Tag Archives: Steve Jobs

Apple is Losing it’s Edge

Ever since the Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in June of 2007, the smartphone industry exploded. In effort to keep up with the profit that Apple was making, other cellular device brands, such as LG and Nokia, furiously spit out smartphones in every size and shape. After the launch of the iPad in 2012, brands like Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Samsung made their own tablet appearances on the market.

None of these other products grew to be quite as popular as Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, of course. Apple was a clear leader in the “smart” gadget market. Their innovation was clean, sleek, and user friendly products that weren’t exactly economical or sturdy. By not catering to the consumers, Apple somehow managed to dominate the market and leave people lusting after its products. And, as anyone can see, after their first glorious innovation, more advanced versions of the product, iPhone, persay, aren’t much of a stretch compared to the first.

Anyway, back to the release of the iPad in 2010. At the same time, eReaders were making an appearance in bookstores and on Amazon.com. This evolved into the popular new 7 inch tablets such as the Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy Tab 7. At that time period, Steve Jobs claimed that Apple would never make a 7 inch tablet. That, of course, would be following someone’s lead. And surely, in his mind, once you become a follower, you will forever be a follower.

In 2011, Steve Jobs passed away, leaving the fate of his company in Tim Cook’s hands. TIm Cook isn’t making good executive decisions for Apple Corp. First of all, he approved startling changes to the proportions of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new “tallboy” display adds half an inch to the iPhone and iPod Touch’s screens, elongates the rectangular shape of the device, and makes it awkward to use, take pictures with, and use in general. It also caused a massive inconvenience to app developers. Rather than having to optimize their apps for iOS 6, developers were forced to alter, remake, and program in new graphics information to support this new display. The new iPhones now have an ugly strip of shiny plastic on the top of the back, rather than either a fully matte or fully shiny body. The new iPods are even worse, with some sort of strap holding attachment at one of the bottom corners that all new cases and covers must accommodate for. However, the dramatic, totally unexpected change that came was that the iPod touches were now in fact being offered in different colors. This was Apple’s first time in trying to cater to customers, giving them choices, and is quite a change from their original philosophy. Also, this change isn’t going to help them sell more. Research shows that people buy more, and make better choices when there are fewer options. Take the classic jam example. More customers purchased jam when there were 6 different types, rather than 24. It’s easy to choose between a black or white, rather than six different colors.

The recent iPad mini would never be on the market if it were up to Steve Jobs. However, Tim Cook, current CEO of Apple tries to save face for his company by claiming that a 7.9 inch tablet is in a completely different league than a 7 inch tablet (which the iPad Mini is). The iPad mini is clearly an attempt to keep up with the 7 inch tablet market. Most models in the said market cost half as much. Boo you, Apple. You’re becoming a follower. The new iPad Mini’s volume control buttons are on the right, no longer the left. This leaves anyone that’s not a brand new Apple customer (like myself) trying to push nothingness on the left side of the device for a couple moments every time they try to change the sound, only to realize moments later that the buttons have moved.

On a last note, the awkward, ear-side specific, and strange-feeling new “EarPods” (redesigned earbuds that direct sound straight to one’s eardrums) are too much of an inconvenience for our lazy generation- no one has the time to make sure that they’re putting the right one in their right ear and left one in their left. Unfortunately, because of their design, they don’t work otherwise. The redesigned chargers make it confusing in a household where people might have both older and newer Apple products. These new “features” (if you could call them that) make the once user-friendly Apple products more inconvenient.

Apple used to be a global leader in the electronics industry- other brands would scramble to try and catch up with them, model their products after Apple’s. However, since former CEO and forever innovator Steve Jobs’s demise, new CEO and not-so-much innovator Tim Cook has been making decision that are dulling Apple’s competitive edge at light speed. Because of these decisions, Apple is falling behind (especially after the release of the pretty darn innovative Windows 8) on innovation and its ability to impress the fickle consumers of our modern world.

~Elaine Cao

The New iPad

The iPad 3 (aka the new iPad) was released in March, 2012. The new technology has a new brilliant retina display, which is even crisper than that of its predecessor ( the iPad 2). To achieve this, the iPad 3 has four times as many pixels as the iPad 2! That is 3.1 million pixels, and a million more than an HDTV! Pretty amazing for a 9.7 inch display right? Along with helping to power those pixels, Apple installed an A5X chip which gives the iPad that extra boost for those extra pixels. The most surprising thing is, you still get up to ten hours of battery life! One improvement I was most happy about was the new and upgraded camera. The new camera has five megapixels and has five lenses to capture that perfect shot.

http://tabletolic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ipad-3.jpg

I think that the new iPad is amazing. Again, It has a crisp retina display, a new A5X chip, and a greatly improved camera. To prove to myself that the new iPad had a better retina display, I sat an iPad 2 and 3 right next to each other, set them to the same brightness, and put the same home screen wallpaper on. Apple was not lying, the iPad 3 has the best display you could get. I had no idea how it could get any better. My only question for the future is; will Apple add a flash to the camera, add vibration, or install Siri on the next iPad? If Apple could do that to the iPad, I think that not only the iPad would be even better then the current one, but more fun and easier to use.

~Josh Perlroth

Apple: Is it All Downhill From Here?

On October 5, 2011 Steve Jobs, the Co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Apple Inc, Died. But I probably don’t need to tell you that, one in ten people over age 13 own an IPhone alone, not putting into account IPads, ITouch’s, and countless other devices that most people in America desperately want to have. Steve Jobs helped found Apple, the company that makes every device with an “ i “ in the front of it, and was a huge influence on how successful the company eventually turned out to be. Many people believe he provided the imagination and inspiration behind every product. Steve Jobs apparently had plans for years ahead but some wonder if Apple can finish the plans all by themselves. It leaves one question in every body’s minds; can Apple pull it off?

For me this question is difficult. I don’t think any one person can answer it with certainty, because Apple is very secretive. For all we know they could have already made the IPhone 8 and are just waiting for the right time to release it. If Apple has Steve Job’s plans then they don’t have to worry about coming up with ideas, until the plans run out at least, but instead they have to worry about how they should present the new products. If they release a new Iphone every month then they risk the quality of them and they risk that customers will get bored of Iphone’s and turn to a new electronic device. But if they try to build up hype for every single new product, customers will eventually get tired of waiting and stop buying Apple products. I think that Apple should be okay without Steve Jobs, but I don’t think Apple will last forever. The day we all get tired of seeing an “ i “ in front of every device is the day that Apple is truly finished.

~Jeremy Bennett

Death of a Great Man

As many people already know, Steve Jobs died October 5, 2011. This blog is to commemorate his accomplishments. Steve lived a very long and successful life as the CEO of Apple Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios. He revolutionized the way we think about technology by bringing us the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Macintosh. In 1974, he became a video game designer for Atari. In 1976, he and his partner Wozniak created one of the first successful personal computers, the Apple II. In the early 1980s, Jobs revolutionized computers with the complex and advanced Apple Lisa. After being forced to leave the Lisa project, he started working on the famous Macintosh. This surprised me a lot: In 1986, Steve Jobs became the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios. So he’s responsible for bringing us beloved films like Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Finding Nemo and Up. In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer. Even in his time of suffering, he still produced iPhones, iPods and iPads. Sadly, on October 5th, 2011, he died of Pancreatic Cancer.

There is no doubt that Steve Jobs was an important part of many peoples lives. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have an Apple device of some kind. Personally, my favorite Apple device is the iPod Touch. I’ve had mine for a very long time and I go everywhere with it. I use it for music, to play games, to watch YouTube and Netflix and I have no idea what I would do without it. How about you? Whats your favorite Apple device. Leave your responses in the comment section below. Thanks!

~Adam Kaszas

End of an Era: Tribute to Steve Jobs

Recently Steve Job, co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., died at the age of 56 of pancreatic cancer. Jobs along with the other founders were the first to create a successful computer company. With his death the world has lost a visionary, a creative genius and a wonderful man.  Steve is a revolutionary genius who helped start a technological revolution with all of his work. The world and Apple will deeply miss him.

Now let’s take a look at what Jobs has done to impact the modern world. First off, Jobs created many of modern computer fonts which we use every day; thanks to him we have a large selection of fonts. Also, he created some of the most innovated and widely used technology in existence, from the first Mac computer to the IPod and then IPhone, which we use every day. Finally, Steve Jobs started one of the most successful animated movie companies of all time, Pixar.  The way I see it there isn’t a single day that goes by that Americans don’t use something he didn’t create. Jobs is truly one of the most accomplished men in the last 25 years and will be missed by billions of people. So, what about you, do you think he was a revolutionist or not? Either way, I am sure that what you do daily happens because of him and that you will most likely miss him and his work.

~Owen Kennelly

End of an Era

Steven Paul Jobs

February 24th, 1995 – October 5th, 2011

Wednesday, October 5th, was the end of an era.  Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, passed away from pancreatic cancer. Jobs took everything he knew and tried to make it better. You know how he got the idea for the iPod? Well, there were some broken hard drives that could only store music files. Instead of trashing them, he turned it into one of the most wanted top-of-your-Christmas-list gadgets that almost everyone wanted. He also did the impossible, shrinking down computers from dinosaurs, taking up entire tables (and waaaaay before that, rooms!) and crunching them down into palm-sized devices.(That not only had your pictures, music, and documents – but games and apps, too!)

My thoughts? I think that he was a smart guy who contributed a lot to the world in the way of technology – although, he was just a guy. Like anyone, he has a good side and a bad side. He was not perfect, having many faults such as giving his teachers a hard time, to having a horrible temper and taking it out on people at work.   I am glad he was here, but the world keeps spinning, and life moves on.

Interesting Facts

– Jobs was born from teenage parents, and then adopted by Clara & Paul Jobs.
– He was a college drop out, leaving in 1976 (when he was 21 years old), to start up the company we now know as Apple. After being with the business for a while, he jumped into an animation studio, helping it along and staying with it to help produce what our children might know as “the classics”. (I’ll give you a hint: the company produced UP, Cars, and Wall-E.