Star Wars: Apple Guru to Blame for the New "Lightsaber" Design
Star Wars: Apple Guru to Blame for the New “Lightsaber” Design
Ever since the teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode VII made its rounds across the internet, fans have been in an uproar over the design of the new lightsaber. Debates sprung up all over, and even J.J. Abrams chimed in with his two cents, and talked about some of the crazy emails he’s received from fans on the subject.
Ewan McGregor also had an opinion on the new design; the actor who portrayed…
Inside the top-secret lab where the world’s most powerful design team created the Apple Watch.
'In-depth' doesn't cover it - I feel like I know Jony Ive after reading this piece. Nothing short of epic, it details the team & environment and investigates the mystique around quite possibly the greatest industrial designer of our time.
Principles of Good Design by Dieter Rams (Braun) and Jonathan Ive (Apple) - ren@rt
God #1 and God #2. I try to make Rams' 10 Principles the foundation of everything I do. Stick around to hear Ive's little comment on obsessiveness at the end!
I'm certainly not someone who you could call "anti-apple". Since 4 years ago, I've owned a mac laptop, I owned the iphone 3G and have loved these devices through thick and thin. But my mindset towards Apple has somewhat changed over these last 4 years and is driven home by the iPhone 5 release.
Let me explain a little about the issues I have developed with Apple; some are admittedly petty, some are more widely felt. Firstly, I stopped visiting Apple stores pretty much after the first 4 visits I paid to one. I could not deal with the customer service; not the lack of it, but the tone of it. I felt like I was being lectured by someone who was infinitely ostentatious and tech savvy than me, simply because they had donned a blue t-shirt and wore the weirdest employee lanyard I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a superiority thing; I'm sure an awful lot of people know an awful lot more than me about tech, but it was the way in which the employee's were so sickly pretentious and confident in their products, that's what left a sour taste in my mouth. Not to mention the bouncy, self-possessed manager I saw during my last visit, who was bounding around the store with his iPad, apologising to people who had been waiting 30 seconds for their appointment with the Genius Bar. And this isn't even getting onto the Genius Bar proper. My last run in with the Geniuses left me sure I never wanted to step foot into an Apple store again. I won't even begin to explain that story. Let's just say its the worst bar I've ever been to, and that's saying something.
But back to the last straw. It's a pretty big straw for me. We've all seen the new iPhone 5 released last night. We've all seen the nice release on the Apple website. Some of us will have watched Jonathon Ive talking in that oh so smooth voice of his about how this phone has revolutionised the iphone that changed everything, again, again. Even fewer would have sat down and watched the Keynote, with Tim Cook resuming his task of filling in for the late Mr. Jobs. Let's get one thing straight. I know how these companies make money and they don't make money by cramming everything they have into one basket. But I've just watched Apple sue the shit out of Samsung for stealing their technology and design ideas. Apple has an affinity with design and futuristic technology that nobody can ever take away from them; not even Samsung. So we look upon the newly released iPhone and wonder; where the hell is NFC? Where is the wireless charging? What on earth is this new hole on the bottom? Didn't Jony Ive just say "We don't want to just make a new phone, we want to make a much better phone" ?.
To me, all of these things say very clearly to me "hey consumer, go fuck yourself". £500, base model. Not a surprise, we all know the cost of Apple products and we happily pay our pennies for it because we believe it's innovative and well designed. But when we come to the iPhone 5, we're looking at a device which is taller and prettier to look at than it's predecessor, but my god, is it lacking some serious beans on the technology front. My job involves me partially in the payments world, more recently, as with most things, it's involved me in mobile payments. NFC, whether the futurologists want to accept it or not, is going to have an imminent crack at becoming the next biggest payment method for mobile. But this bold move from Apple to not include NFC technology inside their iPhone makes me think one thing and one thing only: "if everyone else has it, then we won't". It's probably going to be defended to the hills by Apple fanatics, but to me, the exclusion of NFC is more ideological than practical.
And then there is the port. This really is the straw that broke the camels back. Three basic facts: new port for charging/ plugging in peripheral devices, new cable, adapter cost for plugging into old port devices: £25. £25! Now some will shout, HEY DON'T WORRY, China will be saving our skins with the £2.50 version from eBay in 2 weeks time. But it's not the point. It's another example where Apple have seemingly changed something for all the wrong reasons. There undoubtably will be excuses as to why that port is different; more room for other things etc, like the wireless charging tech or the NFC loop..(sarcasm). But charging £25 for the cable (similar to the price of other Apple adapter cables) is just a massive FU to the consumer in my opinion. It really is.
Go and listen to Jony Ive's video on the new iPhone. "It's probably the device you have with you all the time". It's subsequently true for the old iPhone. And all your peripheral devices are ready for your iPhone. All your speakers, docks, in car charging, . But now, unless you want to buy all that kit again, you'll need to carry around your new iPhone 5 and always have the adapter.
It's fair to say that I will be sticking with the Apple products I've been blessed to own. I have no qualms with them and never will. But Apple to me has become too attached to its unique way of doing things. Steve's way. I used to love it, but ways of behaving are surely limited to a time scale; a time that has passed. It's become irritating. It's become alienating. And it's making me worry for Apple's image, even though they won't be worrying about me. Images like the below.
Q: What makes a great designer?
A: It is so important to be light on your feet, inquisitive and interested in being wrong. You have that wonderful fascination with the what if questions, but you also need absolute focus and a keen insight into the context and what is important - that is really terribly important. Its about contradictions you have to navigate.
It is so important to be light on your feet, inquisitive and interested in being wrong. You have that wonderful fascination with the what if questions, but you also need absolute focus and a keen insight into the context and what is important - that is really terribly important. Its about contradictions you have to navigate.
- Jonathon Ive, SVP Design at Apple, on what makes a good designer (This is London).
