Last apple product

Last apple product

I have used and owned Apple products for most of my life.  But sadly, after I will probably get an iPhone, (not sure yet what one) in 2019 it will most likely be the last Apple product I ever own.  I say this with a heavy heart.  I have and still have many Apple products, from the original click wheel iPod, iTouch, MBP 17”, to three iPads including the 12”.  However, the current crop of Apple products seems to have lost their glamour and reason.  The product types and usefulness are now seemed to be driven by form first rather than the balance of function and form together.  I place function first in the list then form for a reason.  I will explain:  While it is true that if the product does not look good it may never get purchased, it also goes that if the product is not sturdy and reliable then the best-looking product is worthless in the long run.  Therefore, function and forms must go hand in hand and function must be first in the idea and creation of the product.   

I define form and function as follows.  Function is the usage of the product, the reliability, the parts and how they interact and work with each other.  The strength and long-term reliability are part of the product. Many items in the form line may never been seen or felt.  Form is how the product looks, the colors the feel of the product and its parts that are touched and seen.   At times form may feel like function and function may feel like form. A keyboard, for example, how it feels and how reliable it is how form and function work together. Having a speck of dirt being lodged in a part that can only be replaced by replacing the entire lower section is a failure even if the keys are thinner to the look and comfortable to the touch. 

In the past, Steve Jobs and early after Steven Jobs passing, the Apple products followed a function over form.  Looking close at the current products, except for now the iPhone, it is form over function with less looking at the function aspect.  Many of the products like iPads and laptops are much thinner than in the past, but I ask, do they really need to be?   Do a few millimeters thickness on an iPad really make the product any better, or just a larger profit for the bottom line?  Apple is special and has always been special with its people that make and use the product.  Now it seems to be just like any other technology company to use as few materials as you can to make it work and keep the price as high as you can.  For a product that is special that is all fine, but lately if you really look at the product, is it really that special any more for the price and quality? 

The current headlines of easy to bend iPads, because they are so thin, iMac and iMac pros that have a single speck of dust get sucked into the system and cause the display to have issues because they wanted it to be paper thin and not have a dust filter place in the sections that draw in air to help in cooling, show the form over function loss of direction.   I do understand that any company needs to keep the cost of the parts down to have a required percentage profit on each product, you can do that with a function over form focus.  It’s been done in the company’s past and they have been quite profitable.  Following the form over function focuses may not harm your bottom line for a while, because you have other revenue streams, but it will harm the people’s belief in your later products.    

Sadly, again I am one that will most likely never again get an Apple laptop or an iPad, and I am not able to recommend one to others.  I like the security of the software bug fix upgrade path better than android for tablets, and the ability to run office products on a mac rather than windows, but I can get a lower priced and better-quality and feel hardware, then put a Linux based operating systems on it and have just as good security that I like to use for me. Being forced to do it because your idea of better only means removing or forcing me to use some new design that you feel looks good but does not work in my environment.  

I hope to come back someday…  Thanks again for the past.