Those of you’ve been keeping up with the Gremlin’s antics know that he’s a long time fan of the much famed fruit corporation, and that he worked behind the Genius bar for a few years.
Today, the Gremlin’s back to give you his take on Apple’s latest announcement event. As there’s approximately 30000054 articles about what was announced at this event, this is a pure opinion piece, focusing on what’s noteworthy from the POV of an Apple fan, former employee and early adopter of bleeding edge tech.
On Apple Watch:
As a futurist, Apple Watch Series 4 is by far the most exciting thing to come out of this event. Wearables have long been a gadget category with potential far outstripping their present functionality.
For years now, prognosticators have predicted that the next tectonic shift in tech would come in the medical field——in the same way that the personal computer brought unimaginable power to the masses in the 90s, imagine how different our lives would be if the bulk of medical scans, tests and examinations could be delivered instantaneously from devices you own.
Apple has been toying with this idea since the original Apple Watch, but they were hampered by limits in processing power. More critically, in the US, exhaustive restrictions from the FDA prevented tech giants from quickly and efficiently introducing true medical devices into consumer products. Apple’s secret sauce to maximizing revenue has been streamlined development and production processes, paired with the greatest possible secrecy in product roadmaps. The FDA’s stringent requirements were a roadblock to two of the three.
The FDA approved personal ElectroCardioGram being introduced on Apple Watch Series 4 is proof that Apple (and the FDA) have evolved. Not only is this feature transformative in and of itself, but it also suggests that consumers may be in for a titanic revolution in the availability of life-saving and life-altering personalized medical care.
From a pure gadget freak standpoint, the next-gen watch also hits some real sweet spots in practical improvements.
A 32% (35% on the smaller model) increase in screen area doesn’t sound that dramatic, but current smart watch users know that display size is a huge limiting factor on the capabilities of these devices. Unlike on TVs or laptops, your display is also your input device, so this advancement will likely have a major impact on moment to moment usage of the watch (particularly in selecting apps in the honeycomb home screen).
Speaker volume has been a bit of an Achilles heel for the watch since its debut, so a prominent increase in this area is also welcome.
Finally, seeing the Series 3 watch hit the $279 price point is fantastic. Arguably, Series 3 was the first watch with sufficiently speedy performance to make all of its features useful. Over the next year, millions more people will be able to get in on the action at a more wallet friendly price.
On a smaller note, it’s a relief to see that Apple has wisely maintained compatibility with watch bands across each generation of Apple Watch, even while making these new devices smaller. Quality bands are pretty pricy (and a potential cost barrier for some users) so this is both smart business and consumer friendly.
iPhone:
The latter half of this event was a bit of a disappointment. Not in the popular mainstream media sense of “Apple’s lost it’s mojo” but rather as a painful reminder that the underlying technology and design of smartphones has already crossed the threshold of “good enough” in so many areas, that we’re likely doomed to incremental improvements for some time to come.
With the exception of the increased screen size of the iPhone Xs Max (a brief pause while the Gremlin tries to swallow that…) none of the new phone features stand out as “must haves,” or even things you’d see yourself subtly appreciating in day to day use.
First off, processor speed. Sure, as a nerd, its really cool to see how far Apple’s custom chip division is advancing ARM based CPUs, especially in a time where intel chips are advancing at the slowest rate ever. That said, as an owner of last year’s iPhone X, there’s literally never been a moment of wishing my phone were faster. As usual, exactly none of the “look what this phone can do” demos on stage looked even remotely relevant to 99% of users.
A side note on this. Every year for as long as the Gremlin can remember, Apple has had a mobile game demo to showcase the processing power of the iPhone. What gets the Gremlin’s goat on this is, none of these games look even remotely fun from a game design perspective. They’re the gaming equivalent of a transformers film, sparkly but devoid of lasting entertainment.
AR games, in particular, seem to be designed by people who don’t play games. As an avid gamer, the BG has yet to find a graphically intensive game worth playing on a mobile device. In fact, the only time he plays any mobile games at all is when he’s out of the house and away from superior experiences on game consoles or in VR. But in those moments, when you’re on a plane, on the way to work, or in a coffee shop, who’s going to stand up and wave their iPhone around to play a game? It’s a jarringly out of touch and repetitive display from Apple, a company that’s always prided themselves on tying technological innovation to useful practical features that would “improve people’s lives.” Even if we reach a point where AR gaming becomes sufficiently immersive to prove relevant, Apple’s poor track record of attracting serious AAA gaming talent suggests that they won’t be the company to provide it to us.
From here, we tick off the usual list of improvements. Deeper contrast ratios. Improved display responsiveness. Wider field of sound from the speakers. Honestly, even these features, while certainly not entirely irrelevant, don’t inspire the Gremlin. The idea of watching a high quality movie on a six inch screen has long been laughable to anyone who can afford literally anything larger (which is… most people). The speakers on the iPhone X were already more than loud enough for practical uses.
Even the camera quality improvements, while somewhat interesting, seem destined to leave the iPhone camera relegated to the awkward space between “smart phone camera” and “pro camera.” Just because Time Magazine has used an iPhone to capture a cover doesn’t make it a mainstream professional tool, nor does it prove it’s on par with dedicated cameras. Rather, it proves that the quality is good enough for you to focus on the content rather than the color depth or the pixel quality, which frankly has already been true for several years (heck, it was true with polaroid vs traditional film too).
Which leaves us with the reality that, from both a futurist and consumer perspective, the new iPhones just aren’t dramatic anymore, and likely won’t be again for several years.
The most relevant upgrades from the Gremlin’s POV? Storage size increases, and improved face ID speed (curious though, that Apple neglected to specify a rough speed comparison between the two. Typically if they’ve got even a modest improvement on their hands, Apple would provide a “1.5x faster figure).”
Finally, the Gremlin must comment on what is already a well treaded opinion from the last few weeks. As a long time Apple watcher, it’s sad to see the company continuing to lose its focus on clear consumer choice and naming schemes.
Steve Jobs famously altered Apple’s course in the 90’s by introducing an elegant, clear approach to product design. One entry level laptop. One Pro. One entry level desktop. One Pro. The names? iBook. Powerbook. iMac. Power Mac.
Today, Apple sells the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone Xr, iPhone Xs, and iPhone Xs Max (and presumably the iPhone SE?). Five years ago, if you’d have told me these names were from a Funny or Die sketch, I’d have believed it. It’s a confusing range of choices, seemingly designed to nudge consumers to spend on pricier models, rather than to provide them with clear choices for their needs.
To sum it up, Apple’s still one of the Gremlin’s favorite companies, but increasingly, their most interesting products aren’t the ones most relevant to their bottom line.