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[Opinion Article] Wake-up Apple, the iPhone is a yawn!

Prof.

Prof.

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 17, 2007
5,385
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Chicagoland
The iPhone shook up the tech industry, now it's time for Apple to give us something new.

Five years ago, after waiting in line at the Apple Store for much of the day, I finally got my hands on the first iPhone. I rushed home, plugged it into iTunes, signed my life away to Apple, and activated service. As I swiped and multi-touched over the next few hours, I felt the modern world come into focus.
During my first day with Apple's magic phone, I had two thoughts. First, that it would shake up the phone business. The iPhone's capabilities — its speed, ease of use, beauty and breakthrough, touchscreen interface — would make every other smartphone obsolete. The BlackBerry and its ilk looked dead in the water.

My second reaction was disappointment. A few months before its release, Steve Jobs had locked down the device, ensuring that only Apple would be able to create programs that ran natively on the phone. After using it for a bit, that decision seemed short-sighed. The iPhone didn't look like a computer, but it felt like one. This was a general-purpose device — a phone, a music player, a web browser and a personal assistant — whose capabilities should have been endlessly expandable by third-party developers. The more I used it, the more I wanted to use it: I wanted games, streaming movies and music, Skype. Most of all, I wanted things I didn't even know were possible.

In other words, the iPhone felt full of promise, but it wasn't yet clear what the payoff would be. In 2008, when Apple did open the device up to third-party apps, the phone made good on that promise. Thanks to the App Store, it could do anything, and it quickly began to gobble up the rest of the tech industry. Now every other phone on the market looks and works like the iPhone. And it's not just every phone: Apple's phone inspired the iPad, which is roiling the PC market and has become the source of our computers' best innovations (both the Mac OS and Windows now borrow many of their newest features from touch devices). For all this, thank the iPhone.

And yet the iPhone sure has become boring, hasn't it? I find it difficult to get worked up, anymore, about Apple's signature mobile device. Last month, I yawned through the company's announcements at its developer conference. As Scott Forstall, Apple's iOS chief, enthused about new features in the mobile OS, I wondered, Is that all there is? Apple's mobile platform used to be unquestionably the best smartphone operating system on the planet. Now it feels just as good as everything else. For any other company, that's perfectly acceptable. For Apple, it isn't good enough.

The problem is not that Apple has slipped. The iPhone 4S, Apple's current model, is a fantastic device, and presumably the next iPhone will be just as wonderful. But the iPhone is a mature product, a gadget that has maximised its potential. There are no longer any obvious shortcomings for Apple to address, and many of the features that the company has added over the last couple years — FaceTime, iCloud, Siri and now a better version of the Maps app — haven't been revolutionary.

The competition has also caught up to the iPhone. I still prefer iOS to Google's Android, and I think Windows and iOS are more or less tied, but reasonable people can disagree. That's because none of the three mobile platforms is that far ahead of the others. Their functions differ only at the margins. Mostly, all three do the same things, in the same way. Three years ago, if you picked any smartphone other than the iPhone, you were dooming yourself to a lesser device. Not anymore.

If you have an irrational loyalty to Apple, you might well demand, What more do you want out of the iPhone? It's a legitimate question, and I'll concede that it's a bit churlish to ding a gadget because it's already so great that I can't imagine how it can become any better. The iPhone, like all computers, will get faster and lighter, and it might get longer battery life. Perhaps it will acquire the ability to let you pay for stuff through a near-field communication chip. Meanwhile, Siri will get better, turning from what seems like a marketing gimmick into a truly useful, perhaps transformative way to interact with your phone. Perhaps Apple will make good on Steve Jobs' promise to make FaceTime an open standard, so that in time, it will work everywhere, not just on Apple devices. (But I bet not.) So if all that happens — if Apple continues to improve the iPhone incrementally — will that be enough for me?

I'm still yawning a little. Consider that every other phone maker is also improving its devices at a breakneck pace. Google's version of Siri works just as well as Apple's. Google Now, Android's artificial-intelligence-based assistant, isn't matched by anything in the iPhone. Meanwhile Windows Phone's "live tiles" — the home-screen icons that passively update you on everything going on with your friends and in the rest of your life — offer a better, easier way to navigate your phone than anything Apple has cooked up.

So, sure, Apple's phone will get better. But as everything else gets better, too, the iPhone will remain with the pack unless Apple does something radically different. What should it do?

At Google's developer conference last week, the search company spent a lot of time talking up Glass, its still-in-development digital goggles. The device lets you do pretty much everything you can do on your phone — browse your texts and email, take photos, look at your calendar — through a display built into your glasses. It's a digital feed superimposed upon the real world, sort of like the Terminator's heads-up display.

While everyone on Twitter made fun of the goggles — does Google really think people will wear those geeky things? — the journalists who got an in-depth briefing (myself included) came away enthusiastic. After speaking to people at Google who are working on the project — and after getting to try on Sergey Brin's own pair for about 20 seconds — I couldn't contain myself. Google's goggles offer the most captivating new digital interface since the iPhone. Google Glass will allow people to experience the digital world without becoming distracted from the real world — you can interact with your digital friends while maintaining eye contact with your real friends. Because you'll be able to access digital information faster than you can on a mobile phone, and then quickly return to the offline world, I have high hopes that these glasses will save us from our tech-addled selves.

I'm not asking for Apple to create augmented-reality glasses. But I do hope that it's working on something just as ambitious as Google's spectacles, a product that represents the next wave of mobile computing. I don't know what that thing should be. But it's not my job to know. It's Apple's — this is a company that has repeatedly wowed us by inventing the future we didn't know we wanted. The iPhone might have changed everything, but now it's five years old. It's time for something new.
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Link
 
I yawned through his whole article so I guess we're in the same boat. He's bored with iPhones and i'm bored with uninspired writing.
 
Technarchy said:
Cliff notes?
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Basically, the iPhone used to be ahead of its time and the competition couldn't compete. Now, here we are 5 years later and the competition (primarily Google) has caught up and offers the same (better?) features than the iPhone. The article also talks about the next advancement of computer technology. i.e. Google Glass.
 
Prof. said:
Basically, the iPhone used to be ahead of its time and the competition couldn't compete. Now, here we are 5 years later and the competition (primarily Google) has caught up and offers the same (better?) features than the iPhone. The article also talks about the next advancement of computer technology. i.e. Google Glass.
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So, in other words, the same old blah, blah, blah that has been regurgitated here in the iPhone forum for months now?
 
I think now more than ever it's clear what you'll get from each platform. You just have to make the decision that suits your preferences. It is okay to say the iPhone isn't ideal anymore, just like it's okay to say it still does what you want best.
 
There will always be someone out there claiming that Apple's ideas are old and behind the curb, and the next tends to be as wrong as the last.

That said, everyone should expect the 'wow' factor of all smartphone updates to start fading as the platform matures from revolutionary (the iPhone introduction) to evolutionary (today's polishing of a platform which is becoming established).
 
Prof. said:
Basically, the iPhone used to be ahead of its time and the competition couldn't compete. Now, here we are 5 years later and the competition (primarily Google) has caught up and offers the same (better?) features than the iPhone. The article also talks about the next advancement of computer technology. i.e. Google Glass.
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I wish Google would release their dinky Googles already so it can fail and I can stop hearing about it.
 
I want the iPhone 5 to be mature, and functional phone for me in what I do, and not just keep up with the others as has been ranted about by Android users that lurk on this forum.

The iPhone 4S is the right size for me, but a 4 inches will do just fine with the new mapping apps/improved Siri coming out from Apple. Wider phones are a no go for me (Not as comfortable), so those Android trolls that continue to think that Apple has to match what you demand or have on those Android phones, don't know Apple well at all. They are company that does not cater to the fanatics, but to the larger masses if one has not a clue by just watching them over the years.

The next iPhone 5 coming out later will sell many, and many others will just cry, complain, rant, and troll as they always have, but Apple will not care about them. :D Neither will I ;)
 
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If you want artificially injected excitement in your life, take up rock climbing or something.

When it comes to operating systems you want your OS to be mature and out of the way.
 
I can understand people who contend that an operating system like Android is more feature rich or flexible or whatnot than iOS, but those that think a phone OS can be 'boring' need to get their ass to a bar and get laid asap. These people have completely lost focus.
 
I think Apple's predictable release dates have allowed the competition to release devices ahead of Apple's schedule to cannibalize sales.

The iP4S feels boring as **** because all these other phones have been released with much better specs. Let's see what the iP5 has to offer... in 2 months or three..
 
This article is nothing more than a microcosm of life.

You can replace smartphones in this article with any other technology and the result is the same. Technological shifts are like tectonic plates..shifting and changing the landscape.

Apple created the shift with the iPhone. At that time phones without physical keyboards were novelty. Web browsing was poor on many.

Today...if it wasn't for size I'd hardly be able to tell the difference between smartphones. Things are settling in now and what was once revolutionary is now mundane and the natives get restless. But tectonic shifts don't happen every year ...things must settle in.

Basically these arguments are rooted in the fallacy that large shifts should happen every year and from a particular company even, and that smacks of an inability to really look at the whole computing landscape and understand the movements being made.
 
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What exactly is so "wow" about the competition? I get that Android is much more customizable out of the box than iOS, and for those where that is important then by all means buy into Google's platform. But outside of the customization argument, what is the big deal advantage to using Android?

I've heard some of the usual points ("true" multi-tasking, using it as a USB storage device, NFC, ability to install apps from multiple sources, live wallpapers, expandable storage), and honestly I don't really see the need for any of it. I get that there is a "to each their own" element to this argument, but folks that talk about those features as being what makes Android great never seem to take into account that most users don't need or really even want any of it.

A lot of people are jumping on board to look down their nose at iOS after WWDC and in the same breath claim that the improvements announced for Jelly Bean at I/O are a bold step forward. I do agree that 4.1 is going to be worlds better than 4.0. But to knock Apple for finally adding Facebook integration or finally adding turn by turn to iOS and in the same thought praise Google for things like Project Butter seems a little absurd. Project Butter was a necessity because ICS (which still only runs on about 10% of Android devices) was/is a choppy mess. Everyone seems to overlook that little tidbit. Kudos to Google for finally taking steps to enhance the user experience from that standpoint, but it's funny that I don't believe I've seen a single article that talks about how Google has finally smoothed out the fluidity of the GUI.

You have to wonder though how these smartphone wars will look in a couple of years. As more and more people buy into a particular ecosystem the choice about what phone we use becomes less and less about what device is best at the time and more about what brand it is. If you've got several hundred or even thousands of dollars tied up in apps purchased through the App Store or Google Play, it is going to be hard to justify picking up and moving to another platform.
 
ugahairydawgs said:
You have to wonder though how these smartphone wars will look in a couple of years. As more and more people buy into a particular ecosystem the choice about what phone we use becomes less and less about what device is best at the time and more about what brand it is. If you've got several hundred or even thousands of dollars tied up in apps purchased through the App Store or Google Play, it is going to be hard to justify picking up and moving to another platform.
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Good points. I think it's about selling a platform now more than ever.
 
ugahairydawgs said:
Kudos to Google for finally taking steps to enhance the user experience from that standpoint, but it's funny that I don't believe I've seen a single article that talks about how Google has finally smoothed out the fluidity of the GUI.
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The media/blogs has learned how to maximize clicks, I'm sure an article about the iPhone (especially a negative one) would generate much more revenue than an article about "Project Butter" which no one in the general public has heard of.
 
mbell1975 said:
Mr. Nuckinfutz, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
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Bad reference from a bad movie. Then again, coming from you, its to be expected.
 
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Yawn, Yawn. This same rambling nonsense could (and has) been written by the legion of fAndroid trolls we have here.

iPhone 5 will once again redefine the modern smartphone and platform, and it will break all sales records (again).
 
Silly blog states obvious ... how profound.

What a fluffy article. Of course Apple is not clearly in the lead anymore with the iPhone. It takes so much more to demonstrate that something can be successful than it does to emulate it (and then tweak the emulation), as Google has done. What will happen now is that neither Google and Apple will be able to create a clear technological lead, because they're all working with the same or very similar chips. Thus, they will differentiate their phones based on the user experience, which is the only thing that sane users care about.
 
VulchR said:
What a fluffy article. Of course Apple is not clearly in the lead anymore with the iPhone. It takes so much more to demonstrate that something can be successful than it does to emulate it (and then tweak the emulation), as Google has done. What will happen now is that neither Google and Apple will be able to create a clear technological lead, because they're all working with the same or very similar chips. Thus, they will differentiate their phones based on the user experience, which is the only thing that sane users care about.
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The entire jelly bean update is about improving the user experience on Android, so Googles obviously heading in the right direction.
 
"What more do you want out of the iPhone?"

Pretty much sums it up.

And glasses idea, like the google glass, are the next direction our mobile devices will take I think.

5 years ago, when the iPhone first came around, it felt like a true gamechanger, I felt this will be HUGE! And look where we are now, the majority of people carry smartphones for daily computing use, more specifically "touchscreen" devices, thanks to Apple.

Mark my word, once they pin down the whole glasses concept deal...thing, it's going to really take off.

I'm already daydreaming, lol, having glasses that are so light and un-intrusive to the world around you but having all the capabilities of your modern day smartphone at the blink of an eye!...awesome!

Oh and I'm gonna want a waterproof pair please. Don't want to ruin my glasses from rain, diving or sweat while working out.

Sign me up!:D
 
One of Apple's biggest challenges for the future of the iPhone is the discrepancy between the hardware and software designs. Ive and Forstall have very different approaches to their respective fields of work, and it doesn't seem that they ever work together. Since SJ is no longer around to mediate and make the final call, future development of the iPhone will be very different. Apple could have a lot of trouble with this, or they could overcome it. Only time well tell.

Android is making the huge strides that Apple never had to make. As a platform, it will likely reach a point of maturity just like the iPhone has already done in a shorter amount of time. Performance wise, Android 4.1 seems right on par, if not ahead, of iOS 6.

Windows also shows a lot of promise but is a bit behind the others in terms of apps, so it might take a few more years to mature.

RIP RIM.
 
Coming from a galaxy s2 to and 4S, it seems iPhone fans really dont care about all these features. I only came to ios for the apps. But it seems with every new iPhone there are big lines outside of apple stores all over. Even the small update from the 4 to 4S every one complained how the 4s wasn't good enough, but yet everyone had there behinds lined up waiting for it. So it seems to me iPhone fans dont really care for nfc, or LTE, or all of the features that jelly beam has.
 
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