Does Innovation Drive Apple's Success?
Since Apple released the iPhone X in September, many of us have been musing over the same question—is the new $1,000 smartphone genuinely innovative? Especially this year, which marks the tenth anniversary of the iPhone, we've been hoping to see something we've never seen before. What better way for Apple to pay tribute to Steve Jobs than to stun us with industry-disrupting features? When Apple introduced the iPhone X with features like wireless charging, an OLED screen, and facial identification, it didn't escape us that these technologies already exist in other smartphones. The unprecedented price of the phone only added to our disappointment (see pg. 24 for more on the implications of Apple's price hike). What we fail to remember, though, is that Apple's strong suit is in taking existing technologies and turning them into something we actually want to use. Take the original iPhone, for instance. A decade ago, touchscreen smartphones were already on the market, but few of us remember them. That's because they provided a terrible user experience. Apple, on the other hand, poured itself into engineering an intuitive user interface that you could manipulate with your fingers by pressing and holding to magnify or pinching and spreading to zoom out and in. Apple didn't create the first smartphone with a touchscreen, but it was the first company to make one that made sense to people. Similarly, the most hyped features of the iPhone X are hardly new. Face ID, which unlocks the iPhone X when you look at your screen, is a more sophisticated version of the crude facial recognition technology found in Android phones. While you can trick Samsung's iris scanner with a photograph like a Facebook profile picture, Apple's Face ID is advanced enough that banks will allow you to use it to make financial transactions. That's the revolutionary power of Apple. All that being said, it is interesting to see how the pressure of the tenth anniversary pushed Apple to take risks like changing its form factor and incorporating more experimental technology like Face ID. If successful, I hope the tech giant will take it as reason to be more aggressive in adopting current technology and making it appealing to the masses. Reflecting on Ten Years Apple's big anniversary has also been a reflective year at iPhone Life. Going into 2018, we will be celebrating our tenth year in business. The magazine remains at the core of our business, but we've now grown into a digital brand with a website that's turned into a trusted source of iOS how-to and lifestyle content for Apple enthusiasts (see founder Hal Goldstein's iView column on page 80 for the unconventional story of how iPhone Life was born). It’s That Time of Year If you're in the market for an iOS device this holiday season, you'll find yourself faced with more purchase decisions to make than in the past. Departing from Steve Jobs's minimalist philosophy, Apple is now selling six different iPhones, four iPads, and three Apple Watch models. In this issue's buyer's guide (see pg. 35), we'll help you decide which Apple device makes sense for your lifestyle. We also threw in a generous helping of headphones, speakers, and other essential gear that we've personally tested and can confidently say make owning an Apple device that much better.
“Apple's strong suit is in taking existing technologies and turning them into something we actually want to use.”