Apple's Great Expectations: What happened to showing us what we never could have imagined?
I must say that I was really excited about this year's Apple Announcement. Like many of us, I've come to expect the exceptional from Apple because they've surpassed expectations for over a decade. Why did this year's event have so much anticipation?
For me it was because there were so many more rumors that surfaced than previous years. The hiring of several prominent figures from different spheres of the business world has had everyone talking about Apple's plans. It was a treat to look forward to, especially since the event was only days after my birthday. As the live stream came in on my iPhone, I excitedly awaited to see what rumors were fake, and which ones were to come to fruition.
Gone were the days of Steve Jobs getting up on that stage and demonstrating the product in the way that he knew best. Each time he introduced something, it was magical. It was different. It was not the same way that other companies were doing it because he believed that they had something better - and he was right. But I do feel that Apple has gone away from the way they used to do things.
They used to challenge us to do or think of something differently. While we were all clamoring for voice detection or dictation, they gave us something to be safe with- SIRI - not exactly what we were looking for but at that time, she was better.
When it came to the cloud, they gave us iCloud. It allowed our phones to be connected to our computers - but not in the way we were all thinking. Using documents in the cloud made it easy - very simple to keep all of your documents in control across all devices without even having to worry about management. Now we have iCloud Drive - something similar to how other companies have been doing the cloud.
Where has the innovation gone? I know I want something, but I don't know HOW I want it! That was the magic of Apple. But now it seems that Apple is starting to turn back and give the consumer exactly what they want, the way they want. That makes me worried.
They are the architects, the engineers, the creatives; the tech experts. Not the average user or person on the street. We should be relying on the tech companies to tell us the best way to do something. They know what we want to do, but what happened to showing us what we never could have imagined? Apple always went steps further than what customers asked for, and so our expectations grew as Apple out performed their competition. Was it inevitable that Apple should finally just 'meet expectations' this time?
After September 9th and the excitement of the announcement faded, I started to see some strange behavior and products from Apple. An iPhone with a protruding camera that can't sit flat? iCloud Drive that has you managing your own files instead of the system managing it for you? An iPhone so big that it needs special taps to make it fully accessible? What about an iPhone that looks like a piece of art, different and more attractive from other smartphones?
I really hope that when I get the iPhone 6S next year, that Apple takes a good long look inside of itself and goes back to the innovative stage. There doesn’t need to be a new OS or Phone every year, but a new way of tackling a problem.