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Electric Car Challenger LeEco Calls Apple Product Design 'Obsolete'
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We see from the OUTSIDE; it doesn't matter what you, I or anyone else thinks, you don't get to be INSIDE Apple labs working with them, you don't get to see their schematics and plans for future products, you just hear the same old cheese that EVERYONE outside Apple hears and sees. Opinion != fact. They're mega successful for many more reasons than can be nailed down with a simplistic summation on a forum.
You completely missed the point of what I said... Apple use to make changes to keep from becoming stale. They are STALE and have been for a few years. The Apple Watch is a horrid design for example. No creativity to it at all.
Even Apple's refinement is at a glacial pace.
If this guy is so innovative then why does his prototype look like a Telsa Model S breed with a Audi A7 with modified taillight design from a Honda Civic?
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Yada yada yada about speed of change/innovation. Sure we'd all would love new toys, but real world consumers don't respond the same way early adopters do.
With respect to his company's direction of internet first, then software, then hardware. I hope his car doesn't run off the cloud. Imagine being stuck in the middle of nowhere, because there was an outage.
With respect to his company's direction of internet first, then software, then hardware. I hope his car doesn't run off the cloud. Imagine being stuck in the middle of nowhere, because there was an outage.
They're STILL No. 1 technology company. Not gonna change anytime soon, why don't you pitch some examples of GOOD design to them and show them where they're "going wrong"?
Perhaps the design changes are subtle and tasteful, carefully done and rationally considered to avoid scaring people off - people Apple respect because those people have bought into their brand and invested heavily in equipment to make their tasks transparent, simple and delightful to carry out. You don't change a winning design formula just for the sake of changing it - people buy the product because they admire the simple, transparent and dependable iconic product design and enjoy using the product as the product currently looks and feels - intuitive and familiar. Simple really, so simple, and yet this subtle, pleasing simplicity and lack of frivolous change seems to go RIGHT over so many people's heads.
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I hope Apple's car does't require an iPhone to run, like the AW does - Imagine being stuck in the middle of nowhere, because you drove out of cell tower coverage.
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Last month this guy compared Apple to Hitler.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/27/8298999/apple-hitler-china-letv-jia-yueting
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/27/8298999/apple-hitler-china-letv-jia-yueting
When was he so big and renowned that people think his opinions are noteworthy? I've never heard of this ego puffer.
I did read the story. Still doesn't explain why his vaunted Chinese company needs to have his star product rolling down the streets of a US city. Why not Shanghai or Bejing?
My thoughts exactly. Although I do worry about Apple's rate of innovation lately, I think its silly for another company to try and make points with concept images and talk. If they had a real car we could buy now, then they would be talking.
Check out there store lemall, it sells $4.99 headphones, $39.95 wireless headphones, $39.95 wireless bluetooth speaker and a $799.00 4k TV and a $79.95 streaming box. Hardly game changing. Their phone looks a thinner HTC copy.
This is exactly how I feel. In the early days of the iPhone everyone always wanted and expected some new form factor and radical new look every single time. Just as we had become accustomed to with every annual iPod launch. (in particular the iPod Nano!). The same was the case with the iMac, people were dreaming up ever more extravagant hardware designs and when, a year after the first 'metal and black' iMac came along, Apple simply launched a revised version of this look, many people felt... disappointed. The fact is though that they had hit upon what they considered an 'optimal' design and no longer needed radical design overhauls for the sake of it.
As for the iPhone, how many different designs can you really have for a touchscreen based device? Just look at ALL the competitors and more share a very similar look. For me, Apple still make THE best looking, most aesthetic devices across all their channels. Certainly I don't see them being left behind by any other companies. Their build quality is also first rate. There are elements of the iPhone's design I would prefer to be different, but change for the sake of change, or gimmicks are not justified imo.
Here's where I feel things have changed under Cook.
Under Jobs: Design something. Come up with the design and implementation that eh believes is the best, nicest, and most wanted products. Force supply lines and the underlying Technology to innovate / advance to match the design.
Under Cook: Figure out what supply lines items can be found. Figure out how to design tech around that.
Cook is a business guy. He's been fantastic at minimizing costs, while jamming technology into somewhat un-inspired devices. But as a master of supply line, he's able to manage to get costs down, while maintaining high prices.
Seriously. Apple in the last year, While it's insanely profitable, feels like it starting down the same road it did in the 90's. More products, more confusion over the product lineup. Less refinement to those products. Going for Volume sales in conjunction with high margin sales. Overlap in the product lines / categories. Extremely strong reliance on a halo product for brand recognition to drive future sales.
Seriously, Since Tim Cook became CEO, despite the profits / revenues. Apple hasn't really released a new product. They've released products into existing product categories. And vritually all products they have released have been iterative. Smaller / Thinner / Faster.
Apple didn't get to where they are by being iterative. They got here by being disruptive. You can get away with large profit margins when you're doing things unique and new. But when you're just shaving down a mm or two each iteration, but still charging very large profit margins, it feels like a return of the Apple Tax. Especially when you're not getting an experience thats fundamentally different than the competition anymore, and when you look at the white papers between devices. You get a lot more "tech" for same price / less price than the Apple product (virtually true across almost all their product lines)