Look, there are a lot of things that may or may not be facts, and when you have opinions to get out those maybe-facts can really get in the way.
Writing for Business Insider, Nicholas Carlson says “This Is Why It Feels Like Apple Stopped Innovating Three Years Ago” (no link for Business Insider because of their multiple crimes against humanity, but tip o’ the antlers to Shawn King).
Steve Jobs used to tell a story …
Yes, once again it is time for a pundit to use a Steve Jobs parable to lecture Apple about how Steve Jobs did things. Because surely the people who knew and worked with Jobs, the people that Jobs hired and promoted, know nothing of the man and his life’s work.
Steven Sinofsky, who led development of the very successful Windows 7, says on his blog that “a general UX principle…is anytime you push some feature on your customer you really want it to be right (correct, useful, helpful) for him/her 100% of the time.”
Hmm. Interesting. Did Sinofsky lead development of any other Microsoft products that possibly were not so well received? You would never know by reading this piece, that’s for sure.
“If not, chances are your customer will recall the negatives of the feature far more than the positives.”
Sinofsky would know that, at least.
The reason it feels like Apple has stopped innovating to so many people is that …
So many people have incredibly short attention spans and no idea what it means to innovate. Some of them literally eat paste. That’s become a cliché, yes, but it’s based on real people eating real paste. Look it up. Or just visit Forbes.
… the last time it tried to do what it does best—perfect a technology that allows humans to interact with computers—it failed. And that was two and a half years ago. The last time it succeeded was 2006—eight years ago.
Wha-huh?
According to Carlson, Apple’s last attempt at innovation was Siri, which was a failure because it doesn’t work 100 percent of the time. What’s he talking about from 2006?
Then, in 2006, came the iPhone with its miraculous touchscreen.
Sure. Except that it was announced in January of 2007 and didn’t ship until June of 2007. But other than dates, yeah, 2006.
Nothing that Apple has done since 2006 or 2007 or whenever it was has been innovative, other than Siri. Well, that’s an opinion one could have. Again, of course, we’re talking about the Apple level of innovation, which is not the same level of innovation applied to, well, anyone else.
The good news for Apple shareholders, Apple fans, and humans who like “bicycles for the mind,” is that, according to several reports, Apple is about to come out with a new kind of computer built around a new kind of input technology.
That’s the iWatch.
This is a fact that we know to be true because we have read about it on the Internet. You can’t argue with facts, people. Even if they are not, quantum-mechanically speaking, real.
So, Carlson gets actual things that happened wrong. Meanwhile, things that haven’t happened yet, he takes as writ. Surely this analysis must be unimpeachable.