Last week Apple announced their new Macbook Pro laptops.
Their great innovation (a “game-changer” in their words) was a sliver of a touch screen above the keyboard which is able to show touchable context-specific buttons. They’ve dubbed this the TouchBar. Although the OLED technology is certainly pretty, one could almost hear the enormously disappointed collective “MEH” uttered by millions of users and suddenly erstwhile Apple fans world-wide.
Was Apple, in the form of the Phil Schiller really trying to sell this? By the way, if you represent Apple, a company traditionally known for its great design sensibilities, should you not spend just a little more money to dress a little better than the couture equivalent of an old Lada? Suit up man! Phil Schiller not suiting up.
Collectively, the internet was disappointed. Why no touch screen? Why no new iMac (last refresh a year ago) or Mac Pro (last refresh 3 years ago)? What is happening at Apple?
The day before, on October 26, 2016, Microsoft revealed the Surface Studio. Watch this introduction:
… and also this video with Microsoft partners who have in secret been working with the Studio:
Even if you did not like Microsoft, you can get a good sense of the emotion around this new product.
They’ve managed to make something that speaks to the imagination. When I see this, as an outspoken Microsoft critic, I do get the distinct feeling that the Surface Studio is a physical artefact of the science fiction dream that my reality is gradually (and very pleasingly) turning into. My less nerdy technology-critical better half’s first reaction was: When can we get this?
It seems that Microsoft has convincingly out-Appled Apple.
In other words, Microsoft has somehow become sexy whilst Apple seems to have developed strong feelings for the Lada.
As an interesting related tidbit, a friend, whom I was trying to convince NOT to get Google’s new Pixel XL phone because reasons, recently sent me this short post on The Verge by Vlad Savov, a camera phone expert who until recently was of the educated opinion that the iPhone 7 was still the king of the smartphone castle. He writes:
On the basis of my extended experience with Google’s Pixel, I consider it an all-around better phone than the iPhone 7. The final exhilarating straw that broke the camel’s back was the photo below, coming straight out of the Pixel XL’s camera, undoctored other than for a horizon adjustment.
WHAT IN HEAVENS IS HAPPENING?! OUR WHOLE WORLD IS COLLAPSING!
Perhaps not…
During a Signal App conversation (you should really use Signal, it now has privacy-conscious Giphy support) with another friend, I realised that what’s happening here, is in fact wonderfully capricious human emotion interfering with the machine that is capitalism.
Left to its own devices, the nature of capitalism means that successful companies tend to evolve into capitalistically optimal dead ends. In other words, large successful companies lose the will to innovate, because they realise they are able to make more money at less risk by simply not rocking that boat. Instead of investing in innovation, they invest in sales and marketing to milk their large customer-base.
Ironically, Steve Jobs explained this idea quite eloquently during this interview where he talked about the decline of Xerox:
Fortunately, when a company like Microsoft throws an innovation curve-ball that appeals to our emotion and to our imagination, they can rock the boat for everyone.
Even although we’re talking about three absolute behemoths, it’s gratifying that they, as well as their smaller competitors, keep each other on their toes through the fickle wonder that is human behaviour.
Here’s to hoping that AI never manages to model or predict our precious caprice. :)