On Excitement in the Apple Land
Last year I wrote about boredom in the Apple land. Essentially I said that we were getting used to the patterns adopted by Apple and that a stretched iPhone was built just to show off. I still think we didn’t need a taller iPhone but I definitely changed my mind about boredom.
It looks like Phil Schiller read my post and replied on stage with “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass”. That was just referring to the new Mac Pro, of which we had a preview during the last WWDC. Unlike the iPhone 5, a device that I bought because I needed to test apps, the Mac Pro is something I will probably buy even if I am aware I don’t need it. Why? First of all, because it’s cool. Second, I’d really like to have something more powerful (now I am working on a MacBook Pro). Third, I think innovations deserves to be nurtured and buying a Mac Pro is my contribution to that cause.
That was just one thing shown at WWDC. The one that has impacted my life most so far is the introduction of iOS 7. Here is Federighi’s implicit reply to my post: “Boredom, my ass”. iOS 7 is the most disrupting update since iOS 3. The latter has changed our lives, given us the possibility to build and sell native applications. iOS 7 is pushing us all (designers and developers) to start over. Craig Hockenberry has rightly compared it to the introduction of Aqua in 2000, a revolution. Believe me when I say that, in this exact moment, there are tons of developers and designers cancelling vacations and spending nights to revise all their plans.
I don’t know how many companies can afford to start over. Apple had done it many times recently: with the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5 and will do it again with the Mac Pro. Those are all “internal revolutions”. The teams at Apple were probably told: “forget what you know, get far away from your comfort zone, we start from scratch”.
With the release of iOS 7 Apple is asking the same of third party developers. Forget about the design solutions you are used to, forget about the interaction language we have used so far, start from scratch. And we are following along. I don’t know how many companies can afford that. Apple, for sure, can. Respect.
If you think it helps I will write more angry posts reporting boredom. My last one worked pretty good :)
Happy to discuss what you think of the Mac Pro and iOS 7 on twitter and app.net.
Now I gotta go back learning a new design language.