Cult Analysis: Apple Trending Towards Hands Free, Thought Controlled Computing

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The New Paradigm - iGripping (Image: iPhoneSavior)
The New Paradigm - iGripping (Image: iPhoneSavior)

User Interface Watch: Apple’s march towards hands free, thought controlled computing continued this past week with the widely misunderstood iPhone 4 “Death Grip” episode.  Perceived and quickly lambasted as a design flaw, Apple is stategically taking high levels of flak as they quietly persue their true longterm goal.

[Tags: ANALYSIS, HUMOR, SATIRE]

Steve Jobs has always been a minimalist, be it product design, the breadth of his wardrobe, or succinct email replies.  This minimalism also applies to the ways in which we interact with our computers.

Early computers required both hands and all fingers to operate, utlilizing bulky keyboards.  This mimicked the way humans had conveyed information since the invention of the typewriter, but was clearly just a technology to be milked for all it was worth, then cast aside.

Thanks to some good ideas from the lads at Xerox PARC, Apple made the next leap in 1983 with the introduction of the mouse to the masses.  Here was a sleek mechanical rodent which only required the use of one hand and one finger.  As with many other technologies Apple didn’t invent the mouse, but refined it’s design and brought it to the next level of user acceptance.

Over the years a majority of society has pushed the mouse to accomodate buttons for multiple fingers, but Jobs has held steadfast to his minimalist belief.  In fact with the current Magic Mouse Apple has removed all buttons and wires and utlizes just a gentle stroking motion for input.

Mobile computing devices utilizing touch screens are the latest rage.  This trend started with the original iPhone, then the iPod touch, the iPad, and now the iPhone 4.  Rather than being used with your hands, these iDevices are held in your hands and used with your fingers.  Just tap and poke to get the iMagic to occur.

iGripping is out…  iFingering is in.
Now you can’t say you didn’t get the memo.

– Ray Basile, iPhoneSavior

Of course you can also use voice control to command your mobile and desktop companions, avoiding any need to directly touch your computer at all.  But as this does still demand physical interaction with the real world to propagate sound energy through the air, this is in fact an example of the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field.

Concurrent with minimizing input, Apple’s products have gotten sleeker, shinier, and harder to hold with each successive generation.  The company learned it’s lesson from the Newton, a bulky, grabable device that required two hands and a stylus.  Not one to make that mistake again, the iPad practically begs not to be held – it slips out of your hands easily and magnifies the oil we secrete from our fingers on it’s vast reflective screen.  Truly a pity we need to mar that glossy beauty in order to use it.

And now comes the iPhone 4 – which works best when you don’t hold it at all!

iPhone 4 with Prototype Hands Free Accessory (Photo: Gizmodo)

Clearly we can see where this is headed – iThink, the Ultimate User Interface.  Why hold your iDevice in order to interact with it?  Just Think. I envision someday we will be able to purchase a shiny sealed cube with a tiny Apple logo, which floats above your desk on a mag-lift pedestal and emits a tasteful, pulsing glow during it’s ultra silent operation.

This changes everything. Again.

When telepathic control of computers finally arrives, Jobs’ Mission will be Complete.  That is when he will finally be ready to leave Apple in the hands of Jonathan Ive, and join Commandant Gates in the Jungle fighting mosquitoes.

Just a thought…

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