I’m glad Tim Cook is trying new things like this, involving Jony Ive in Human Interface design and becoming more involved in charity. I just wish they’d shitcan the lawsuits and get on with making products. Hopefully the HTC licensing agreement is the beginning of the end of SJ’s “thermonuclear” tantrum.
The only way to beat the competition is to make products that are too difficult and costly to replicate – they already use fairly exclusive materials for their hardware, sophisticated designs and have an unmatched retail chain - now they need to step up in the software department. They have the money but need the inspiration.
With the lawsuits, I think too much is made of this. I don't believe it really much affects their ability to make products one way or the other.
I don't know if it is still the case but a few years ago they were the most sued company in the world and prior to the iPhone they were getting hit with a ton of patent suits and trolls.
So, it seems that starting with the iPhone there was a shift in strategy when Apple realized they needed to patent everything possible as a defensive measure.
Perhaps it's lamentable that became a more offensive strategy, but it seems to be swinging back the other way under Tim Cook.
I also agree that it would be nice if they would step up their software game, but don't hold your breath. Apple makes decent OSes but their apps have never been known for their high quality.
There are some hopeful signs though. Although it gets plenty of hate, I think the the slow convergence of OS X and iOS is a good direction. Of course, with Ive now in charge of software design we can at least expect some more aesthetic polish in their software within the next year.
I think their biggest strength is providing a good platform (hardware and OS) for third party developers to shine. However, they seem to have a hard enough time just doing that (more on the OS side), so I wouldn't mind if they dumped more of their app development to focus even more of the quality of their OSes.
>With the lawsuits, I think too much is made of this. I don't believe it really much affects their ability to make products one way or the other.
It may not affect their ability to design their products but it most certainly affects their marketing, image and business relationships. This goes double when it comes to lawsuits against major business partners (like Samsung).
> with Ive now in charge of software design we can at least expect some more aesthetic polish
I hope he delivers something more than polish - if he can make the human-machine interface more intuitive/seamless while toning down the visual cruft that would be great.
> their biggest strength is providing a good platform (hardware and OS) for third party developers to shine
Definitely. That seems to be their angle with the iPad mini vs the better spec'd & competitively-priced competition.
"they already use fairly exclusive materials for their hardware"
What, exactly? As someone who has used an iPhone 3, 4S, iPad 3, and many other mobile devices, I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple.
They have their own aluminum alloy made specifically for the phone. Custom plastics, dyes, colors, etc. They've got enough scale/buyer power to optimize to the n-th.
Not to mention that the A-series processor is Apple only, they get early access to the best screens, etc.
Not to mention they use forging instead of casting for the aluminum bodies, and have their own white paint formula (most manufacturers don't even bother trying to make white devices). Plastic was still the norm for PCs until the "Ultrabook" wave came along.
Not sure the white paint is relevant, there are quite a few white androids (most notably the HTC One X, which in my opinion is the best looking phone on the market).
White paint is probably irrelevant, but the important part is white paint formula. I own One X but it is not as clean-looking white as iPhone or iPad (it looks somewhere around #FFFFF6, if iPhone's white is considered #FFF). It's still a very good looking phone, though.
Haha - this actually goes for most products, but Apple is crazy at this type of thing - buying CNC machines by the 1000s at a time...
To be honest - I think a lot of it isn't the right direction for product design - it's designed to be HARD to match, so I feel like a flanking maneuver is required in industrial design to start new aesthetics that will drive different ways of manufacturing that are most accessible than Apple's current methods.
Haha - this actually goes for most products, but Apple is crazy at this type of thing - buying CNC machines by the 1000s at a time...
To be honest - I think a lot of it isn't the right direction for product design - it's designed to be HARD to implement, so I feel like a flanking maneuver is required in industrial design to start new aesthetics that will drive different ways of manufacturing.
Yea, well you have to think about what they're optimizing on - I'm sure that you can equal them on some things - but holistically you can't do it for a competitive price. Apple improves where it gives the most bang - and right now they're not really in a "specs war".
They don't play the commodity game - they market on new features, not better - even the better screen was a "First time ever Retina level" where they introduced PPI as a new metric
> What, exactly? As someone who has used an iPhone 3, 4S, iPad 3, and many other mobile devices, I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple.
I think he means "fairly exclusive material usage". There's not many high-end smartphones from Samsung/HTC/LG/etc. that have aluminium frames and/or bodies. The new Nexus phone by LG does appear to use glass on the back though, which seems nice.
> I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple.
Elithrar's reply hit the nail on the head, but in some cases they do use some fairly exotic materials. For instance, the bead-blasted high-tensile stainless steel antenna array (iPhone 4 & 4s) and artificial sapphire crystal lens coating on the latest iPhone. Both required new manufacturing processes and a considerable amount of hardware to work at scale.
My personal theory is that they just want to keep they're law department sharp. Just in case a real juridical emergency should arise.
Having the department sit idle won't do any good.
(p.s. this is a joke)
Comments
I’m glad Tim Cook is trying new things like this, involving Jony Ive in Human Interface design and becoming more involved in charity. I just wish they’d shitcan the lawsuits and get on with making products. Hopefully the HTC licensing agreement is the beginning of the end of SJ’s “thermonuclear” tantrum.
The only way to beat the competition is to make products that are too difficult and costly to replicate – they already use fairly exclusive materials for their hardware, sophisticated designs and have an unmatched retail chain - now they need to step up in the software department. They have the money but need the inspiration.
With the lawsuits, I think too much is made of this. I don't believe it really much affects their ability to make products one way or the other.
I don't know if it is still the case but a few years ago they were the most sued company in the world and prior to the iPhone they were getting hit with a ton of patent suits and trolls.
So, it seems that starting with the iPhone there was a shift in strategy when Apple realized they needed to patent everything possible as a defensive measure.
Perhaps it's lamentable that became a more offensive strategy, but it seems to be swinging back the other way under Tim Cook.
I also agree that it would be nice if they would step up their software game, but don't hold your breath. Apple makes decent OSes but their apps have never been known for their high quality.
There are some hopeful signs though. Although it gets plenty of hate, I think the the slow convergence of OS X and iOS is a good direction. Of course, with Ive now in charge of software design we can at least expect some more aesthetic polish in their software within the next year.
I think their biggest strength is providing a good platform (hardware and OS) for third party developers to shine. However, they seem to have a hard enough time just doing that (more on the OS side), so I wouldn't mind if they dumped more of their app development to focus even more of the quality of their OSes.
>With the lawsuits, I think too much is made of this. I don't believe it really much affects their ability to make products one way or the other.
It may not affect their ability to design their products but it most certainly affects their marketing, image and business relationships. This goes double when it comes to lawsuits against major business partners (like Samsung).
> with Ive now in charge of software design we can at least expect some more aesthetic polish
I hope he delivers something more than polish - if he can make the human-machine interface more intuitive/seamless while toning down the visual cruft that would be great.
> their biggest strength is providing a good platform (hardware and OS) for third party developers to shine
Definitely. That seems to be their angle with the iPad mini vs the better spec'd & competitively-priced competition.
"they already use fairly exclusive materials for their hardware"
What, exactly? As someone who has used an iPhone 3, 4S, iPad 3, and many other mobile devices, I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple.
They have their own aluminum alloy made specifically for the phone. Custom plastics, dyes, colors, etc. They've got enough scale/buyer power to optimize to the n-th.
Not to mention that the A-series processor is Apple only, they get early access to the best screens, etc.
Not to mention they use forging instead of casting for the aluminum bodies, and have their own white paint formula (most manufacturers don't even bother trying to make white devices). Plastic was still the norm for PCs until the "Ultrabook" wave came along.
Not sure the white paint is relevant, there are quite a few white androids (most notably the HTC One X, which in my opinion is the best looking phone on the market).
White paint is probably irrelevant, but the important part is white paint formula. I own One X but it is not as clean-looking white as iPhone or iPad (it looks somewhere around #FFFFF6, if iPhone's white is considered #FFF). It's still a very good looking phone, though.
>Not to mention they use forging instead of casting for the aluminum bodies
Apple currently CNC mills all their aluminum bodies.
They cold forge, laser cut, CNC mill, bead blast, and then anodize them actually - there's many processes that go into making such a product.
And what a shame that the majority of users cover it with a cheap, plastic/rubber case! :\
Haha - this actually goes for most products, but Apple is crazy at this type of thing - buying CNC machines by the 1000s at a time...
To be honest - I think a lot of it isn't the right direction for product design - it's designed to be HARD to match, so I feel like a flanking maneuver is required in industrial design to start new aesthetics that will drive different ways of manufacturing that are most accessible than Apple's current methods.
Haha - this actually goes for most products, but Apple is crazy at this type of thing - buying CNC machines by the 1000s at a time...
To be honest - I think a lot of it isn't the right direction for product design - it's designed to be HARD to implement, so I feel like a flanking maneuver is required in industrial design to start new aesthetics that will drive different ways of manufacturing.
Oops, I was thinking of milling, not forging.
Early access to best screens? Maybe not.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/17/3515158/htc-shows-off-stu...
Yea, well you have to think about what they're optimizing on - I'm sure that you can equal them on some things - but holistically you can't do it for a competitive price. Apple improves where it gives the most bang - and right now they're not really in a "specs war".
They don't play the commodity game - they market on new features, not better - even the better screen was a "First time ever Retina level" where they introduced PPI as a new metric
> What, exactly? As someone who has used an iPhone 3, 4S, iPad 3, and many other mobile devices, I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple.
I think he means "fairly exclusive material usage". There's not many high-end smartphones from Samsung/HTC/LG/etc. that have aluminium frames and/or bodies. The new Nexus phone by LG does appear to use glass on the back though, which seems nice.
> I'm really struggling to think of a material that is "fairly exclusive" to Apple.
Elithrar's reply hit the nail on the head, but in some cases they do use some fairly exotic materials. For instance, the bead-blasted high-tensile stainless steel antenna array (iPhone 4 & 4s) and artificial sapphire crystal lens coating on the latest iPhone. Both required new manufacturing processes and a considerable amount of hardware to work at scale.
My personal theory is that they just want to keep they're law department sharp. Just in case a real juridical emergency should arise. Having the department sit idle won't do any good. (p.s. this is a joke)