Today's Apple a Day topic is the current state of innovation at Apple. As a former hater of but now long time fan of Apple's products, design and ideology I find the current state of Apple to be very interesting and quite concerning. The impact of Steve Jobs absence from Apple has been talked about at length by many people much more qualified than myself since his passing, however his absence has largely not been felt because of the product pipeline he left in Tim Cook's hands. Many had hypothesized that Job's left Apple with a good 5 years worth of products and that his absence would not truly be felt until that pipeline was empty. At the time I was one of those that believed this theory and figured Apple would continue churning out revolutionary world class products at a breakneck pace. Lately it seems that I may have been wrong.
In order to explain my concern we first have to look at how Apple has operated in the past. Traditionally Apple has stuck to a fairly rigid product release schedule that included product releases (and frequently keynote speeches) in January, March (iPad), May(iOS preview), June-July (iPhone), August-September (iPod) and sometimes a fall release in the November timeframe. While this schedule has occasionally shifted and some events like an event just for iPods have been eliminated as the business has shrunk, Apple has almost always maintained a fairly constant presence and released products throughout the year. Now let's look at 2013. It is almost June and there has not been a single major Apple product announcement or keynote this year. To say that is disturbing would be a vast understatement. Yes WWDC is coming up, but even that event is expected to bring few updates mostly to the shrinking MacBook segment. So what is the problem? In order to really dig into the cause of the current draught of products I think we need to look back at one facet of Steve Jobs leadership style that seems to be seriously lacking in Tim Cook.
Steve Jobs was known for his ability to create masterful world class products, many of which he is listed as one of the primary inventors for on Apple's patents. However it was not his technical ability that allowed him to contribute to the creation of those products, it was his ability to push people to their breaking point and get more out of his employees than anyone thought possible. Jobs was known for setting incredibly unrealistic timelines and someone pushing his to team to accomplishing the miracles necessary to make those deadlines. Additionally, he was known for being a brutal businessman when it came to making deals with forging partnerships, whether it was with record labels or movie studios. Tim Cook seems to be lacking the ability to get the same level of results out of his team and certainly does not have the business knowhow to strongarm other companies into doing what he wants. Proof of this can be seen in the repeatedly delayed iRadio service I mentioned yesterday. This service has been known to be in the works for quite some time but has been delayed due to Apple's inability to get the record labels to sign on. How is it that Tim Cook can't get record labels to sign on for a streaming service yet Jobs was able to get support from them when crafting the digital age of music?
Another prime example is a topic that I will cover in more detail later this week and that is the long rumored iTV. When Walter Isaacsons biography of Steve Jobs came out in 2011, it was revealed that Steve Jobs believed he had cracked a way to revolutionize the television experience and that Apple was working on a television product that employed his vision. The news was much with an enormous amount of excitement from the consumer electronics industry and rumors began to run rampant about the device and its' possible release date. Fast forward to 2013 and Apple still has not managed to release this product which has given way to companies like Samsung to release "Smart TVs" that do many of the things Apple's device is rumored to do, although admittedly the quality of these devices is pretty poor. Furthermore companies like Microsoft have taken a stab at simplifying the living room experience with devices like the Xbox One. I'm not saying that Apple has missed the boat quite yet but they are definitely in danger of it, especially considering that the latest rumors are now saying that device may not get released until the end of 2014. It's hard to imagine that this would be the case if Jobs were still in charge given his tact for pushing his employees to deliver a product at exactly the right moment.
So in closing it seems that Apple still has the ability to innovate and create good, if not great, products however their ability to maintain the pace they were known for under Steve Jobs' leadership seems to be gone which is unfortunate not only for Apple fans but for the industry as a whole. The forcast for 2013 looks pretty bleak. It is likely we will see an iPhone 5S announcement this fall, as well as a redesigned iPad and iPad Mini to follow sometime by the end of the year however it seems that the truly innovative new devices like the iWatch and iTV are unlikely to see the light of day until at least 2014. Can Apple really survive on just some minor refreshes to their core products or will the faithful start to jump ship to companies like Samsung and their hot selling Galaxy S4 and upcoming smart watches? Time will tell...
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
WWDC 2013
The first topic in this weeks series of Apple related posts is the upcoming Worldwide Developers Confeence (WWDC) keynote that is coming up on June 10th. Apple is expected to make a variety of announcements, some of which are confirmed while others remain rumors. I will break down each of these and provide some personal thoughts on each.
iOS 7.0 & OS X
Two things that we know for sure will be unveiled for the first time are the new versions of iOS and OS X. These two announcements were confirmed by Tim Cook during his D11 interview last week so you can count on getting the full slew of details likely including price and release dates. I expect that the majority of the keynote will be devoted to these two topics for one very important reason. The release of these two pieces of software is going to be a defining moment for Apple. Whether that moment will be good or bad is yet to be seen but these operating systems are going to mark a huge change in the look and feel of Apple products. This is the first complete interface redesign that will be done without the input of Steve Jobs and it is impossible to overstate the significance of that fact.
Many rumors point to a new "flat" design that has been concocted by hardware design genius Jonathan Ives. Ives has had enormous success being the lead hardware designer for Apple for quite some time, however in the past he always had a counterpoint in Jobs and that partnership ultimately ended up turning out countless revolutionary product designs. During the major management shakeup last year Ives took over the visual design of Apple's software in addition to the hardware and these two releases will be the first products developed under his supervision. Ives has long been known to hate the skeuomorphic design elements that Apple previously has employed throughout both their desktop and mobile platforms so it is all but given that he is going to eradicate these elements from the new versions. What does that mean for the end user? Well some simple examples are that your calendar, notepad, and address book applications will no longer visually mimic their real life companions. Skeuomorphism is a hotly debated topic amongst the design community so I expect that this change will ignite quite a bit of discussion. Personally I have always felt that the skeuomorphic patterns employed by Apple have mostly been instrumental in helping them achieve their goal of creating technology that lives at the intersection of art and the humanities. Something about these interfaces has made them feel more accessible and more personal to a lot of people so I am concerned that this change may bring Apple much closer to Android's style of interface which I find to be more cold and emotionless.
Leaving interface changes aside for a minute there is likely a lot to look forward to with the new versions of these operating systems. Tim Cook has confirmed that Apple is going to be opening up their SDK for iOS in ways that they never have before which could lead to some interesting possibilities for developers. Additionally, it is highly likely that Apple will continue to incorporate successful elements of their mobile operating system into OS X which has proven to be successful with both the Lion and Mountain Lion releases. Rumors are also currently suggesting that this could be one of the first times in awhile where Apple begins moving functionality from their desktop operating system into iOS, specifically AirDrop. AirDrop wireless file sharing has been available in OS X since the Lion release and Apple is known to at least be internally testing a version of iOS that employs this functionality. Apple aficionados will understand that this would be a big step for Apple who has always been quite restrictive as to what files from the iPhone can be shared. It will be interesting to see if Apple blows the doors open and allows for things like music and video sharing , if it will be restricted to things like pictures and contacts, or if they will just scrap the feature altogether.
In a world where Windows 8 has mostly been a failure and the line between desktop and mobile computing is getting less and less clear, it is going to be extremely important for Apple to put out a release that updates and modernizes both iOS and OS X while and creates a seamless experience that is accessible, versatile and cutting edge but still maintains the trademark quality and stability that Apple is known for. A failure in this arena could severely jeopardize Apples position in the market when it comes time to release new devices.
MacBooks, Mac Pro and iMac
In the category of not confirmed but still basically guaranteed announcements for WWDC is updates to Apple's computer line, with a particular emphasis on the Macbook Pro lineup. Given that Intel is going to be launching their newest line of Haswell processors, it seems only natural the Apple would update it's lineup to include the latest from Intel. Perhaps more interesting though is the rumor that Apple will be revealing some minor tweaks to it's 13" Retina MacBook Pro that was released less than a year ago. The tweaks are rumored to be fairly minor but will result in an overall slimmer (yes you read that right) design for the already incredibly thin notebook. Expect the array of ports and probably even graphics support to remain fairly similar to their current state. One thing that is not clear is whether Apple plans on any special updates for the MacBook Air lineup. Enthusiasts have been salivating over the idea of a Retina MacBook Air since the first retina machines came out last year, however given the current technology behind the displays. high cost and supply chain issues Apple continues to have, I don't expect that we will see retina displays make their way into the MacBook Air lineup this go round.
One last interesting note is that supplies of Mac Pros have begun to wane in the weeks leading up to WWDC so it is likely that the Mac Pro will finally get some long overdue attention to bring it up to par with the current standards for insanely expensive cutting edge machines. Don't expect this to get much attention, if any, during the keynote though given that the Mac Pro accounts for an almost nonexistent amount of revenue for Apple.
iRadio
Last but not least is something in the category of, could happen but pretty unlikely, is Apples long rumored iRadio service. For those unfamiliar with Apple rumors, iRadio is Apple's long gestating subscription music service (kinda like Pandora). Apple has been known to be working on this service for quite some time but has had major problems getting music labels to sign on. The only thing that makes an announcement of this service possible is that Apple is alleged to have finally gotten Warner and Universal to both sign on, leaving Sony as the only holdout. It is possible that Apple could announce the service to try and drum up some hype and strongarm Sony into giving in. What remains to be seen is if there really is even a market left for this. The streaming music market is already pretty packed with the likes of Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify, I Heart Radio and the new Google Play Music All Access. If Apple is going to join the fray they are going to need to bring something new to differentiate themselves from the mob. Look for some kind of combination of iTunes Match with this service as a means to accomplish this differentiation. My personal feeling is that we will see iRadio launch this year but probably not until the iPhone 5S announcement.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
An Apple a Day
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