Posted on 12/11/2010 9:55:10 PM PST by Swordmaker
Google’s power in the mobile computing world seems to grow with every new product announcement and Android device that comes to market. But for all its reach, the search giant is missing one piece of the puzzle that Apple does better than anyone else: product integration.
It starts with one device. Maybe it’s an iPod; maybe it’s a first Mac; but from that first product, you discover Apple’s unique take on technology. Apple treats each device it manufactures with care, sweating the little details like font choices and icon design, and thinking about how it all fits together. Each device Apple creates plays a part in the overall ecosystem, and the links between them are clear.
I recently stepped outside the cozy Apple ecosystem and purchased an Android phone, the HTC Desire. It was on sale at a steep discount, and I thought I would be able to integrate it into my work/life flow. I was wrong, and the phone is being returned.
The phone was powerful, and had some very interesting features, but it was so entirely different from the rest of my Mac setup that nothing felt right. I could go into detail about application crashes, frustrating hardware, the sordid Android Market (I wouldn’t let my kids browse through it), and other annoyances, but suffice to say that it simply didn’t measure up to the expectations I’ve developed from using Apple devices.
Apple is the only computer company that creates all of its own hardware and software; they control the entire package. Personal computers are a mishmash of parts and pieces from different sources. Hardware from one company, software from another. By contrast, many modern smartphone and computer makers get hardware from one place, and an operating system from another. BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion is a notable exception to this rule, but a recent interview with their co-CEO Mike Lazaridis seems to suggest the company’s leadership at least has little sense of what smartphone consumers really want.
HP, which recently purchased Palm, is another exception to the rule. The stage is set for the computing giant to build its own tightly integrated smartphone environment, if they have any interest in doing so. HP now sells the Palm Pre, but unfortunately, the Pre, once seen to be a strong iPhone competitor, seems to be lagging behind. Not a single one of these companies can design and test integration between phones, tablets, computers, and online services as well as Apple can, because none controls each of these aspects the way Apple does.
Does Apple’s degree of control occasionally border on the excessive? Yes. But consumers end up benefitting from that control more often than they are harmed. It’s only because Apple controls the entire product line that you can rent Inception in iTunes on your Mac, and know that it will play on your iPad, your iPhone, and your Apple TV. It works reliably, consistently and predictably.
When you live in the Apple ecosystem, you make a deal with Apple: I’ll pay you, and in exchange, you make sure everything plays nicely together. Google doesn’t seem to be interested in providing that kind of tightly integrated experience, at least not yet. What Apple does best is remember that technology only exists to serve its users, and goes far beyond a list of features and hardware specs. And that’s why Apple will continue to drive the future of computing, regardless of whether Google and others end up winning the numbers game.
Sorry, but I used your name in #20 and failed to ping you.
For this to be their greatest advantage, takes me back back to the 80’s when this was considered their biggest weakness.
Apple had the market, but they became obsessed with proprietary control. Lotus 1-2-3 emerged on the DOS platform from a little unknown company that pushed everyone to the PC world.
Innovation almost always comes from small companies, almost never from large corporations. It comes from individuals with ideas. When companies get too large, they behave like governments. Google, Facebook, any new large scale thing has come from small groups of people, almost never from committees and think tanks.
This is what actually got Apple back into the market place, as they were behaving like a small company, they became innovative, and they were working against the giant Microsoft.
But things are cyclic, and my take on it, is that Apple has once again grown too big for its britches. They are becoming cumbersome, and they are going right back to what got them screwed in the first place, their inability to maneuver, which is what is putting them right on par with Microsoft.
Combine the Committee-Think of a large corporation with the sole proprietary control that blocks out innovation from the real thinkers of the world (usually college age kids) and I think you will see Apple stagnate once again.
The only way to keep their base in this event, is to keep the product trendy looking, keep the advertising sharp, continue to market themselves towards the technically challenged, and to place themselves as the tool of choice for those who are “eco friendly” and “globally minded”.
I predict you will see less focus on technology from them in the future, and even more focus on the “lifestyle” that they represent.
Which iPhone model do you have? My iPhone4, under normal usage, lasts for three days before requiring charging; under heavy usage, a day and a half. As to NOT doing what you ask, I suggest a little more specificity.
As to AT&T suck age, that depends on where you are.
As to being charged for thing you did not order? Call AT&T and tell them you did not order it and refuse to pay. They will remove the charges. Blame who you will.
it has both. Always has had them. You just have to know how to use them on a MacBook. Why not try reading how to use the features of your MacBook Pro before criticizing it about things you don't know about yet. In this instance the Delete key is the Fn-BackSpace combination. Right Click is tap your track pad with two fingers after you have turned on track pad gestures if you haven't already.
The best way to handle iPhones is to have each synch to a separate user account on the computer. That way each will have it's own address book, photos, and playlists in iTunes. You can share an iTunes store account so apps and tunes can be purchased only once and shared across the devices.
Thanks for the secondary ping. I appreciate the courtesy.
Try running Office 2011 on your G4. It is Intel Mac only. Adobe's latest offering require Intel Macs..
Why insult your fellow FReepers just because we like better technology that works better than something else? I’ve been a Mac user for five years now, virus free, crash free and enjoying the tools.
The fact that some people who run or are associated with the company are not conservative is overshadowed by the products that just work the way I want them to. I would think fellow Freepers would, of all people, allow us the FREEDOM to choose what computer we use without peeing in the cornflakes.
Your first wrong assumption is that Apple operates like every other committee driven large corporation. It doesn't.
Your next wrong assumption is that Apple markets to the technically challenged. An excellent user interface that works is not marketing to the technically challenged, it's marketing to people who appreciate excellent good engineering, and those who are fed up with crappy engineering.
The final poor assumption you make is the idea that Apple markets to the Eco freaks... While they DO make their products to the highest standards, higher than any other computer company, they really don't market it so... In fact have earned Greenpeace's ire numerous times for not trumpeting what they rightfully can claim. Just last week, GP twigged them once again, listing them 13th most Eco-friendly computer maker, below companies with more polluting products because Apple doesn't TALK and crow enough about what they do and plan to do " green" wise!
Analysts who do know about how Apple has done what it has accomplished say that the reason it continually innovates is that it acts like a perpetual start-up... Innovation in tech has been coming from Apple in the last five years and your prediction flies in the face of that inconvenient fact.
The most recent of these innovations is the iPad. All of this has innovative technology at its core, not "lifestyle." what it does have is the integrated user interface that makes the technology useable for average people and techies alike. Apple brings the power to people to do pro level work without having to BE techies.
Apple has not become the number one Tech company (and number two over all US market cap) in the World because of the reasons you so blythely assume people buy their products. It's NOT because sharp advertising of trendy looking products to technically challenged people. It's because APPLE sell excellently designed and WELL thought out innovative products, that work well together, with superb technical support, that just work, and have worked hard with other manufacturers to provide a growing ecosystem of third-party accessories, software, and services that tie seamlessly into Apple's product line. Apple and Steve Jobs have a road map of innovation that they are following... One of the key components is another innovation: AppleTV... It ties your all your iDevices into your HD TVs and home stereo systems.
This is probably unrelated to the thread but there is something that just drives me nuts about my current computer: the wires!
I have soooo many wires coming out of the back of every device going to my computer that my husband and I literally have them labeled. Also...why are all these ports so incredibly inconvenient to access?
For example, my speakers didn't work yesterday. It turns out that my daughter had borrowed them while we were traveling and she put the speaker into the wrong port on the computer. It was a **BIG DEAL** to pull out the desk, pull out the computer, trace the wire, locate the port (on the **back** of the computer, of course) , and finally put everything back together again.
Why is everything labeled in dark grey, with tiny print, on a black surface. Who can read or see that THAT? Is inability to read or see things supposed to be “kool”?
Also “cord management” is a house cleaning nightmare!
What are these engineers THINKING! ????
When I go to the computer store, or a place like Best Buys, and voice my frustration and concern, the techies ( just past adolescence) selling this stuff just stare at me in stunned unblinking incomprehension.
LOL finally, you and I agree on something! I think we should start looking for the end to come soon! :)
While we are in a thanksgiving mood, I wanted to thank you for the North Point iBand youtube link a week or so back. Sent it to a couple friends, and they all send it around. Cool stuff. Thanks again.
The North Point iBand was great, wasn’t it?
Wow I feel those daggers shooting out of your eyes right now.
Why is everything labeled in dark grey, with tiny print, on a black surface. Who can read or see that THAT? Is inability to read or see things supposed to be “kool”?
I have all those colored ports memorized but still I need a flashlight. To reconnect (average type) speakers you turn on all room lights AND use a flashlight and magnifying glass. Also your computer or motherboard manual will tell you what port is what
For regular old speakers you want middle port on the bottom of an array of six ports. Six audio ports is the typical PC arrangement these days. Half (the top three) are digital audio which you can forget
Yep! I forgot the flashlight and magnifying glass part. Honestly! What are these geeky engineers **thinking**?
All products should be given the "Grandma Test". If their grandmother can figure it out easily ( without spending two days reading a 169 page "mother board manual" then it's ready for the market.
Just ask them. On second thought, you don't need to ask – They'll tell you whether you ask or not.
I'll be making the jump from satellite to Apple TV probably within 5 months, and replacing my HP with an iMac within a year. An HP that has gone in for service 4 times, had to be system restored 5 times within the past 5 years.
Yes, it has a delete key, but it deletes backward like the backspace key on a PC. To delete forward, hold the function key (fn) and then at the same time hit the delete key. This is a legacy of UNIX, which existed long before Windows. It will take you about 2 weeks to get comfortable with this, and then it will seem very natural to you.
and no right mouse button?
There are lots of ways to get a right click on a MacBook Pro.
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