4 ms·

Brilliant summary here of how Apple often focus on 'Why' you need something - rather than pushing the 'What' it is. They smashed this for the ipod, the iphone a

by ljf 3y ago

Brilliant summary here of how Apple often focus on 'Why' you need something - rather than pushing the 'What' it is. They smashed this for the ipod, the iphone and the ipad - and more recently with headphones. Will be interesting to see if they can manage this for VR. 'Start with Why': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA&vl=en https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA&vl=en

withinboredom 3y ago
the iphone, in my opinion, was a bit of an accidental success. I remember having a Nokia at the time... The itouch came out first, and some people were like "omg, I wish this was my phone!" and some of us said, "I don't want people to interrupt me while listening to my music." Here's the thing though, they cost "around" the same amount (after AT&T subscriber subsidies). So, which one would you get, even if you didn't want people to call you while you are listening to music? If you had AT&T, anyway. If you didn't have AT&T, you couldn't use the phone at all. The internet was a thing, but not as you know it today, but Facebook was still kinda new (it had just rolled out to everyone IIRC, or was about to, instead of being limited to universities). The "hashtag" was brand new and still kind of 'wtf is this?' and limited to certain circles. Apps were basically toys and games, nothing like what we have today. In fact, when the itouch launched, there were no apps. I got one hot off the shelf and was disappointed with the battery life while listening to music. I think the only "app" it had was a web browser and notes. My peers around me, didn't really think it was interesting. I didn't get an iPhone until ~2016, when my wife started giving me crap about blue bubbles. Before that, I used Windows Phone simply because it was a phone first, and a computer second. That probably won't make sense to most people, but we're talking about "low power modes" that allowed the phone to last until you got home from the bars at 2am. I was always the one who still had juice to call a cab. Modern phones have all these features, but they really didn't until ~2015ish (android) and 2018ish (apple), while windows phone had it from the very beginning in 2009ish.
- Nevermark 3y ago
  They nailed it. Nobody else had anything like the iPhone or iTouch when they came out. After their first successes, Palm stalled. Microsoft’s phones were interface abominations. I suffered through both. Adding the App Store completed Apple’s redefinition of what a phone was, what mobile computing was. Kudo’s to Google for leaping into that new market by redirecting Android. Every manufacturer that tried to keep up by upgrading their previous platforms bit the dust.
  - withinboredom 3y ago
    They nailed it in the US, yeah. Elsewhere, not so much, which is more evidence that it was accidental/lucky than intentional.
    - Nevermark 3y ago
      No it was evidence that: (1) Apple was a small company going into a new area with a very unusual design for the time. Apple couldn't make enough of them from day 1. (2) the phone market required major business changes to adapt to the iPhone. AT&T made all kinds of unusual concessions to Apple to make the logistics, and Apple's business needs. A complete redesign of how phone software, hardware, interfaces work, along with major changes to cellular partnerships and logistics, is not an "accident". The polish was excellent too. Every phone I used before the iPhone had limited and flaky interfaces, from basic phones to handheld computer phones. Bill Gates was floored when he saw the iPhone, by his own report. Steve Jobs was obsessed with the design of the phone and how he needed to change cellular business models. They designed numerous candidate hardware, and two alternate internally designed operating systems, before settling for the iOS they delivered. Steve didn't always get everything right, but "accident" isn't particularly applicable to anything Steve did.
      - withinboredom 3y ago
        I never questioned how hard Apple worked, how many iterations, etc. Innovation's success is rarely ruled by those things. They got lucky in the US. They got lucky that AT&T (or anyone) was willing to make those concessions. They got lucky that enough people wanted a phone like that (I didn't). They got lucky that the US turned it into a status symbol. There are probably many other things as well that required luck, that I didn't pay attention to at the time.

by ljf 3y ago

withinboredom 3y ago

the iphone, in my opinion, was a bit of an accidental success. I remember having a Nokia at the time... The itouch came out first, and some people were like "omg, I wish this was my phone!" and some of us said, "I don't want people to interrupt me while listening to my music." Here's the thing though, they cost "around" the same amount (after AT&T subscriber subsidies). So, which one would you get, even if you didn't want people to call you while you are listening to music? If you had AT&T, anyway. If you didn't have AT&T, you couldn't use the phone at all. The internet was a thing, but not as you know it today, but Facebook was still kinda new (it had just rolled out to everyone IIRC, or was about to, instead of being limited to universities). The "hashtag" was brand new and still kind of 'wtf is this?' and limited to certain circles. Apps were basically toys and games, nothing like what we have today. In fact, when the itouch launched, there were no apps. I got one hot off the shelf and was disappointed with the battery life while listening to music. I think the only "app" it had was a web browser and notes. My peers around me, didn't really think it was interesting. I didn't get an iPhone until ~2016, when my wife started giving me crap about blue bubbles. Before that, I used Windows Phone simply because it was a phone first, and a computer second. That probably won't make sense to most people, but we're talking about "low power modes" that allowed the phone to last until you got home from the bars at 2am. I was always the one who still had juice to call a cab. Modern phones have all these features, but they really didn't until ~2015ish (android) and 2018ish (apple), while windows phone had it from the very beginning in 2009ish.

Nevermark 3y ago
They nailed it. Nobody else had anything like the iPhone or iTouch when they came out. After their first successes, Palm stalled. Microsoft’s phones were interface abominations. I suffered through both. Adding the App Store completed Apple’s redefinition of what a phone was, what mobile computing was. Kudo’s to Google for leaping into that new market by redirecting Android. Every manufacturer that tried to keep up by upgrading their previous platforms bit the dust.
- withinboredom 3y ago
  They nailed it in the US, yeah. Elsewhere, not so much, which is more evidence that it was accidental/lucky than intentional.
  - Nevermark 3y ago
    No it was evidence that: (1) Apple was a small company going into a new area with a very unusual design for the time. Apple couldn't make enough of them from day 1. (2) the phone market required major business changes to adapt to the iPhone. AT&T made all kinds of unusual concessions to Apple to make the logistics, and Apple's business needs. A complete redesign of how phone software, hardware, interfaces work, along with major changes to cellular partnerships and logistics, is not an "accident". The polish was excellent too. Every phone I used before the iPhone had limited and flaky interfaces, from basic phones to handheld computer phones. Bill Gates was floored when he saw the iPhone, by his own report. Steve Jobs was obsessed with the design of the phone and how he needed to change cellular business models. They designed numerous candidate hardware, and two alternate internally designed operating systems, before settling for the iOS they delivered. Steve didn't always get everything right, but "accident" isn't particularly applicable to anything Steve did.
    - withinboredom 3y ago
      I never questioned how hard Apple worked, how many iterations, etc. Innovation's success is rarely ruled by those things. They got lucky in the US. They got lucky that AT&T (or anyone) was willing to make those concessions. They got lucky that enough people wanted a phone like that (I didn't). They got lucky that the US turned it into a status symbol. There are probably many other things as well that required luck, that I didn't pay attention to at the time.