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Re-Imagining Apple

Posted by Zonk on from the later-this-year-from-the-orange-company dept.

FirienFirien writes "Business 2.0 has put up a selection of ideas from Pentagram Design, featuring some interesting rumoured ipod innovations, as well as a look at what may be next for Apple. From the article: 'The project was led by Robert Brunner, who was Apple's chief designer from 1989 to 1996, and who oversaw the design of the PowerBook line, among many other hit products.'"

58 of 541 comments (clear)

  1. An interesting set of designs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    An interesting set of designs, but ones that show that non-steve-approved designers just don't get it.

    Those products all look like any old generic electronics product. They entirely lack the current Apple design features of absolute minimalism.

    If steve could create a sphere with one single button on the outside, that glowed, and had any realistic expectation that it might sell, he would.

    (and the button would be optional)

    1. Re:An interesting set of designs by prockcore · · Score: 4, Funny

      They entirely lack the current Apple design features of absolute minimalism.

      You mean they don't look like boring bars of Ivory soap?

    2. Re:An interesting set of designs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      There's a real opportunity out there for somebody to create a mock ad for the "iPhone shuffle." It's just got one button on it: "call."

      Tagline: "Life is random."

    3. Re:An interesting set of designs by calibanDNS · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Why does a cell phone NEED so many buttons though? I really think that mine has too many, and I rarely use them. For me, the ideal cellphone would have an answer button, and ignore button, a button to initiate voice-activated dialing, a button to toggle between ring, vibrate, and silent, and a power button. I should be able to enter contacts through a USB or BlueTooth interface, and since I'd like to use the phone with a BlueTooth headset instead of holding it to my head, it should have a small design.

      I don't need a camera, I rarely use the digit keys (only for entering my voice mail password, which could use voice authentication), and I don't need a d-pad because I don't want to browse the web or play tetris on my phone.

      On a side note, I also don't want my phone integerated with my digital music player. If a neat-o new technology comes out, I don't want to have to replace my music player just to upgrade my phone or vice versa.

    4. Re:An interesting set of designs by dchamp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Check your voicemail, or your credit card balance, or anything else that you can do with a phone that requires you to enter a pin, zip code, or account number - without a numeric keypad. Go ahead. Try it.

      There's also text messaging... which is a big deal for some people. I only use it for my one friend who works the night shift and can't answer the phone while at work.

      Most people I know never use the voice activated dialing, mostly because it doesn't work, and they don't want to look like a moron saying "Bob! Bob! Bob!" at their phone in a public place. Of course, this assumes that they're not one of those folks who thinks it's OK to talk on a cell phone at any time and place (see: "Shaun of the Dead")

    5. Re:An interesting set of designs by SuperSanta · · Score: 3, Funny

      Guy: "You're cute, can I get your number?" Girl: "Sure, got a cell phone?" Guy: "Better, an iPhone!" Girl: "My number is 596-6" Guy: "Woaaaah, hold on there missy....This is the latest and greatest new technology. You don't just start punching keys for the number, that so 2002! I'll just boot up my laptop so I can sync to my cell phone so I can add a new contact with your details. Girl: "Whatever. Later g44k!" Now, if they had voice-recognition for adding contacts along with dialing, that might be ok. But the cell phone background noice filtering in general does not seem to be where it is needed to have this work well...yet.

    6. Re:An interesting set of designs by bfizzle · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're a slashdotter... you don't need to worry about getting a girl's #

  2. How's that again? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    'The project was led by Robert Brunner, who was Apple's chief designer from 1989 to 1996, and who oversaw the design of the PowerBook line, among many other hit products.'

    Perhaps that should read "... chief designer from 1989 to 1996, a period where Apple saw its market share drop to near irrelevance".

    Weren't these the same people Steve Jobs saved Apple from?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:How's that again? by four2five · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think it was more this man:
      http://www.lowendmac.com/musings/gil.shtml
      Silly gil.....

      --
      -or so you'd think
    2. Re:How's that again? by rebeka+thomas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Yeah when he opened up the architecture to clones and you
      > started seeing Macs everywhere.

      He did no such thing, And those clones were crap. They relied on better performance figures on paper with woeful hardware support & reliability.

      I had the misfortune of supporting Macs during the 1990s. Apples were marginally better than most suppliers, but most clones were cheaper & more prone to failure than the worst PC brands.

      --
      RST
    3. Re:How's that again? by Otter · · Score: 5, Funny

      As a Performa 636CD owner, I must take exception to that! Could a computer that made me a plaintiff in three separate class-action suits be poorly designed?

      --
      What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
    4. Re:How's that again? by n1ywb · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The PowerBook series set the standard for laptop computer design. They were terrific feats of industrial design. And the rest of Apple's products were usually pretty good that standpoint as well. The bad old days were not the result of poor industrial design. Poor price/performance, a crashy and rapidly deprecating OS, and crappy developer programs probably had a lot more to do with it.

      --
      -73, de n1ywb
      www.n1ywb.com
    5. Re:How's that again? by Simonetta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Perhaps that should read "... chief designer from 1989 to 1996, a period where Apple saw its market share drop to near irrelevance".

      Weren't these the same people Steve Jobs saved Apple from?

      This is certainly a valid point, but it is essentially a 'red herring'. It's not the design of the machines that was responsible for Apple's fall in market share. On the contrary, the exempalry design kept the market share from falling further.

      Apple's low market share is primarily due to its high price and relative lack of low-cost software. The lack of low-cost software is a direct result of Apple's refusal implement circuitry that runs 80x86 code in general and (to a lesser extent) Windows API calls. The fact that Apple's OS may or may not look, feel, and act better than Windows is irrelevant. The computer is too expensive and the peripherals are too expensive.

      PC equipment is highly price sensitive. The only market for Apple equipment is in the fields where dollar value added to the work created by a personal computer greatly exceeds the higher cost of the computer equipment itself (including software). For everyone else, the Windows/Linux OS solution is good enough. The benefits of an Apple system are not worth the extra cost, either the lower cost of the CPU and peripheral and the cost of using the more expensive Apple application software.

      For some reason known only to them, Apple chooses to have only a tiny market share of the PC industry. They are certainly smart enough to redefine the industry on their terms.

    6. Re:How's that again? by Mononoke · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I also remember it with that atrocious trackball, a 9" screen, and terrible battery life. The thinkpad had at 10.something inch COLOR screen, and the 'eraser tip' mouse control.
      I remember the Powerbook 100 coming out a year before the thinkpad. I also remember that the 100 was the entry-level model, yet the 1992 thinkpad was the "flagship" of IBM's laptop models.

      Oh, and that thinkpad clit-mouse is worse than any trackball.

      --
      NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
    7. Re:How's that again? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Rather than focus on the points I disagree with, I'll address a point that I do, more or less, agree with. And I'd like to formulate it in a different way, so as to provide some insight for you. You said"

      For some reason known only to them, Apple chooses to have only a tiny market share of the PC industry. They are certainly smart enough to redefine the industry on their terms.

      The way I would put it makes the reason a bit more obvious:

      Apple chooses not to compete with Dell and the other commodity box makers in the commodity box market. They've chosen to compete with Dell on their own terms, by redefining the industry more than once.

      Maybe you meant to say that. The ideas are certainly there in your post.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  3. Re:Apple is SO 2004 by poison_reverse · · Score: 3, Informative

    dropped prices on their ipods, and laptops and released the mac mini???

    --
    _+_+__+_+_+_+_+_+_+++
    when i moo u moo - just like that
  4. Apple is rolling by DoctoRoR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple is the new Sony. Their iPod is this generation's walkman, and Apple is smart enough to leverage that success into other products. Apple has always been good at design. The unix-core of the Tiger OS extends that nice design into the innards.

    More food for thought: Paul Graham's essay on Japan vs US design, which gives a nod to Apple as one of the few US companies that get it.

    1. Re:Apple is rolling by cloudturtle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think you are right for the most part, but there is something you say -- that a lot of people say -- that I think misses the point. The iPod may be this generation's walkman, but it is so much bigger for Apple than a "walkman" would be. THe important thing about the iPod is that without a computer it is a big paper weight. The walkman could survive with tapes and radio transmissions, it had no need for an external interface. The iPod requires this external support and that's why it is having a such a great impact on Apple's bottom line -- with the increase in computer sales, iTunes MS, ect. The walkman couldn't have accomplished this, at least the same way, because it was independent and stand alone. The iPod has the ability to be much more than the new walkman, that to me is what makes it such an intersting device from a business standpoint.

  5. Is it just me... by jberkom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...or are those designs really, really ugly? They bear hardly any resemblance to real Apple products. I'm guessing that's due to the fact that style-man Jobs became CEO in 1997, by which time this designer was gone.

  6. a music revolution.. by bizmark22 · · Score: 5, Funny
    i vote for a new ipod, that not only has no screen, and less storage space, but also no controls at all.. it holds 5 songs, just turns on and off at will, and plays whatever the hell it wants at random...

    but damn it would be the same size as a chiclet and only cost $75...

    Mines on preorder as we speak...

    --


    I read slashdot for the sigs...

    1. Re:a music revolution.. by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, this would be better than radio. He said *five* songs.

  7. What will Apple do next? by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't know what Steve's got up his sleeve, but I know that Business 2.0 doesn't like giving out their stuff for free.

    The page you requested is available only to magazine customers and AOL members. Subscribe now and you're in...

    I guess that's kind of what Steve Jobs meant when he said they "just don't get it." Steve isn't the type of guy to go around giving stuff away for free willy nilly. In fact, he's built up Apple from relative obscurity to the powerhouse PC juggernaut it is today. But when he sees an opportunity, he goes for it. And sometimes that opportunity is to build a stronger brand through giving stuff away for free. He seems to be criticizing the RIAA's tactics of suing their customers, when they should be kissing their asses.

    I'm not saying that Steve Jobs should be on his knees kissing anyone's ass, but it is quite obvious that he has a knack for reading the market and "knowing" what people instinctively want.

    1. Re:What will Apple do next? by cowscows · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, those upset mac faithful should get over it. And I say that as mac user for the past 15 years.

      Sure, so Apple's kicking some ass with the ipod/iTMS. They're also giving us constant updates to OSX, lots of fun to play with consumer software, a solid lineup of hardware, and with the mac mini, a cheapo machine that everyone's been clamoring for for years.

      Part of being the mac faithful is a belief that the average person would be much better off with a mac than a windows machine. Apple's finally making some progress in reaching those average people, and providing them with a cheap computer. What more could we reasonably ask from them? They're not perfect, but I don't think their success in music is causing any big problems.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    2. Re:What will Apple do next? by Sentry21 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think there are a few key things that has made Steve Jobs' term at Apple a success:

      1. He does whatever he wants - no one is willing to say no to him. Some people follow him out of respect, the rest give in because of fear, but the result is that he gets what he wants
      2. He isn't in marketing - he's not sitting there asking twenty-person focus groups 'what would you want an MP3 player to do?' and then implement it all. He decides what HE wants, and makes everyone around him want it, which spreads swiftly.
      3. Reality is no barrier - the famed Reality Distortion Field has been proven by reams of empirical data. Otherwise rational people will listen to, accept, and eventually evangelize things that have no basis in any real or imagined universe. Steve Jobs can tell you the sky is neon green, and you'll believe him. It won't be too long before you think, 'You know, I think the ocean should be neon green as well,' and eventually people will be selling $800 crystal bottles for you to put your neon green ocean water into.
      4. He's eccentric - just because conventional wisdom says something doesn't mean that he'll listen. He's willing to abandon caution to the wind and go with what feels right - something that people are too afraid to do these days, especially with shareholders breathing down your neck.
      5. He's arrogant - He's right. He knows he's right. You know he's arrogant, but you're too afraid to tell him he's wrong, so you just stay quiet and listen, and eventually, you too realize he's right. He's not afraid to tell you what he thinks, and he doesn't care what you think about it - in the end, you know it's not personal, that's just the way it is.

      Generally speaking, all of this boils down to one simple summary: Steve Jobs does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and when he does, he makes you want it too, regardless of the reality of the situation.

    3. Re:What will Apple do next? by GlassHeart · · Score: 4, Insightful
      0. He's often right.

      Do you imagine for a second that a public company would tolerate a CEO who "does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and when he does, he makes you want it too, regardless of the reality of the situation" if he wasn't making them as much money as they've ever seen?

      Now, leaving everything in the hands of such a person is inherently risky. They are capable of great success because they can brush aside all opposition, but they are also capable of spectacular failures for the same reason. But Steve Jobs is a success today mainly because he made Apple build and sell what people want to buy.

  8. Re:I sure would like a non reg version of the arti by Stick_Fig · · Score: 4, Funny

    To paraphrase a wise man, Steve Jobs, Why is it that the people who run the magazine companies just don't get it?

    --
    ShortFormBlog: Writing a little. Saying a lot.
  9. Re:Well, for one thing... by Kagato · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple settled, which is exactly what I predicted they would do. You can't squeeze blood from a turnip, but you can create enough buzz to make other think twice before doing it again.

    I know someone who was sued by microsoft. It was essentially the same thing. Rattle the saber a bit, get some media attention, and settle for peanuts after the story has disappeared from the pages.

  10. Pentagram wanting to get bought...? by tquinlan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This looks to me like Pentagram is trying to get themselves bought, by showing off that they are good designers and might be a worthwhile acquisition for Apple.

    --
    DBA? Software Engineer? My company is hiring! Click
  11. What Wonderful Credentials by Witchblade · · Score: 4, Funny
    'The project was led by Robert Brunner, who was Apple's chief designer from 1989 to 1996, and who oversaw the design of the PowerBook line, among many other hit products.'"

    He must be a design genius- 89-96 were such wonderful years for Apple!

    1. Re:What Wonderful Credentials by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Bob Brunner is an excellent designer, one of the top in the industry; so was his team. Many others in the field of industrial design would agree. The problem was that Sculley, Spindler, Amelio, and the horde of suits they gathered around them failed to appreciate good design, believing beauty had no place in computing (much like Slashdotters, I would point out). Apple's ID team, hobbled though it was by the fact that their best work never saw the light of day outside Apple, still managed to win numerous design awards from '89 to '96. I don't think you can blame the ID group for the shortsightedness of their management.

  12. iSatan by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pentagram, Apple... they really do like the "Devil's advocate" trappings over in Cupertino.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  13. Re-Imaging Apple? by bbeebe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Be sure to make a backup first...

  14. 1989-1996 by justforaday · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ahhh, yes, the prime era of Apple. Is this guy responsible for the wonderful internal design of the 8500 and 9500? (note: you had to essentially dismantle the entire machine to add RAM)

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
    1. Re:1989-1996 by geoffspear · · Score: 5, Funny

      I for one appreciated the attention to detail given by Apple when they sharpened all of the edges of the metal casing inside my Powermac 6100 to razor sharpness. Everyone knows that NuBus cards work better when they're covered in human blood.

      --
      Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
  15. Steve Jobs, great instincts by Fox_1 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Steve Jobs meets Dean Kamen

    Anybody remember this? Dood has a great natural feel for products.

    --
    The rock, the vulture, and the chain
    1. Re:Steve Jobs, great instincts by jfengel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That is interesting, though I'm not sure he nailed the reason why Segway failed. He never mentioned the price. If it were free they'd be all over the place; they're at least as cool as an iPod even without more funky design. As far as I can tell it was too expensive for what it provided. I just can't imagine enough places to take it.

      Who knows? Maybe if it had been designed more innovatively it would have caught more eyes than it did. Certainly if they'd taken his manufacturing suggestions it would have been cheaper, and that might have been sufficient (though I can't imagine knocking off the factor of 5 to 10 that would have been required).

      Ultimately I've got to give him props for the crucial observation that it simply wasn't the right thing: "You don't have a great product yet!" Well, it would have been great for free, in the Jobs definition of "insanely great", even without more style. But he was clearly righter than everybody else in the room.

      Thanks for the link.

  16. A list of possibilities for the product name by product+byproduct · · Score: 4, Funny

    sed s/^/i/ /usr/share/dict/words

  17. The next big thing... by bsdparasite · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll tell you why these are not even close to what may come out of Apple.

    Simplicity. I don't think Apple is in the game of mixing functionalities (I think Sony is a better contender for that). That is why there is no FM tuner in iPods.

    Watch that plays music? No one wants to do anything except keep time using their watch. I mean no one sensible.

  18. Missing the point by legLess · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These folks have done some cool work, but they're totally missing the point. Steve Jobs would rather shave with a cheese grater than let these things out into the wild with an Apple logo on them. Take one look at any of these gadgets and my first reaction is, "Huh, I bet that does a lot of cool stuff." But I'm a geek, and these designs are by geeks for geeks, and that's exactly what Apple is trying to avoid.

    That silly-looking wirless iPod necklace thing -- what's with the bevelled see-through skeleton around it? How does that make it work better? The skeleton around the iPodWatch -- what does it add?

    Apple succeeds because they hide the complexity, not because they call attention to it. Flashy complicated designs advertise internal complexity. While a geek sees power in complexity, most people see added cognitive burden. "Oh, shit, I bet that thing has a million features that I'll never figure out."

    --
    This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
    1. Re:Missing the point by omicronish · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Apple succeeds because they hide the complexity, not because they call attention to it. Flashy complicated designs advertise internal complexity. While a geek sees power in complexity, most people see added cognitive burden. "Oh, shit, I bet that thing has a million features that I'll never figure out."

      You've hit the point exactly. I'm a PC user for various reasons, but I drool everytime I see a nice, simple, and clean design from Apple. It's pleasing on the eyes and pleasing on the mind, and I wish a PC manufacturer would realize this and just make a laptop or PC without all these little edges, buttons, and colors.

  19. Digital Country Club? by MisterSquid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Someone should string FirienFirien and Zonk up by their editorial tonsils. We can't RTFA unless we shell out money. There is no option to register for free or view advertising in exchange for a subscription. Since when did Slashdot becaome a digital country club where one has no option but to pay to play? Oh, I forgot. 90% of Slashdot doesn't ever bother to RTFA.

    That said, I think the most interesting element about this article (of which I could read two paragraphs in addition to its headline) is that a major business news publication is engaging in rumor-mongering just like the fan-based Apple sites. It looks like even the mainstream media has begun imbibing Jobs' Purple Kool-Aid.

    Not that I'm complaining. (Just check out mistersquid's profile on http://discussions.info.apple.com/ if you don't believe me). I just find it interesting that mood of Apple's fan-base is starting to be reflected in major media channels.

    --
    blog
  20. Re:Really out of the box thinking? by FunWithHeadlines · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "Whatever happened to the Apple that had all those great new ideas?"

    They're still coming up with great new ideas. In the meantime, we have this article under discussion involving ideas from people who do NOT work at Apple, so why are you complaining about Apple?

  21. Re:Not really by colmore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The single button mouse is a GREAT design. Just try teaching someone who has never used a computer before to use a two button mouse. It also forces intelligent design on software developers. Very few applications have (or should have) the level of feature complexity that would require contextual menus for basic functionality, and multiple mouse buttons should rightly be viewed as an optional enhancement rather than an interface essential.

    If you don't like it, do what I did, and get a $10 logitech wheelmouse. OS X supports it just fine.

    --
    In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
  22. Re:I sure would like a non reg version of the arti by KillerDeathRobot · · Score: 4, Informative

    It might help if the blurb linked to the right part of the story (which is reg free).

    Link

    --
    Thinkin' Lincoln - a web comic of presidential proportions
  23. Re:The clones were better than Apple's machines by justforaday · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having supported some of the Power Computing machines, I'll vouch for Rebeka. Many of those machines were absolute crap.

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
  24. Get a clue by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    they are rapidly turning into a consumer electronics company And so are Dell and Gateway... hmm, I wonder why? Could it be that computers are now commodities with razor-thin profit margins, while consumer electronics can still be sold for several times their actual worth? Business is all about margins, and you don't get good margins by competing directly with Asian manufacturers. Someday even HP might figure that out...

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  25. The only thing I liked by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Was the iPhone and maybe the video iPod, though I think the flap idea is just bad.

    For a movie iPod, take the current device, make the screen longer for 16x9. Now if you want to watch a movie, turn it on its side and use the wheel to move forward or back.

    For the iPhone, let you side the top half sideways so you could hold the phone while revealing a keypad - great for finding/entering contact information, notes, text messaging, etc.

    But I'm not sold that Apple will go this route. I think they see the iPod as a hub to the computer - insert music into computer, get music onto iPod. Insert movies onto computer, get DVD's or (in time) movies onto the iPod. Record messages to the iPod, and back to the computer.

    So most - if not all - of what they do is still geared towards the computer. And I think most people in this generation can live with that.

    Extend the idea further. Apple is using the iPod as a hub of its own - recording messages, storing contacts, etc. I can see a time when you buy a digital iCamera, and instead of accepting tapes it just uses an iPod for storage. Plug it into the digital camera or camcorder, take your pictures (with 4,000 picture storage space at incredibly high quality, or with 40 GB of storage space, that's what - around 40 hours of video at MPEG-4 for normal TV rates, different for HDTV? I'm just guessing, so I'm sure someone who knows more about video compression will know).

    Cars, like GM, are making "iPod plugs" so you can charge up. Look at the third party iPod market - at least 3 manufacturers are creating car stereos to let you view and select playlists from your iPod.

    Expect to see the iPod become more of a "hub" in this fashion - and, of course, still come back to the PC. Maybe it will get Bluetooth in the future so can "walk into the house, sync and go". But several of the ideas (such as the "Wireless iPod you hang around your neck") won't happen because doesn't use the computer as a hub - but as a streamer. Apple knows people want to sync and go.

    One last thought - the one thing that I'd like to see in future versions of iTunes is a group/family system. I have music, my wife has music, my kids have music, all shared on a Mac Mini. I have a family user just for that reason, but I can see the first time my daughter does a User Switch to herself and doesn't unplug Daddy's iPod, then starts putting *her* music onto just her user - now duplicating storage.

    I'd like to see a version of iTunes which takes this into account, and lets you say "I'm a member of an iTunes share - point me here". Granted, there is the DRM angle where you'll have to have a "family user" to play Audible/iTunes store purchased songs (fine by me, since I just either buy CD's or JHymn the music once I buy it online) instead of every person using their own - but an iTunes family system would be a great. Only 4 more years until my daughter turns 10, and I think the system should be in place by then when she *really* starts getting into her own music.

    --
    52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
  26. Revealing Quote by BandwidthHog · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I've never had a living, breathing music executive come to Apple."

    Kinda makes ya wonder what's hidden in that closet in the corner of Steve's office, doesn't it?

    --

    Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
  27. Apple computer shipments are actually on the rise by chia_monkey · · Score: 4, Informative

    "If Apple actually sold computers again. Seriously, they are rapidly turning into a consumer electronics companies and selling computers are becoming more and more of an afterthought."

    Turning into a consumer electronics company? If you recall, way back when Steve introduced iTunes to the masses, his plan was to make people want the iPod, which would make people want Macs. His plan is working perfectly. While other PC companies are predicted to have slowdowns in units shipped, Apple is actually expected to sell MORE computers in the near future. Not only is Apple selling computers...they are selling MORE computers than before. Making a nice chunk of profit from the product that is helping the computer-base grow is simply gravy.

    --

    "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
  28. Full article text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    (Expand browser window to view ungarbled.)

    What's Next for Apple?

    Steve Jobs won't ever tell you -- but we will. Here's what a trail of intriguing evidence reveals about
    where the world's hottest company is going.

    By Paul Sloan, Paul Kaihla, April 2005 Issue

    Steve Jobs was rocking back and forth in his chair at the head of his conference room table -- and venting. It was January 2002, and the target of his
    ire was the music business. The industry was reeling from Internet piracy and, as Jobs saw it, doing nothing about it. Even Jobs himself, a man
    accustomed to commanding people's attention, had been largely ignored by music execs. Jobs railed to his audience, a few Apple (AAPL)
    lieutenants and Paul Vidich, then a senior exec at Warner Music, about the industry's total lack of imagination. "Until now," Jobs said, "I've never had
    a living, breathing music executive come to Apple."
    Vidich sat quietly.

    "Why is it," Jobs continued, "that the people who run the music industry just don't get it?"
    Vidich could have taken this the way Jobs certainly meant it -- as an insult. But as Vidich listened, he couldn't help thinking that he agreed. Finally,
    he spoke up.

    "Steve," he said, "that's why we're here. We need some help."

    It's amazing to consider what has happened since that encounter at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. In three years Apple has utterly changed
    the way people listen to music, and Jobs has become the hero of the very people he was lambasting. Top acts are eager to sell their music via the
    iTunes music store. The iPod music player has become totemic; it's selling at a rate of about 40 per minute. White buds sprout from so many ears
    that a sudden human evolutionary adaptation seems to have taken place.

    Apple's lead in digital music is growing even as an army of corporate powerhouses -- Dell (DELL), Microsoft (MSFT), Samsung, and Sony (SNE)
    among them -- spends hundreds of millions of dollars to grab a slice of the business. And the financial transformation driven by Apple's storming of
    the music stage has been profound: On its knees when Jobs retook control in 1997, Apple is coming off a year in which revenue rose 33 percent and
    profits quadrupled. Its stock, not surprisingly, has been on a tear, up more than sixfold in the past two years and now hovering around $42 a share.

    So, Mr. Jobs, what do you do for an encore?

    It has become a parlor game in some quarters to try to divine where Apple is going and how it intends to get there -- and not just at the dozens of
    blogs that traffic in Apple rumors. Recently, Microsoft quietly hired a former Apple design executive whose mission is to help Bill Gates's baby
    behave more like Steve Jobs's. Apple doesn't make the game easy; Jobs is famously secretive and detests leaks -- just ask the kid from Harvard
    whom Apple recently sued after he posted details of the Mac Mini before the stripped-down computer was unveiled at Macworld (see "The Secrecy of
    Success"). But there are ways to draw a bead on what's brewing in Jobs's fantasy factory. And we're here to tell you, it goes way beyond what he has
    discussed at Macworld.

    Jobs wouldn't talk to Business 2.0, but in various public forums, he has stressed how the $499 Mac Mini, the low-cost iPod Shuffle, and an advanced
    operating system called Tiger, due out this spring, are meant to build on the digital-music momentum. In truth, they are but the tip of a very long spear.

    Discussions with past and present company officials, Apple partners, and longtime acquaintances of Jobs, as well as clues in patent applications
    and other evidence, point to a gargantuan effort to leverage the iPod's success by creating an entire line of breakout consumer electronics devices.
    Dozens of gadgets -- from an iPod phone to wireless iPods that talk to one another to the ultimate all-in-one home-cum-car media hub -- appear to be
    on the drawing board or, in some cases, already in prototy

  29. Re:Not really by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you don't know how to access contextual menus in the Mac OSes (and didn't think it was possible), maybe you need to get a clue.

    I've tried to teach my father the keyboard shortcut for quitting an app. CMD-Q. Bless his heart, he still uses the menu every freaking time. Do you think these clueless people, such as my father, should be subjected to your "clueful" idea of computing?

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  30. It gets really spooky by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Funny

    OK, you better sit down. It's even scarier than that.

    Darwin's mascot has a pitchfork, horns, and a . . . .

    BILL!

    Proof that MS is the Devil, if you were ever in any doubt.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  31. Re:The clones were better than Apple's machines by jht · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was a big user of Power Computing clones back in the day - they had features I couldn't get in Apple kit, had good prices, and you could do BTO without a problem. The reliability was only so-so, but their support was always good and they were quick about getting me parts if I needed them.

    Apple's reliability was also crap during that era, too - and their prices were a lot higher.

    When it became obvious that MacOS 8 was really just being targeted at shutting down the cloners (at the time, most of the clone companies only had license rights up through 7.x, because 8 was originally supposed to be Copland) and that Apple was going to refuse all the license renewals, I wrote Steve Jobs a snippy e-mail complaining about it and telling him I expected to see their lunch eaten by NT.

    A day later, he sent me an e-mail back explaining his rationale in what he was doing, and we agreed to disagree. You know, I'd say he was probably right after all...

    --
    -- Josh Turiel
    "2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
  32. Apple Design Award by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    If steve could create a sphere with one single button on the outside, that glowed, and had any realistic expectation that it might sell, he would.

    You must be thinking of the Apple Design Award. It's a "beautiful metal cube ... that glows when you touch it." Unfortunately they're generally not for sale.

    http://www.mekentosj.com/goodies/cubism/

    PIctures, including x-rays:
    http://www.mekentosj.com/goodies/cubism/gallery.ht ml

  33. already been done by k2enemy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    nokia makes a very small, no button cameraphone aimed at clubbers that just accepts your SIM card then uses voice dialing.

    http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,8764,62371,00.html

  34. Re:Not really by BitGeek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hmm... I can think of no company in the computer space that has had more designs copied from apple. Hell, every Linux and windows GUI is a copy of the old Mac UI (and not a very good one at that.)

    I can understand why Microsoft did it- they have little creativity and their culture stifles it.

    But why did Linux GUI developers just copy the really poor Windows UI (which is a poor copy of the Mac UI)?

    Sidebar-- if you're going to mention xerox in your response, don't bother. Apple licensed some ideas from xerox, paid them in Apple stock, and then created a user interface from them that went far beyond what xerox had in the lab, etc.

    --
    Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/ 1816257
  35. One of those isn't good by AtariAmarok · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "The first touchpad for mouse control debuted on .. wait for it ... a Powerbook"

    One of those isn't something to be very proud of. The reason the IBM eraser tip is not a lot more common is that IBM charges a lot to license their patent. At times, Toshiba has chosen to bite the bullet and include it The eraser nipple thing is far easier to use than one of those mushy touchpads. Especially when so many touchpads have the horrendous "feature" where if you bump the surface, it acts as a mouse click. This makes absolutely no sense: how many real mice register a click when you touch the mouse without clicking it? I've seen some where you could not even turn it off, making "a Drag is often a Click and Drag even though you never clicked any button" a common situation.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  36. Better ERGONOMICS too. by tentimestwenty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm so sick of people bashing Apple's one button mouse. Next to the PowerMac beige mouse that was standard through the 90s, the new clear optical mouse is the most ergonomic design ever made. You can hold it just about however YOU want, there's no craning to reach the button because the WHOLE THING is a button. All you people who love scroll wheels, and buttons on the side, top and front are going to wake up one day and not be able to move your hand because of carpal tunnel. Take it from me - 10 years as a graphic design power user.

    Sure, I can get 10% more productivity with a scroll wheel or multi-button mouse, but I wouldn't be working today PERIOD if I'd used one all along.