Apple Listens

Remember when the first iPhone came out? It had no video recording, no MMS capability, a 2 megapixel camera, couldn't run third-party apps (officially), had only EDGE (no 3G), and lacked GPS. But yet it revolutionized the cell phone industry by introducing an extremely competitive device with a good, capacitive touchscreen and an intuitively designed operating system based on Mac OS X. People were overwhelmed by what the iPhone could do, not what it couldn't do.

The iPhone 3G came along and added these missing features. But not all of them. Critics of the iPhone still rubbed the existing drawbacks in Apple's face. The list of questions was something like this:

Where is the video recording?? My old cell phone can do it!
Where is voice dialing?? My old cell phone can do it!
Are we going to get a way to install apps on this thing? My old cell—(you can fill in the details)

But there were improvements: 3G data speeds, GPS (for navigation and geotagging photos), and the iPhone App Store (this being the biggest).

Then the iPhone 3GS came out with a much faster processor, video recording, a 3 megapixel camera with tap-to-focus and autofocus, voice control,  and a compass for more accurate GPS navigation. And guess what? It added almost everything that the iPhone 3G lacked. And then came the criticism:

No multitasking? Seriously?
No HD video recording??
No 5 megapixel camera??
No Verizon iPhone still?
We still can't set a wallpaper for our homescreen?


Then Apple announced iOS 4, which gave the iPhone 3GS multitasking capabilities, tap-to-focus video recording, and you could set the homescreen wallpaper to whatever picture you wanted to. Following the sneak peek of iOS 4, the iPhone 4 was released and was much faster than the 3GS, could record 720p HD video, and had that longed-for 5 megapixel camera.

And just recently on 1/11/11, the Verizon iPhone 4 was announced.

See a pattern? Apple addressed almost every user concern over the years. All it took was time.
People just couldn't wait. They thought Apple was an arrogant control-freak and that they could care less about their users' complaints. But it was, in fact, the opposite. Sure, Android could multitask from day one, but could it do it efficiently? Not really.

The reason it takes Apple quite a bit to implement something that should be there already? Quality. They are focused on doing the job right – the first time. This is why it took Apple 3 years to implement multitasking on the iPhone. It took them 3 years to research the flaws in traditional multitasking methods (Android, Backgrounder). It took them 3 years to come up with a method that wouldn't drain your battery in 2 hours and wouldn't bog down the performance of the phone. It took them years to work with Verizon to get a CDMA version of the iPhone out. It took them years to get a very accurate, easy to use voice control system. You get the idea (hopefully :P).

An example is the iPad's orientation lock switch/mute switch conflict. When Apple switched the orientation lock switch to become the mute switch, people groaned and moaned, but Apple was listening. Proof? iOS 4.3 Beta:

So Apple did in fact listen to the user complaints, but instead of reverting the functionality of the switch to its previous state, they now give you a choice of whether or not you want it to act as a mute switch or an orientation lock.

It takes time for technology to get better. Things like that don't happen at the speed of Google. Speaking of Google, they keep improving Android as well. Android 2.2 Froyo, for instance, offered a huge performance boost to most Android devices running 1.6.

Bottom line, be patient! :P

Cheers!