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Apple Piles On the Features, and Users Say, 'Enough!' (nytimes.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what-we-want-what-we-get dept.

In a few hours, Apple will kickstart its annual developer conference. At the event, the company is expected to announce new MacBook laptops, the next major updates for iOS and MacOS, new features of Siri, and a home-speaker. Ahead of the conference, The New York Times has run a story that talks some of the headline announcements that Apple announced last year: one of which was, the ability to order food, scribble doodles and send funny images known as stickers in chats on its Messages app. Speaking with users, engineers and industry insiders, the Times reports that many of its existing features -- including expansion of Messages -- are too complicated for many users to figure out (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternative source). From the report: The idea was to make Messages, one of the most popular apps on the iPhone, into an all-purpose tool like China's WeChat. But the process of finding and installing other apps in Messages is so tricky that most users have no idea they can even do it, developers and analysts say.

28 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. What happened to "it just works"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seems a case of "it just bloats" from now on.

    1. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Apple has a history of going off-the-rails when Jobs wasn't involved. Say what you want about him as a person, he was pretty good at figuring out what people wanted and giving it to them just in time for them to figure it out themselves. He also worked with something of a minimalist approach, at times to a fault, but with a great degree of success. Without that restraint this could become a problem.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most of these "features" are just advertising in disguise. If you tell Siri to order you a pizza, it will go and order for a nearby top ranked pizza shop. So now we have gone from companies wanting to be on the first page of search results and paying for ad spots at the top, to only the very top result mattering at all.

      It's the same with Alexa. If you ask it to order bog roll, it will order the most popular one stocked by Amazon. Not the cheapest, not the 5 ply silk stuff, just whatever Amazon decides to send you. If you want to sell toilet paper to Alexa users, you need to kiss Amazon's arse.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by jimbolauski · · Score: 5, Funny

      Apple knows what you want, you just don't know it yet. Now go enjoy your ultra slim laptop with short battery life, limited memory, and a drawer full of dongles.

      --
      Knowledge = Power
      P= W/t
      t=Money
      Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
    4. Re: What happened to "it just works"? by PoopJuggler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Everything since the Apple IIe is just bloat. The question is which bloat is useful and which is not.

    5. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Voice assistants are useless for browsing and comparing though. All they can do is read out some data on each item in turn. Can't even show you a photo of the item.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by nomadic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Apple has a history of going off-the-rails when Jobs wasn't involved"

      Apple has gone off-the-rails when Jobs WAS involved, too. See, e.g., iTunes.

    7. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by spoot · · Score: 2

      "Apple has a history of going off-the-rails when Jobs wasn't involved"

      Apple has gone off-the-rails when Jobs WAS involved, too. See, e.g., iTunes.

      iTunes was just fine when it was a music app (see: Sound Jam), all the trouble came when it ended up becoming the 'windows explorer' of the Apple ecosystem. It's the rotting whale carcass of Apple bloated apps.

    8. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      But very few Alexa owners actually use it for shopping. Only 10% use it to order things.

      I have never used mine to order anything. I buy toilet paper in bulk at Costco, not online, and the things I do buy from Amazon are rarely consumables.

      So what do I use it for? First thing every morning while I am making tea: "Alexa, news report". While I am making dinner: "Alexa, set a timer for 5 minutes" and "Alexa, play a Willie Nelson song". I also use it to connect to my IoT hub: "Alexa, turn off the sink light" and "Alexa, lock the front door".

    9. Re:What happened to "it just works"? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      What do you mean with simply saying iTunes?
      iTunes the Application? I like it, I just don't like that they removed coverflow and that it is used for backing up iPads and iPhones.
      iTunes the Store? What is wrong with the store?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  2. Apple's money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In a few hours, Apple will kickstart its annual developer conference.

    I find this really surprising. I was sure Apple had plenty of capital.

    1. Re:Apple's money by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 2

      In a few hours, Apple will kickstart its annual developer conference.

      I find this really surprising. I was sure Apple had plenty of capital.

      Yeah, but it's in Ireland.

      --
      Do you have ESP?
  3. Slashdot likes to rag on Apple by wtbman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Users say: Enough!

  4. Yes, "enough!" by DeplorableCodeMonkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple needs a swift kick in the ass. They've completely lost sight of the Jobs method of empire building which starts with "build and maintain your moat." That moat is the Mac. Even if it becomes 10% of their revenue, it is one of the single most important products they have because of a few reasons:

    1. It has developers get to every iOS product line.
    2. It is the general purpose computer of influencers and decision makers.
    3. It is a hub to the iOS product lines that Apple can totally control.

    It takes no real resources for a company like Apple to regularly update the Mac lines. They can easily afford to sacrifice some potential profitability to make their pro lines robust, repairable, upgradeable, etc. I didn't mind a semi-disposable iPhone when the Macbook Pro was like it was until the post-Jobs era. Now I don't know any power users that think Apple for a $1500-$2500 laptop purchase because we all now think it's a sucker's game.

  5. Features that nobody uses or CAN use. by Yggdrasil42 · · Score: 2

    My main complaint with Apple's new features of the past years has been that most have limited reach.

    Things like Apple Pay are still not available in The Netherlands (where I live), years after release. Siri took years to arrive and is still far more limited than in the US. Other features are constrained to the Apple ecosystem, ignoring the fact that most users own and interact with various platforms. I've never felt a need to explore stickets in Messages, because barely anyone I know still uses Messages.

  6. Re:Sadly This is a rerun by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Jobs uniquely understood how important choosing things not to do was. Engineers and designers do brilliant work every day, but the vast majority of that achievement gets lost in the clutter and quickly forgotten.

    Better to leave consumers wanting more than to leave them confused. Best of all, you can sell them that something more next year. That way you don't have to hit it out of the park every single time. It's more like loading the bases and then getting to first, time and time again.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  7. Fix the hardware by thegreatbob · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Bring the hardware up to modern specifications, then try to maintain a reasonable price, and people will be more likely flock to it. Of course, they make enough money on iPhone/iPad that they probably don't feel particularly motivated to improve the state of affairs for desktop/laptop users.

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  8. Longtime Apple Support Specialist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been a longtime Apple Support Specialist and I've never, ever, seen it hit such a low level of usability and simplicity. It's as if the current Apple has a UI team staffed by the people who designed Windows 3.1. Even basic applications like Messages (on the Mac) are now so difficult to use (AND buggy) that many users have simply given up.

    Apple needs to fire or re-assign every single person that worked on the UI designs post Snow Leopard and post IOS 6 and do a complete "Microsoft Windows 8 doh! moment reversal." They need to go back to where they were then, when everything worked exactly as it should and made freaking sense.

    There is nothing worse than trying to teach people how to use current Apple software: "Why is this this way?" (Because Steve Jobs died and the people now in charge at Apple are morons.) "This doesn't make any sense." (No, it doesn't, it's complete nonsense and you just have to memorize it.) It's a fracking nightmare.

    1. Re:Longtime Apple Support Specialist by Moof123 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Strong agreement here.

      I have been annoyed for a while with what they have done to music on iOS since they integrated streaming. It is hard to do something as simple as switch to shuffle on a currently playing playlist for Pete's sake. Then I took my old ipod touch that is stuck at iOS 6 on a road trip. Holy cow did things "Just work". I'd forgotten just how bad iOS had gotten that I could easily do more of what I wanted on a widget I've barely used in 2 years than on the iPad I use almost daily.

      I'd rather have fewer gimmicks that worked really well than heaps of buggy features I never use.

    2. Re:Longtime Apple Support Specialist by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not only that, who the fuck ever thought "Shake to undo" was a good, intuitive idea?

    3. Re:Longtime Apple Support Specialist by swb · · Score: 2

      They want to be a services company and they are using their apps to steer users towards their services.

      Ever since iTunes match became a thing, the music app has been sliding and the current pushyness to Apple Music has made it almost unusable.

  9. apple needs an server system or at least rights VM by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    apple needs an server system or at least rights to run server in a VM on ANY base hardware. Small and big business can use an local update mirror and they would like to rack mount it / load on there in place VM hardware. Also apple used to have an mini server but they just had cut the power and make the mini even thinner.

    And the mac pro??? 256G is small and 2 video cards is over kill for an server.

  10. Re: When what most want. by PoopJuggler · · Score: 2

    By "most" you mean you. If that's really what the bulk of their customer base wanted they wouldn't sell oodles of them like they do.

  11. Re:MacBook developer wishlist by beelsebob · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They already have a docking station - it's called a Thunderbolt port, you just chose not to buy a dock.

  12. The one announcement I want... by wezelboy · · Score: 2

    The person responsible for accelerometer activation of doodles in Messenger is no longer employed at Apple.

  13. Re:MacBook developer wishlist by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    >> docking station - it's called a Thunderbolt port

    After plugging/unplugging a thousand times (getting close I think) I worry about my little Thunderbolt port, which feels like it's getting looser. I guess I'm hoping for something more "commercial grade" (designed for 10K+ plugs/unplugs, with a physical "ker-chunk" when it's docked).

  14. To be fair... by sootman · · Score: 3

    ... I could name a dozen other companies off the top of my head who are adding more features than I want. Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Mozilla, Adobe, my cable company, my phone company... and that's just from looking at a list of what I have running right now. I could probably hit a hundred if I actually started making a list. Does anyone want to hear details of how the A/C controls in a 2016 Corolla are objectively worse than they were in a 1986 Corolla?

    Apple is probably mid-pack in terms of "shit I didn't ask for and don't want".

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  15. Nothing... by 101percent · · Score: 2

    Not much innovation on the MacOS front for a WWDC. Looks like Apple really is a media company now. iOS seems to be their main software focus.