The Headphone Jack Won’t Be Saving Your Phone From a Catastrophic Fall
We have all been there, walking around fumbling around with our phones and then after a moment of clumsiness the phone falls and just when it is about to hit the floor your headphones give it a slight pull to save it from certain death. But this will not be the case anymore as Apple (and other tech companies) are removing the headphone jack in the latest version of their mobile phones. With the iPhone 7 this has been a topic of much debate, as a widely used standard suddenly disappears. Having used the phone for a couple of months now, it is not a big deal. The use cases where you need an actual independent headphone jack are very few unless you are constantly using wired headphones while charging or you own a set of very expensive headphones, aside from that the iPhone comes with a pair of headphones and Apple is doing its share to push us to a wireless future with Bluetooth. Other than this controversial move by Apple, the iPhone 7 is not that special as it only sports a few other incremental upgrades such as a better camera, better battery and generally better internals.
Then came the release of the new MacBook Pros. Just like the iPhone 7, this was another controversial release as all the ports have been replaced by USB3C limiting the use of the device or generating a dependence on dongles. Aside from the ports the new MacBooks have better internals than before, smaller enclosure and all this at the cost of battery life. Oh and there is also a touch bar whose real world usefulness is doubtful.
The release of the iPhone and MacBook raised some a big question for me, has Apple lost its spark? In recent years Apple has released many products ranging from new iPhones, to MacBooks, to the Apple Watch. But none of these releases has brought along significant innovation.
In the past 16 years we have seen game changing releases by the Cupertino based company. In 2001 was the introduction of the iPod along with the release of iTunes. Even though these two products when looked to as parts are not revolutionary, the combination of the two created an ecosystem that set the standards of the industry going forward. Then in 2007 came the iPhone, a device that was set to change the world as we know it. Many other attempts at changing the mobile phone segment had been tried before, but Apple’s execution of the iPhone release once again set the standards for the industry. Once the iPhone gathered momentum came the next game changer, a marketplace for phone applications. The App Store made an already useful device into a tool in which we depend on for the everyday by democratizing the offerings. The last device that changed the industry was the iPad, even though it could just be seen as a big iPod, it created a new segment which was fairly successful and offered solutions in areas where a bigger screen makes the difference.
Since the iPad, Apple has not had anything major or revolutionary and most of the releases are nothing other than incremental upgrades to keep up with the competition. But is Apple destined to go downhill from here? Or do they have something in the works that can be as impactful as the iPhone. One of the areas that has seen significant investment has been the “TV”. Today Apple is using the AppleTV as a mean of aggregation of a variety of different services, and trying to improve an industry that has been quite stagnant. But being an aggregator can be the first step of the “Next Big Thing”. An example that comes to mind is Kayak. It began as an aggregator of airfares, but today it also acts as a provider. Could Apple be taking the first steps at changing the TV industry, and eventually offer a new way to watch TV?
