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How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

Posted October 19, 2011 7:30 AM

Reflecting on Steve Jobs's remarkable life and accomplishments, we all take note of his game-changing products that have become embedded in the culture. How will his legacy contribute to shaping the future of consumer electronics? What will it take for the next step in smartphone design to be revolutionary rather than evolutionary?

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#1

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 12:24 AM

When the kids iPods broke, they are darn near impossible to fix or even take apart. The Nano I had, the battery wore out so that turned into a useless piece of junk. Quite frankly, I'm not really much a fan of Apple products. I'll get flamed by the faithful, but oh, well.

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 7:42 AM

Not by me - I bought my last Apple product in 1988 (a Mac SE30) - got tired of being the odd man out

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#3

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 8:36 AM

Embedded in the culture. So true. My eight year old boy talks of wanting an iPhone and he has no idea what it can do besides take pictures. The mania has filtered down to children.

Mr. Jobs was able to convince just about everyone on the planet that they needed his products. He developed new ones that were totally unnecessary until he began to sell them. People didn't know they needed that product. Pure genius in that regard and a testament to his person.

Other manufacturers will continue to suffer lawsuits and play catchup as long as the mania continues. This behavior stifles innovation.

Without him steering the Apple juggernaut, I think his vision will eventually become milky. The people buying his products will become tired of purchasing a new one every two years because the previous version has been rendered obsolete and useless.

Evolution will become revolution once feature creep has packed a product with so much junk that it is rendered unfriendly. People will demand a new product because that is what they expect from Apple. Apple will eventually run out of ideas and their products will end up next to the George Foreman Grill.

And that's when YukTumBubbaloo Industries CSA APPROVED steps in. We are trolling lying in wait.

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#4

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 8:46 AM

I don't use Apple products myself, but have an email proclaiming:

First there was Adams apple;

then there was Newton's apple;

now we have Steve's apple...

Praise indeed!

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#5

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 9:04 AM

A quick survey around the office finds half the engineers had iPhones. The other half had a mix of old flip phones and new Androids. (I am resisting the urge to build a data matrix)

I myself am in the "New Android" category. I have a Droid Incredible because it is almost as good as an iPhone. I want to be able to interface with all my custom software applications and Apple products are too limited for me.

(By the same reasoning, I want to drive and "American" vehicle, so I have a Ford Ranger because it is almost as good as a Toyota Hilux. Silly, I know.)

BTW, the iPhone ownership percentage goes way up among the Designer/Technician level guys. Take that as you will.

-A-

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#6

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 9:20 AM

I think the very early Apple computers gave the IBM/PC crowd something to look up to, but it became clear later on that Macs were second string to Microsoft-based PC's. If they didn't imbed themselves so deeply into the graphic arts business, I sincerely believe Apple would have gone the way of the Atari ST.

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#7

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 9:33 AM

I agree with Sir Robin, I've never had many Apple products, but as they continued to close the operation and basic maintenance of their devices to their customers I lost interest in things like iPods. I would much rather mount an mp3 player as an external hard drive to manipulate the files on it directly, than have to go through iTunes or the like. The first thing I did with my phone when I got it was install an expanded battery and replace the 16GB SD card with a 32GB model. I find designs as closed and restrictive as Apple's very frustrating.

I find however, that I've started recommending their products to friends of mine who aren't as technically inclined. When my brother asked about what smartphone he should get, I gave him a long list of reasons why I like the Droid Bionic over the iPhone, but after explaining all these things to him I said "but if you get an iPhone, you will probably love it." We both know he would never appreciate being able to do something like upgrade the internal memory as much as he would be frustrated about having to move all his files to the new card if he did. Similar to the smartphone industry, people I know who own Mac computers love them, and I personally find them to be very nice devices. However, the closed design that they have prevents the individual innovation that started the PC revolution. Having built every computer I've ever owned, I have no inclination to be locked into someone else's design.

Even though I don't like Apple's products for my own use, they have certainly helped shape the computing industry. One post on an Android forum read "Android wouldn't be what it is today if it hadn't had to compete against the iPhone", which is very true. Aside from his direct influence in moving personal computers from enthusiast projects to everyday devices, Steve Jobs' presence in the market helped cause it to evolve in the direction that it has. I think Steve Jobs was a brilliant individual, and his "My way or the highway" attitude towards design, which is reflected in all of Apple's products, attracts those who want devices that "just work", but drives many who want to be allowed to design and control their own "digital worlds" away.

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#8

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

10/20/2011 1:55 PM

Apple changed all our lives no matter what brand computer you have. It was Steve Jobs that made personal PC's possible and IBM's biggest flub my not taking advantage of the market that Steve Jobs exploited after first presenting the idea to IBM. Our whole information dependent society is due to Steve Jobs initial creating the personal PC.

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#9

Re: How Has Apple Improved Your Life?

11/10/2011 5:04 AM

Apple improved my life by making it easier to identify folk who were susceptible to clever marketing strategies.

The Apple halo over their heads is a dead give away.

More money than sense.

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