Apple’s design problems aren’t skeuomorphic
counternotions.comThe current meme of Ive coming on a white horse to rescue geeks in distress from Scott Forstallian skeuomorphism is wishfully hilarious. Like industrial design of physical devices, software is part form and part function: aesthetics and experience. Apple’s software problems aren’t dark linen, Corinthian leather or torn paper. In fact, Apple’s software problems aren’t much about aesthetics at all…they are mostly about experience. To paraphrase Ive’s former boss, Apple’s software problems aren’t about how they look, but how they work.
Estimated reading time: 6 min
Apple Maps: The FAQ
counternotions.comAs they say, every turn-by-turn direction starts with the first step. The longer Apple waits the harder it gets. From iPods to iTunes to iPhones to iOS, Apple’s modus operandi has been to introduce products and continuously improve them into widely attractive maturity by adding value without increasing prices, enlarging ecosystems, deepening integration and generally delighting users with a constant stream of innovations. Why should Apple Maps be any different?
Estimated reading time: 4 min
Is it too hard for you?
counternotions.comPresident Obama says, “My message is simple.” Our problems remain complex. Our populace’s willingness to listen to and ability to parse the message continues to decline. Hard to say what needs to change first: speakers, what’s spoken or listeners?
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Is Siri really Apple’s future?
counternotions.comSiri can not only find documents and facts (like Google) but also execute stated or implied actions with granted authority. The ability to form deep semantic lookups, integrate information from multiple sources, devices and 3rd party apps, perform rules arbitration and execute transactions on behalf of the user elevates Siri from a schoolmarmish librarian (à la Google Search) into an indispensable butler, with privileges.
Estimated reading time: 12 min
Some questions on Google Project Glass
counternotions.comAt this stage of development (from what can publicly be observed), it’s hard to tell if Project Glass is meant to be a mainstream product to be released by the end of this year, a Hollywood summer blockbuster or another windfarm-type pie-in-the-sky Google project.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
Erik recommended this story.
"Ordered Information" is not a paint job
counternotions.comProduct design starts right there: What Do I Do With It? Not at picking one of 41 shades of purple. Ordered information is great but hard…repainted information is cheap but insufficient.
Estimated reading time: 8 min
Erik recommended this story.
“The Creepy Line”
counternotions.comWhat happens when, for the first time in homo sapien history, we have constant (presumably unbiased) feedback on our own emotions? The distance from detecting emotional state by machines to suggesting (and even administering) emotion altering medicine can’t be that far, can it? How do we learn to live with that? The technology is out there.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
Erik recommended this story.
An interim solution for iOS 'multitasking'
counternotions.comSystems designers know all too well: when you just don’t have the time, money, staff or technology to solve a given problem, there are ways to cheat. Steve Jobs would be the first to tell you: that’s OK. A well executed cheat can be indistinguishable from a fundamental architectural transition.
Estimated reading time: 5 min
Joost van der Ree recommended this story.
Apple Maps: The Next Turn
counternotions.comApple remained agnostic on payment modalities and ignored NFC, but reimagined everything else around payments: rewards, promotions, cards, tickets, coupons, notifications…all wrapped in a time-and-location based framework, thereby opening up new avenues of growth, integration and deeper ties to users in the form of its new app Passbook. In the same vein, can Apple reimagine and redefine what mobile “mapping” ought to be?
Estimated reading time: 9 min
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Apple’s hardware “dilemma”
counternotions.comOne of the key ingredients of Apple’s spectacular success over the last decade has been the inability of its rivals to distinguish hardware from product.
Estimated reading time: 6 min
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Shouting
counternotions.comWhat is worrisome here is that such fickleness of opinion has become excruciatingly common in online journalism. It pays to shout, shout first, shout often, shout loud, shout different, but most familiarly, just shout. Shouting sells.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Erik recommended this story.
Can Siri go deaf, mute and blind?
counternotions.comWhat happens to Apple’s design advantage in an age of objects performing simple discreet tasks or “intuiting” and brokering our next command among themselves without the need for our touch or gaze? Indeed, what happens to UI design, in general, in an ocean of “interface-less” objects inter-networked ubiquitously? Fortunately, though a star in her own right, Siri isn’t wedded to the screen. Even though she speaks in many tongues, Siri doesn’t need to speak (or listen, for that matter) to go about her business, either.
Estimated reading time: 7 min
Erik recommended this story.
Things Apple Has Not Yet Done
counternotions.comApple will inevitably tackle most of these, but only in its own time and not when it’s yelled at. It’ll likely introduce products and services not on this or any other list that will end up rejiggering an industry or two. Apple will do so because it knows it won’t win by conventional means or obvious schedules…which makes it hard — for those who are easily distracted — to like Apple.
Estimated reading time: 8 min
Erik recommended this story.