Is Apple a Boring Company Now?
Let’s be honest about what we really want from Apple this week. We all want to know if Apple can still blow us away, or if they’re just a boring company now.
There are two schools of thought.
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Did Apple Buy Grokr?
Circumstantial evidence may suggest that Apple has acquired the predictive search app Grokr. And if they haven’t done, they should do.
Grokr has been called the “Google Now for iOS.”
With Grokr’s predictive search capability and Siri’s natural language capability combined into a single feature could put Apple in the overall lead in the crucial area of virtual assistant technology.
Here’s why Apple needs to buy Grokr (and why I think they already did).
How Apple’s iPhone Could Be Best Again
The iPhone 5 is the best mobile phone ever made, in my opinion. And the iOS platform has the best mobile apps.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t add up to the best phone experience anymore.
What Apple lacks is the best experience with using Internet-based services. And Apple will fall much further behind on June 26.
Here’s what Apple needs to change in order to offer the best overall mobile phone experience.
How Wearable Computing Will Change Everything, Including Apple
Listen, you tech-savvy, trend-resisting cynic you. I want you to stop dismissing wearable computing as a pointless, narcissistic fad.
Wearable computing is not for people too lazy to look at their phones. It’s not a trendy toy for wealthy yuppies. And it’s not about joining Robert Scoble in the shower.
What you need to know is this: Wearable computing is the next evolution of consumer electronics. And it changes everything for everyone and not just the people actually wearing the computing.
And it will change Apple, too. Here’s how.
Why The iPhone Is Falling Behind
Apple haters, Android geeks and misinformed Wall Street analysts will tell you that Apple’s iPhone is falling behind because Apple can’t innovate anymore.
I don’t buy the Apple-doesn’t-innovate BS. Apple is super innovative, and their innovation is focused, disciplined and ultimately results in industry-dominating revenue and profits.
But iPhones are still lacking some of the best innovations out there. This isn’t because Apple can’t innovate. It’s because Apple can’t share. Apple can’t play nice with others. Apple wants to control the user experience, even at the expense of the user.
Apple isn’t open.
This quality used to be a benefit because it prevented the platform from becoming an ugly, confusing, fragmented mess.
But in the past month, Apple’s lack of openness has become a serious problem.
Here’s what I’m talking about.
Skobbler’s ForeverMap 2 Uses OpenStreetMap To Help You Get Places With Or Without A Network Connection
OpenStreetMap is a project that makes and distributes free map data for the world, letting anyone use the data for free, without any legal or technical restrictions.
Startup skobbler uses this global mapping data to create its own set of location-aware mobile apps, like ForeverMap 2, an app that has been on Android for a while now, and which is now available on the App Store for your iOS device.
Why the ‘i’ in iPhone Will Stand For ‘Identity’
The “i” in the next iPhone will stand for “identity.”
When people hear rumors and read about Apple’s patents for NFC, they think: “Oh, good, the iPhone will be a digital wallet.”
When they hear rumors about fingerprint scanning and remember that Apple bought the leading maker of such scanners, they think: “Oh, good, the iPhone will be more secure.”
But nobody is thinking different about this combination. Everybody is thinking way too small.
I believe Apple sees the NFC chip and fingerprint scanner as part of a Grand Strategy: To use the iPhone as the solution to the digital identity problem.
NFC plus biometric security plus bullet-proof encryption deployed at iPhone-scale adds up to the death of passwords, credit cards, security badges, identity theft and waiting in line.
AppShopper Is Back In The App Store With AppShopper Social
Alternative iOS informational website, AppShopper, had an app that was pulled from the App Store last December due to a conflict with new App Store rules that went into effect at that time. The team behind the app, who also run the website, have spent the hiatus working hard on a new app that is both compliant with Apple’s current App Store rules and useful to consumers.
AppShopper Social was announced today as live in the App Store, bringing with it a host of new social discovery systems along with the familiar Wish List functionality it’s always had.
This is a completely separate app, so if you still have the original AppShopper app on your iPhone or iPad, you can use them both alongside each other.
It’s Time to Kill the ‘Apple Doesn’t Innovate’ Argument
There’s an argument in the platform wars, and also on Wall Street, that goes something like this: “Apple doesn’t innovate anymore. It moves too slowly, and is being taken over by more nimble, more innovative rivals.”
Any success Apple has is the result of slick marketing, rather than the newest technology. But now, Apple is a laggard and is being overtaken by more nimble companies.
Apple has an “innovation problem,” according to Forbes.
“Samsung is innovating faster than Apple,” according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.
“Why Doesn’t Apple Innovate?” asks CEO.com.
For Apple haters, this argument feels good to make. Unfortunately, it fails the test of fact and reason. Here’s why.
What Will Apple Use Flexible Displays For? Everything!
Apple is working on the use of flexible-glass touch displays. Which products will Apple use flexible displays in?
The answer is: all of them.
When people think about flexible displays, they think about small-screen gadgets like iWatches and curved-glass iPhones. What most don’t realize is that flexible displays can bring some amazing benefits to a device, even if the display itself isn’t curved.
And Apple has patents on all of it.
Here’s how Apple might deploy flexible displays to transform every product they make.
