In the accompanying article/slide show, the ideas covered are:
• Apple Auto: Wes Brown, Partner, Iceology
• Public Transit: Jesse James Garrett, President, Adaptive Path
• Social Apple Stores: Victor Ermoli, Dean of the School of Design, Savannah College of Art and Design
• iPod Projector: Bruce Claxton, Senior director, design integration, Motorola
• Folio Laptop: Marc Gobe, President, Emotional Branding
• A Greener Apple: Tadeo Toulis, Creative director, Teague
• Don’t Forget the Pros: David Tonge, Co-founder, the-division
• Video Camera: Geoff Vuleta, CEO, Fahrenheit 212
• Personal Finance Software: Chris Conley, Professor of Design, IIT, Partner, Gravity Tank
• Simple iTunes: John Maeda, President-elect, Rhode Island School of Design
“Jobs’ game plan for Apple has been apparent since he took back the reins of the embattled Cupertino (Calif.) company in 1997. Products, from the original iMac, which was launched in 1998, to the iPod, have focused on relentlessly reducing complexity, honing the brand’s image for clean, simple design,” Vella writes.
“What’s more, additional products—from a new Apple operating system to media devices and computers—all fell into a well-designed ecosystem for a seamless user experience,” Vella reports. “Jobs also encouraged socializing so users could easily share music, movies, or videos. Executives asking themselves how their company might create a product as successful as the iPod are barking up the wrong tree. A better question, according to designers and innovation consultants, is: ‘What would Apple do?'”
Vella reports, “Many of the Mac faithful simply long to see the Apple logo slapped on a wider range of consumer electronics devices, including ever smaller computers, touch-screen-enabled tablets, video cameras, and multimedia-infused living rooms. Despite competition, almost all of these are probable, according to Geoff Vuleta, CEO of the New York-based innovation consultancy Fahrenheit 212, because Apple ‘knows how to swoop in late and slash the nonsense out of a product.'”
Vella reports, “Even the most outlandish Apple wish list reinforces the company’s stellar reputation for elegant, easy-to-use products and services. Which is exactly why asking what might be next is an effective way of peeking into Apple’s method of innovation.”
Full article here.
The article/slide show discussing the individual ideas here.
I’d like to see Apple go into the wagon market. They do rounded rectangles so well. They’d really shake up the market. And the Radio Flyer is for dupes who’ve bought into the system, man.
Chris
Apple hones the product, which in turn creates the image. Most businesses hone the image, which leads to disappointment when you actually use their products.
Hear! Hear!
Very well said. And so many people just don’t get that. How many times do the Microsoft apologists say that people buy iPods just because they are “hip”and “cool” right now, as if it was only fashion choice, and just you wait, the Zune will be hip very soon.
The whole “Welcome to the Social” garbage advertising that Microsoft trying to engineer speaks to that concept as well. No one owned these things, so how are you a part of a group or a movement that simply doesn’t exist? Social netowrks are organic things. They don’t get life from a balance sheet.
Ampar,
“What would be left if all the sand was taken out of the Sahara?”
One big ass staging area for The Flintstones triumphant return.
Well, old buddy, you finally managed to evoke my weekly giggle. You cut it a little close this time, but better late than never. Thanks.
Mmmmm, spontaneous chuckling.
I don’t remember Zune Tang being so funny before MDN implemented user accounts.
I have to wonder if this Zune Tang is the same as the old ZT???
An Apple competitor to Quicken would be awesome!
I still run Quicken for Windows in simulation via CrossOver, which works OK and is getting better all the time, but is still pretty fraking slow.
MarkMark…Sounds like a hare-lipped dog.
An Apple competitor to Quicken would be awesome! Me too!
Take a look at…. iBank – IGG Software, LLC
What should Apple do next?
1. Nationwide WiFi or WiMax with Google. Integrate it with the entire product line.
2. Start Apple Studios. Sign artists and produce exclusive content for iTunes and AppleTV.
3. Buy CompUSA and turn the fronts into Apple Stores. Sell/rent unsuitable or duplicate locations.
4. Get into the dashboard, and not just with iPod docks either. DO NOT leave MS Sync alone in this market! With modern cars being rolling Rube-Goldberg hodgepodges of networked computers, there is a big opening for a standard automotive OS that brings it all together.
5. Buy Nintendo to get the Wii, an already very Apple-like product.
6. Do a Mac Midi, an iMac motherboard in a fully user-serviceable minitower case. Aim it directly at enterprise.
7. Fast OS-switching between Mac OS and Windows. No reboot required.
8. Apple theme park. This should be obvious.
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9. 1984-foot tall, cube-shaped super skyscraper in Cupertino.
10. Apple Office with AppleBASIC. Pick up where MS left off on the Mac….