(This story appears on ABC15 and was written before Apple’s press conference and my previous Apple piece.)
Apple fans are a proud bunch. We’re a loyal bunch. And for good reason: our products just work.
You’re heard it a thousand times before, that Apple products are overpriced and too simplistic. It’s not easy to open an iPhone or overclock an Apple-product processor. Apple makes it tough for you to download non-approved software onto your iPhone.
Yes, Apple is restrictive. Yes, Apple charges a premium for their products. Yes, Apple wants you to do things its way.
And I’m all for it. My phone doesn’t freeze, my software seldom crashes and the battery lasts over a day. Most of the apps I buy work well, the accessories advertised work as promised and there’s only one vendor and essentially one model to learn.
But instead of what the iPhone isn’t, let’s focus on what it is. It’s a device designed with one thing in mind: seamless information exchanging. Whether I’m checking Twitter on one of five-plus excellent Twitter apps, using it to log in to Google Docs and edit a document or entertaining myself during long waits, the iPhone does exactly what it’s supposed to do, nearly every single time. I don’t worry about battery drain or background app usage, it’s handled automatically, without my needing to constantly experiment with settings.
Some people will tell you that Android or Palm Pre or whatever Microsoft is making (except the Kin…hahahahahahahaha) is the best because it gives you choices. You can customize nearly any part of the interface, can download any app you damn well please and can use nearly any carrier. Save that last point, you’re completely wrong. Choices bring inconsistency and inconsistency brings problems. When my iPhone won’t make a call, I want to know exactly what it is (AT&T, of course, unless I’m holding it wrong) that’s going wrong and don’t have to investigate and deactivate system processes that don’t make any sense to people outside of the IT field.
Everyone said the Mac would fail, too. And they thought the iPod was too expensive. They claimed that the iPhone and iPad were both too much and not enough. Apple proved them wrong, again. Compare Apple’s market cap to any of their competitors and let me know how that worked out.
Now, I’m an Apple guy. I’ve been using Apple products since 1986 and have never owned or used anything but an Apple product for any regular amount of time. The Apple process makes sense to me, and if you stopped thinking like a computer, it would to you, too. I don’t like my products to get in my way be giving me options or changing as I go. Just like good referees, good products don’t get noticed until they do something wrong. Apple’s iPhone 4 doesn’t get noticed, it gets me noticed because I can get stuff done without fighting it.
And makes me look damn cool.
