Dear Apple

Dear Apple,

I want to want Apple again, but just don’t, not until WWDC 2019.

WWDC 2019 was huge. Huge for me because my fanboydom has been weakening over the last several years. My iPhone X is a complete joke! Slow, buggy, and Siri is, as you know, dumber that rocks! iPad Pro is great, but MBP is more like k-12 than Pro.

But then there was iPad OS and the new Mac Pro with the Pro Display XDR (not withstanding the marketing gaffe of the stand). Apple has really listened to the Pro market and gave up their anorexia mindset to deliver the power and upgradability professionals demand.

But wait, there should be more

I really hope that WWDC 2019 isn’t a one-off, but that Apple is refocusing on their hardware and software offerings. Apple needs to regain the innovator status and not the follower status.

Although Apple has never listened to me in the past, here is what I wish them to do in 2020.

Jettison Anorexia!

It is time for the cure Apple. Not everything has to be paper thin, especially at the expense of thermals and connectivity.

Thin and light are demands for many of your products and for very good reasons. But I am very willing to have a few mm thicker MBP to have the speed I need. Thicker chassis means better cooling which should mean higher performance CPU and GPUs! Oh, BTW, you would never have had this butterfly keyboard issue with a chassis a few mm thicker as you would not have had to gone with that keyboard form factor. How much in money and name has that cost you?

No More Medusa!

Seriously Apple! I am not upgrading my 2014 MBP because I don’t want the Medusa look. For a company that is all about esthetics you quickly throw that away for professionals that have to have dongles for everything, making MBPs look like Medusa! Ok, the MB and MBA can have way fewer types of connections. Got it. But giving up my SD card or HDMI port is unexceptable.  You act like not including them means professionals don’t need them moving forward! When I walk into a meeting to present, I want HDMI. Not ‘Oh, I forgot my dongle, I’ll be right back.’ PC guy ‘Just use my PC, it has ports’ ha ha ha.

Or I take my SD card from my camera and wonder where to stick it, just to think of where I can tell Apple to stick it. I know, its hard for Apple to make money and with their petty cash dwindling to just a few hundred billion dollars, panic must have set in.

Touch Bar

Such a cool idea implemented in the poorest way. First, this needs to be taller so not just my pinky finger can interact with it.

Move the Touch Bar to right above the trackpad so it is usable!!! The way your hands sit, it will never tough the bar, but it would be in the perfect place for quick actions.

Get iOS and Siri into 2020

iOS 13 looks promising, but still behind Android. Why you won’t listen to some creative people on how to change design is beyond me except for your hubris. Remember Steve Jobs (I barley do looking at what Apple offers today). Good creators borrow, great ones steal!

I have screens of apps that I have to swipe though. Why can’t I have app ribbons? Instead of scrolling screen by screen, I simply scroll a row of app icons within the screen I am on. I have 6 rows if icons. Each row should itself be scrollable. I may have a row of banking apps that I should be able to thumb through without swiping from page to page. Just that row of icons swipes. Think combination lock with rows of numbers.

This is just one of the many, many improvements that should be options.

Siri. I just want to throw my phone most days! I hate Siri and by relationship, I hate Apple at times everyday. Seriously, Siri needs a complete reworking and new name. Siri is the most forward facing of Apple representation and an industry joke much like Internet Explorer was/is. That should embarrass you Apple!!

FaceID Secure Enough for Banking but Nothing Else?

If FaceID is good enough for banking and payment systems, then why can’t I use FaceID with Siri to get things done on my phone?!

Hey Siri is old. Looking at my phone and “Make appointment with George for lunch on Thursday at 11:30 am” is so much smarter! Open apps, switch tracks, add/update contacts, send email or text. So much should be done with FaceID. This would have been the must have.

If FaceID recognizes me enough to make a payment or open my banking app, shouldn’t it be trusted to set a lunch appointment? (the answer is yes Apple, it should). I can literally expose thousands of dollars to purchasing fraud, but I can’t add a new phone number to a contact. Laughable!!!

Taking this to the next level on Macs and creating hooks into software, I can really see FaceID taking the assistant to a whole new level. “When this video finishes rendering, export it to YouTube and Message me when you’re done.’

I should be able to look at any of my devices and say ‘connect my AirPods’ and they are then connected!

For good reason. MBPs don’t have the power, nor the connectivity. I would further posit that the “I have an Apple’ product is waning largely because the reasons behind feeling that way have waned.

Is Apple just waiting to release their Ax chip into their notebooks, or is Apple really wanting iPad to replace the MacBook?

Camera Tech

Camera tech has fallen behind just about everyone. I’ve not tested this out, but why can’t the standard and telephoto lens be used together to generate a wide angle like two eyes in a human give greater field of view? Why isn’t there sensors that have better night capabilities to read colors used in support? Why isn’t the depth sensor on the back of the camera yet? Why don’t I have more controls in the camera app? And why do I need to go into settings to switch modes?

FaceID can solve some of the cluttered screen. “start 4k 60 video.” “start wide-angle selfie video” while taking video “switch to 120” while tagging that voice separately to easily edit out.

The Problem is Expectations

We have reached a point in technology where expectations are greater then realizations. Tech companies have shown us possibilities and our imaginations has taken those and built on top of them much more capabilities. The ‘I should be able to do this by now’ has crept in and brings with it anxiety. We are waiting for that next leap where our expectations meets what can be delivered and we are just not getting it.

I really think Samsung sees this and is going to push very hard against what is possible with their in-house silicon in the near future. Google is working on a complete rethink of the OS. If Apple doesn’t leap ahead, they could be left behind with their face in the sand (see what I did there)!  Apple seems to realize this with building the capability to create an app once and port to multiple OS platform within Apple as Google is doing with Fuchsia.

The Problem with Apple is Vision

Let’s be clear. Apple has some of the smartest people working for them within every aspect of the company. Cook however lacks vision. Jobs had wild expectations for technology where Cook is happy with the newest of emojis. Cook’s head is not in the clouds where a visionary’s head should be.

So Cook isn’t a visionary. How could he be? He is a supply chain guy. He is mastering the 3D chess game as no one else has, but he is not the one that could imagine a new game altogether. See? Without Cook, Jobs couldn’t have been who he was. So Cook needs to find his modern-day Jobs. That person who already thinks AR and VR is meh! Cook needs an alter ego super duo partner. I don’t see anyone currently at Apple that fits that role.

Apple does show signs of vision with the HomeKit and Log in with Apple security, iPad OS and Mac Pro / Pro Display XDR, if these are not just answers to problems but rather answers to questions yet asked.

Future of Apple

Just take over home automation already, will you!! Apple stores needs to grow to add rooms for HomeKit innovations. Security cameras, now that Apple allows content to be on iCloud, should also track users via FaceID and VoiceID so ‘Hey Siri’ goes away. I should be able to leave my house, look at the front door’s Ring camera and say ‘Secure Home’ and a set of commands are executed.

Assistant with locally executable commands (on the highest end equipment) should be more like Google Duplex. I’ll pay extra just to have such a processor in my Pro/Plus gear.

As you like VR so much, Apple should team up with Matterport to integrate their VR for Real Estate companies allowing agent walkthroughs.

If I could sit back in my chair and work with my assistant within Final Cut or Photoshop what would that mean? Apply filters, transitions. Export, import. Jog and shuffle. Scrub a video until you find x. So much to be unleashed.

I use Apple Pay for everything. Can’t wait for my driver license and passport on on the chip. Also, entering my home, car, and office with SecureID is an expectation yet realized. Forget fobs and keycards, I never forget my phone.

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