Apple's Jony Ive waxes eloquently about new iMacs on video
By Donald Melanson 
posted October 20th 2009 12:48PM
posted October 20th 2009 12:48PM
posted October 20th 2009 12:48PM
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@orinjz
I have to say, and I'm not trying to poke fun at Microsoft just for the sake of it, what you mentioned sounds just like IE. They led the browser market, then just didn't bother with it until Firefox started gnawing at their ankles.. to appropriate what you said:
"it's that laziness that sets in once they know they've 'got the market'. The only thing that follows the original feature extravaganza is a series of marginal fixes to the bugs and they *know* they don't have to challenge themselves because their current position as market share leader allows them the luxury of not bothering to compete on features."
The only difference is their motivation. Apple (or maybe just Jony) is focussed on bringing the best products—as they see it—to the market. The majority of Microsoft just seem to follow the path of least work—which does make business sense, if nothing else.
And to placate the fanpeople, I'm not too hot on some of Apple's design decisions the last few years; they feel like they're losing their touch with the userbase (replace the EC slot with an SD card reader 'cos no one uses it? wth?); on the other hand, Microsoft labs have some amazing things in development!
I love the fact that they show case the iMac as people would showcase a new design concept car.. or something like that. But overall, just love the way they market their products. However, I still can afford a mac :(
"...there are no visual interruption, distractions, no other noise...everything is about the display..."
well Jony, you missed that big black high-contrast Apple logo in the middle, not to mention the high-gloss reflection of your face, right where "your content" are...
Apple industrial design has always been very attractive since Ive joined Apple (except those original fruity iMacs). I'm not an Apple fan but I give them props there! If only they would get off the mirror-like displays I might actually consider buying something....
I think the design is wonderful, but they need to quit saying this nonsense about the display going to the edge. It doesn't. The glass does, but if glass = display, then I have a 150" display right in front of me.
Great Music. if anyone knows the name of the songs I'd appreciate the names. thanks
Most of you have no idea what it is to create or design something. It is easy to pick on the "flaws" of a design when you have not done it. It is human nature to nock down someone when we lack those skills or attributes, to make us feel better about ourselves.
If most of you can came up with better, instead of bashing or complaining about....go out and do it, improve on it, innovate!!! sell it, market it...unitl you do that you have no right to complaint.
No one is putting a gun to you heads and saying you have to like it....grow up people, I seen 2 years olds with more sense than these forums.
We are consumers.
We critique their design choices with our mouths and our wallets; they expect us to...if they don't, they're in the wrong business.
They should always have our interests at heart when they put pen to paper because WE'RE the ones who are going to use their products.
They should never be put on a pedestal because their breath taking visions can become our usability nightmare.
Incidentally, the old "if you think you're so great, why don't you do it" argument is the kind of spurious nonsense kids in the playground come up with in order to silence any and all criticism.
"Consumers" don't care about design choices. Microsoft for example knows what people care about, their advertising reflects it:
"Buy our shit, it's CHEAP!"
http://imgur.com/1fGNo.jpg
Yup, that's the "no display" zone alright...
Actually, I'm pretty sure that's where the LCD panel ends. When you buy a display, do you just buy an lcd panel and glue it to your wall? Give them enough time and they'll figure out how to push all the pixels to the edge. At least its a high contrast black bezel that draws your eyes to the LCD, instead of a cheap textured plastic bezel like their PC competitors. You might not like it, but you don't have to. Simply don't buy it.
I'm pretty sure he waxes eloquent. If he were to wax eloquently, there would be some polishing involved.
Wth is this guy talking about. This is redicoulous.
My iphone has display and then no display. Wait, so does my TV, and my pc monitor.
get out of here. I wasted 2 minutes watching that junk and he just talked about the screen. Hey they got the glass to go al the way to the edge of my ipod 5 gen!
screen no screen baby.
where is bruno when you need him. I am sure he would get the same results from this guy when he interviews a fashion designer
seriously the tag line at the end of that should be been
"Making simple things, simpler"...Or
"Making simple things, better"...Or my personal favourite
"Making simple things, dumber" to really capture the iMac audience
What annoys me about the iMac is how Apple gets the ergonomics so wrong while creating such a pretty display.
Having your display at the proper height is critical, and unfortunately it's difficult to do with the iMac since there's only one height option. Dell, HP, and other mid-range displays are all height-adjustable; my Dell 3007WFP-HC (which unfortunately I no longer haver) moved at least 6 inches up and down.
If that's not bad enough, there's the glare. Not all of us have well-controlled diffuse indirect lighting; I personally have a window next to my monitor, and I can tell you that a glossy display is a non-starter during late afternoon.
Add to that the fact that the ports are all on the back, which makes them impossible to see from the front. Want to plug in a USB flash drive? You're going to be feeling around under the iMac or getting up and looking over it to find the port.
The new mouse? Instead of gestures for going back and forward, how about a thumb button like my Logitech G5 has? How about two actual buttons instead of one and a touch-sensitive surface?
It's great that the new iMac has an IPS display (my S-IPS 3007WFP-HC blew away the cheap TN display that I'm currently using), it's great that it's low power and quiet, and it's great that it is compact. But it seems that every Apple release is two steps forward and one step back. Apple's new keyboards (no number pad) and mice (gestures for forward/back) look cooler, but they are less usable. Apple's new iMac has a better screen but is more susceptible to glare than the iMac from 3 years ago.
If only we could now get rid of the apple logo - that's the biggest distraction.