BlackBerry CEO Says Despite a 'Fantastic Job' With iOS Design, Apple Now Lacks Innovation

[glap1922]

These kinds of statements make me laugh. They are either from someone who is a casual user, or never used iOS, or from a competitor trying to bring negativity to Apple to gain market share, and hope the Apple products fail. It's been unsuccessfully tried with the whole "Walled Garden" comments, the "Outdated specs" argument and even recently "Their maps will drive you off a cliff" statements. How exactly should apple "change" their UI? The UI is simply an interface to assist you in getting done what the phone can actually do. And it HAS evolved over the years to make that experience better. They've added Siri, added a pulldown notification center, changed the way notifications appear, better airplay integration, they've added folders, photo albums among other changes. It works very well, there's no need to "revamp" it.

Sure, they can modernize the icons, but personally I use MANY apple products, and there is absolutely nothing missing from the UI that is so huge that would make me want to switch.

BTW, look how well that Windows 8 revamp has worked.

Another great example of, "Either you agree with me or you have never used iOS!"
As someone who has used iOS (Original iPhone and 4s), Android (Droid Incredible), and Windows Phone 8 (8x), I can tell you that iOS has plenty of shortcomings as well as plenty of areas where it excels. Anyone who has experience with other phones and thinks that Apple (or anyone else, to be honest) is head and shoulders above the competition is either misinformed, disingenuous, or just plain biased.

 

[wigby]

Thats a lie. Other manufactures have higher ppi, and a larger screen. They know they don't have anything special, so they are trying to make the best with what they have. Although I think it is more iOS thats stale rather than the hardware. But twice a year hardware updates are necessary IMHO. Once a year updates are playing catch up, not catching up and going beyond.

Apple needs to stay above their competitors, not behind.

they don't say anything about having the highest pixel count. yet when the apple display is put next to all competitors (similar to their camera too), they always get the best reviews because they have the secret sauce (manufacturing and software techniques). their displays aren't biggest and not the most dense either. but their marketing message has stayed on point. they want people to visit an apple store to see for themselves.

 

[Daws001]

I think people keep confusing gimmicks with innovations. Or rather, they're purposely passing them off as innovations for marketing/hype. I'm happy with iOS as is tbh. The few changes that I'd like to see wouldn't be innovations.

 

[mindfreck]

I guess most of the current iPhone users want something to "wow" them in iOS7.

Apple can also launch 2 phones, a current iPhone 5S, same design but the screen will be edge to edge, stretching it up to 4.5" .

Another iPhone will have a edge to edge 5.5" screen.

Increase in Screen size and new iOS7 could satisfy many Apple users.

 

[petvas]

Apple is innovating as always. That is what they always do. They create new markets and they improve their products year by year. It is not normal to ask for a revolution every year.
So far there have been 3 or 4 products in 30 years that innovated the computer and entertainment industry:

• The first Mac
• The iPod
• The iPhone
• The iPad

Guess who was the company behind all these products.

Apple is just perfecting the iPhone and the iPad, making them each year better. Apple will not change the UI just for the change. It will change it only if they come up with something that is really better.
If people do not understand that, they should really be looking elsewhere.
As far as it concerns, the iPhone 5 has been a great hit. OS X is also very successful and uses the same interface for almost 13 years now. That doesn't bother me at all. What is important is the things someone can do with his/her devices...

 

[JGIGS]

Blackberry never had innovation so they don't know what it means.

Yes, Apple needs to step it up but BB should be the last one to throw a shot.

Are you for real? Ummm BB invented the smartphone. Nobody remembers this? If you worked for a business its probably easier to remember.

I used to love my BB pearl until the iphone came out and changed the game.

What he is saying is absolutely right Apple inovation has slowed down considerably and he even admits his company did the same with the history repeating itself comment.

I wouldn't say BB has surpassed Android or Apple with its latest OS and Z10 but its at least somewhat caught up and come a long way from where they were.

I think part of the problem is that smart phone technology is getting pretty maxed out innovation wise.

Hopefully iOs 7 or at the latest ios 8 give ios a nice refresh.

 

[charlituna]

Thats a lie. Other manufactures have higher ppi, and a larger screen.

It's not a lie, it's semantics. Apple trademarked Retina Display in reference to their mathematically calculated PPIs. So they legally can say that no one else has a Retina Display. Double if there's no math involved and the companies are just shoving in more and more PPI and calling it better.

All companies do this kind of thing.

 

[Ryth]

Though the iPhone hardware isn't the best, I think that a software refresh would do great things for the iPhone.

That's what Ive is working on.

 

[notjustjay]

How I can get information from one iPad to the other, without a computer, email, messaging, or third-party uploading? Genuinely interested in finding this one out.

Apple's answer to your question is iCloud.

 

[Ryth]

Apple is just perfecting the iPhone and the iPad, making them each year better. Apple will not change the UI just for the change. It will change it only if they come up with something that is really better.
If people do not understand that, they should really be looking elsewhere.
As far as it concerns, the iPhone 5 has been a great hit. OS X is also very successful and uses the same interface for almost 13 years now. That doesn't bother me at all. What is important is the things someone can do with his/her devices...

Ive has been wanting to update the UI to modern for years. Forstall kept him from doing it. Now that Forstall is gone, Ive is in charge.

 

[rhuber]

Seems like so many posters here are completely missing the point of what he is saying, which oddly enough... reinforces his point.

He is not saying that Blackberry has it right and Apple has it wrong. You have to remember, Blackberry was the Apple of it's time. People were nuts over it. The term "crackberry" wasn't invented by them, it was an observation by the public as a whole. Even our US president had to have a custom blackberry because he refused to give it up. They innovated and then some. The were considered virtually untouchable.

But the point he is making is that regardless of all of this, they stood still too long, and he gives tremendous credit to apple for basically stepping it up and kicking their @$$. Nobody thought it was even possible until Apple stepped up and made it happen. But now, as most people (even here) tend to agree, it is apple who is standing still.

 

[wigby]

Another great example of, "Either you agree with me or you have never used iOS!"
As someone who has used iOS (Original iPhone and 4s), Android (Droid Incredible), and Windows Phone 8 (8x), I can tell you that iOS has plenty of shortcomings as well as plenty of areas where it excels. Anyone who has experience with other phones and thinks that Apple (or anyone else, to be honest) is head and shoulders above the competition is either misinformed, disingenuous, or just plain biased.

apple was head and shoulders above competition for a few years but now they're neck and neck. the difference is apple is head and shoulders above in terms of their sensibilities and ability to innovate. all of the competition has caught up on features and design because apple paved the way. maybe some haven't copied as blatantly as others but they all have taken many cues from jony, steve and co. i have yet to see anyone out-innovate apple.

 

[Rogifan]

Of course the latest iPhone UI lacks innovation. The primary innovator at Apple is dead. Apple has the talent to innovate but needs someone to adamantly and vocally reject mediocre -- throwing it against the wall in a tantrum while demanding better. He's gone. For the most part, those at the helm are just refining and polishing what they inherited while living off the "thinner" mantra.

Apple may get a "wake-up" call when its global market share drops to 25%. But I don't imagine the cannibalization will come from BB.

I think it's a bit early to make statements like this. Steve Jobs hasn't even been dead 2 years. No doubt everything Apple released in 2012 was in the pipeline while Steve was around. And lets not forget there were plenty of refinements and iterative updates on Steve's watch. Apple wasn't cranking out revolutionary devices every 6 months when Steve was around.

 

[Nightarchaon]

Why is the pressure solely on Apple to innovate? What about the rest of the industry, why are they sitting on their asses waiting for something to copy and imitate.

Talk about a bunch of hypocrites. At least Apple have innovated on more than one occasion. What about you guys pointing the fingers.

Samsung have been innovating, so have sony, we have a water resistant phone and tablet that you can shower and bath (or Jacuzzi) without fear of killing, we have phones that reduce the screen or stop video because its watching you back (kind of creepy) and we have phones with screens to match a selection of peoples needs and preferences,

Apple however has just been chanting "thinner, lighter, thinner, lighter" over and over again which other than the creation of the iPhone itself has not innovated a single thing.

 

[iLog.Genius]

If you think the iOS is "stale", what about the iMac OS-X? It's got essentially the SAME look as Macs did back in the 80s. Is it stale? Not at all and we like it. Sure Apple had continued to update it with features. But they got it right and that's why we like Macs.

Have you read the OS X sub-forum? I would say it's safe to say the majority thinks it's stale and some even think it's taken a step back from what it was in the early OS X days especially since incorporating iOS features.

That's what I don't get with Mac users. It has to be an all or nothing. Just because you like the product, doesn't mean you can't criticize it and vice-versa.

 

[mdelvecchio]

The sooner Apple let's go of the past, and creates a fresh new iPhone the better.

what? the better for whom? iphone is the best selling handset and apple is the most profitable player in mobile! how could they do any better!?

market share is only important if you have developers following you. despite having less marketshare, iOS has more *developer share* -- they dev for iOS first, because they make more money on iOS.

 

[xyster]

Thats a lie. Other manufactures have higher ppi, and a larger screen.

I had my doubts about Apple's continuing retina claims vs. competitors until I compared an iPhone 5 and Lumia 920 side by side the other day. While the Lumia 920 has a marginally higher PPI, display quality was nowhere near as good as the iPhone. I have a simple test - read the NYTimes web page at maximum zoom out.

I can't explain the vast difference between the two. It could be the LCDs, it could be software differences, it could be many factors.

I don't know how other phones compare. However, I did learn that PPI alone is a number that does not necessarily reflect display quality, readability and usability.

 

[KdParker]

I realize there are some new features that Apple could incorporate in iOS.

But how much of this perceived "staleness" is just because of the identically-shaped icons arranged in a regular grid pattern? Or animated background stuff behind the icons? Is this what we're fighting against?

I believe so.

If the background was animated, different icons, etc then you would have the purist complaining about usability.

The iPhone was so far ahead that as other phones/OSs catch up that people see Apple as lacking because they aren't 20 steps ahead.

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

Are you for real? Ummm BB invented the smartphone. Nobody remembers this? If you worked for a business its probably easier to remember.

I used to love my BB pearl until the iphone came out and changed the game.

What he is saying is absolutely right Apple inovation has slowed down considerably and he even admits his company did the same with the history repeating itself comment.

I wouldn't say BB has surpassed Android or Apple with its latest OS and Z10 but its at least somewhat caught up and come a long way from where they were.

I think part of the problem is that smart phone technology is getting pretty maxed out innovation wise.

Hopefully iOs 7 or at the latest ios 8 give ios a nice refresh.

Blackberry did NOT invent the smartphone....where did you read that? let me guess...the internet? Nokia and Sony ericsson both made smartphones before RIM did...and did you forget Palm pilots?

 

[pev]

Missing the point

Criticising a user interface because it is five years old is utterly missing the point and confusing "user interface" with "design".

Design-wise iOS has changed to keep looking fresh with time. However, just because you can change user-interfaces at will on a touch screen doesn't mean that you should unless there's a genuine innovation to be made.

Certain tasks work well in certain ways and shouldn't be changed on a whim. Most user interface idioms persist long times for good reason.

 

[glap1922]

apple was head and shoulders above competition for a few years but now they're neck and neck. the difference is apple is head and shoulders above in terms of their sensibilities and ability to innovate. all of the competition has caught up on features and design because apple paved the way. maybe some haven't copied as blatantly as others but they all have taken many cues from jony, steve and co. i have yet to see anyone out-innovate apple.

This just isn't true. Both Android and Windows Phone 8 had/has innovative features that the iPhone does not. If you want to believe that the only reason anyone else is able to make innovations is because of the original iphone, that is your choice, but the fact of the matter is that in the past few years android and microsoft have created several new, innovative, features that have either been copied by apple (as others have been copied from apple) or are things that apple users want.

 

[daneoni]

Samsung have been innovating, so have sony, we have a water resistant phone and tablet that you can shower and bath (or Jacuzzi) without fear of killing, we have phones that reduce the screen or stop video because its watching you back (kind of creepy) and we have phones with screens to match a selection of peoples needs and preferences,

Apple however has just been chanting "thinner, lighter, thinner, lighter" over and over again.

Samsung and Innovation are two words that should never exist in the same sentence.

Sony is also just implementing what other case makers have done ages ago. But at least Sony have innovation in their history so i'll give you that.

 

[mdelvecchio]

But any of you who seriously think that iOS isn't stale and lacking and the iPhone isn't stagnating are truly lying to yourselves.

not. my phone is a tool. if the tool helps me do things, it has value. my iphone holds a lot of value to me because it helps me get a lot of things done. do you expect your hammer to be redesigned every year?

i dont think it's stale because i dont need change for the sake of change.

I love tech, and i feel it just so happened to be Apples decades, and that might be over.

doom! DOOOOOM!!! REPENT!

 

[charlituna]

People think a few slick tiles with live cam feeds of other people's lives and flowing ticker signs showing the current value of your stock of social contacts will make this a better phone.

And most of those folks are on boards like this going on about how they flipped a finger to Apple and jailbroke their phone to have such things.

While the other 99.9% would rather have a phone with crazy good battery life that doesn't degrade due to crashing software, they have few dropped calls, and so on

 

[vito]

I guess I'm the *only* one who thinks iOS looks and functions fine!