Now I’ve had some time to read different reports and reactions (including probably 200 blog comments both pro and negative) to the massive range of Apple announcements today, it seems to me that as usual, most writers and pundits are missing the point. What was announced was a range of interconnected communication services, many of which are actually already available on other platforms. One could spend days discussing these features like new notifications, integrated twitter, camera using volume button as shutter, PC-free syncing and backup etc – a bit like how some like to discuss the raw specs such as processing speed and video card RAM whenever new computing hardware comes out. But one day after we purchase a device, the specs become meaningless - how usable the computer / device is on a day to day basis becomes all that matters.
Of course only developers who have downloaded the iOS beta know if the new features like notifications work. And only when iCloud is released will we really know if Apple have tied all the features together in a seamless, uber-usable way – but I posit that that is the true test of all these features - not what they are as much as how well they work.
I’m happy to wait for the best (read most usable) not first solution to the cloud or video calling or multi-tasking; others may not. I do know I downloaded the free Lonely Planet ‘best in Travel 2011′ today on my iPad and minutes later when I opened iBooks on my iPhone, it was already there at the exact same page (this is one iCloud feature that has been released already) – no extra software to install or register for, just a new button appeared in settings and I tapped it – one less thing to ‘fiddle’ with; I get on with interacting with and creating content. Sure this idea has been around for a while – its what Dropbox does for files and Kindle does for its non-ePub books – but putting it all together system wide in a way that I don’t have to fiddle with – thats the how and thats the hard thing to do.
