Did we really arrive at a point where we are ready to condemn a well working product ecosystem just because there's nothing new and flashy to look at?
That was my thought as well. I'm no fanboy, and actively avoided the iPad mania some of my friends were going through. That is until a friend came to stay, along with his iPad, and my wife and I suddenly discovered ourselves actively choosing to borrow his iPad over loading up something on our laptops, just because it worked so well.
A huge shame to discount such success. I put it down to the "It's 2012, where's my flying car?" train of thought.
So someone who has never owned an Apple device makes an analysis on whether new Apple devices are being innovative. ok.
IMO the MBP's retina display is a game changer for professionals who need to be mobile. Once you use it you can't go back - and there is no PC laptop in sight giving you that kind of resolution. But probably the number one reason why mac users are caught up in the ecosystem? The touchpads. And this is something the author can't possibly understand. Testing it in the apple store is not enough to realize that this is how a laptop interface should work and that no other manufacturer has been able to match it.
My reaction exactly. It took me months after owning my first mac (an Intel Mini, just to try it out) when I realized how much I enjoyed it simply because it didn't get in the way of me working on what I really wanted to; complaints I've had as a user about Linux and Windows over the years (I still use those latter to at work, but really, the mac is my preferred place to live because using it is just so nice). Mostly I'm writing C, Java, and Python code.
Since then, I've picked up two more mac devices, and sundry other apple bits. They just work. Makes me happy to get to not manage that stuff and to be able to work on the really important stuff.
i'm not even talking about gestures. Let me see you getting used to fluid two finger scrolling and the preciseness of those pads and the go back to a small asus or whatever touchpad with scroll area on the side.
I know that feeling. I was cruising along in my brand new BMW. Missed a couple of payments and I had to go back to my Honda Civic. It must be just like that.
Most people that I know use a mouse, which has better scrolling and is much more precise.
Let me guess: Most people you know -that have a PC- use a mouse.
On macs, many people even prefer a touchpad on their desktop iMac. And that's not because of Apple's ridiculously bad mouses, most people know that they can connect any logitech.
> I'm not even talking about gestures. Let me see you getting used to fluid two finger scrolling
I call two finger scrolling a gesture.
Most mac users I know don't know any gestures at all, they just use it like a PC trackpad.
For me, I immediately turn off all gestures as soon as I buy a new laptop. They are just more trouble than they are worth in my opinion. I've tried them - they just get in the way.
I also know people that swear by gestures and the macbook touchpad - and for them the mac is a good choice. For the rest of us, it's just a slightly bigger touchpad with hidden mousebuttons (another thing that makes macs difficult to use for beginners).
You can see the difference. The end-goal for display resolution is that the pixels are so small you can't see them or, more importantly, the effect they have on rendering curves. Fonts have been designed just for the screen because the curves of normal good-looking fonts didn't fit into the pixel grid and didn't look good. With very-high resolution displays we can start using good fonts on the screen.
> iMac: 1998. Started a whole breed of computers with fancy physical designs.
What? How many computers are there out there other than the iMac with "fancy physical designs"? The iMac had virtually no impact on the industry.
Your other points are dubious at best. Apple are never first to market with new products, they only ever tweak existing markets and set up hype and an ecosystem around them.
The question is, are there any other markets out there right now that are just on the edge of taking off, that Apple can sneak into?
Take a look at the smartphone and tablet markets and tell me with a straight face that Apple did not turn them upside down. I don't care who was first to enter a market, I just care for the first one to get it right.
Tell me with a straight face that phones would not currently have multi-touch capacitive touchscreens if the iPhone never came out.
Tell me with a straight face that mp3 players would never have taken off without the ipod.
Apple have had a big impact on the market, but most of the time they just release products at a time that the market is changing anyway and then claim to have "invented" all the technology that goes into it.
I'm not sure what your point is. That dell laptops have become thinner over the last 10 years? Or is it that they have been absolutely in no way influenced by the imac?
If I recall, all the whitebox parts makers started making "bondi blue" knockoffs after the iMac came out. The iMac was the first to drop the floppy, and the first to really push USB into the mainstream.
> all the whitebox parts makers started making "bondi blue" knockoffs after the iMac came out.
Yeah, and how long did that "trend" last?
USB was fairly mainstream before the iMac. I don't think I ever saw an iMac in the wild that didn't have an external floppy drive sitting next to it. I've seen computer labs with banks of iMacs and external floppy drives sitting next to them.
That trend lasted for a while, until case manufacturers started copying the G-whatever tower, and then eventually the Mac pro tower. The Shuttle small-form-factor PC I bought in the early 2000's had a Mac-like "candy" design.
>> USB was fairly mainstream before the iMac.
I was Windows 9x user (I left Macs right before Jobs came back) when the iMac came out, and most of the peripherals I was buying were still parallel devices. It wasn't until a lot of peripheral makers realized that one hardware version could sell to multiple platforms that USB really took off.
>> I don't think I ever saw an iMac in the wild that didn't have an external floppy drive
That's not the point. I didn't say that the need for a floppy was obviated by the iMac design, because you always have legacy users. Apple has a history of dropping legacy features in their hardware (VGA, mini-DVI, optical drives, the soon-to-be EOL'ed dock connector) before PC vendors do.
I think you're not looking very closely. Sure, it's all about small details, but a quick and highly unscientific Google image search shows precisely what computers used to look like at the turn of the century:
Exactly. And here we are just ignoring iTunes, for example. I guess one can expect Apple to deliver the TV of the future given all it's been said about it so things will keep coming on a different segment, just like before.
Exactly my thoughts, if any, Apple has spoiled it's users (media mostly tbh) and we are always expecting new changing tech from them. And since that hasn't happen in like 2 years all you read is "Apple is doomed to die"
I can't see myself being excited about the iPhoneX in 5 generations or the iPad XIV because they will essentially be nothing new.
I do believe that Apple is working on products that are 3-7 years out that are more in-line hopefully with the Google Glass Project. Hopefully some Apple innovation is happening...
The concern is that without Apple's founder at the helm the product will continue to fall into the squeal death spiral with the iPhoneX coming out in 2020.
I don't know that future iterations of the iWhatever need to excite me though.
As a middle aged user, I don't use the advanced or cool features of the iPhone or iPad. Most of my time is spent doing relatively unexciting stuff like Safari, e-mail, calendar, weather, maps and the phone app.
Right now, the only thing that really drives me to upgrade my iDevices is when the OS gets too fat and things get slow or crashy, which seems to translate to 3 years.
>> more in-line hopefully with the Google Glass Project
I'll go out on a limb and say that Apple is indeed working on products that are 3-7 years out, but that they will not be in-line with the Google Glass Project. Instead, they will be:
- available for purchase soon after announcement
- address mass market needs/wants
- something a salesperson at Bebe would use
- likely to be composed of small tweaks to popular products in the marketplace. Taken together, those tweaks will make the products feel revolutionary.
Google Glass is none of those, but this is pretty much the template for Apple's resurgence over the last 10+ years.
It seems like we are moving towards increasingly mobile, technologically seamless, lighter, cheaper, more powerful, less obtrusive technology. Apple did this a few times, Apple II, iPod, iPhone, iPad.
I think many people would rather buy a "Glass Project" like product from a product company than an advertising company.
VR has been around for quite some time and this has to be something apple is looking at. Google is looking at it in a more academic light,
It would be the ultimate Apple product, i, no pod, no touch, no pad, just "i".
Obviously, this person has never been excited enough by Apple's direction to even shell out any money.
Are we supposed to be surprised that he still doesn't want to shell out any money when there's a lull in game-changing product releases at Apple? The real question is, "Will that lull continue now that Jobs is gone?"
It's too soon to tell. It will probably take a couple of years before we could say, "Apple no longer releases products that can shake things up."
The lull is interesting. After every Apple product announcement I can remember there are dozens of complaints (and the stock dips). The rumours always build expectations way to high, Apple doesn't meet them, and people complain. Then people use the products and the complaints stop.
I'm getting pretty bored with pundits describing their genius master plans that will take one of the most successful companies in the history of the United States and REALLY make something of it. (rolling eyes)
Everyone I know has come to the same conclusion. The iPhone 5 is the make-it-or-break-it event for Apple, in our opinion.
They've had 2 years since iPhone 4, so the expectations are pretty high, and most are expecting something jawdropping. This is the double-edged sword with being an innovator at the level that Apple has been over the last 10 years - people's expectations get bigger and bigger, possibly to unrealistic levels.
To be honest, I can't imagine what else Apple can do that would blow my mind... fingerprint scanner? Breathalyzer? If it's just another "faster processor, better screen, more flash memory", then people like me are going to be sorely disappointed. I'm hoping for the best though.
Break what? The markets still growing, there are always people entering the smartphone market. Good hardware is important but Apple's ecosystem also attracts a lot of people. Most people don't buy a new phone every year, they wait for their contract to expire. So people with an expiring iPhone 4 contract will get all the new features of the 4S plus the larger screen and whatever else comes. Lots of people complained the 4S wasn't a big upgrade but it was a whole new experience for me upgrading from a 3GS.
And they may have had 2 years since the iPhone 4 but they released the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 in the time.
Why do you want a fingerprint scanner and breathalyser? Those things would disappoint me, as most people have almost no use for them. Why would I ever need a breathalyser on my phone?
I meant those as a joke. The point was that I have no idea what more they can stick in the iPhone to make my jaw drop. I was also going to say "a quadcopter attachment so that I don't need to carry it anymore, and I can summon it whenever I need it".
If they reach the point where it becomes a "faster-cpu-nicer-screen" type event, it means that smartphones have become fully commoditized, and it means the rest of the smartphones will catch up shortly, if they haven't already.
They don't owe your jaw anything. They don't care if your jaw drops. They're on top of the game and working to stay up there.
You people are getting so spoiled. The excitement and flurry over new Apple products makes everyone completely forget how insane it is that phones already do what they do. Step outside and take a breath for god's sake.
If you read more carefully, you'll see that I never even inferred they "owed" me anything. It's a business transaction, and if they don't wow me (which I certainly hope they do), then I'll probably move on and check out the Android.
If, after 2 years since iPhone 4, they can't come up with a feature set that will push smartphones once again to the next level, then it likely means that the smartphone is for the most part commoditized, and I won't "miss out" on some great feature by exploring other manufacturers.
As well, Apple's own financial data shows that many "normal" people care. They said they had material a drop in iPhone sales because of people anticipating the iPhone 5.
No, this is not true. Every single one of my wife's female friends, all non-nerds, and anxiously waiting for the next iPhone as well. They have been tempted by some of the Android phones, but they want to stick with Apple... for now.
A lot of the non-nerds I know don't even care about smartphones or know the difference between Android and iOS other than the fact that they're from different companies.
--edit--
caveat: I'm middle aged and so is my peer group.
Yep. This is an article by someone who doesn't understand Apple's unique value proposition.
Apple isn't really about making devices with the highest specs out there (things like retina displays are the exception, not the rule), nor are they about innovating brand-new types of devices (there were plenty of Mp3 players around before the iPod, plenty of tablet PCs around before the iPad, and plenty of Palm and Windows Mobile smartphones around before the iPhone).
What they are about is building things that do what they do, extremely well.
Part of this is design, part of this is their legendary supply chain (though that's a relatively recent advantage) but in my opinion the most important part of this is an intentional willingness to sacrifice features for user experience.
My first iPhone was the 4, and when it came out, I was debating between it and the Evo 4G. On paper, the Evo 4G was a higher spec device. Hell, it's right in the name. It had 4G.
I'm very glad I went with the iPhone. I have friends who didn't, and now, 2-years out, their Evos last for about 4 hours before they have to plug back in. My iPhone can still go happily for 2 days of normal use between charges.
Could Apple have included a WiMax radio in the iPhone 4? Of course! But they had the foresight to say, "It's better to have a phone that lasts for 2-days without having to be recharged than one that has faster download speeds."
That's a single example of a very "Apple'esque" decision, and the type of decision that makes most of the hardware they make, very good hardware.
There are valid reasons to criticize Apple, and be concerned about its future. But this article didn't touch on any of them.
You've gotta admit it takes chutzpah to in the same article:
(1) claim the only thing special about Apple products is their form and that people who care about functionality should buy something else
and
(2) complain how boring it is that Apple doesn't constantly change the products' form but rather keeps improving all that functional stuff with better displays, better cameras, better transmitters, better CPUs...
The complaint about naming of the next iPhone is stupid. They can't stick with the iPhone+number naming convention forever. It would start to look really silly after a while (e.g. iPhone 14).
Having a range of 3 iPhone's, each priced differently and with different specs is better. So the lowest spec, cheapest model is 2 years old, the mid range is one year old, and then the highest spec is the newest one. This is pretty similar to the way computers are sold. A new MacBook comes out, the old one is cheaper at retailers.
But what happens when the next next iPhone comes out? Then you have the current model, the iPhone, and the previous model, the iPhone, both for sale. What do you call it then? I very much doubt they'd like it to be called the "old" iPhone.
They won't have different iPhones on sale they will have 'iPhone'. But there will be different prices levels and spec levels, just like with computers. Most people don't go to a computer store and ask for a specific generation of product. That look at the price and specs and choose which is best for them.
They won't have different iPhones on sale they will have 'iPhone'. But there will be different prices levels and spec levels, just like with computers.
I very much doubt it, given that Apple seems to do all that it can to hide the specs of the iPhone to consumers. And rightly so, IMO- a 1.2GHz CPU vs a dual core 1GHz processor means absolutely nothing. The model numbers they have right now makes a lot more sense.
Normally people will start calling Iphone + released year. Eg iphone 2012 version.
This won't work if Apple launches more than one version per year, which I doubt..maybe...
Apart from a personal preference, why does that sound stupid to you? It's not artsy sure, but it's nothing new.
You see cameras, washing machines, microwaves, digital watches and even mobile phones[1] among other things with similar nomenclature. Sure it's more organized than just sequential numbering, but why does something like that sound too outlandish for the iPhone?
Hardware/software wise they are rather mundane but with regards to consumer mind-share and brand recognition I'd say they're performing better than ever.
