So over the last couple of years, I’ve been giving Apple [and Bazza] a bit of a hard time.
Whilst I appreciate they still make great products with great design … I feel their spirit of innovation has been blunted by their quest to squeeze out every last drop of possible profit from the iPod/Touch gravy train.
Yeah … yeah … I know I own pretty much all they churn out but for me, Apple are at their best when they create solutions to problems we didn’t even realise we had till they showed us.
Solutions that are solved through people centric means, rather than tech driven.
So whilst things like the ability to manage/control our digital music is definitely an idea with inherent value, a super-sized iTouch isn’t … mainly because it feels like a product in search of a purpose, which is very un-Apple.
Mind you, I accept I’m a bit strange because a while ago, a guy at Apple asked me what I thought was their best innovation of the last few years and I told him I thought it was the ‘magnetic power cord’ … but even then, I’d say more people can appreciate it’s purpose and value than something like the iPad.
I don’t blame Apple per se … they had years of losing countless millions when they tried to innovate and now, following the Japanese ethos of ‘perfecting’, they are bigger than their nemesis Microsoft however I do feel they need to come out with something genius not iPod/Touch related or they could be seen as becoming a one-trick pony.
Yeah … yeah … I know you think I’m talking shit, but whilst old bastards like me can remember products from the original Mac through to the Newton and pretty much everything inbetween, the younger generation are starting to view them as the iMac/iPhone manufactures and whilst that’s not too bad a position to be in, as tech evolves, they could find themselves being regarded as behind the curve rather than ahead of it and then all of Mr Jobs carefully amassed credits could be spent in an instant.
I can’t help that Apple – like Virgin – owe some of their success not just to their high-quality products/packaging but also to their competitors inability to get their act together … but despite that, I do think they are a very smart brand and one thing I saw at the new Apple Shanghai store demonstrated it. This:
Yep, it’s basically a small table with computers on it so not only can young kids feel ‘part’ of the Apple experience, they can start to play/learn/love them from an early age too.
Of course the other advantage is that any computer illiterate fool who walks in the store can stare at the 6 year old hacking into NASA and think they are so easy to use, they can buy one without looking an illiterate fool, regardless of the fact 6 year olds are more capable at computer stuff than a lot of people I know.
So whilst Apple may seem to be running parallel to the times rather than accelerating away from it, at least they are investing in the next generation of ‘fans’, even if by the time they can afford to buy their tech, there may be a China brand who has left Apple in the dust.