5 ms·

I'm ever curious about this topic - what do you define as innovation?

johansch 10y ago
Innovation means doing something new, doesn't it? The last Apple-ish innovation I saw out of Apple was that "magic" touch-pad that just feels like you're pressing it down, even though you are not. What they have done recently with the new Macbook Pro and iPhone 7 does not really qualify as "innovation" - they have reduced functionality (CPU power/battery and headphone jack, respectively) - and in turn made the goods thinner and prettier. Some people might say that OLED display they installed on top of the keyboard instead of old-school function keys might be an innovation. I disagree - it's not functional (it changes over time, non-newbies don't look at the keyboard, it kills muscle-memory), but it's so, so, pretty. Hence it's another step towards a piece of jewelry rather than something that just works.
- oldmanjay 10y ago
  They did add an OLED touch bar that no other laptop has, to my knowledge. Does that not count? Why not?
  - johansch 10y ago
    I just added something on that via editing, sorry, didn't think you'd be that fast.
    - oldmanjay 10y ago
      Well I appreciate your explanation of your thoughts, although my feelings are that it's far to early to be so dismissive of something people haven't really used yet. I'll grant it may turn out to be a useless bauble, but I'm old enough to remember people saying that about the mouse, too.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >Innovation means doing something new, doesn't it? In the consumer space innovation means putting something in the market in a novel way (and especially one that matters to people). Not discovering something from scratch, consumer electronics are not about basic research. I.e. we had tons of mp3 players before the iPod, but it was how it was put together that made it better (for the millions who increasingly adopted it). >The last Apple-ish innovation I saw out of Apple was that "magic" touch-pad that just feels like you're pressing it down, even though you are not. They design their own industry leading chips and logic boards for the iPhone and Apple Watch, they do haptic engines, they did novel engineering to water-proof the watch, the work with new materials all the time, they put out new enhanced gamut displays, they have a great new wireless audio processor they designed, they created and put out a new graphics API and a whole new programming language (Swift), and several other things besides, all in the span of the last 5 years. >I disagree - it's not functional (it changes over time, non-newbies don't look at the keyboard, it kills muscle-memory It's like expensive professional touch control boards -- it can greatly enhance productivity for lots of professional domains, from mixing colors for paint apps to skipping frames in a NLE or applying filters (multitouch too) through sliders in a DAW, etc. It's also a fully programmable secondary multi-touch display, tons of things can be done with it per app. Muscle memory is still retained as long as the virtual keys fall in the same place per app -- same as keyboard shortcuts, that change between different pro apps, but pro users still remember each set.
- snowwrestler 10y ago
  Yvon Chouinard is the owner of the clothing company Patagonia and knows something about innovation. (He has revolutionized the outdoor industry many times over.) His definition of "invention" is that it is the creation of something new. His definition of "innovation" is that it is the application of invention to solve a problem. Patagonia did not invent wicking polyester fibers. But they used them to make the first wicking polyester long underwear, which radically changed how people thought about long underwear for outdoor sports. This definition works great for Apple too. They don't invent much. But they innovate a lot. And yes the touch bar counts, even if you don't like it.
- ninju 10y ago
  dual rear camera that can achieve a photo effect (bokeh) that was possible in earlier smartphone

Innovation means doing something new, doesn't it? The last Apple-ish innovation I saw out of Apple was that "magic" touch-pad that just feels like you're pressing it down, even though you are not. What they have done recently with the new Macbook Pro and iPhone 7 does not really qualify as "innovation" - they have reduced functionality (CPU power/battery and headphone jack, respectively) - and in turn made the goods thinner and prettier. Some people might say that OLED display they installed on top of the keyboard instead of old-school function keys might be an innovation. I disagree - it's not functional (it changes over time, non-newbies don't look at the keyboard, it kills muscle-memory), but it's so, so, pretty. Hence it's another step towards a piece of jewelry rather than something that just works.

oldmanjay 10y ago
They did add an OLED touch bar that no other laptop has, to my knowledge. Does that not count? Why not?
- johansch 10y ago
  I just added something on that via editing, sorry, didn't think you'd be that fast.
  - oldmanjay 10y ago
    Well I appreciate your explanation of your thoughts, although my feelings are that it's far to early to be so dismissive of something people haven't really used yet. I'll grant it may turn out to be a useless bauble, but I'm old enough to remember people saying that about the mouse, too.
coldtea 10y ago
>Innovation means doing something new, doesn't it? In the consumer space innovation means putting something in the market in a novel way (and especially one that matters to people). Not discovering something from scratch, consumer electronics are not about basic research. I.e. we had tons of mp3 players before the iPod, but it was how it was put together that made it better (for the millions who increasingly adopted it). >The last Apple-ish innovation I saw out of Apple was that "magic" touch-pad that just feels like you're pressing it down, even though you are not. They design their own industry leading chips and logic boards for the iPhone and Apple Watch, they do haptic engines, they did novel engineering to water-proof the watch, the work with new materials all the time, they put out new enhanced gamut displays, they have a great new wireless audio processor they designed, they created and put out a new graphics API and a whole new programming language (Swift), and several other things besides, all in the span of the last 5 years. >I disagree - it's not functional (it changes over time, non-newbies don't look at the keyboard, it kills muscle-memory It's like expensive professional touch control boards -- it can greatly enhance productivity for lots of professional domains, from mixing colors for paint apps to skipping frames in a NLE or applying filters (multitouch too) through sliders in a DAW, etc. It's also a fully programmable secondary multi-touch display, tons of things can be done with it per app. Muscle memory is still retained as long as the virtual keys fall in the same place per app -- same as keyboard shortcuts, that change between different pro apps, but pro users still remember each set.
snowwrestler 10y ago
Yvon Chouinard is the owner of the clothing company Patagonia and knows something about innovation. (He has revolutionized the outdoor industry many times over.) His definition of "invention" is that it is the creation of something new. His definition of "innovation" is that it is the application of invention to solve a problem. Patagonia did not invent wicking polyester fibers. But they used them to make the first wicking polyester long underwear, which radically changed how people thought about long underwear for outdoor sports. This definition works great for Apple too. They don't invent much. But they innovate a lot. And yes the touch bar counts, even if you don't like it.
ninju 10y ago
dual rear camera that can achieve a photo effect (bokeh) that was possible in earlier smartphone