Is Apple Getting Lazy?

705 days ago in Articles by Brent | 1 Comment

Ok, it can’t be easy being one of the greatest commercial innovators since the Industrial Revolution. It’s lonely at the top and everyone likes to take a shot at you. But… Is it just me or has there been a well-disguised lack of real customer-love by Apple these last couple of years, as well as a lack of innovation?

‘Borrowing’ ideas:
Before the iPod Touch, there was the HTC Touch. Apple couldn’t even be bothered changing the name of the rival product.

Before the Nano with camera, there was the Cisco Flip and the (better) Kodak Zi8.
Before the Wi-Fi enabled iPod, there was… um…. Zune. In fact that little sparkler was out for a whole year before the WiFiPod hit the shelves.

Being tight with easy requests:
iTunes 9 kinda-sorta included the feature that users have been screaming for: A way for new files on your hard drive to be automatically added to iTunes when it starts up. iTunes 9 has seen the quiet (almost covert) addition of an Automatically Add to iTunes folder. In true Apple style, this is not what the users wanted (i.e. the ability to point iTunes to the folder/folders of the users choosing for automatic updating) but its a little closer. Now you just have to choose between duplicating everything to the Automatically Add To folder, or risk keeping ALL of your movies and music in an iTunes-associated area. Call me superstitious, but there is something about storing all my goodies in a folder tied to the eternally clunky and couterintuitive iTunes that makes me want to throw salt over my shoulder and knock on wood.

The iPhone 3GS was one of the few products that actually seemed to have heard its buyers – more stability, a better camera and the ability to cut/copy/paste as well as use the keyboard in landscape mode. If only the First Else phone weren’t doing it all so much better. Unveiled a few days ago in Barcelona, the First Else is the first touch-phone designed for one-handed navigation. Finally, the thumb is back in the game. Did anyone else just hear angels begin to sing? Or was it only us right-handers?

Still avoiding true convergence
Yes, the iPod Touch now comes with 64Gig of memory. No, the iPhone does not, unless jailbroken and jury-rigged. Yes, the Nano now has a camera. Ditto the iPhone. No, the iPod touch does not. Does Apple really think we haven’t noticed that we are buying three products when one could do it all? It’s not like they’d lose money – Apple fans are not known for being tight with their cash, or for being late adopters! Sell me one unit and charge me a fortune for it. No problem, that’s what being an Apple fan is all about. Just don’t try to fool me, please.

Come on Steve, show us the love.