“Oh Apple, what happened to the days when you were the interface of choice because you were easier to understand than any other tech product?” Francine Hardaway writes for The Phoenix Business Journal. “If you have experienced the company’s recent products you know that those days are far in the past, sacrificed to thinner, lighter, more beautiful hardware sold with any old software the company can push out.”
Hardaway writes, “I think the entire UX/UI team needs to be fired, and the company needs to start from the beginning on the software that accompanies Jony Ive’s stunning designs.”
MacDailyNews Take: Uh, but you just fired Jony, so…
(Francine, Jonathan Ive is Apple’s Chief Design Officer. Ive is responsible for all design at Apple, including the look and feel of Apple hardware, user interface, packaging, major architectural projects including Apple’s retail stores, as well as new ideas and future initiatives.)
“The Apple Watch was not a simple piece of consumer electronics to pick up and use. It took me quite a while to learn how to launch the apps, and I still don’t understand how to add complications to the watchfaces without reading forums,” Hardaway writes. “And the apps themselves? Almost to a one, Apple’s recent apps are awful on WatchOS, desktop and iOS — inferior in every way to third-party competitors.”
MacDailyNews Take: Take it easy on the hyperbole, Francine. You sound more than a bit nuts.
“But the Apple TV just threw me over the edge. I have spent the entire weekend setting it up. And that’s because the interface on the new Apple TV is the same as that of the old Apple TV: you have to type on the screen using the remote, in much the same way that you had to punch out letters to make a word on the old flip phone keyboards,” Hardaway writes. “And no, you can’t use the old iOS Remote app on the new Apple TV, although I can’t understand why.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: While Francine hyperventilates in her minivan on the way to driving her kid to today’s soccer game, we unfortunately cannot disagree with the general thrust of her article. As we wrote recently:
There is a pattern of botched/incomplete launches from Apple Inc. under Tim Cook that is rather glaring and worrisome.
Apple’s management team should really stop whatever they’re doing right now and take a long, hard, cold look in the mirror. This is one time where Tim Cook & Co. really should be asking themselves, “What would Steve do?”
Because what Steve would do is push harder, not settle for less than the best and not be carelessly frittering away the brand equity that he (along with Jony Ive, Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue et al.) worked so incredibly hard to build.
Rest assured that we’ll shut up about this when it’s fixed.
Now, breathe, Francine, breathe.
SEE ALSO:
What Steve Jobs gave Apple that Tim Cook cannot – November 18, 2015
New Apple Pencil stock begins arriving at some U.S. Apple Retail Stores – November 17, 2015
Apple’s new iPad Pro debuts with forced reboots, missing Apple Pencils – November 16, 2015
Apple’s perplexingly incomplete launch of the iPad Pro – November 16, 2015
Apple’s major problem is Tim Cook – November 16, 2015
At Apple, it seems as if no one’s minding the store – November 13, 2015
Publishers underwhelmed with Apple News app – November 13, 2015
Apple’s joyless iPad Pro launch: WTF are the Apple Pencils and Smart Keyboards? (4-5 weeks away) – November 12, 2015
Apple’s best days are behind it or something – November 7, 2015
Apple TV 4 is a beta product and, if you bought one, you’re an unpaid beta tester – November 5, 2015
Apple Watch has arrived for just 22 percent of preorder customers – April 28, 2015
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Tim Cook’s mea culpa: iMac launch should have been postponed – April 24, 2013
Tim Cook open letter: We fell short with new Maps app; we are extremely sorry – September 28, 2012
With obtuse iPad 2 launch, Apple fails to delight 49,000 customers per day – March 21, 2011
