Once upon a time, Apple was ahead of the entire planet. No other company has ever thought to rid smartphones of buttons, stylus and resistive screens. Or give up almost all the usual connectors in favor of USB. These are just two of the most striking and successful examples of Apple’s challenging innovations – there were a lot of them. They expected miracles from Apple’s presentations, and the company, as a rule, did not disappoint these expectations. It was another Apple, completely different from the one we know now. Now others, like Samsung, fearlessly invade the new and the unknown, making mistakes and correcting them. And Apple, carefully and endlessly, paying attention to even the smallest details, brings other people’s innovations to the perfect shine. Or their own – but other companies manage to bring these innovations to the market before her. What happened to Apple and why?
Apple changed its policy a little over a decade ago. Even under Steve Jobs. Because of the iPhone. Weighing just 135 grams, the device changed Apple’s position in the world. Still few people understood this, but Steve said a very important phrase: “We do not strive to be the first, our goal is to be the best”. In my opinion, at the presentation of the iPhone 3GS. The next great product was the iPad. It was not the first “tablet computer” in the world. This direction was considered hopeless – attempts to make humanity happy failed miserably one by one.
The iPad, polished to perfection by Apple, similar and different from the tablets that came before it, just proved to be a success. It was the debut of a new Apple, the fifth or sixth in its 45-year history. Apple as we know it now. In fact, the lagging Apple is the richest IT company in the world, and simply the richest company in the United States. It is not very much lagging behind Samsung and other companies when you compare their revenues with those of Apple.
How Apple works
And the principles of its policy are simple, like any other rules formulated by Steve Jobs. There are only three of them: patience, excellence and profit. When designing anything from an AC adapter to an iPhone or Mac Pro, work carefully and patiently, without the rush or fuss. Checking and rechecking the decisions made, achieving the ideal compliance of products with its tasks and technical requirements. At the same time, thinking deeper and broader than is customary in other companies – so as not to miss a single, even the most insignificant and unlikely problem. You can’t foresee everything, but with this approach it is possible to exclude most of what will prevent the device from fulfilling its intended purpose.
Everyone at Apple follows this principle – scientists researching promising technologies, engineers trying options for implementing these technologies in hardware, designers, developers of hardware and microcircuits, testers, and many others. Apple has the means to ensure that each of its products includes the company’s most important product – excellence. It is impossible to give perfection a rational definition, but if something is perfect we understand it. We feel. Perfection is in demand. The main goal of any capitalist enterprise is profit. Apple has no problem achieving this goal.
Which is cooler: Apple or Samsung
Judging by the number of times Samsung and Apple were the first to introduce important technical innovations in their production products, Apple looks pale compared to Samsung. Who pioneered sub-screen fingerprint sensors, folding smartphones, and more? Samsung has taught its smartphones to use a user’s face to identify and unlock the device. In 2011, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Face ID was a long way off the Galaxy Nexus, but Samsung came first. Wireless chargers at Apple and Samsung were engaged at the same time, but Apple began to use them 6-7 years later than other companies.
In 2017, in the iPhone X and iPhone 8/8 Plus. OLED screens have long been used by Samsung, they first appeared in the iPhone X in 2017. Apple was the first to use the LTPO screen, developed jointly by Apple and LG, in the Apple Watch Series 4. By points, Apple is hopelessly lagged behind and continues to lag behind. But when you consider the perfection (and profitability) of innovation, the situation looks different. Face ID is a technical masterpiece that surpasses all face recognition systems before it.
Including the security of personal data. The OLED screen in the iPhone X met Apple’s screen quality requirements. Although it did experience typical OLED problems, compared to what was happening in the early years of their use, it was a trifle. Apple is working on bendable smartphones and sub-screen biometric sensors, the sub-screen Touch ID seems to have even reached the home stretch. Profits are brought not by technology, but by the perfection of their implementation. Even the most advanced technology, if it constantly fails and cannot be used, is useless. I think Apple is cooler.
