Church of the Latter Day Steves

What's playing in the App Store?.. Picture courtesy of Apple

TODAY
We had a horrible, rainy Thanksgiving week. This weekend has been a pleasant repudiation of that. Its 55 degrees, under a bright blue sky. I’m a fool to be sitting in a coffee shop when I could be out frolicking in the sun. But this important blog awaits.. Today’s topic is one for Apple fans and foes alike.

APPLE TV 4

Last month, I gave myself the 4G Apple TV for a birthday present. It is a wonderful device – the first Apple TV upgrade that I’d describe as a “quantum” change. The remote control is beautiful just to look at. It incorporates a smooth new touch interface that you have to experience – you glide through the options without any loss of selection control. Siri can be summoned to tell you what’s on (although I prefer doing a text search). Best of all, Apple TV 4G offers an App store which has already expanded the channel offerings from @ 40 to over a thousand. And – we’re only in the 1st month since it came on the market. What might the Apple geniuses be coming out with next?

SINCE STEVE…

This brings me to the topic du jour – what would Steve Jobs think of 2015 Apple? ..Is he rolling in his grave, or is he giving a thumbs up? Steve Jobs was an uncontrollable perfectionist. He was said to have obsessed over the color of beige plastic on the Apple II computer. He likewise sweated the details over the marble texture in an Apple Store. He personally approved the boxes and packaging his expensive toys came in. He also weighed in heavily on Apple commercial content. The Land of Steve was a land of slavishly specific details. Overall, I think Steve would like the fact that Apple is riding high money-wise. The financial proof is in the pudding – he would have trouble arguing with “most valued company”. But he would surely have nits to pick and here they are a few, IMHO..

1) Matter of Size – Jobs derided “phablets” and giant phones. iPhone 5 was the perfect dimension for an adult hand, he speculated. Any wider would invite cramping and joint issues. He also touted the iPad 1 as a perfect magazine size. The Mini and Pro sizes would probably elicit his disdain. But – in our Goldilocks world it turns out that different folks glom to different sizes of things after all.

2) Stlyus and pens – Steve positively hated the stylus. Any prototype featuring a stylus would get hurled out the window. He laughed at Microsoft’s 2001 tablet precisely because it relied on a stylus. Alas, the stylus has crept its way back into Appledom. Steve is not smiling from wherever he sits.

3) Think Different – During the Reign of Steve, Apple was well outside of the box. Many items were game changers and we must just as well say out of the blue. Since 2011, everything saving the watch has been an iteration of what already is. Size, color and shape have all shifted but basics have not. Steve would probably be masterminding another 21st century sea change by now.

Could Steve possibly be wrong about anything? Well yes – he could. His board of directors had to tie him down and sedate him at the idea of iTunes for Windows. That turned out to be the main marketing ploy that turned the whole US onto iPods and iTunes. Steve wanted to file a major lawsuit against Google Android for stealing the iPhone interface. His team wisely talked him down from this – he would have lost and looked silly in the process.

Apple has had a few duds along the way – G4 Cube, .Mac, ROKR.. Even a wizard can occasionally cast the wrong spell. Steve was brilliant overall at matching genius people (Steve Wozniak, Jonathan Ive) to innovative projects. His wins were quite a few more than his losses and they changed our world at that.

Steve would probably exhort his team of “Latter Day Steves” to recast the 21st century ..how about 3D, holograph, floating displays or tactile conversation? We do have the talk of an Apple Car. Maybe the Latter Day Steves are on their assignment after all.

© 2015 Snillor Productions