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And since when are you the universe, or speak on behalf of it?
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/apple-reports-first-quarter-results/
Innovation, when they release new iMacs with 5400rpm drives? Yeah really.
Keep wearing your dark glasses.
Confirmational bias at play:
- a12 bionic chip
- smart hdr
- dynamic video
- homepod
- airpods
- etc.
It clearly shows that you sound more like an Apple employee.
Ad-hom reserved for those occasions when you are outgunned on the internet?
 
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Using the above criteria, there isn't anything groundbreaking in the design arena for the competition either. Only iterative improvements.
That's largely true for smart phones. The original iPhone was truly groundbreaking and changed the industry, in most cases for the better. Once the iPhone was introduced, most of the rest of the smart phone makers copied Apple thereafter - unfortunately, in my opinion, they mostly followed Apple by ditching user replaceable batteries, and increasingly, the headphone jack. I've come to believe over time that Apples decisions on batteries and jacks was motivated by profit - cheap user swappable batteries tend to encourage users to keep their phones (and laptops) for longer periods of time, and removing the jack forced people to invest in bluetooth sound devices for which Apple stands to profit. I have an old 2006 MBP which was practically functional for some 7 years using 4 different batteries, and I have an LG V20 phone with user swappable batteries that should stay functional until LG finally stops producing batteries for it (sadly, it was the last replaceable battery high end phone LG made, though so far it still retains jacks for its newer models - the V-series continues to be the phone of choice for audiophiles with high end wired headphones). The most significant recent innovation for the iPhone is probably the face id feature, which I wouldn't have minded if they also retained a touch id option. Apple was ahead of everyone else in refinement and accuracy of the touch id. Face id isn't particularly an improvement functionally, but is certainly more expensive to produce.
 
Well, we certainly appreciate their talent and stability in design. While there was a learning curve involved in iOS 7, the iconic design of iPhone remains largely similar to the original software once held on stage in Jobs's hands. I think it takes a lot of commitment to continue to keep innovating while staying true to what makes an iPhone an iPhone. I think that iOS retaining its simplicity in the wake of nag, feature creep, and advancement is the greatest testament to its complexity. For saying Yes to something poorly conceived will set a consumer expectation that you're then responsible for designing for for a decade to come.

This isn't to say that I'm without points of pain and displeasure in the advancement of iOS. I look forward to seeing what new eyes on the team will hold in store, and I'm also looking forward to seeing Google's approach on Pixel too.
 

Sales does not mean they are innovating. Many companies have great sales and they sale crap.

Confirmational bias at play:
- a12 bionic chip
- smart hdr
- dynamic video
- homepod
- airpods
- etc.

This clearly shows how pathetic is your view of innovation.
- Homepod is NOT innovating when it came late to the market and overpriced.
- a12 bionice chip is a component. Although it is great.
- Airpods, there are much better quality and better price bluetooth pods like the Jabras (which got better reviews than the Airpods).
- iMac design is the same 10 year old design. Even new update shipped with 5400rpm.
- Mac Mini, after 4 years, they came with the same old case that have overheating issues.
- Mac pro 6 years and counting.
- Macbook pros, simply unusable. One of the worse product designs in Apple history. And they think innovation is inserting a lame touchbar...?
- Soldering all components making disposable unrepairable products. It is not innovation, it is not environmentally friendly.

FYI, the fastest growing product category was the dongles and adaptors. That should tell you everything.

What a way to innovate...!! NOT
 
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And since when are you the universe, or speak on behalf of it?
Innovation, when they release new iMacs with 5400rpm drives? Yeah really.
Keep wearing your dark glasses.
Your arrogance clearly shows that you sound more like an Apple employee.


Ehh, While I often disagree with the poster you are arguing with, for many of the reasons you probably believe,

he's not really wrong in the "innovation" discussion.

Too many people are equating changes to design of the chassis with innovation overall. Or the lack of new overall products as a lack of innovation.

This is not the same as no innovation occuring. Innovation is one of those terms that has a very broad application. While you could argue tht Apple hasn't innovated in their industrial design and appearances lately, to claim zero innovation does ignore the minutiae details that goes into technology.

you can have innovation at the microscoping level, and at the macro whole device level. both are innovations

FaceID for example, was innovative as it was a new, unique way of doing facial recognition on a smart phone. was "facial recognition" the innovation? No. But the way Apple did it in a smart phone was (unless there are prior examples of using a IR dot based projection map with IR camera to create a 3d map of the face)

there are other small places where Apple has continued to innovate. We're just not seeing large scale, whole device innovation.

Though, you are also not wrong, that several products haven't been innovative either. Making a CPU faster, is not innovation. Making the CPU do something new it couldn't do previously, would be innovation.

Making a display change colour profiles isn't innovative. Making a display autoadjust it's colour profile based on ambient light? is innovative.

it's just a classic case of missing the trees for the forest. You're looking at the "forest" as a whole, and when you don't see it change as aw hole, you're claiming no innovation. When in reality, some of the individual "trees" were upgraded and innovated.
 
That's largely true for smart phones. The original iPhone was truly groundbreaking and changed the industry, in most cases for the better. Once the iPhone was introduced, most of the rest of the smart phone makers copied Apple thereafter - unfortunately, in my opinion, they mostly followed Apple by ditching user replaceable batteries, and increasingly, the headphone jack. I've come to believe over time that Apples decisions on batteries and jacks was motivated by profit - cheap user swappable batteries tend to encourage users to keep their phones (and laptops) for longer periods of time, and removing the jack forced people to invest in bluetooth sound devices for which Apple stands to profit. I have an old 2006 MBP which was practically functional for some 7 years using 4 different batteries, and I have an LG V20 phone with user swappable batteries that should stay functional until LG finally stops producing batteries for it (sadly, it was the last replaceable battery high end phone LG made, though so far it still retains jacks for its newer models - the V-series continues to be the phone of choice for audiophiles with high end wired headphones). The most significant recent innovation for the iPhone is probably the face id feature, which I wouldn't have minded if they also retained a touch id option. Apple was ahead of everyone else in refinement and accuracy of the touch id. Face id isn't particularly an improvement functionally, but is certainly more expensive to produce.
I don't agree with the bolded nor do I agree with the meme, Tim is profits first. Any company who has the line of thinking will not survive. Apple may have removed the headphone jack for 3 years, but until a few weeks ago, they have not made a dime from me for b/t technology. Airpods are so good, I should have bought them sooner.

I agree with what you say about batteries, but sadly, removal of user replaceable batteries are a dying option across the board.
 
Sure, and along with this sentiment a trained monkey could do Tim Cook’s job, because all Tim is doing is riding Steve’s coat tails.

It’s amazing the thinking here of the low bar of the caliber of person needed to make apple successful.
If you honestly think that level of design, clean and simple is the preserve of Jony Ive. I don’t know what to tell you.
Another example. The Porsche 911.
Nice design. One of my favourite cars actually.
All they’ve done for the past X years is iterate on what was complex in the first place.
Now, designing a new car from scratch is far more complex. That’s where more skill lies.
Most of Apple designs have been simple, and then iterations on simple. I cannot fathom why you would think it’s only that team that can do it.

lol. What a clown comment about Tim and Steve.
 
"Apple's Industrial Design Team Loses Three Employees"

apple inc is 40+years old
and
these peeps are are several hundred levels of managment away from someone doing actual engineering
 
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Ehh, While I often disagree with the poster you are arguing with, for many of the reasons you probably believe,

it's just a classic case of missing the trees for the forest. You're looking at the "forest" as a whole, and when you don't see it change as aw hole, you're claiming no innovation. When in reality, some of the individual "trees" were upgraded and innovated.

Sorry but upgrading and having a couple of new cool features is not innovative in my view.
In example the iMac design had the same external design for over 10 years. You cannot even adjust the vertical position.
Updating processors, bringing Faced id, although it might be great, it is not innovative.
Look at Microsoft Surface Studio. You can tilt the monitor, it is touchscreen, and although I do not like Windows OS, I think the design is more innovative than the iMac. You can see that the iMac design is old and still Apple does nothing about it.
THat is just one of the many things.
The entire Mac so called "Pro" Line is a joke.
Macbook Pro is a failure.
Mac Pro 6 years and counting. In computer time that is an eternity.
 
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Sales does not mean they are innovating. Many companies have great sales and they sale crap.
And my personal "moving definition" of innovation is not yours. Apple has great sales because of the great products they sell.

This clearly shows how pathetic is your view of innovation.
- Homepod is NOT innovating when it came late to the market and overpriced.
- a12 bionice chip is a component. Although it is great.
- Airpods, there are much better quality and better price bluetooth pods like the Jabras.
- iMac design is the same 10 year old design. Even new update shipped with 5400rpm.
- Mac Mini, after 4 years, they came with the same old case that have overheating issues.
- Mac pro 6 years and counting.
- Macbook pros, simply unusable. One of the worse product designs in Apple history. And they think innovation is inserting a lame touchbar...?
- Soldering all components making disposable unrepairable products. It is not innovation, it is not environmentally friendly.

FYI, the fastest growing product category was the dongles and adaptors. That should tell you everything.

What a way to innovate...!! NOT
Using words like "pathetic" in an attempt to make a negative characterization does not make your argument anything more than drivel it really is. I respect you and I have different opinions of innovation as it comes to the product line. However, overpriced is a subjective call, but let's go through the list.
- homepod: excellent quality and speaker and microphone array are innovative.
- a12 bionic: the neural engine as noted is innovated
- Airpods: Does Jabra pause when removed from ear. Can Jabra function with one pod in place and allow the ability to switch pods as needed? With one pod does Jabra play mono?
- Macs I'm going to skip that discussion because there is no point.

As far as the fastest growing category, it's not a surprise. When I bought my new TV I bought many cables for it. One TV begat a slew of cables.

Carry on.
 
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Sorry but upgrading and having a couple of new cool features is not innovative in my view.

And you are wrong to believe this, as you are throwing out what Innovation means to fit your own defined example of this.


Definition of innovation


1: the introduction of something new
2: a new idea, method, or device : NOVELTY

Innovation itself can occur at macro (whole device) or micro (parts/portions). There's no specifics necessary for the scope/scale of what defines innovation.

Simply put. If you take something that exists today. Change, Tweak or modify it in a way to accomplish a task in a new way that has not been done previously, Than it it innovation. Regardless if it's a full blown new product, or a modification to an existing one.

you don't get to change the definition of a word just to fit your own narrative. Apple might not have done a whole lot of Macro innovation. I will agree with you. The Mac Lineup in particular has been stagnant for years without any real new redesign that brings in innovation on an industrial design level. But Apple ahs not stopped innovating from a micro level.

Now, they've not moved as fast as I feel they have in the past and are stuck in a mindset of making products for profit, than making products to make lives better (where profit will automatically follow). And I believe if they had a product guy leading the helm it might be a different story.

But at the same time, there is innovation going on. Just not the grand scale you want to see. You're not alone in that. I can understand you're position and do somewhat agree that Apple has sat back on their industrial designs for too long and need to make something change, other than "thinner", which has hit a point of diminishing returns (see 2016+ MBpro that shaved 2-3mm in return for numerous problems).

But given all that, claiming Apple has zero innovation in 5 years is just disingenous. And changing the definition of Innovation to fit your narrative isn't really how words and the english language is intended to be used.
 
If you honestly think that level of design, clean and simple is the preserve of Jony Ive. I don’t know what to tell you.
Another example. The Porsche 911.
Nice design. One of my favourite cars actually.
All they’ve done for the past X years is iterate on what was complex in the first place.
Now, designing a new car from scratch is far more complex. That’s where more skill lies.
Most of Apple designs have been simple, and then iterations on simple. I cannot fathom why you would think it’s only that team that can do it.

lol. What a clown comment about Tim and Steve.
If you honestly think anyone can step in and become the award winning world class designer that Jony Ive has become, I don't know what to tell you. I understand why you feel anyone can do their job, because they make the complex look simple, and people have skewed view as to the amount of art and science that has to be balanced for award winning designs. But to your point, homepod, airpods, apple watch, etc. New designs. Iphone X, new design. Unless you want to argue that the square box had already been done with the iphone 8.
 
I love how most people in the thread belive that the design team only do the outside of things.
Just look at the inside of the iMac Pro, just gorgeous.
 
wouldnt really say have been designing much lately. more like slight modifications.
More like devolving back to knuckle-dragging. I wish they would just quit breaking what isn't broken and knock off the teaming up with Sony to force perfectly good Macs into an early grave after teasing the world with the only non-glitching version of Remote Play. Windows version just doesn't work like the Macs. Next purchase for me will be a Hackintosh if it is still possible. High Sierra likely works as about as good as OS 9 on a 6600/66 PowerMac. That is, not very good at all.
 
Above in the thread people were surprised that Apple still has a design team. Personally, I'm more surprised that there still is an engineering team. But I doubt that they are working on new COMPUTERS.

Apple have some the best engineers in the business. The problem is that the design team is too powerful and overrides sound principles that allow efficient operation of technology, for ones that fit their vision of industrial design. Many of the current issues are directly related to the design team (Jony Ive) obsession with THIN.
[doublepost=1556295085][/doublepost]
I agree with him, though less dramatically. The race for the skinniest laptop that sacrifices expandability, and now reliability, is a problem. And that's directly Ive's fault. I'll take a 2015 MBP with modern specs, that doesn't require a pricey keyboard replacement in a year.

The problem stated clearly.
[doublepost=1556295187][/doublepost]
I hope whoever came up with the notch is long gone.

Jony Ive. The buck stops there.
 
Hello!
I just joined Apple's Industrial Design Team. It's always good to inject new design philosophies every once in awhile so I'd like to share our proposed new iPhone Plato Pro design. It's a design that we think people will embrace. It is difficult to lose, it's a low-theft design, won't slip out of your backpack, purse, or pocket, and; it'll be noticed by many! We plan to offer many new colors such as avocado, harvest gold, pale yellow, and appliance white!

Best wishes form your new Apple Industrial Design Team!

Plato4_terminal.jpg
 
And my personal "moving definition" of innovation is not yours. Apple has great sales because of the great products they sell.


Using words like "pathetic" in an attempt to make a negative characterization does not make your argument anything more than drivel it really is. I respect you and I have different opinions of innovation as it comes to the product line. However, overpriced is a subjective call, but let's go through the list.
- homepod: excellent quality and speaker and microphone array are innovative.
- a12 bionic: the neural engine as noted is innovated
- Airpods: Does Jabra pause when removed from ear. Can Jabra function with one pod in place and allow the ability to switch pods as needed? With one pod does Jabra play mono?
- Macs I'm going to skip that discussion because there is no point.

As far as the fastest growing category, it's not a surprise. When I bought my new TV I bought many cables for it. One TV begat a slew of cables.

Carry on.

I think all of the recent Apple releases are half-baked and nothing more than a money grab. They have a few pluses but in come the caveats. You are right, pathetic would imply the entire item is bad.
[doublepost=1556295876][/doublepost]
Hello!
I just joined Apple's Industrial Design Team. It's always good to inject new design philosophies every once in awhile so I'd like to share our proposed new iPhone Plato Pro design. It's a design that we think people will embrace. It is difficult to lose, it's a low-theft design, won't slip out of your backpack, purse, or pocket, and; it'll be noticed by many! We plan to offer many new colors such as avocado, harvest gold, pale yellow, and appliance white!

Best wishes form your new Apple Industrial Design Team!

Plato4_terminal.jpg

As long as it costs $2000 or more I am in. I cannot keep up my Apple fanboy status for anything less.
 
Only 24 designers in total? No wonder we see so little coming out the pipeline. You should expect a team of 24 designers being occupied with one item alone. Tearing that product into segments and creating the best design for each segment. Only 24 designers :eek:. I’m getting to understand the infinite pipeline better now.
 
It's actually a fairly common way marketers describe such things--at least in academia. When a group of professors retire, I always hear announcements describe the departing staff with phrases like, "Together, these retirees constitute 75 years of collective wisdom and experience at this institution."
Yeah, I’ve seen that too, but then I’d say the three had 45 years or “almost 50”, rather than combining two and breaking one out...

I’d always thought grouping peoples experience together was odd, but figured it was convenient shorthand. What’s more weird is the mixed method.
 
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