Some people think Apple may be losing
its shine. Ian M looks to see how true this theory is
Forgive the cliché, but Apple really is the
Marmite of computer companies. You either love it or you hate it. There is no
middle ground! Oh alright, there probably is some middle ground, but there
really is no other company that inspires such devotion on one side and such
hatred on the other.
Before I start, I need to confess that I’m
writing this article on an iMac. Not because I’m a particular Apple lover, but
because it’s a nice machine to use. It sits on my desk next to a Windows 8
desktop and an Ubuntu-running laptop. In true geek style, I just like to know
how to use different computers, and curiosity about how OS X worked got the
better of me. I say all this so that I can’t be accused of being an Apple hater
when I list what I see as potential problems and danger signs for the company.
Apple
has been the success story of the computer world these last ten years
Apple has been the success story of the
computer world these last ten years, rising like a phoenix from the ashes to
become the biggest firm in the world. You cannot go anywhere without seeing
somebody using an Apple product, be it an iPhone, an iPad or someone pretending
to do important work in Starbucks by tapping away on their MacBook. Contrast
this to the 90s, where its products were rare to see anywhere; nowadays, Apple
is living the high life. Is the company’s hot streak about to end, though? As
odd as it may seem to even ask this question, recent events mean it might not
be as far-fetched as it seems.
Multiple hardware updates
A few years ago you could predict Apple’s
hardware update cycle with complete accuracy. It would pretty much refresh its
range every 18 months. You could buy your iPad 2 safe in the knowledge that
you’d be at the cutting edge of cool for at least a year and a half. That’s
quite a lot of smugness and, for many, it’s well worth Apple’s prices. Then it
all went wrong, and Apple’s release schedule went wonky.
If
you bought an iPad 3 on release, then you’d have been apoplectic six months
when the iPad 4 came out
If you bought an iPad 3 on release, then
you’d have been apoplectic six months when the iPad 4 came out. True, the only
difference was a different connector which is a pain anyway and a faster
processor, but if you’d been expecting another year of being super up to date,
then you’d have been upset.
New hardware sounds like a good thin,
doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want the best hardware the manufacturers can make?
Well, lots of people actually. People want to feel reassured that the objects
they spend their money on will not be out of date too quickly. By making two
iPads in the space of 12 months, Apple has put seeds of doubt in people’s
minds. All those who would perhaps have upgraded to a fourth generation iPad
may now wait and see, as there could be another one in a month or two.
Rumors are rife or updates soon to the
iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, and while these may or not be true, this uncertainty
has surely been caused by premature updates on other products. If Apple had
stuck to its scheduled release program, we’d know when the iPhone 5S would be
out, but now we’re not sure.
Strange software updates
Both iOS and OS X are constantly updating
themselves, and while this can be a good thing, bringing improvements and
stability to existing problems, there’s a point where there are too many
updates.
Some
of the seemingly never-ending updates that OS X requires
iOS recently updated itself to 6.0.1 and
then promptly caused (allegedly) a whole load of users to experience Wi-Fi
problems and battery concerns. This was then quickly followed by a bug fix to
resolve these issues. It all smacks of not enough testing before release into
the wild for these updates.
OS X is not immune either; Mountain Lion
has only been out for a few months and we’re already up to 10.8.2, along with
many minor updates. All this leads to a lack of confidence in OS X and iOS, and
it suggests Apple is not testing its software enough before release.
In all fairness, Apple is not alone in
this. Microsoft Windows updates itself constantly, and many Linux distros also
constantly require updating. Even games consoles are not immune; you cannot turn
on the PlayStation 3 on, it seems, without it asking to download an update and
restart.
I think the problem is not that Apple is
doing anything different to any other company, but rather it sells its
operating systems as something different and special, but it’s becoming more
and more like its rivals.
Bad software
We all saw the debacle of the Apple Maps
software on iPhone recently. Apple fell out with Google, got rid of a perfectly
good piece of mapping software from its products and wrote its own… and then it
was rubbish. Any iPhone user with any sense will have recently installed the
newly released Google Maps app to their phone to redress the balance. However,
Apple maps are not the only software that Apple has released that isn’t fit for
purpose.
iTunes
isn’t the best piece of software Apple has ever written
Look at Final Cut Pro X, which Apple
released in 2011, and you can see a real example of how the company was
completely out of touch with its market. Final Cut Pro is a video editing suite
that’s used widely by film and TV professionals. It as much loved and very
powerful… up until Final Cut Pro X, that is.
Final Cut Pro X was released with much
fanfare, and then pretty much despised by the very professionals it was aimed
at. It has been accused of being dumbed down and lacking features that were in
previous versions. Many people just uninstalled it and went back to their old
version. By trying to make their software accessible to all, Apple alienated
the people that actually bought it in the first place. Final Cut Pro was never
really for the home or amateur user (there’s iMovie for that), but Apple didn’t
seem to understand this.
Another piece of hated Apple software is
iTunes. I know it has recently been updated to version 11, which some people
like, but it’s still a hugely bloated and difficult-to-manage piece of
software.
iTunes has grown into a monster, and it’s
really surprising to think it’s written by a company that prides itself on
letting anyone use their computers and software. If you put a person on Garage
Band or Pages or iPhoto who had never used those programs before, then they’d
work them out pretty quickly; they’re well-written pieces of software. Put them
on iTunes and they would be lost, because it’s hideously complicated and in many
cases counter intuitive.
It is, however, maybe not a sign that Apple
has recently lost it… iTunes has been rubbish for years.
