Hah, no offence taken!
I actually agree wholeheartedly that Apple, well, looks like a company run by a designer. "How it looks is far more important than how it works". And to an extent, they're right. They're winning millions of sales by shipping gorgeous looking devices. At the same time, some things are terrible (Mail junk filtering is abysmal, has been for years, and this would be such a huge QoL improvement if they addressed it, but I guess it's not "sexy" enough. Mail search is awful too).
I don't know I agree that Apple is "right," at least in a good way that would allow for continued success over the long haul. I agree that looks can get you pretty far, and I think they get away with clearly awful designs today by living off their halo effect from all the noticeably right things they did from, say, 2002-2013. But like the super attractive husband/wife who starts to not be as easy to live with suddenly, as if a different person inside them started taking over, being attractive can only take you (and the consumer) so far.
At this stage where an industrial designer has so much clout now over the well-rounded-thinking Jobs, Apple is like the aging 45 year old starlet discovered not at age 18 but 30, where Apple and the starlet spent their 20's relatively undiscovered, and got to really grow and not fall victim to too much early success. She/Apple started hitting some real homeruns "in their early 30's," really starting to come alive and get noticed. Could do no wrong. Ten years ago at age 35, she had an unbeatable combination of newness, still-youthful energy and strength, and lots of skill and function, where the beautiful packaging was icing on the cake, and not the cake. Her/Apple's actions spoke much louder than their looks. (Apple of the 00's, into early 10's) But as things age and the fickle, distractedly loud consumers start to chatter and look for "what's new," she runs out of being the new girl on the block and instead turns to focusing on her looks, since they may be the easiest way to completely reinvent and attempt to get noticed and appear fresh, dabbling in way too much unnecessary plastic surgery, feeling she couldn't possibly succeed by just sticking to the basics that got her here, and keeping on doing things well. Her/Apple's new priorities suggest to many that their best years are behind her/them I think.
iOS 7, port/jack/button abolishments, thinner-first-before-well-rounded-designs, Apple TV 4 remote, MBP butterfly keyboards, Magic Mouse 2 charging port location, glued-together non-repairable/expandable MacBooks since that still matters to many...all form before function crap output that's not setting up Apple well for continued greatness but instead, increasing consumer dissatisfaction.
Though the problem isn't with the quality of the boxing etc., but rather the lack of attention to other areas.
I meant more that the over-jewel-like packaging is so common now that it's often a parody or cliche. If Apple was all about "amazing design" while obviously focusing on "need to look new" to the point that they introduce some often-ridiculous designs that are no longer fun and/or easy to use, why not use this as a chance to go to something usefully different, such as attractively-simple corrugated cardboard boxes that would be easier to recycle, both functionally (corrugated cardboard) and psychologically (owners may be more likely to recycle the plain, functional box rather than store it).
Instead of "think different," Apple really needs to "think smartly different."
[doublepost=1542046088][/doublepost]
Stunning..........until I saw the price. I'm curious though and will watch a few reviews this evening.
Typical with many (most?) of Apple's products today. To get maximum usefulness, you really need to spend up and far beyond what the majority would consider to be reasonable. $$$ macbook SSD memory, $$$ for the latest iPhone, $$$ for an Apple TV remote that does what Apple should have provided from the get-go.
