Symmetry? How's that?

Paul Krugman has a post today (http://mobile.nytimes.com/redirect?to-mobile=http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/on-the-symmetry-between-microsoft-and-apple/) about the symmetry between Microsoft and Apple.

I disagree.

While there are some parallels, these are very different companies building very different products in a very different way. And, as it is normal with all big and great companies, there are ups and downs, good and bad, hits and flops. 

Trying to put them under one umbrella with statements like 'there is, once you look past the surface, a remarkable symmetry between Microsoft’s strategy in its heyday and Apple’s strategy today' is the same as saying that Star Trek and Star Wars are the very similar because they are, you know, about space.

Both companies are incredible success stories. It will be interesting to watch how these (and other tech) companies develop in the years to come. Apple -- as it faces bigger more fierce l competition mainly from the Android world, and Microsoft, still trying to find its path with its new, yet unknown and unchosen CEO.

Michael Heilemann On iOS 7

Thoughtful and worth reading criticism of iOS 7. If you are even vaguely interested in design and UX, you'll be fascinated by his points. And I do hope someone at Apple is taking notes too.

The 'Disappointing' Apple Quarter

Wall Street seems to be disappointed. Stocks are tumbling. Apple is doomed. Apple is the new Dell.

Oh, no...

It doesn't matter that Apple set a new record in iPhone sales. And it doesn't matter that the demand for the 2-year old iPhone 4 was so strong, that the sales were constrained by Apple's ability to ship it. And that one week... it doesn't matter as well.

Apparently, what matters is... well... shit. Some dudes got nervous.

iOS 6 First Impressions (Sounds Like Hours of Fun)

iOS 6 Has Arrived.

Last night I updated my wife's iPhone and my iPad to iOS 6. I didn't really have much time playing with the new iOS as both of the devices finished the update process around 12 a.m. (and I am an early bird who needs to rush to work in the morning) and I desperately needed some sleep.

So it's not a review. I'm just sharing my very very first impressions.

First of all, while everybody is freaking out about maps I actually like the new maps app. The satellite images of where I live (Sofia) are of decent quality (at least as good as they are in Google Maps although they seem a little more out-of-date), the addresses database, search and directions also seem to work fine (or at least just as well as Google's solution does).

I guess for locations like Sofia, Bulgaria the difference between Apple and Google maps is smaller than it is for places like NY or London for example. I cannot tell much about that though.
The point, however is, that I like the Apple Maps app.

Plus, this flyover thing is like freaking amazing. I can see myself spending many hours flying over cities around the world in the next few months. It's just great. Period.

No YouTube app. No good. I used it a lot. I know it has been old and all but I am going to miss it. Google added a new YouTube app for iOS 6 which is great but it's iPhone-only for the time being. No dedicated iPad app so the only option that's left is to use YouTube mobile site which, thanks Lord, is gorgeous.

And most importantly…
Wait…
Still here?

The iPad got a clock. A clock, folks. Finally. Apple has put a preinstalled clock app on the iPad. And it has an alarm! What more could a geek want?

I couldn't help but remember the old Mac vs. PC ad…
"Sounds like hours of fun."
Remember that?

Update: and now the Swiss Federal Railways accused Apple of copying their clock design without permission.

iPhone 5 Reviews are Out

Apparently, the embargo is over and the tech blogs went crazy reviewing the iPhone 5.

Saying the reviews are positive would be a major understatement. Just look here, here and here just to get an idea.

My personal favorite review is John Gruber's (and yes, those 750 words thrown just to describe the thing's surface appeal are words well spent ;) ).

Also, it's funny how the gadget gets wildly ecstatic reviews by the same technology press that was declaring it boring in the last few days.

The Thing I Love Most About My MacBook Air

I like many things about my MacBook Air. It's a gorgeous piece of hardware loaded with flawlessly (mostly) working software.

But the thing I really like the most is it's near-instant-on ability. It's only comparable to an iOS (or Android) device. I can pull it off my backpack, have it on and running in my lap in ten seconds and I'm ready to rock. I cannot compare this to any Windows PC or laptop I have ever had.

And I had quite a few.

Why is this important?

First and foremost, the psychological barrier for starting doing something is much lower. I might be lying on the sofa, watching a TV show, and then I can take the Air and check that PHP script I wrote earlier today. And I can do this in the ad break. When the show is back, I would simply turn the computer off (for like 5 seconds) and continue watching. Good luck doing that on a Windows based laptop.

It's just so much less distraction.

Apple New Ads -- Leadership by Comittee

Sean Oliver has a great piece about the new Apple ad campaign. He nailed it with this one:

Collateral like this happens when there is no creative vision coming down from senior leaders. When leaders delegate the vision downward, middle managers end up having to make the final call, but in almost all cases they don’t have the power to do so alone. So, they go about securing buy-off from multiple teams, and the result was leadership by committee. Not exactly the Apple way.

Yeah. And if that is true, that rings quite a lot of bells about Apple's future. Because it would mean a crack in the company's core values -- strong attention to the detail and great leadership vision.

My personal impression of these spots: meh. Not awful but not appealing as well. Gosh, if they simply had shown a Mac in action -- you know -- a couple of screen animations and close-ups, they would have came up with a much better campaign.

A Pleasant Surprise

I am really pleasantly surprised of how mature, well-thought and (generally) bug and problem free the Cocoa framework turned out to be. The more I learn, the more I like it. And despite the unusual Objective-C language syntax, I enjoy the experience much more than I did with Android about 3 years ago.

iPhoto for iPad

John Gruber on iPhoto for iPad:

I thought the understatement of the day was at the very end of Randy Ubillos’s demo, when he added, as a mere aside, that iPhoto is a universal binary that runs on the iPhone too.

Right.

Apple Did the Right Thing and Will Enforce Explicit User Permission For Address Book Access

Finally, Apple responded to the events from the last few days. As AllThingsD's John Paczkowski just posted, the company finally broke the silence and promised it will do what has had to be done long-long time ago.

Quote:

“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”

I can only wonder why this was not done since the very beginning. One's address book is one of the most sensitive pieces of information stored on the phone. And while in most of the cases it will not kill Egyptian dissidents, carelessly handing this information to third parties is a creepy thing to do. It feels wrong.

Apple forgot (or simply overlooked) a simple and fundamental truth: developers are lazy. Being lazy is part of our job. We have a lot of problems to solve each and every single day and we tend to follow the path of least resistance. So sometimes we do stupid things. Even when an obvious better way exists. Do we have access to the address book? Check. Then we'll just upload it. We'll transmit it over https so things are pretty damn secure, right? Then just do the god damn thing and deliver it. The deadlines are coming. We're in a hurry. Ninjas are running after us. And they are on fire!

So yes, developers have done wrong. They have their part of this fail. But the biggest part lies elsewhere. And they just told they're going to fix that. Good.

You are now registered as an Apple Developer

Not something special but still an important step for me. My six-monts plans to dive into this world finally start to shape up.

On Perfecting The Product

D.B. Grady has a great post today in The Atlantic. The whole story is insightful and worth reading.

The key moment to me is this:

When engineers working on the very first iPod completed the prototype, they presented their work to Steve Jobs for his approval. Jobs played with the device, scrutinized it, weighed it in his hands, and promptly rejected it. It was too big.

The engineers explained that they had to reinvent inventing to create the iPod, and that it was simply impossible to make it any smaller. Jobs was quiet for a moment. Finally he stood, walked over to an aquarium, and dropped the iPod in the tank. After it touched bottom, bubbles floated to the top.

"Those are air bubbles," he snapped. "That means there's space in there. Make it smaller."

We all have read legends of how obsessed was Steve Jobs with product quality. He wouldn't stop until the product in question was perfect. Whether it is the shade of yellow in Google's logo or the size of the iPod, everything that Apple produced under his supervision had to live up to his high standards.

Apple's current renaissance -- from an almost bankrupt company to the most valuable public firm in the world is not a result from only one thing and even not only one man. But this obsession with quality, this desire to craft beautiful products was maybe the single most important factor.

And this is a priceless lesson for everyone who creates products for people to use. Whether you make mobile apps, websites, desktop software or office furniture, you need to be obsessed with the product.

You need to make it perfect and if you are not sure, keep trying. Keep iterating until you finally have something that you'll love to look at and use. Do not settle for mediocre look & feel and do not stop half the road just because it's easier.

(Image via Wikipedia)

One Of The Greatest Lessons I Learned From Steve Jobs

Short version: Do what you love. Don't settle.

Long version (from Jobs' Stanford commencement address):

...

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

...

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

A man that changed the technology.

A man that changed the world.

And a personal hero of mine.

Rest In Peace.

Apple Didn't Launch iPhone 5. So What?

Well, Tim Cook's first keynote is over. Put mildly, nobody is blown away with neither the new CEO presentation performance nor the actual products Apple had to announce.

TechCrunch has a nice recap of the things that were rumored vs. what was really announced here.

The biggest disappointment was of course the lost iPhone 5. Instead of launching two products, iPhone 5 and 4S, Apple just upgraded (quite significantly, need to say) iPhone 4.

Other rumors that proved incorrect were:

• No deep Facebook integration into iOS;
• No cheap iPhone 4S;
• Some other crazy, crazy things;

So now when disappointment permeates the blogosphere, I cannot help but remember a similar mood filling the blogs after another Apple keynote long, long ago. Like less than two years ago, when Apple announced the iPad.

Yes, yes, I know it's not a fair comparison, but do you remember how people went mad about the specs after they were finally announced? No camera? Holes instead of flash videos on NYT website? C'mon, who's going to buy this?

Well, we all know what happened. Less than a year after the launch, people were buying this thing like crazy. And I mean, crazy!

There is something about Apple that unleashes strong feelings. Antenagate, anyone?

My humble opinion is that things that were announced yesterday were good. The 4S seems a solid upgrade although not necessarily something you'll run to the Apple Store if you already have iPhone 4 in your pocket. Siri seems solid too.

As for Tim Cook -- this was his first product launch ever. So he may not be as electrifying as Steve Jobs, but he did a good job. And he'll get better with time. I'm sure.