
iPhone at ten: the revolution continues - aaronbrethorst
http://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/01/iphone-at-ten-the-revolution-continues.html
======
cixin
It's not a hugely popular opinion, but I'm still happier with the iPhone than
any other phone currently on the market.

Not only do I find it nicer to use (which is somewhat subjective), but I still
feel that Apple are standing up for user rights (e.g. FBI/government requests
to make phones less secure) more than any other mobile manufacturer.

~~~
Nullabillity
Standing up for your right to not use your device as you please? Standing up
for your right to lock-in your data with a single vendor?

~~~
throwanem
I know a guy who thinks it's great that, when a process pegs his phone's CPU,
he can drop into a root shell and kill -9 it from top.

I think it's great that in five years of iPhone ownership that's not a problem
I've ever had, or even had to think about. And the only Apple service I use is
the app store.

Horses for courses. If you want total control and software freedom, you won't
prefer an iPhone. If you want the closest available approximation to
appliance-level reliability, you won't prefer anything else.

~~~
cixin
The other issue for me actually is that while I might like to drop into a
shell sometimes I don't really feel Android phones offer me much in that
regard either.

Android is far for a standard Linux/UNIX system. And it's hard to build one on
top of Android because of their use of BIONIC rather than glibc.

So, I feel that Android has taken Linux and crippled it to suit their ends. To
me jailbroken iPhones felt much more like standard UNIX phones than Android
phones.

My ideal phone doesn't exist. But he iPhone is still the nearest match right
now.

~~~
Fnoord
I use macOS every day, and I love it. And it is me who owns the hardware, and
who is root on the device (I can't say I own the software). If I want to kill
a process on macOS, I am free to do this. I don't have this freedom on iOS. On
my Android phone I have the freedom to root the device (which is sort of
supported by Fairphone), and if ever the OS isn't supported anymore I can just
run CM or LineageOS or stock Android on it myself. You don't have that liberty
on iOS devices. Jailbreaking on iOS isn't very feasible because you end up
having to run code to exploit iOS. Which means your phone has a known
vulnerability which you want to get fixed. But you can't without the source.

~~~
throwanem
> I don't have this freedom on iOS.

Right. But, to my earlier point, you never really need to, either, because the
OS does a good enough job of managing resources that such intervention is not
required. I'm sure there exist corner cases, but having never hit one in half
a decade of extensive use, I am prepared to argue they are vanishingly rare.

That's the tradeoff: a lower granularity of control over the system, in
exchange for a system well enough designed that such granularity is not
required for stable and performant operation. There's an argument to be made
that the tradeoff shouldn't exist, but that's theoretical unless Craig
Federighi is actually on the panel. Here in the world of things that are, it's
worth keeping in mind that the compromise is exactly that: yes, we give
something up, but we get something in exchange for it, too.

~~~
Fnoord
> Right. But, to my earlier point, you never really need to, either, because
> the OS does a good enough job of managing resources that such intervention
> is not required.

What do you mean? I'm not aware of any SSH which fulfils my needs on iOS. Or
Android for that matter. On Jolla (and MeeGo/Maemo) you had a CLI at your
command. The conundrum is you don't know what you're missing unless you had it
before to begin with. Case in point: there's an entire generation of children
raising up with touchscreens. That exposure has a price.

What do you consider the best browser on macOS? I don't consider Safari the
best one. YMMV. At least you and I got the freedom to run another browser on
macOS (those versions of Firefox and Chrome on iOS are not the real deal). I
got the freedom to run Tmux, Vim. I got the freedom to compile my own version
of OpenSSH which includes a patch for additional functionality. I get to
decide which browser extensions I get to run (without having to rely on Apple
to decide which extensions are allowed for Safari). I get to configure ssh and
sshd. I'd like to take the risk myself of taking it for granted when/if it
breaks.

I am actually OK with all of this as long as I don't have to rely overly on my
phone. However, smartphones have become so important now, and I end up having
and needing a MBP to make up for it. There's going to be a time where the
computers (smartphones, tablets, etc) running iOS are so powerful that you can
easily run a lot more on them. And, with that progress, they become less of an
embedded device and therefore the freedom to decide what you run is increased.

Finally, there's Apple who decides who's in and who's out. Americans are
totally cool with violence of all sorts and kinds, but as soon as the first
thing a baby sucks on is shown its suddenly drama. I find that bollocks, and I
don't want to be scrutinised to such a culture _deciding_ on what I am and am
not allowed to run on _my_ device. The device I (not an American) _worked hard
for to afford_ , the device I _bought_ , and the device _I own (not rent)_.
No, Google isn't perfect either; Google earns money via advertising, Google
just blocked an anti adware extension in Chrome called Ad Nauseam, and they
also don't allow certain software in GCM.

~~~
vinceguidry
> I'm not aware of any SSH which fulfils my needs on iOS.

What's wrong with Mosh?

[https://mosh.org/](https://mosh.org/)

~~~
throwanem
Blink is good if you need Mosh support; Prompt 2 is arguably better if you
don't. But I get the impression GP has more on his mind than the choice of
terminal emulator/SSH client app, although I remain rather puzzled exactly
what point he's trying to make.

------
bane
Not an iPhone user, but Apple entering the smartphone market was a great thing
for consumers I believe. Even if the first iPhone was just a very polished
iteration of all the other smartphones on the market, it brought Apple's
relentless focus on polish as well as business savvy to the market, it also
catalyzed Google and a bunch of other companies to jump into the fray once
Apple cleared the way with telecom providers.

Before the iPhone, carriers billed on individual metrics like bytes
transferred or connections to servers, the first few months of iPhone bills
were sometimes hundreds of pages long. The real revolution that Apple brought
was in forcing carriers to become one step closer to being dumb pipes. It's an
agreement that even today no other maker of Smartphone has really quite gotten
to with the same companies. Google phones still ship with crapware on them.

At the same time, Apple showed structural weaknesses in competitors and
exploited them, Microsoft, Nokia, Blackberry, Palm, etc. all couldn't build
offerings as good as the iPhone and if it weren't for Google we'd very much be
using a monoculture of devices these days.

At the same time Android devices took a "try it first, try it every which way"
approach that has also forced the iPhone to come along kicking and screaming,
then putting Apple in a position to integrate some new innovative feature that
Android devices don't have, putting them both into a state of perpetual
innovation.

Consumers win in this and I find it remarkable how many things the little
device in my pocket has simply and entirely replaced.

~~~
qznc
After 10 years, I still find it hard to say what exactly Apple did back then.
It was not about the app store for example, because that came one year later.

* They saw the premium niche. Ballmer ridiculed them for the price of the iPhone, but now we know, people are fine with paying 800$ for a smartphone. It is still a niche if you compare the sheer number of Android phones, but a very profitable one.

* They removed the pen from the PDAs and had an innovative touch interface. More intuitive user interfaces is something Apple was known for before and they went further with it.

* They got the carriers to cooperate and give up some control. While the story is not as strong, we could compare that to IBMs decision to _licence_ an operating system for the PC.

* At that point in time, it was (finally?) very useful to have Internet access on the go.

~~~
rwc
Ballmer mocked iPhone as a luxury item at unrealistically high prices because
he looked at it as just another smartphone.

If you look at iPhone as a low-price disruptor to computers (and I think
that's fair when you consider how many people use iPhone as their primary or
only computing device), its pricing makes perfect sense.

------
redsummer
Unfortunately its success has warped Apple. Cook has ignored the Mac and
promoted iOS as the 'everyday computing' platform. His bet hasn't paid off
though. iPad sales have been declining since 2014. Even iPhone sales have
peaked because of Apple's anti-customer policies (how do you plug your
lightning headphones into your Mac?). Reliance on one product is very
dangerous.

~~~
audunw
Steve Jobs reshaped Apple into an organization that would focus on a select
few products at a time. This worked very well in the beginning and allowed
them to rapidly innovate.

Now they're a victim of their own success. All their product lines are
relatively successful. There's not a significant product that they can kill
(they killed the routers now, but that probably doesn't free up too much focus
anyway). I think even Steve would've struggled with this conundrum.

Internally, they've tried to merged Mac and iOS, ala Windows 8/10, to allow
them to keep a single focus.. but their conclusion was that it compromises
both Mac OS and iOS in a way that they don't want to do. And if they made the
merged OS closer to iOS, it would alienate a lot of Mac users and developers.

So how should Apple refocus? Who knows. I think it's a flaw to think that
Steve Jobs would have magically solved the problem already. He was smart, but
not a god.

> how do you plug your lightning headphones into your Mac?

You don't buy lightning headphones.

Apple will kill the lightning on iPhone too. Either replacing it with USB-C or
removing it altogether. This is all part of a transition which is unavoidably
awkward.

Apple is betting heavily on wireless, and lightning headphones is just a stop-
gap solution while wireless headphones improve. A way for people to be able to
buy some cheap, simple headphones to replace the bundled ones if they need to.
If you buy an expensive lightning-only headphone you're a fool.

The moment that wireless charging is fast enough to completely replace wired
charging, they will kill the lightning port and perhaps bundle a case which
bridges lightning or USB-C to wireless charging+bluetooth 5. Third parties
will deliver cases with bundled battery, USB-C and 3.5mm jack, and since the
phone will be even thinner without any ports, the phone+case will still be
plenty thin enough for daily use, and sturdier too. Everyone will be happy
(hah, as if..)

~~~
mpg33
> Apple is betting heavily on wireless, and lightning headphones is just a
> stop-gap solution while wireless headphones improve. A way for people to be
> able to buy some cheap, simple headphones to replace the bundled ones if
> they need to. If you buy an expensive lightning-only headphone you're a
> fool.

They could have made the transition much better if they just included Airpods
with iphone 7 onward..

~~~
josephg
The airpods weren't ready in time for the iphone 7 launch.

They could have delayed the iphone 7 launch by a few months but (especially
given what happened in their other product lines) that would probably have
been a mistake.

------
yoz-y
One thing I really like here (and not meaning it as a joke) is that when you
look at the original iPhone and the iPhone 7 side by side they look very
similar. Apple has stuck to their guns and kept on iterating, rather than
chasing a new cool design for every release.

~~~
simonh
I think the double-glass sided 'jewel case' design introduced with the iPhone
4 is still the best aesthetic design for any consumer product ever. I know
it's just not practical for the bigger phones though, hence they went back to
a more conventional design. However yes, from the front not much has changed.
The sheer iron-willed discipline it took to reduce the front face design down
to one physical button from the start is still impressive.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
> The sheer iron-willed discipline it took to reduce the front face design
> down to one physical button from the start is still impressive.

Impressive, sure, but not ideal. As a result of this commitment, you can,
variously, click, double click, double tap (not actually click, just touch
like on a capacitive screen), long press the button. Furthermore, many of
these actions have context-sensitive responses, like opening the camera from
the lock screen or bringing up music controls if that's playing. And other
common functions, like "back" are relegated to various icons and locations on
the touchscreen depending on the app.

On other phones, the common "back", "home", and "switch app" functions are on
separate buttons rather than being different interactions with a single
button.

The Apple single-button phone, like the single-button mouse, is less
discoverable and less easy to use, while being better looking and easier for
some common use cases. Unlike the single-button mouse, though, I think it's
likely to stick around for a long time.

~~~
makecheck
Yes but software on other phones is inconsistent about the meaning of the
extra buttons.

The Back button for instance can be infuriatingly unpredictable to the point
where you just revert to the touch screen. It just isn’t productive to have to
wonder how many screens back you will go, or if you will end up in another
application, or if the button will be ignored completely.

~~~
kevincox
What apps do you see this with? There are arguments against the android button
model but your point seems like an odd one. In all of the apps I use the back
button (the only button they get control over) acts very predictably.

~~~
yoz-y
Has the behavior changed recently? Back when I used android the back button
moved to the "previous screen", but sometimes it skipped some pages (for
example in a three step checkout it would go all the way to the beginning).
But the worst was that it could actually go all the way back to the home
screen or even switch to a different application.

~~~
kevincox
I can't recall an app ever skipping pages on me. As for back to the home
screen I think that is intended behavior, if you open and app and hit back you
should end up back at the home screen. And switching apps is intended too, if
you came from another app it should take you back there. It works much like
the back button on your web browser, it doesn't navigate a particular site
per-say, it just takes you back in the history of "activities" from which you
came.

------
jaxomlotus
As an app creator, I have bought almost every new iPhone model since the
original. Having used the iPhone 7+ now for a few months I can honestly say
that every time I want to use my existing headphones, I get super frustrated
at the dongles I need to connect/disconnect. And no, I don't want to buy a
pair of headphones I need to charge all the time or that I will lose when they
fall out of my ears.

I think this is my last iPhone purchase for personal use.

~~~
listic
There's always SE. Sturdy, proven design, headphone jack and sane (one-
handable, pocketable) size. As much as I'd want to like Android, there's
nothing of this size left there. I hope Apple will continue this line into the
future.

~~~
pmontra
There is the Sony Xperia X Compact from September 2016. It's slightly larger
and much thicker (9.5 mm) and it weights more. Still the closest one. It came
with Android 6 and got an OTA update to 7 in mid December.

It's fast and the battery always lasts 2.x days to me, I charge it again at
around 20%. It lasted 3 days 18 hours last time over a long weekend, down to
9%. I checked and I made 8 hours of screen activity so it wasn't in my pocket
all the time.

Given how long it lasts I wish they traded some battery to make the phone
thinner and lighter, exactly as the SE.

[http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_x_compact-8292.php](http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_x_compact-8292.php)

------
cromwellian
Every release they always say "this is the biggest release ever!" The
superlatives, hyperbole, and hagiography are wearing kind of thin at this
point.

I'm not saying anything bad about the iPhone, but I can really do without the
constant "magical! amazing! beautiful! best ever!" stuff. At this point, can't
they just rest on having a great product without the need to amp up the
marketing so over the top?

~~~
patricius
What's a realistic alternative? "Here is our new somewhat improved iPhone...
Buy it if you want to." Marketing is marketing.

~~~
cromwellian
Have you looked at how Google, Amazon, or Microsoft market things? The volume
level is not where over the top.

There have been versions of IOS I'd call significant large releases. The issue
with Apple is they act like every release is a revolutionary upgrade.

IMHO, build great products， be proud of them, and people will come. The
superlative stuff just sounds inauthentic these days.

~~~
digi_owl
Quite. I gotta say i love the people at Google is willing to fail on stage,
and pull comedy antics (like donning stripper pants in preparation for demoing
a exercise bike dock).

------
IBM
There's 23 years between the Macintosh in 1984 and the iPhone in 2007. Real
paradigm shifts in computing are rare. People who think the iPhone is going to
be supplanted by whatever en vogue technology is being hyped in the media
today should keep that in mind. Especially considering that Apple still sells
PCs 40 years into its life (how many computer companies have gone the way of
the dinosaur in that time?) and has a virtual lock on the high end of that
market.

~~~
tempestn
That's a good point, but if you believe that the rate of technological
advancement is still increasing as it has been throughout modern history, you
would expect each successive paradigm shift to come more quickly than the last
(aside from some noise, obviously). Of course, the shift may not come in a
field we currently think of as being involved with personal computing. (Much
like we wouldn't have thought of cellphones as such in the 90s.)

~~~
throwanem
> if you believe that the rate of technological advancement is still
> increasing

It made sense for Robert Heinlein to believe this in the 1950s, when he wrote
an article prefiguring the "technological singularity" concept by a good forty
years.

It may make less sense for someone to continue to believe the same thing in
2017.

~~~
tempestn
It may, although I'm not ready to discount the possibility yet. Another thing
that has been seen throughout history is people claiming progress is at an
end. I can't remember the source, but there's a famous quote from the early
1900s that everything important in physics had already been discovered. People
also theorized progress would slow after peak coal was reached. There are many
more examples. I would suggest that whatever time one is living in, it feels
like all the major advancement is behind us, and things will slow from here.
It may indeed be true now, or it could just be that we're feeling the tail end
of a couple S-curves (Moore's law especially) and can't fully appreciate what
the next paradigm will be.

~~~
throwanem
> Another thing that has been seen throughout history is people claiming
> progress is at an end.

That's always seemed like an early symptom of dotage to me.

------
beautifulfreak
A graph of cumulative iPhone sales shows that about half the total were sold
in the last two years (1). In November 2013, Horace Dedieu of Asymco fit the
sales trend to a logistics curve (2), but in August 2016 showed even faster
adoption (3) Tim Cook's enthusiasm seems warranted.

(1)[https://infographic.statista.com/normal/chartoftheday_5390_c...](https://infographic.statista.com/normal/chartoftheday_5390_cumulative_iphone_sales_n.jpg)

(2)[http://www.asymco.com/2013/11/25/one-billion-ios-
devices/](http://www.asymco.com/2013/11/25/one-billion-ios-devices/)

(3)[http://www.asymco.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Screen-
Shot...](http://www.asymco.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Screen-
Shot-2016-08-17-at-9.23.26-PM-620x442.png)

------
rcarmo
Back in the day, and before becoming the local product manager for the iPhone
3G at one of my previous employers, I kept a timeline[0] covering articles,
reviews, and other interesting bits. It hasn't aged very well, but some of the
links are still active:

[0]:
[http://taoofmac.com/space/com/Apple/iPhone](http://taoofmac.com/space/com/Apple/iPhone)

------
nachtigall
"The revolution continues" (or "Uber movement", the other frontpage entry on
HN) - why does this all sound like communist propaganda?!

~~~
yellow_viper
If anything it's capitalist propaganda but this site is small enough and full
of enough educated people that we can read things like this subjectively and
then bitch about it in the comments.

~~~
nachtigall
Sure, but it's interesting that now that the communist (in the mainstream
meaning) counterpart does not exist anymore (except small enclaves like Cuba
or North Korea) - that big capitalist corporates - or their propaganda,
pardon, public relations department - take over the very same language.

Also a bit of Orwell's Newspeak in here as well. In the end it's funny of
course :)

------
longlost
The ongoing, incremental, improvements continue.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: \- Better camera \- Better processor \- Better
speakers \- Better screen \- Almost waterproof this time

I see nothing groundbreaking or life changing here. Something that might
actually BE life-changing is a molecular sensor and better health monitoring /
diagnostics tools.

~~~
audunw
You can start to see that Apple is positioning themselves for a more
innovative redesign.

If you look at their recent iteration (removing the headphone-jack) and rumors
from internal development (fast wireless charging, edge-to-edge display
tech).. it's moving towards a phone that's more like a thin slate of glass
where everything is wireless. Think the tablets from Westworld.

Either Apple will bundle a case with extra battery and USB-C (bridged to
wireless charging+bluetooth 5), or third parties will do so. Given that this
approach will allow Apple to push the thinness even further, using a case when
you're out and about will probably be more or less essential.. but it won't be
so bad since the combined thickness will be on-par with iPhone 3-4.. and you
get the flexibility to choose between different designs, battery sizes, ports,
etc.

It's not super groundbreaking ala iPhone 1, and it's where everyone will end
up eventually anyway, but Apple is positioning themselves to go there before
anyone else. Hence the awkward timing surrounding 3.5mm jacks, lightning and
USB-C.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
I doubt this, because Apple has lost its focus.

Products used to offer exciting user benefits, with a significant new user
benefit in each update. But going completely wireless is an engineering
fantasy, not a user benefit.

Let's say iPhone 10 arrives as a shiny slab of ceramic. So what? Even if it
looks glisteningly pristine and cool, users care more about functionality and
ease of use.

The first few iterations were all about the latter.

The last few iterations have been about engineering and design for the sake of
it. Delighting users seems to have slipped down the list.

------
S_A_P
If you completely buy in to apples ecosystem it is really quite nice. I just
got the Apple Watch and use it to unlock my MacBook. I know there are phone
apps for this and it's not unique to apple but the Apple Watch implementation
works perfectly. It waits until you wake up the screen and gives you feedback
on the watch in case you're in range but not at the computer. After purchasing
the iPhone in 2007 I switched to Mac. I now use Mac windows and Linux but all
on Mac hardware. I guess the iPhone was the gateway drug for me.

~~~
nicky0
TBH you don't need to completely buy in to Apple ecosystem. I use iPhone just
fine with Fastmail, Dropbox, Spotify and Google Photos.

~~~
S_A_P
That's true- my perspective is that it's great hardware to run whatever
software/OS you need.

------
yellow_viper
I've owned almost every model of the iPhone, and they stopped innovating a
long time ago.

Until they catch up with things like wireless charging - or introduce
something 'revolutionary' like a shatter-proof screen or a graphene rapid
charge battery - I won't be buying another iPhone. They've stagnated over the
past few years while Android overtakes them.

------
themihai
A 10th anniversary model would have been a nice surprise...

~~~
wrboyce
My money is still on an "iPhone X" later this year.

~~~
neotek
Apple has never been the kind of company to celebrate anniversaries in that
way. I would be mildly disappointed if they started now.

~~~
freehunter
They did make a 20th anniversary Mac, but like you alluded to it wasn't a mass
market product.

------
return0
That image makes me want an iphone with the original form factor. They could
use the entire face for screen and put the button on the side.

~~~
dep_b
This. The X version of the iPhone SE. Pun intended.

------
cyberferret
No doubt they are doing a great job and have achieved some remarkable
milestones, but still calling it a "revolution" a decade down the track is
stretching things a little IMO...

EDIT: To allay the seeming confusion - I am saying it WAS definitely a
revolution when it first came out. It is just that I don't think you can still
chant and wave the "Viva La Revolution!" banners 3650 days later when it has
just been a series of iterative changes during that time.

~~~
kkoomi
You don't remember the crappy screens, overall build quality, user interfaces,
apps (mobile java lol), performance of phones in the pre-iPhone era? All those
problems went away when the iPhone set the bar in these fields.

~~~
pjmlp
Some of us were using Symbian phones, and even got to play with Nokia's 7710,
released in 2004, 3 years before the iPhone.

So no, not really a revolution.

~~~
emsy
I loved my Symbian phones, but the iPhone was indeed a revolution. There's a
reason Nokia and Blackberry are suffering losses.

~~~
pjmlp
The only ones I can relate to Nokia was internal wars between Symbian and
Maemo units, and the fact that Symbian C++ tooling and C++ dialect were a pain
to use.

Nothing to do with the device itself.

~~~
emsy
Virtually every new phone released today looks like the iPhone. That's your
revolution right there. There are many technological advantages the iPhone
brought. First and foremost the capacitative touchscreen. Nokia didn't go with
the times and that was there end. Wether it was caused by internal wars or a
stubborn leadership is irrelevant.

------
piyush_soni
>> _" The world’s most popular camera"_

Citation needed.

~~~
piyush_soni
Love how one can get downvoted for asking for references. Fans.

~~~
DanBC
You'll rarely get downvoted if you actually ask for references. But if you
leave a bald [citation needed] you're going to get some downvotes.

~~~
piyush_soni
So how do you "actually" ask for reference? What I've written is the most
direct one can be (without caring about sugar coating my sentence). People
wouldn't have minded had I written: "I'm a long time fan of Apple and still
love their products above any other company's, but I think some of their
statements would get much more value if they support them with a third party
reference like other companies do with asterisks and all, like a statement
like their camera is most popular in the world could have been supported with
some reference. "

I bet, that would look like a neutral and balanced statement to all and most
people would be happy with it, but as you can see, it's easy to fake it. The
truth is I'm tired of Apple's hyperbole and people _should_ question them. If
you make a claim, support it with facts, otherwise don't write it.

~~~
DanBC
"Do you have any references for that please?"

[citation needed] is just snark.

~~~
piyush_soni
>> _is just snark._

That's how you look at it. People can look at your (barely) rephrased question
as a snarky comment too.

