Petr Škuta Tuesday's Apple Keynote once again confirmed several long-known things. The company is doing better than expected and is confident. On the other hand, he has his standard, which he is not going to give up.
I had mixed feelings while watching this year's September Keynote. Not that you can't watch a perfectly played orchestra. No way. The whole event went exactly according to the prescribed notes. Tim Cook called one company representative after another and service followed service and product followed product. It just lacked juice and the proverbial icing on the cake.
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Dan Pražák While Steve Jobs was the main driver of "his" Keynote and was more or less a conductor, director and actor in one person, Tim relies on a bunch of his team. Which is basically correct. Apple no longer needs to prove that the company is driven by only one strong personality, but relies on a team of the best experts in the field in the world. They are people who understand their craft and have something to share. But the problem is in the form in which they convey it.
The buzzwords like "exciting", "amazing", "best ever" etc. are often empty and tasteless. It's even worse when someone reads them from a screen and doesn't give it a drop of emotion. Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have witnessed such a dry interpretation, but the last Keynote rather connects like a long thread. Then you don't feel like you're watching the unveiling of exciting new products of a major technology company, but rather like you're in a boring lecture on theoretical computer science at any university.
The same syndrome is suffered by the invited guests who take turns as if on a treadmill and show their products. We almost want to ask: "do they believe themselves and the presented piece?"
Lock services into your ecosystem and don't let go
Speakers aside, we've once again seen plenty of interspersed with marketing videos. In my opinion, they often save the whole event, as they are standardly processed to a high standard. And some were filmed in our small basin. Heart will make many Czech viewers dance.
Rather, I will not evaluate the presented products as such. It is such an "Apple standard". For one thing, I'm from the industry and part of my job is to track all the information and leaks, and then nothing groundbreaking actually happened.
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Apple is a safe and satisfied company. He swims in his pond like a carp and doesn't want to take any chances. He used to be that predatory pike that lurks somewhere on the bottom, ready to pounce and strike at the right time. Such pikes are still in the pond today and Apple knows about them. He is also well aware that with the current pricing policy and holding the quality ratio, he won't get too many new customers, at least in the smartphone market. This way we will get used to the services more and more often.
Shareholders will certainly be happy if Apple is able to cash in on existing customers who are less and less willing to change hardware. The question is what exactly makes Apple's services so exceptional compared to the competition. Maybe it locks you into its ecosystem and you can never leave. With a feeling of blissful contentment, you won't even want to in the end.
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Personally, I wouldn't be angry if a new generation came once every 2 years (not every year), but then with more innovations (and motivation to change...).
However, the Apple ecosystem suits me and (if Microsoft continues to cough up the possibility of implementing Apple devices and eyeing Android) I'm even considering switching to a Mac, which I previously thought was out of the question.
I see the software (always up-to-date) as a big advantage instead of the Android chaos, when devices are sold with an old (therefore broken) system and it is never certain whether there will be a possible upgrade to a new version at all.
The last thing that really bothers me is the lack of Siri in Czech Republic. I envy my German colleagues, who routinely "write" e-mails and SMS by voice (incredibly practical, especially when traveling in a car or at the airport, when they can efficiently handle things on the way, what do I have to deal with in the evenings).
Dictation of e-mails and SMS has been working in our country for a long time and normally in Czech. You don't need Siri for that.
Yes, I'm already annoyed by how the keynotes of the last couple of years are a parade of empty phrases in the style of "we could not be more thrilled", even when I present the most awkward ones.
Unfortunately, the fact that they can no longer come up with an advisory innovation is best proven by the fact that as soon as a new iPhone is released, they prefer to stop selling the one from the previous year because it is clear to them that the increase in functionality is not so great that someone would buy the new model. This year they cut off the XS, last year they also cut off the X.
What kind of fish in the pond is the author talking about? Do you mean some predatory garage company from China, or predatory Chinese contacts in whose cells used to be officers of the military secret services? I'm on an iPhone 7. It's never happened to me that I think I'm underpowered. In theory, the only reason to upgrade today could be the photo. But during the day, the iP7 takes pictures just fine, and I don't take pictures at night. My system is up-to-date and will be for another year. Android must have the same on the HW side. Anyone with an S7 has practically no reason to go for something newer. After all, it must run on an older Android. The only place where those "sticks" managed to catch up with Apple are phones. Otherwise, they are behind in everything else. I don't really understand what people expect from those keynotes. Like the time when Jobs took the MB Air out of its packaging or showed the first tablet and people sat on their ass, it probably won't happen again. Apple will focus on services as much as possible. It is a wise decision. Hooking people and getting them to send money every month for Music, Arcade and TV+ is smarter than forcing them to buy a new phone every year. I don't even do android anymore.
I would be careful with those experts ;-) It used to be the case with Drive that people who understand it spoke at the keynote, but in the last couple of years, as part of the inclusion and multi-culture directive, it is mainly about having the right ratio of women, women of color, on the stage and homosexual. With some, you can see that he doesn't know what he's talking about and then of course amazing amazing amazing some unimportant shit... I think the funniest was the keynote that Cook missed, where Cook cried while hugging a black woman who talked about emotions and rights. I'm guessing that I'll last one or two keynotes and then I'll be done with it.