Apple : Analysis: Did Apple make better products when it was less successful?

Analysis: Did Apple make better products when it was less successful?

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As part of the celebrations for its twentieth anniversary, our sister magazine MacFormat is running a poll to find the best Apple product of the last 20 years.

It's still open – you can and should vote here, not least because you could win an iPad mini – but we've had a peek at how the votes are stacking up so far, and they've got us thinking; did Apple make better products when it was actually a less successful company?

10 things Apple totally messed up

The current top five in the poll reads like this: iPhone 5, MacBook Air, iPad 4, iPhone 4S, iPad mini. Now, nobody in their right mind – [witty aside about Android fanboys] – is going to argue that those aren't stunning things. Nobody's going to seriously contend that these slick, supremely beautifully crafted artefacts aren't part of the reason Apple is currently one of the most successful companies the world has ever seen.

Sign of the times

But it's a bit of a boring list; it's basically a description of Apple's current line-up. MacFormat, after all, is running a poll to find the best Apple product of the last 20 years, not the best product you can walk into an Apple Store and buy today; you have to get to 13 in the rankings to see a product introduced before the turn of the century, and overall it's a list hugely dominated by very recent products.

Yet there are so many things that Apple has produced throughout the last two decades that were hugely innovative, that disrupted stagnant businesses or that flat-out triggered an animalistic 'want' when you first saw it.

The G4 Cube, for example. Sure, it was a commercial failure, but it's glorious, and the way you drew the core out from the case never felt anything less than sci-fi.

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4-PB86oy044

The PowerBook Duo. A slim, light laptop that you slotted into a full desktop case to give it more power and more storage when you weren't on the go. Hell, we'd buy that today; quite apart from the practicalities of balancing power and portability, the act of slipping a laptop – clunk! – into a desktop case just still feels cool.

Newton? The spiritual predecessor to the iPad, and hugely ahead of its time; handling one now still gives you that tingle, and you could argue Apple's never made a computer cuter than the eMate.

Apple Newton

Or what about iMacs past? The slim aluminium model is beautiful, but in a cold, soulless way. Nothing has equalled the charm (or, to be frank, the ergonomic triumph) of the 'Anglepoise' iMac G4, and the original iMac G3 should be lauded and remembered not just for its friendly, colourful transparent plastics, but also because it unequivocally marked the point at which Apple started to get its mojo back, propelling it to its current success.

What about Apple's software?

And that's before you get to software and services. You could argue – although perhaps only after a few pints – that Xcode is hugely important since it lets developers create the apps that kick-started the app revolution. You could also argue – though perhaps only after switching to whisky – that iMovie marked a moment when we stopped using our computers for word processing and spreadsheets and started using them for fun.

For – and this is the kind of phrase you can only utter with a straight face once you are drunk – lifestyle stuff.

We did a big, serious bit of research at the start of the year, and one of the things it shows is that the general public still sees Apple as being a hugely innovative company, but there's a growing feeling among the alpha geeks in the industry that it's faltering.

Ipod hi-fi

And certainly, if you look at MacFormat's list of everything it has made since 1993 – in those dark Gil Amelio days when nobody ever printed a story about it without prefixing is as "Beleaguered tech company Apple…" – it's easy to come to the conclusion it's a company that works best when it's under pressure – when it's forced to innovate hard to give it the competitive edge it needs to emerge victorious.

But now that it has emerged victorious, and now that Steve Jobs isn't here any more to provide the vision and leadership, is it just running on inertia? We haven't really seen anything other than incremental updates to existing product lines since 2010's introduction of the iPad.

What about the future?

That, though, actually is Apple's magic. It sounds like very dull magic indeed – a bit like when as a kid you ask if miracles are real and someone tells you that in its own way an oak tree growing from a tiny acorn is a miracle – but it's what has propelled it to its current position; a relentless, pragmatic focus on a very few products, making them better and better, and taking away compromise after compromise every year.

We demand revolutionary, not evolutionary products, but in truth that's just an artefact of our constant appetite for novelty. Major shifts in computing – from punched-card Jacquard machines to primitive stored-programme computers, to the terminal, the GUI and the mouse, the smartphone – are rare, and they only happen once improvements in ancillary technologies and social impetus align in ways that are difficult to predict.

Apple was pivotal in two of these revolutions – and there's no reason to think it's not capable of fomenting more in the future – but the evolution that happens after each one is just as important. There is, after all, a reason we're not still driving Ford Model Ts.

Vote at macformat.com/mf20 to crown the best Apple product of the last 20 years, and for the chance to win an iPad mini!

Updated: Apple iTV release date, news and rumours

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Apple iTV rumours: what you need to know

We love the Full HD Apple TV box, but Apple really isn't so sure: the company has seemed more interested in getting iPads into your living room than its Apple TV box.

Apple says the Apple TV is a hobby, but the company is thinking bigger. Much, much bigger: it wants to sell you the entire TV set, not a little box beneath it.

In an early 2012 earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted again at the release of something bigger and better than the current Apple TV.

Is Apple iTV confirmed?

"With Apple TV, however, despite the barriers in [the TV set top box] market, for those of us who use it, we've always thought there was something there. And that if we kept following our intuition and kept pulling the string, then we might find something that was larger.

"For those people that have it right now, the customer satisfaction is off the charts. But we need something that could go more main market for it to be a serious category."

However, it is possible that he meant a set top box, and rumours have continued to rumble on that Apple is in talks with US cable providers over a new version of its existing Apple TV box.

FutTv : SNcCn61A339dr

Stronger hints came in a December 2012 Tim Cook NBC interview. "When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years," Cook told Williams. "It's an area of intense interest. I can't say more than that."

Apple isn't the only one dropping big hints either - manufacturer Foxconn had to refute reports in late May 2012 that it had begun to produce the Apple iTV after a story emerged quoting chief executive, Terry Gua, as saying Foxconn was "making preparations for iTV."

More speculation citing Foxconn involvement emerged in December 2012 and then again in late March 2013, especially as the company has decided to move into TVs.

Here are all the rumours and speculation surrounding the Apple iTV, which some have also claimed may end up with the surely unlikely name of the Apple iPanel.

Apple iTV release date

Most rumours predict a 2013 Apple iTV release date. The New York Times says that price, not technology, is the problem: Apple is waiting for the cost of large LCD panels to fall further before building iTVs.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster suggested in November 2012 that the iTV would come out a year later, in November of 2013.

According to Market Intelligence Center, David Einhorn from Greenlight Capital, recently told his investors that he believed Apple would come out with its next "blockbuster product" - the iTV - soon.

This is big change in Munster's thinking. Earlier this year Munster was calling for Apple to announce the Apple television in December, then release it in the first half of 2013.

As AppleInsider says. "Most notably, he expects Apple will launch a television set in time for the holiday 2013 shopping season. He expects the product to be priced between $1,500 and $2,000, with screen sizes between 42 and 55 inches."

As Business Insider says, Munster doesn't provide any reason for his thinking.

However, some rumours in May 2012 suggested that we won't see the Apple iTV until 2014 and these rumours continued into early 2013.

In December 2012 Wall Street Journal sources said that various TV prototypes have been on the company's slate for a number of years.

Apple iTV design

In mid-May a new report from Cult of Mac claimed one of their contacts saw a working prototype of the Apple TV. The report claimed that Siri and iSight will feature (so face and voice recognition then), while the design is similar to that of an Apple Cinema Display.

The Telegraph says that "sources within the company" say that Jeff Robbin, the man who helped create the iPod, is leading the team. Apple has seemingly denied rumours that it is working with French designer Philippe Starck. Remember when he worked with Microsoft on a mouse?

However, it appears that Starck was actually working on another project, a yacht, with Steve Jobs before his death.

On 13 May 2011, we reported that Apple is rumoured to be in talks to buy TV manufacturer Loewe. AppleInsider wrote that talks have entered the advanced stages and Loewe is expected to make a decision on Apple's offer within the next week.

Apple iTV specifications and display

Engadget predicts an A5 processor and 1080p video - neither of which are a huge surprise, granted.

Australian tech site Smarthouse says that the Apple iTV will come in three sizes, including 32-inch and 55-inch models.

Sources at "a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV" reckon the sets will have the same processor as the forthcoming iPad 3, which presumably means an Apple A6.

Smarthouse isn't usually the go-to site for Apple rumours, but its report echoes similar claims by respected Apple analyst Gene Munster, who told the recent Future of Media conference that Apple will make its TV in a range of sizes.

"The smallest one will be 42 inches in size, followed by a 52 inches one and a 60 inches iTV (coincidence or not, these exact sizes are available on Sharp TVs, too)," said Gozmorati. This information was repeated in several similar stories.

March, June and December 2012 rumours pointed at Sharp being the manufacturing partner. SlashGear says work on components is already under way. In mid April, Sharp announced it had begun production of 32-inch HI-DPI LCD panels at its Kameyama Plant No. 2 - could these be the panels destined for the Apple iTV?

Apple contractor Foxconn's parent company has made a rather large investment in Sharp - does this indicate something we wonder?

Both companies were apparently working together to 'test' TV designs in the December 2012 rumours.

Rumours also continue to circulate that Samsung could be heavily involved in the iTV project, not least because of features such as TV Discovery, enabling you to easily find programming.

An early 2013 patent, reported on by Macworld, describes "a sound system that could be launched as part of its iTV. The intelligent system could determine where a user is in a room, and if he or she was not within the optimum range, the processor could modify the audio output, says the application. It could also adjust based on which way the user is facing, and the environment that the user is in," Clever stuff.

Apple iTV 4K?

New rumours from the ever-questionable Digitimes suggest we could be seeing a 3,840 x 2,160 display from Apple. Apparently LG would manufacture the display. We'd be amazed if this one was true.

Apple iTV operating system

As with the Apple TV, any iTV is likely to run iOS, albeit in slightly disguised form. Compatibility with other iOS devices is a given: current Apple TVs already accept video streamed via AirPlay and access shared iTunes libraries. We'll be amazed if the iTV doesn't get apps.

Expect Apple iTV and Apple TV to work more like iOS does on the iPad; the newest iOS 6 Beta for the Apple TV enables app icons to be moved around the homescreen just like on the iPhone and iPad.

That has led some observers to conclude that the rumoured App Store for Apple's favourite 'hobby project' might be on the way sooner rather than later.

Apple iTV and iCloud

Steve Jobs told his biographer: "I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

According to one source which claims to have seen the device, the new TV has Siri and FaceTime.

Apple iTV remote control

Munster says the iTV will come with an ordinary remote control, and will be controllable with iPhones, iPod touches and iPads, but the real remote control will be Siri.

Apple's voice recognition system will be the heart of the new Apple TV, enabling you to choose channels and control the TV's functions with voice alone. That means " the simplest user interface you could imagine" is voice.

However, according to a new patent filed in March 2012, Apple has come up with the design for an advanced universal remote that would also be compatible with your iPhone and iPad.

But could Apple also be thinking more about games? Some sources say so, with an official joypad-type device possibly on the cards to work alongside Apple TV.

Apple iTV AirPlay mirroring

After AirPlay mirroring from Mac to Apple TV was present in the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, it's not a great leap to suggest that the Apple iTV could mirror the display of your Mac or iPad wirelessly too. AirPlay mirroring is now 1080p with the new iPad and new Apple TV.

When a prototype was reportedly 'seen' it did feature AirPlay.

Apple iTV programmes

While the iTV will get content from iTunes and iCloud, it's not going to be completely separate from current TV broadcasters: Munster says that you'll still need a cable TV subscription and decoder because Apple doesn't have enough content.

We're not sure whether it would play nicely with Freeview and Freeview HD here in the UK, but perhaps a DVB-T compatible unit will arrive as part of a second generation.

As of 6 March 2012, rumours were continually doing the rounds that, as the New York Post reports, Apple is planning to launch a music streaming service this side of Christmas.

On 13 March, Les Moonves, who is CEO at CBS, says he was the recipient of a pitch from Steve Jobs regarding his network's participation in a subscription-based service, but turned him down. Apple is also rumoured to be talking about getting partners involved for movie streaming.

His reasoning? Moonves says he was worried about damaging the network's existing revenue streams through broadcast and cable television.

In February 2013 it became clear that Apple had hired James (Jueng-jil) Lee, a former senior researcher at LG. According to the OLED Association, he had been working on a printed AMOLED TV display.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Lee lists his role at LG as "OLED Technology Development for TV Application" and he said he was "developing the Soluble Technology (RGB Type) for OLED TV application at LG Display".

The main question is whether Apple will open the door for third-party content, like the BBC iPlayer, Sky Go and 4oD and other apps we've seen on connected TV platforms. These may well arrive with apps - the Apple TV SDK will pull on the iTV ecosystem and we're expecting apps to be available for Apple TV too.

Mind you, it's also been claimed that Apple will seek to cut traditional TV providers out of the content loop.

Apple iTV price

Gene Munster reckons that the iTV will be twice the price of a similarly sized TV. Ouch. However, new March 2012 rumours point at a subsidised launch - courtesy of various partners.

Apple iTV picture quality

If the iTV does appear, it won't leave manufacturers quaking in their boots. That's according to Samsung's Chris Moseley who told Pocket-Lint in early February 2012 that the firm isn't overly concerned with what Apple launches if it decides to enter the TV market

"We've not seen what they've done but what we can say is that they don't have 10,000 people in R&D in the vision category," he says.

"They don't have the best scaling engine in the world and they don't have world renowned picture quality that has been awarded more than anyone else."

Apple iTV gaming and apps

Although most of the rumours so far have been about the hardware involved in the iTV, gaming may be a major focus of the new device. Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted in mid-April at the HQ of Valve Software, the company behind gaming platform Steam. Some rumours are drawing more from this meeting, saying Apple could be producing a Kinect-style gesture-based console. But this is likely to be part and parcel of the iTV.

Will Apple iTV do well?

With smart TVs taking over the TV market, analysts reckon that the time is ripe for an Apple iTV to be launched. Smart TV adoption grew from 12% in 2011 to 25% in 2012, according to a new report from TDG.

Yahuui Blog

Tuesday, May 21, 2013