Disclaimer: I do not use the founder of Apples name lightly. This is not a Steve Jobs would never have
statement. This is an honest opinion piece, an editorial about where I see Apple as a company currently (and about its past and future). I am going to express my opinion about devices you are excited to purchase and I hope you all understand, this is only my opinion, and we all think differently. How I feel and how you feel are different, so please dont take this as a criticism of your choice.
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I had a bit of a realization this morning about why I felt so conflicted about the new iPhones. I have been an Apple customer for over a decade, and I can easily say the reason I am is the man that was on top and his influence on the products, company, and culture.
Steve Jobs was a Zen Buddhist. He believed in simplicity, elegance, and minimalism. He loved to make something work better or be smarter than it was in the past by reducing complexity. Even Apple stated last year in their design video, we start to confuse convenience with joy, abundance with choice.
When Jobs took over Apple again in the late 90s, he found that Apple had so much going on, so many different product lines, that even the executives couldnt name them all. He scrapped 70% of the companys projects. When he introduced the iMac, it was revolutionary in its minimal external disk support since it was broadband internet connected (hence the i before products by the way, it stands for internet). The iPod was revolutionary because it featured a small, simple interface with a simple circular scroll wheel (and some buttons in the beginning). The iPhone was revolutionary because it was a full computer that worked in one hand effortlessly due to its simple design.
Steve Jobs loved to strip away the nonessential and make people see the value in less. People were always furious at first when a product was announced because they were convinced they needed MORE of everything (Its just a large iPod Touch! Its just an MP3 player!) but in every simple product Apple found a huge and growing following because they purposefully rejected more. Jobs would never have built a mouse that needed 2 hands to operate. He would have never built an iPod that couldnt be used efficiently. He never wanted to increase the size of the iPhone. Instead, with the iPhone, he prided himself on the fact that they packed more and better equipment than the competition, with a better experience and battery life, in a smaller, more elegant package.
The new iPhones have been bothering me since I saw them on stage, and this is why. The iPhone 6+ subscribes to the idea of MORE. The way it gets away with better battery and more features is by being bigger, and in the process by compromising the essence of a mobile phone - that it operate simply, easily, and elegantly in one hand.
I think Jobs would have built the iPhone 6. Its display is larger but can still be used one-handed, and honestly, its an engineering marvel. Apple got it to less than 7mm thick while still integrating one of the fastest processors in mobile history, a 6-core GPU, as much storage as the classic iPod had, a great camera, and a nicer display than ever before. It uses a battery 1,000 mAH smaller than the competition and still is competitive with battery life. It has all the latest technologies in the most packed, efficient design possible with modern engineering.
I think Steve Jobs would have been incredibly proud of the iPhone 6. I think he would have felt it was more futuristic and more impressive. Now, would he have made the iPhone 6+? Maybe, I dont know. Apple is a business, and businesses need to expand. This usually involves more products and Apple knows well that the Asian market loves larger phones, as do many others. I think Jobs would have been pressured to release it and would have eventually capitulated. But basically, it feels to me like the iPhone 6 is the phone Jobs would have wanted to make, and the iPhone 6+ is the phone the businessmen, and Tim Cook, would have wanted to make. This is not meant to be negative towards Tim Cook, in fact he is a smart man and a good corporate leader, and had the good foresight to build both options.
As far as Im concerned, as long as Apple continues to make products that seem consistent with Jobs vision, they can make all the extras that other people want to buy. But Ill stick to the kind of device that honors a certain culture in Apple that made it one of the most loved companies in history.
Again, this is just my opinion, and I understand that many view the larger screen as conferring added functionality and choice, and I understand how people can be really excited about that. But I would encourage those looking at the iPhone 6 to maybe think a little differently than we are about its size, and see it as something actually more advanced, and more impressive, than its larger counterpart.
Thanks for reading! Id love to hear your guys thoughts.
****
I had a bit of a realization this morning about why I felt so conflicted about the new iPhones. I have been an Apple customer for over a decade, and I can easily say the reason I am is the man that was on top and his influence on the products, company, and culture.
Steve Jobs was a Zen Buddhist. He believed in simplicity, elegance, and minimalism. He loved to make something work better or be smarter than it was in the past by reducing complexity. Even Apple stated last year in their design video, we start to confuse convenience with joy, abundance with choice.
When Jobs took over Apple again in the late 90s, he found that Apple had so much going on, so many different product lines, that even the executives couldnt name them all. He scrapped 70% of the companys projects. When he introduced the iMac, it was revolutionary in its minimal external disk support since it was broadband internet connected (hence the i before products by the way, it stands for internet). The iPod was revolutionary because it featured a small, simple interface with a simple circular scroll wheel (and some buttons in the beginning). The iPhone was revolutionary because it was a full computer that worked in one hand effortlessly due to its simple design.
Steve Jobs loved to strip away the nonessential and make people see the value in less. People were always furious at first when a product was announced because they were convinced they needed MORE of everything (Its just a large iPod Touch! Its just an MP3 player!) but in every simple product Apple found a huge and growing following because they purposefully rejected more. Jobs would never have built a mouse that needed 2 hands to operate. He would have never built an iPod that couldnt be used efficiently. He never wanted to increase the size of the iPhone. Instead, with the iPhone, he prided himself on the fact that they packed more and better equipment than the competition, with a better experience and battery life, in a smaller, more elegant package.
The new iPhones have been bothering me since I saw them on stage, and this is why. The iPhone 6+ subscribes to the idea of MORE. The way it gets away with better battery and more features is by being bigger, and in the process by compromising the essence of a mobile phone - that it operate simply, easily, and elegantly in one hand.
I think Jobs would have built the iPhone 6. Its display is larger but can still be used one-handed, and honestly, its an engineering marvel. Apple got it to less than 7mm thick while still integrating one of the fastest processors in mobile history, a 6-core GPU, as much storage as the classic iPod had, a great camera, and a nicer display than ever before. It uses a battery 1,000 mAH smaller than the competition and still is competitive with battery life. It has all the latest technologies in the most packed, efficient design possible with modern engineering.
I think Steve Jobs would have been incredibly proud of the iPhone 6. I think he would have felt it was more futuristic and more impressive. Now, would he have made the iPhone 6+? Maybe, I dont know. Apple is a business, and businesses need to expand. This usually involves more products and Apple knows well that the Asian market loves larger phones, as do many others. I think Jobs would have been pressured to release it and would have eventually capitulated. But basically, it feels to me like the iPhone 6 is the phone Jobs would have wanted to make, and the iPhone 6+ is the phone the businessmen, and Tim Cook, would have wanted to make. This is not meant to be negative towards Tim Cook, in fact he is a smart man and a good corporate leader, and had the good foresight to build both options.
As far as Im concerned, as long as Apple continues to make products that seem consistent with Jobs vision, they can make all the extras that other people want to buy. But Ill stick to the kind of device that honors a certain culture in Apple that made it one of the most loved companies in history.
Again, this is just my opinion, and I understand that many view the larger screen as conferring added functionality and choice, and I understand how people can be really excited about that. But I would encourage those looking at the iPhone 6 to maybe think a little differently than we are about its size, and see it as something actually more advanced, and more impressive, than its larger counterpart.
Thanks for reading! Id love to hear your guys thoughts.
