Apple’s new iOS may have triggered a quarter life crisis for me. What the hell will I use for selfies now? I mean I was already distraught when Snapchat added chat, but now iOS 8 adding Snapchat abilities? I’m in a real tizzy.
Back in the day, it was so simple. See a dog standing on its hind legs while riding a skateboard? Boom, snap that. See my buddy taking a selfie of himself doing a kegstand upside down while on a skateboard? Bam, snap that. I loved how simple it was BUT I was never too fond of Snapchat’s messaging function. Instead, I used iMessage because in all honesty, aren’t the blue bubbles way easier on the eye than the green ones?
I guess what I’m trying to get at is, as we get older things change; its no different from how the Apple of today will not be the Apple of tomorrow. Like my own quarter life crisis, Apple is going through their own midlife crisis, except for them, they bought Beats by Dre for $3 billion instead of buying that Porsche convertible. While we will have to wait and see what their ultimate plan for Beats is, they’re changing how they approach the mobile space.
Steve Jobs never did things that people initially agreed with or believed in, but thats how they’ve been able to rise from the dead so many times. In this instance, Tim Cook and Apple are really doubling down. Their focus is not just about how we interact with their products, but how they’re deviating from their old game plan and becoming more developer friendly and opening up their platform.
More than anything, these moves show Apple maturing; they realize they can’t win on their own. The other kids on the block like Samsung and Huawei want a piece of the proverbial pie. It shows they understand how important it is to keep users like you and me on their platform.
No, the IRS will never write you a thank you card and no, Apple still doesn’t actually care about you though. The thinking goes, the more people using Apple stuff, the more money they’ll make per user through their closed ecosystem. Apple’s realized the success of their platform is not based solely on the products they make themselves, but the ecosystem of developers they’ve fostered to create things we want.
Where does Android fit into all of this? They’re like the younger brother who’s now a lot taller and a lot more buff than their older sibling. Android does the same thing, they just doing it differently, by keeping things open. Put another way, the future financial success of both Apple, Android, or any other company or software doesn’t inherently rely on themselves, but relies on the developers that make cool stuff on these platforms. This is why Apple released so many developer friendly enhancements this time around, breaking from their typical mode of rigid control over their operating system and lack of dev tools. Regardless, both companies are ensuring developers that their operating system is the most ideal to make money on and sadly but ultimately, thats what will drive innovation and future success of both companies. I hope both players continue to cater to developers and developers keep coming back to their platform all the while continuing to make great apps that help me procrastinate for 90% of my day.
I feel that sectors and industries all sort of go through this crisis. Desktop PCs, servers, semiconductors, they all go through these periods of not knowing who they are, the ones who succeed are the ones who recognize and overcome them. It’s an innovator’s dilemma, some will buy virtual reality companies and have no clue what to use it for, and some will just add replicated features from other super successful apps. For me though, I’ll stick with taking snaps of cats dancing to Lil John’s Turn Down for What.
