How is Apple innovative?

[WhiteIphone5]

People tell me the MacBook Air was the first of its kind when the Sony vio z weighed less in 2008 then a 2010 MBA and more importantly had an i7 quad ssd in raid zero

http://m.tomshardware.com/news/sony-vaio-z-quad-ssd,9468.html

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...Id=10151&langId=-1&identifier=S_Z_SERIES_PAGE


The nexus 10 has more ppi than iPad 4 . Samsung note tablet with s pen is letting people draw really good and accurate pictures for the first time, the nexus 4 is coming out with no contract and 2 gigs of ram. The asus zen book prime has a discreet video card in a 13" form while no MacBook in the 13 in category has .... I'm not seeing where the innovation went to :/

Is is exactly the thought I had after they released the 4S.... What happened

 

[flameproof]

As I say - Apple are seen (around these parts) as the great innovator, the inventors, but as we really know, they're not.

There is no doubt that they, probably not invented, but perfected, the marketing to sell something not new as new.

And I think that is OK, sometimes it takes a little push to like something.

But sometimes that push is too much and we like terrible products. iPod is one of those. Can't be used as just a file store and must use that terrible iTunes software. Before I used my HTC as MP3, I can just make a directory for music, make a directory structure to my taste, upload files, and listen. iTunes simply sux and makes a good idea bad.

 

[Rogifan]

It's not that Apple doesn't innovate, it's that they never innovated at the fast pace people seem to think they did. Apple does come up with some innovations, but they are few and far between, most of their products being refinements/polishing of existing devices out there, bringing them to wider audiences.

So people are expecting Apple to churn out innovation but that's never been the case. Inflated expectations.

And I say WTF cares as long as they release products people want to buy. I love my iPhone and iPad. I could really give a crap less whether its considered innovative or not.

 

[flameproof]

I think a lot of people will say, "Whens the last time Apple really surprised people and put out something that at least seemed innovative?"

Apple changed the way people look at maps....

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Was and still are, I'm talking about public perception. As I say - Apple are seen (around these parts) as the great innovator, the inventors, but as we really know, they're not.

Read my post #72. It's the package, presentation, delivery and style of use of what already existed that gave Apple the innovator brand. Besides the fact the Apple ran with it and made it part of their marketing.

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Apple changed the way people look at maps....

That's how the world actually looks. Our brain just corrects what we see. Apple got it right.

 

[MacNut]

Not every product is a showcase for apple's innovation but lets some examples.

The MacBook Air - they were the first and invented the ultrabook, so far no other manufacturer has come close to its popularity.

The iPhone - game changer.
The iPad - game changer
iPod - game changer
iTunes with the itms - game changer.

These show off apple's innnovation. They may not have invented the technology but thy used it in a way no one else considered and made some huge break throughs.

The mini has some innovative designs with regard to the thinness and weight. I like the specs of the N7, and I'm tempted by ICS but that doesn't mean iOS is bad or the mini is deficient

They were innovative when they first game out. iTunes is a joke now, just bloatware, nothing innovative about it anymore.
the iPod is basically dead.
the iPhone didn't really innovate until the 3GS. That is hitting it's peak now.
The air other than being thin was not innovative as it stripped the functionality. It was a innovative design but not function.

 

[Rogifan]

They were innovative when they first game out. iTunes is a joke now, just bloatware, nothing innovative about it anymore.
the iPod is basically dead.
the iPhone didn't really innovate until the 3GS. That is hitting it's peak now.
The air other than being thin was not innovative as it stripped the functionality. It was a innovative design but not function.

So I guess the iMac wasn't innovative either because it got rid of the floppy drive.

 

[Solomani]

the iPod is basically dead

Wrong.

iPod is not dead. All it's functionality is simply being integrated into the smartphones. It's simply being assimilated into a similar device (a smartphone). Hence, one can think of an iPhone as a smartphone, but can also act like an iPod. It's a Borg-like assimilation, in a convenient way.

 

[MonkeySee....]

They were innovative when they first game out. iTunes is a joke now, just bloatware, nothing innovative about it anymore.
the iPod is basically dead.
the iPhone didn't really innovate until the 3GS. That is hitting it's peak now.
The air other than being thin was not innovative as it stripped the functionality. It was a innovative design but not function.

Stripping that functionality (drive) has now spread across the whole line up. iMac, Retina MacBook Pro, Mac Mini.

They are pushing digital content which is where everything is going to go.

 

[Solomani]

The air other than being thin was not innovative as it stripped the functionality. It was a innovative design but not function.

Don't tell me you cried when Steve Jobs introduced the first iMacs without floppy drives. Because in doing so, Apple did it first and therefore proved its ability to see into the future, then a couple years later, the ME-TOO copycat PC industry followed Apple's lead. Within a few short years, people stopped using floppies as a storage medium.

Apple is often, not always, but a lot of times right in doing things way ahead of its time, and way ahead of its rivals. The skeptics and naysayers eat crow later.

Oh, by the way... Flash is nearly dead. No longer supported on Android (Jelly Bean). Steve predicted that one too. I could go on and on with examples....

 

[KnightWRX]

Don't tell me you cried when Steve Jobs introduced the first iMacs without floppy drives. Because in doing so, Apple did it first and therefore proved its ability to see into the future, then a couple years later, the ME-TOO copycat PC industry followed Apple's lead. Within a few short years, people stopped using floppies as a storage medium.

No one followed Apple's lead. The floppy was already on a decline, and the PC industry stopped when the support just didn't make sense anymore. Like the PC industry drops legacy ports/technologies all the time.

It's just time moving forward. Especially back in those years (late 90s, early 00s), no one gave a crap what Apple was doing.

Oh, by the way... Flash is nearly dead. No longer supported on Android (Jelly Bean). Steve predicted that one too. I could go on and on with examples....

"People don't want to watch video on a 2" screen" - iPod Video
"People just don't read anymore" - iBookStore
"10 inch is the minimum size to make great tablet apps" - iPad Mini

Steve said a lot of crap. Sometimes he was right, sometimes he was wrong.

 

[Brian Y]

There's one area nobody's mentioned - retail.

If there's one area where Apple is most innovative, it's in the retail sector. In the design of their stores, the profit levels per square foot, and creating a retail "experience" that nobody else has managed.

How many people go to PC World to hang out? Or to best buy for training. Go to any shopping mall, and I guarantee the busiest store will be the Apple store. All sales staff use mobile tills which fit in their pockets, and you can actually grab a product, pay for it on your phone, and walk out - that, in my eyes, is innovation (compared to the current "self service checkouts??)

 

[isephmusic]

There's one area nobody's mentioned - retail.

If there's one area where Apple is most innovative, it's in the retail sector. In the design of their stores, the profit levels per square foot, and creating a retail "experience" that nobody else has managed.

How many people go to PC World to hang out? Or to best buy for training. Go to any shopping mall, and I guarantee the busiest store will be the Apple store. All sales staff use mobile tills which fit in their pockets, and you can actually grab a product, pay for it on your phone, and walk out - that, in my eyes, is innovation (compared to the current "self service checkouts??)

i do have to say their stores changed a lot and those new windows store laugh in comparison. windows never EVER had some 1 on 1 training option for 99bucks like apple does for peoples lolparents. and now microsoft has it up on the site to make the appointments like apple does. lol but other then schemeing im not really seeing anything at all ! no awesome design changes just enlarge \ shrink and resize their whole product line haha

 

[aristobrat]

Except no one has adopted it because it requires them to change their point of sale systems. Its a huge hassle for the merchant and provides pretty much no benefit to them. Google wallet also supports rewards cards and gift card and again doesn't require the merchant to modify the point of sale system themselves.

Samsung announced their version of Passbook today, called Wallet. There's a quote in The Verge's writeup that reminded me of this thread.

When [The Verge] asked why Samsung did not include NFC tap-to-pay features in Wallet, the company said that retailers prefer barcodes over NFC because they don't have to install any new infrastructure to support it.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/27/4035064/samsung-wallet-app-apple-passbook-features