this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
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I don't believe that. I don't think Apple innovates constantly, or that they are the most innovative, but they have their moments (Touch Bar, gigantic touchpad, one of the first laptop manufacturers to have insane display resolution, one of the first to take mobile audio quality seriously, Apple silicon, Vision Pro - which is NOT the same as Google Glass or HoloLens, AirPods).
All examples you mention are just refinements of what others did, proving the point. Except the Vision Pro which is just factually a bad product and rightly getting lambasted by everyone for it. But eh, even Apple has their misses.
It's true, Apple stole ideas so much there is a term for it among the dev community: Sherlocking .
One of the most famous sherlocking case is Apple removing FlickType citing compliance with apple store guidelines, only to launch a similar app later: https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1437845736951992321
“one of the first to take mobile audio quality seriously”
Is this referring to iPods? If so, then I agree. Hell, the first gen iPods are super sought after because they can use FLAC audio files. Although Apple has their own “lostless” audio codec now, so idk if it’s that big of a deal.
AirPods? Sure it’s impressive the noice canceling features in such a small package, but Bluetooth audio was nothing new and now they’re required because Apple removed the headphone jack.
I loved my 2017 LG ThinQ because it not only had a headphone jack, but it had a built in audio DAC to provide extra power to my Sennheiser studio headphones and it sounded soooo good.
I was referring to their laptop speakers, which are some of the best in class speakers around. But Apple has put a heavy emphasis on audio for a while. Their DACs are pretty good for what they are. The HomePods and AirPods aren't bad either. They aren't audiophile-level, but they are pretty good. I do wish they had better BT support, and had AptX on MacOS though.
Also one of the firsts to go all in on USBC on a laptop. Sure they spun their wheels on mobile but I gotta give them props for taking the plunge in their computers. Lotta people bitched about it but it needed to happen.
That’s how they beat competition: by innovating in small-ways.
They didn’t make the first Laptop, but they innovate in ways like high-quality display and trackpad, and having a touch-bar.
They don’t always do it well. Touch-bar and pressure-sensitive trackpad have been hit-or-miss features.
AirPods weren’t the first Bluetooth earphones, but Apple managed to make them wildly popular.
Vision Pro is … honestly I’m not sure where they’re going with it. I think the most similar competing product is the Facebook/Meta/Oculus “Quest”, but that focuses on running games while the Apple Vision emphasizes anything but games.
The pressure sensitive trackpad has been a home run, nobody has better trackpads. Period.
But yeah the touchbar was pretty meh and poorly supported and ended up being half baked in the long run.
I love the pressure sensitive trackpad but my mom always complains when the force-click pop up appears when she tries to click normally but presses too hard. I’m pretty sure most users don’t take advantage of it.
A related feature was pressure sensitivity in their phones, which the removed because most users weren’t using it.
They really need to ship with the optional “bottom right corner is right click” as default, especially when I believe most people are conditioned to that. Fixes the accidental force-click pop ups imo.