
takluyver
That's a _good_ thing. I've seen BBC articles with the comments turned on, and
the 'discussion' makes me despair in humanity. Throw in some fanboys from both
sides, and the resulting flamewar would likely burn down Broadcasting House.

