Comment by jpxxx | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jpxxx | Hacker News Reader

I like this guy but this opinion piece has almost nothing going for it.

What the tech-elite are upset about is that the iPhone is the product of -SAFE- design. They made safe design choices, safe technical choices, safe aesthetic choices, and paved over some platform disruptions that are going to stick in more than a few craws (new maps, new dock connectors, new advertisement rules, etc). There was no zing zap zowie twist, no manic panic streak, just safe iterations like thinner/faster/tighter/stronger.

Think about it: there isn't one new sensor type, one new I/O type, one signature new datatype (save for possibly Passbook), nothing. The smartphone is becoming mature and the 8000 pound gorilla isn't willing to start zigging and zagging with the highest profile product in technology.

People want to be wowed, and when all they got was a thorough refinement of what they had, they left disappointed. My mom is going to love the decisions Apple made regarding her iPhone 5. John X. Android won't.

It doesn't matter though. This phone is going to sell tens of millions a month, be the safe #2 market seller, be the #1 money spinner, and stand for another year as the overall best.

You want daring phones? You want risky phones? Look elsewhere.

I think the vast majority of what Apple does would be considered "safe".

But to me, where you see safe I see refined. They focussed on building them better. They focussed on putting in the different radios, better/larger screen, while keeping consistent battery life. While making it smaller.

Just because there's no NFC (of arguable real-world usefulness, and I'm sure that's not what you're talking about anyways) doesn't mean its not innovative.

Apple doesn't really innovate on hardware features very often. They put capacitive touch in the mainstream with the original iPhone. They pushed HiDPI displays into mainstream with the iPhone 4. They redefined the tablet computer form-factor with the iPad.

Why change a great thing?

We're arguing the same thing. :) I'm not critical of their choices. They did their best work making the best product for the most people with the most money.

Unsafe was cashing in 100% of their market credibility to drop an uncompetitive keyboard-less featurephone into the 2007 market. Unsafe was Retina. Unsafe was the iPhone 4 design. Unsafe was Siri. Unsafe was the sealed filesystem. Unsafe was unsubsidized sales.

Of all of their dozens of unsafe decisions, I think only two burnt them: unsubsidized sales and Antennagate. And they course corrected on both of them as soon as feasible.

But here we are 6 product cycles later and they've successfully gotten to where they wanted to be: The Unquestioned Best. It's the safe choice. It's the sure thing. It's the one everything else is compared to. It's the standard bearer.

And seriously? I can't think of what the next Unsafe decision is. Is it in payments? Is it in docking? Is it in Zigbee/NFC? Is it in broad identity management? Developing markets?

Apple is in a position where they don't -have- to make Unsafe decisions anymore, and that roaring sound you hear is tens of billions of dollars rushing their way. They survived the gauntlet. Now it's time for them to feast.

Pardon my metaphor soup.

Microsoft thought so too ten years ago. Success can be a dangerous thing.

Great insight; nice to see something that's not just Gruber-bashing.

I think we can expect Apple to do unsafe things in the future, but outside the realm of iPhone. The iPod (classic) was in a fairly safe place when Apple started disrupting with iPhone. The iPhone and iPad are coupled tighter than the iPod and the iPhone, but there's a hint of the same thing here; the iPhone is refined, and the newer iPad disrupts.

I think iPad, not iPhone, is where we should look for unsafe. Or perhaps something else altogether.

What happened to "Think Different" ?

"Think different" won them a dominant position in two colossal (and colossally important) markets that they're in the process of eviscerating to the consternation of all involved.

I assure you they are in the process of "thinking different" about a number of new markets and form factors. For the ones that are gushing money? "Think Dominant"

For the ones that are gushing money? "Think Dominant"

Well, that goes fairly well with their 1984 commercial I suppose.

There's a different dock connector.

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