29 October 2013

On innovation

What do people mean when they say Apple isn’t innovating any more?

Do they mean creating new kinds of products? There were tablet computers before the iPad. There were cell phones and palmtop computers before the iPhone. There were portable, digital music players before the iPod. There were portable computers before the PowerBook. Arguably the only product that Apple invented was the personal computer, and I’m sure people would make the case that they didn’t do that either.

Do they mean making an existing product more practical? If so, how can you not call Touch ID innovative?

And whatever they do mean, do they really expect it to happen every year? Every iPhone—including the first one—has been criticized for not going far enough. (No GPS? No 3G?)

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