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sam henri gold's posts Post Back to profile
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D. Griffin Jones

@grishka Why? Apple can be all of those things. Steve’s Apple has always been about outstanding hardware + software + services; Tim only gave services a promotion to top billing.

Steve had iTunes, iTools & .Mac, MobileMe, iAd and an iPhoto printing service. He also literally tried to make a credit card himself back in 2004:

kensegall.com/2019/05/20/the-g

18 May 2023 at 13:42 | Wall-to-wall | Open on tech.lgbt
8 comments
sam henri gold

@dgriffinjones @grishka I feel like those examples under Steve could be grouped into three distinct categories: "digital hub", "enhancing the mac experience", and "developer". So everything felt targeted and purposeful even if the execution was a bit shit. But here it feels more...aimless? Like a high yield savings account or actually running a production studio for feature films and then vying for academy awards. I just find it weird for the brand; it's Colgate Lasagna.

18 May 2023 at 13:51 | Open on hachyderm.io
Григорий Клюшников

sam henri gold, Colgate Lasagna! That's a neat phrase. It makes me imagine something that looks like a lasagna but is in cold colors and tastes like toothpaste.

It's almost like Apple Car... oh wait.

18 May 2023 at 14:33
D. Griffin Jones

@samhenrigold @grishka I think Apple’s philosophy has always been to enter a product category if they believe they can do markedly better than the competition, either in strategy or design. They weren’t into personal electronics until the iPod, because they could do better than the crap MP3 players. They weren’t into selling music until the iTunes Music Store, because they envisioned the online era of buying music that record labels refused to make. They weren’t into cellphones until the iPhone, because, well, everyone knows that story.

The Apple Card feels like a natural extension of Apple Pay to me, making a better credit card experience than the predatory shit that’s common in fintech. Apple Arcade is a natural extension of the App Store, making a better experience than the IAP monster they actually created themselves earlier.

@samhenrigold @grishka I think Apple’s philosophy has always been to enter a product category if they believe they can do markedly better than the competition, either in strategy or design. They weren’t into personal electronics until the iPod, because they could do better than the crap MP3 players. They weren’t into selling music until the iTunes Music Store, because they envisioned the online era of buying music that record labels refused to make. They weren’t into cellphones until the iPhone,...

18 May 2023 at 14:57 | Open on tech.lgbt
D. Griffin Jones

@samhenrigold @grishka I’ll admit, the only one it doesn’t work for is Apple TV+. People praised them upon launch for mimicking the HBO strategy of quality-over-quantity, but clearly that was out of necessity of starting from zero, not because they wanted to. They’re shoveling out shows at an incredible pace and some have been real stinkers. Same as anyone else.

18 May 2023 at 15:01 | Open on tech.lgbt
Григорий Клюшников

D. Griffin Jones, but you do have to draw the line somewhere, don't you? I have to admit, I very much dislike the modern IT industry for how nothing ever has a limited, well-defined scope. The scope always expands. No one builds a product that does one thing outstandingly well and then just... stops, and goes on to work on other, unrelated projects, sometimes fixing bugs that users encounter. No, now your taxi app also delivers food (natural extension kinda, right?), your social media app pivots to entertainment so hard you can't just ignore it, your music streaming app starts doing podcasts, etc etc.

What you end up with is this. It used to be a Middle Eastern taxi app. It's now this monster of a super-app that tries to encompass all possible transportation-/delivery-related services and then some:

D. Griffin Jones, but you do have to draw the line somewhere, don't you? I have to admit, I very much dislike the modern IT industry for how nothing ever has a limited, well-defined scope. The scope always expands. No one builds a product that does one thing outstandingly well and then just... stops, and goes on to work on other, unrelated projects, sometimes fixing bugs that users encounter. No, now your taxi app also delivers food (natural extension kinda, right?), your social media app pivots...
18 May 2023 at 15:12
Григорий Клюшников

Григорий, so yeah, the software I'm writing this from, Smithereen, does have a limited scope. I plan to call it complete at some point and then just stop actively developing it. I do have lots of features planned, most of which no one has attempted in a federated social media service before, but it's still a finite number. Like photo albums with tagging. Or global search for users with bloom filters for peer servers (this needs testing in practice).

18 May 2023 at 15:22
Григорий Клюшников

D. Griffin Jones, I feel obliged to point out that your pixel-art profile picture fits pixel-perfectly into my comment layout.
18 May 2023 at 14:28
D. Griffin Jones

@grishka It’s 32 × 32! It’s as big of an icon as one could ever possibly need

18 May 2023 at 14:37 | Open on tech.lgbt
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