WWDC 2018
developer.apple.com
developer.apple.com
It's so new products/technologies aren't pre-announced.
While this is not entirely surprising, it's still fascinating to see how much emphasis they put on things that I, a working-class-but-now-tech-middle-class, truly don't care about. Until a year or two ago I felt Apple still targeted at least my audience, but recent developments feel strangely alienating.
The alternative explanation is that Apple is spinning its wheels and just doesn't know what to do next, but what with the rise of global uber-affluent (Chinese and Russian elites, for once, see: gold themed products), this doesn't seem like a bad choice considering the competition. It just feels saddening somehow.
The Airpods, Apple Watch, Apple TV and the HomePod are products that relatively few people around me bother with. It's mostly the few techies (that make well above median wage) and more well-off friends (couples or otherwise) that can afford these kinds of 'extravagances' or care enough to make the expense. But even those wouldn't bother with much of this because they lack the house/space or lifestyle for it. The slightly older iPads are sort of like this, but I know quite a few people who do have one of those lying around, I suppose because they're both cheap and useful enough.
The Apple Watch is perhaps the best example of how it feels Apple is shifting their focus. As far as I can remember, it's the first of their products that offered insanely expensive versions (and wristbands) that couldn't be justified as 'pro user stuff'. And even the cheapest version is one very few people I know would by unless they had plenty of disposable income (or bad with money / huge Apple fans). I mean, the thing is basically Apple's entry into the jewelry world.
There's a few other things that made me feel like they were changing direction, but they've slipped my mind. And again, it's more of a feeling than something I'm utterly convinced of. I do mean to investigate this properly sometime, because aside from a slight 'sadness' I also find it fascinating.
(let me add that perhaps it's more that, in a broader sense, the 'tech/gadget/digital lifestyle' world seems to be moving/aiming upwards in society somehow. I remember reading an interesting BBC article that argued the 'techies', who I suppose are both the creators and primary audience of a lot of this stuff, are becoming a class of their own, and one economically above what we would traditionally call the working class. maybe that has something to do with it.)
They've always been a company that made beautiful hardware, the kind that serves an aesthetic purpose in addition to it's function. Far cheaper alternatives exist, but that's never been Apple's goal.
I'd say for timeline the Apple Watch (so about three years ago?) is probably when I started feeling this way. This is also around the period they released their weirdly pretentious/impractical cylindrical Mac Pro, and moved to the new, generally-disliked-by-the-pro-audiences MacBook Pro's (to the point where I'm about to buy a 2015 model in the near future).
EDIT: actually, the new MacBooks are a great example of why I feel there's been a 'shift' of sorts. The whole things seems to mostly aimed at the affluent than the pro users: thinness at the expense of everything else, a touchbar that looks cool but is the last thing pro users want, and removal of ports which strikes me as exactly the kind of thing that wouldn't bother a fancy executive with a gold iWatch, but cause major trouble for most power users.
It's like they decided the original MacBook Air customer is now their primary one, or at least more important than before.
Interesting. Could be as wealth has become more striated, they've decided to double down on the affluent.
The usual approach Apple takes, or so it seems to me, is to first release a 'luxury' iteration of a product and eventually make it accessible to a broader market. I remember the first iPhone felt like a bit of an excess, and few people around me bought it other than die-hard fans and people with more disposable income (often techies). But around the 3GS (I think?) this changed and it became a mass-market thing.
The same happened with iPods, and the MacBook Air is an even better example. The first iteration of the latter was clearly just for the fancy few, but eventually its innovations (unibody, thinness) became core to their more affordable range.
The iPod and iPhone and MacBook are the kinds of products everyone needs, wants, and is willing to pay a decent chunk of money for. But already with the iPad and Apple TV that seems more difficult. And the latest iPhones also seem to suffer from a lack of proper innovation that has mass-market appeal. A watch or, say, a car strike me as even more difficult to turn into a smash hit. Same goes for smart home stuff.
So perhaps it's not so much that Apple is intentionally targeting the affluent, but rather that their later products are stuck in a kind of first-iteration-for-the-fancy-people limbo.
I don't know whether this is lack of creativity on their part, or an actual issue. Probably a bit of both, but I have to admit that I also find it difficult to come up with an iPhone style innovation or new product that wouldn't suffer from this problem. I suppose something AR glasses could be a thing someday: start with luxury versions, Apple Watch style, that end up having mass-market appeal in a way the Watch clearly doesn't.
There isn't anything new anymore. This isn't the Apple we knew a decade-or-so ago. It feels like Apple peaked around then, sad! They just don't try anymore.
I for one, really want to see Apple do something creative (but before they do anything new, PLEASE FIX IOS NOTIFICATIONS.. THEY'RE A JOKE COMPARED TO ANDROID)!
What? They way more usable than Android's mess.
edit: clearly some people share your sentiment, but whilst introduction of iOS notifications were a relief, I can't understand why anyone would think they are better than Android.
It's a commonly shared sentiment at least that Android notifications are leagues ahead of iOS.
My biggest gripe is the lack of grouping, and I do miss the fact Android used to give me 'active' notifications such as a progress bar on the download of a Spotify album, for example.
It feels like you control the messages you get, how they're positioned, what priority they get etc; much more on iOS. I'm sure this is actually release dependent, I can only speak from the old CM and modern Samsung ROMs.. but iOS generally >feels< a lot nicer, like I'm in control; non-removal notifications, general frequency and lack of notification location control contribute to this.
You can set priorities too IIRC.
I have used Android exclusively since some early Sony-Ericsson phones, and moved to iPhone just recently. I cannot put my finger exactly on why I prefer these notifications, but I think it has something to do with how easy it is to ignore them on iOS.
On Android, they're constantly on my face until I manually go through them. On iOS, they pop by once and exactly once and if I ignore them, they kinda vanish to the background immediately.
Here are a few things I like about Android notifications: - Grouped notifications and notification channels make swiping away unnecessary alerts a breeze - One tap to clear all notifications - Reply to text messages through the notification - Ability to take action on a notification without additional swipes (for example, you can "Archive' an email from Gmail's notification without having to swipe left like in iOS - this small UX improvement makes a huge difference if you get a barrage of notifications) - Notification priority - system notifications like alarms etc. are smaller indicating that it isn't as important. You can always expand if you need to. - When you play a song on a music app, the notification changes color to match the most prominent color in the album's artwork. Little fun stuff like this adds some character. - Swipe to mute notifications from an app for a few minutes, an hour etc. without having to poke around settings.
I am sure I am missing a few points but in general, the UX is just a LOT better than iOS's one-style-fits-all design. I know this is a matter of personal preference and that there are surely iOS users who prefer a simple notification list. Worst case, it'd be nice if iOS had the option to toggle between simple listed notifications and a more advanced version that works like Android.
On iOS, clearing all of today's notifications from the notifications list is either one tap (on the iPhone) or a force-touch and a tap (on Apple Watch).
(to be fair, I believe those are both pretty recent features)
Yeah, a thing that keeps taking my attention? I prefer that to be as weak as possible.