

Apple has a Software Problem — Why I’ll be Switching to Android - soofaloofa
http://www.kevinsookocheff.com/2013/04/30/apple-has-a-software-problem-why-ill-be-switching-to-android/

======
bane
Beware, Android has its own share of software problems.

Reflecting on this, I've come to the following conclusion, let me motivate it
a bit.

Jobs was a notable fan of Sony's industrial design in the 80s. But Japan's
traditional industrial problem has been poor software despite great hardware.
Often software so bad that it brings down an otherwise great piece of
hardware.

Jobs tried to solve this, great hardware _and_ software, tightly integrated,
completes the product. Small details, from the trackpad on a Mac to the
clickwheel on an iPod, to the interface on an iPad are all examples of this
philosophy.

Fundamentally this puts the focus on building a product, the industrial
design, the power supply, the BOM and the software (instead of all the
previous bits and _then_ later some software). But a product oriented
development process means you build the product, ship it, then move on to the
next product. You don't really keep revving a product after it ships.

But software is a fundamentally different beast. As a discipline it has
transformed into a continuous practice instead of a discrete practice like
hardware. "Cloud" computing, with continuous updates are simply an extension
of this understanding. It puts _tension_ into Apple's product focused
development practice because it forcibly decouples the software part of
product design that Apple has spent so much effort into coupling.

I'm not saying Apple never updates its software, to the contrary, Apple
software is generally well supported and receives updates. But it feels like
it's done in a begrudging kind of way. Major software updates tend to be
lockstep released with major new _hardware_ product launches, not
independently (and _then_ some older products can be updated with the new
software).

Contrast to other parts of the computing industry where the system software
and hardware are completely decoupled. Which is the better approach? I don't
know. Apple's innovation tends to come in huge leaps, followed by slow
refinement. It's easy for consumers to keep track of and it seems to have
worked well. But then every once in a while competitors will move ahead, and
if it's early in an Apple product cycle it can take _forever_ for Apple to
reach parity since you have to wait for the next major product release to get
the next major software release. It can feel like catching up.

Some software development just simply works better with a continuous
development process. Maps is a really notable example, all of the data lives
outside the product and as the data improves, the product seems to magically
improve as well. I think what we're realizing is that voice recognition
applications (Siri, Google's Voice Search) benefit from out-of-product
improvements to the fundamental algorithms as well.

And this is where Apple is struggling, by viewing software as huge steps with
small shuffles in between, they struggle in cases where software development
works best as a continuous reasonable walk. It can feel like Apple just can't
be bothered sometimes while you wait a year or two for the next major product
cycle.

(comparatively, Google suffers from the opposite, by keeping on their
regularly paced march, the product ecosystems ends up horribly confused, you
might be able to get the latest google tech on product A, but can you get it
on product B? Who knows!? It can be frustrating as a consumer)

~~~
Terretta
Overall an excellent thesis.

One quibble, though, with this: _"Some software development just simply works
better with a continuous development process. Maps is a really notable
example, all of the data lives outside the product and as the data improves,
the product seems to magically improve as well... And this is where Apple is
struggling, by viewing software as huge steps with small shuffles in between,
they struggle in cases where software development works best as a continuous
reasonable walk._ "

I happened to be traveling in Italy during the last week of iOS 6 beta and the
first two weeks of iOS 6 release, and was amazed to see the sudden dramatic
improvement in maps on an almost daily basis during that trip. At the start of
the trip, we still preferred the original maps on iOS 5, but by the end of the
trip, the iOS 6 maps felt superior in most ways.

Apple was clearly updating both the "cloud" map data and the map functionality
without a point release to iOS itself, and iterating incredibly fast. Seems to
me if the "new maps" journalism had been delayed about three more weeks after
iOS 6's release, the "first" impressions would have been markedly improved.

I also believe, based on the types of things that changed, that the iteration
was driven by real world mass usage data that Apple just couldn't get from the
beta or GM install base who use iPhones differently.

~~~
bane
Yeah, I agree. I think Apple is moving towards this kind of development, but
it's just not in their present DNA. I wonder how much of the rapid map
improvements were the very public bad press and the apology by the CEO putting
a laser focus on the problem vs. something that would have happened
organically? Looking at the glacial pace of Siri improvement and the low
prioritizing of the iTunes recommendation engine, I can't help but wonder.

In other words, I don't think Apple really wants to move to a more continuous
software development model, but market forces are simply forcing it to do so.
It is surprising that they aren't investing more of their piles of cash into
expanding and improving their software development practices.

~~~
Terretta
> _I wonder how much of the rapid map improvements were the very public bad
> press and the apology by the CEO putting a laser focus on the problem vs.
> something that would have happened organically?_

The iterations, things like building outlines, or on the iPad, 3D building
textures for historic Rome, could not possibly have been produced on short
notice.

I believe iOS 6 Maps was simply a month behind schedule, and iOS 6 was
launched before Maps was ready, with data and features continuing to release
until they hit their deliverable. After that additional three weeks, Maps
seemed to stabilize into incremental improvements rather than the leaps and
strides made during in the three weeks after iOS 6 release.

> _It is surprising that they aren't investing more of their piles of cash
> into expanding and improving their software development practices._

My perception is Apple has a different dev model of sticking with
comparatively small dev teams in an effort to keep product lean, focus tight,
and quality and polish high. I'm not sure what the result would be if they
expanded teams. Some research suggests both quality and output might actually
drop.

------
untog
I don't think Apple has a software problem. I think Apple has a data problem.

From the lack of movement on Siri to the numerous problems with MobileMe (or
whatever it's called this week), the utter mess that was/is Apple Maps, Apple
have proved time and time again that they can't excel where big data is
concerned- sometimes they will be sufficient (the iTunes store, perhaps) but
never great- and often subpar.

~~~
nodata
But the "scale" part of iTunes is just a CDN, isn't it? The other problems are
proper big data problems.

~~~
jes5199
iTunes has search, and it has some rudimentary suggestions. It's a store, like
Amazon, but Apple just hasn't bothered to make it as smart as Amazon.

------
runjake
And yet, just 3 hours before the post, the author apparently tweetspammed his
followers for a chance to win an iPhone 5:

    
    
      Kevin Sookocheff ‏@soofaloofa 3h
      Enter to win a brand new iPhone 5 from @iPhoneinCanada and 
      @TELUS! http://bit.ly/188DQzL
    

So maybe take this with a grain of salt?

~~~
soofaloofa
Guilty ... a free phone is a free phone.

~~~
runjake
And there's no crime in that. I'm firmly in the iOS camp, but have several
Android devices for testing/playing.

Unfortunately, there's been a rash of proclaiming! (iphones, androids,
standing desks, whatever) posts submitted to HN, and you go back a week or a
month later and the poster is back to their old ways.

I would rather see submissions that are something like "6 months ago, I
switched to x, and I'm never going back!". To me, these are the more
insightful posts.

------
esolyt
I completely agree. Except, unfortunately, there is no Android phone I can
switch to. Apple gets most things right in terms of hardware.

Switching to Galaxy S4 would be downgrading my experience because of ugly and
bloated Touchwiz and a display with wrong, exaggerated colors. Switching to
HTC One, would be downgrading my camera. Switching to Nexus 4 would be
basically be downgrading everything (camera, battery life, call quality,
display) but the OS.

~~~
CervezaPorFavor
RE: TouchWiz UI - Did you know that you can use your own launcher and apply
any theme you wish (legally; without even rooting the device). While I agree
that it is not as polished as iOS, it can look great too. You can even make it
look like iOS or Windows Phone with some effort.

RE: Display - Just like normal TV set, you can select your preferred display
mode on the S4. According to DisplayMate, the movie mode gives you the most
accurate colours. Please read their detailed display shootout between the S4
and iPhone 5: <http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm>

RE: Battery Life - Are you kidding? From my experience, iPhone 5's battery
life is shorter than that of many Android phones.

RE: Call Quality - Wow. Really?

~~~
runjake

      RE: TouchWiz UI
    

You're talking about just the launcher, but TouchWiz is so much more than
that. It's a custom suite of apps that replace Android's vanilla apps. I'm
talking about the Phone app, Calendar, Email, Messaging, Music, Camera
(Although Samsung might have the superior here) and so on. A new launcher
doesn't fix any of that.

    
    
      RE: Display
    

I don't get why people are obsessing over this so much. The displays are
roughly on par. If you _really_ care about color calibration that much, stick
with an iPhone?

    
    
      RE: Battery Life
    

This wholly depends on your coverage area. In my area with great Verizon and
AT&T LTE coverage, the iPhone 5 still bests any of the Android handsets I have
tested here, including the HTC One, S3, Nexus 4, etc. The Note 2 and RAZR MAXX
did hand the iPhone 5 its butt, though.

------
MatthewPhillips
I still dream of world where I can combine a hodge-podge of services that
intercommunicate through open protocols. Maybe the integration isn't quite as
perfect, but it gets the job done. I'll gladly make that trade-off if I can
avoid picking an "ecosystem" the way we pick a sports team.

~~~
bane
The trouble is and always has been that it's very hard to monetize this. From
mashups to open web services to RSS, it's hard to insert an advert into a
back-end data stream the user never sees.

------
uslic001
I think he has a good point. The first thing I do when I have a new computer
is install Google Chrome and log into my Google account. All my Google Chrome
apps then get synced and I am ready to get to work. When I got a chromebook
and signed in for the first time I did not have to set many things up as most
of my stuff synced except for Skype and a few other apps that are not
available on the chromebook. The lack of Skype on the chromebook just pushed
me to use Google+ Hangouts more so a loss for Microsoft/Skype. I have started
to notice myself moving away from using my iPad 3 and iPhone 5 due to their
lack of OS level integration with Google. I suspect my next phone and tablet
will be Android based.

------
eddieroger
If Google was all I did with my devices, then sure, Android is the way to go.
But this article discounts pretty swiftly that there is more to a device than
my Gmail and Google Now.

As for me, I like Google Now and will continue to use Gmail integrated with my
iPhone's mail client, but I'm not willing to walk away from my decade of
iTunes use and migrate my media elsewhere, and there isn't an Android
equivalent to my AppleTV experience yet (are they even still selling the Nexus
Q?), especially over not having to log in multiple times.

~~~
freehunter
iTunes lock in? I thought iTunes sold DRM-free mp3 files like every other
music store?

~~~
bskap
Since 2008, yeah. But the only way Apple got the license to sell the music
online in the first place was if they DRM'd it, and you have to pay to unlock
the songs purchased prior to the switch.

------
new299
I actually find iOS almost universally easier to use in terms of software than
Android devices. This pains me because I'd much rather use a more open device
running Android, and would much much rather not go through the awful
experience of the AppStore review when developing software.

But I find the experience right through the stack from the UI, to the software
architecture and hardware, far better on iOS than Android.

What I think I'd really like to see is someone make an open iOS clone. Sony
actually started working on this, building on GNUStep but then dumped it. I
keep thinking about picking that up myself, anyone what to fund me to do it?
:)

------
adsr
It's hardly unusual to find a 3rd party app that does something better than a
system provided application regardless of platform, where _better_ is in part
dictated by personal preference and needs. What's a bit unusual is that the
choices are google, google, google, google, google. Seems you have a bit of a
bias there.

------
laveur
I am gonna chime in here. I think he is absolutely wrong. Apple has amazing
software built right in and usually never fails me. Siri can be a pain
sometimes but it works 90% of the time for me. Apple Maps are pretty good
despite the lack of local transit routing. I have had Google Maps for iOS's
turn by turn navigation fail me just as much as Apple Does. I've been an apple
developer for a long time now, and just recently started developing for
Android. I will say this apple developer tools/API/SDK's are far better than
android hands down. I spend more time doing stuff in android that could be
done in less code for iOS. The quality of the apps there fore tend to be much
better and more polished on iOS than Android. and it shows.

------
wes-exp
If Apple's problem is that it can't upload my data to Google as efficiently,
then I will consider that a feature, not a bug.

~~~
thedrbrian
It does seem that a lot of people want to throw as much personal data at an
advertising company. Maybe I'm the weird one , maybe I have something to hide.

------
kylesethgray
I find it interesting that just because someone has a different opinion, like
that Medium piece on why "I won't wear Google Glass", it suddenly rises to the
top.

This article basically reiterates what others have argued for the longest
time. One platform is better than the other, one company better than another.
Who cares if you switch what phone model you use? It's not like someone is
going to be converted because of what you did. Your phone isn't a religion.

------
mulletbum
This sounds like a person who likes their Google software to work on their
iPhone without ever giving Apple software a chance. In fact he skipped right
over Apple's software, never mentioning iCloud or other features.

~~~
esolyt
And your suggestion is using iCloud Mail instead of Gmail?

As for Safari, I'm sure he gave it a chance. I did too. However, I use Chrome
on all my other devies and I love Chrome's tab and bookmark sync.

Google Voice Search absolutely destroys Siri when asking questions, unit
convertions etc.

~~~
moogleii
Safari has a pretty powerful bookmark sync as well, if you've set up iCloud
correctly. All my bookmarks are synced across devices. I can also look up what
tabs are open on other devices (provided the same user is logged in). With
that in mind, I actually find it more powerful than Chrome's, and it's quite
handy when juggling multiple machines for whatever reason (but I end up using
Chrome 95% of the time anyway because of UI preference, and a better dev tool
experience). I do prefer the Chrome iOS UI as well, but since Apple has
concerns about letting people have access to JIT compilation, I stick with
Safari on iOS.

Definitely prefer gmail, though.

~~~
esolyt
Bookmark/tab sync is not the reason I use Chrome. I use Chrome on all my other
devices and I want my bookmarks/tabs to sync with my phone as well. This is
why I can't use Safari on iOS.

------
hadem
I also feel like they are much slower in terms of innovation or exciting
features. They had everyone when the iPhone was first released as it blew
everything out of the water. Competitors have caught up, and in a lot of ways,
are starting to pass Apple in various ways.

Like the author of this post, Google apps have replaced most of the common
Apple apps I use. I too am looking to switch to Android. If I do switch to
Android, this means that staying with OS X and Apple hardware is far less
important to me.

------
daemonl
Sounds logical, but Google are putting so much effort in to outshine Apple on
Apple hardware that iPhone users get better Google maps and google Now than
Android users.

Google's iOS team are producing some fantastic products, and I'm considering
moving back to an iPhone to take advantage of them.

------
umsm
Why declare to the world your next phone? Buy whatever makes you happy and use
whatever you like using. These discussions go nowhere quickly.

IMO, you will be switching back to apple.

------
tuananh
I'm using an Android phone. For long, I was never satisfied with the quality
of software on Android. iOS apps are much more polished and innovative.

------
squozzer
I don't believe that right now any single Android can beat Apple in a fair
fight. But it could be 1979 all over again.

If Google follows in Microsoft's footsteps -- which is, to support Android in
ways that 1) provide an Apple-like experience at a lower price; and 2) make
life easier for developers, especially within the enterprise -- then it might
win.

One might be tempted to say Apple's design will always win. In reply I present
Exhibit A - the IBM PC.

------
Zigurd
Apple has an ecosystem/infrastructure problem.

iPhone was built to be the best phone. And for a big part of the market,
that's what it is.

Android was built to enable widespread unhindered access to the Google
ecosystem. That's what it does.

Apple never built a competing ecosystem. iTunes is now 10 years old. The app
store is 5 years old. Are there any other noteworthy achievements in ecosystem
and infrastructure for Apple?

Apple has spent a ton on capex recently. One hopes a big part of that is for
gearing up to provide a first class ecosystem for core user needs.

