I tried to paint the big picture of the Apple concept…

Click on the pic to get a bigger image!

This is a mindmap that tries to cover all the Apple products and services. I won’t say that it’s complete, but it gives an impression of how many things that are part of the total Apple concept. Even if I know about all this – I have just put everything down from my memory, I have never seen such an overall picture of what Apple is and I think it’s impressing. (And I have forgot some things, I’m already starting to recall what should have been on the map as well…)

When you think about it, someone can get interested in buying an Apple device for so many different reasons. Maybe you get curious when you see someone use ApplePay? Maybe you wonder how reading e-books works? Maybe you just need a new computer? Maybe someone took a photo with her iPhone and you are surprised by the good result? Maybe you see how a broadcasted TV-show is filmed with iPhones and you think ”Can they do that?” Maybe you drive a excavator and report your jobs on an iPad? Maybe your kid brings home his iPad with e-books, apps and instructions from his teacher and you are amazed of how well it works?

No matter what your reason is: once you start to appreciate Apple, you get curious about what more there is.

Some people judge Apple from using just one device or the market for just one device. I want to remind everyone about how big the world of Apple is. Compare with Microsoft, Google or Amazon and they offer just fragments of what Apple offer to the market. That’s why Apple keep on making progress, it’s almost a bit scary when you look at it like this.

New times mean new ways to do things, so of course, one day someone will start to build up a new concept for how we do things and one day Apple will be history. But I think that Apple will keep on being a huge company to count on for at least ten more years and I wouldn’t get surprised if they can hang on even longer than that, because, a certain way to innovate is in Apple’s DNA. Could they go on for ever? Who knows…?

 

Apple’s big system has many entrances

You always need a reason to buy something or start to use a new technique. When I bought my first MacPlus computer it was just to get something more modern than a typewriter – hey, it was 1989 and we didn’t even know about the internet.

Soon I found out that I also could use Macs to draw and paint digitally and that was huge for me, but it didn’t matter to most people. When I discovered Fractal Painter in combination with Wacom’s digital pen, it gave me so much joy. However, this was not something that made everyone buy a Mac or even a computer.

I think Internet was the first big entrance to the world of computers for people in general, but not many of them bought Macs. Many believed that Macs were toys and maybe just useful for creative people – oh, how wrong they were! They didn’t even realize that Microsoft Windows was a bad and ugly copy of the MacOS…

The next big entrance was music, or rather, the possibility to carry music with you in a small, cool device called iPod. I still remember when my daughter borrowed her dads iPod and her class mates wonder how big the memory was and she said 15GB and they laughed at her, believing that she said 15 MB, so she had to repeat it: 15 Gigabyte. Then they understood. Wow! Her coolness factor sky rocketed at once.

The iPod became a big success for Apple and it also meant that they sold music on iTunes. A legal and easy way to pay for digital music. So music combined with the coolness factor was now the big entrance for many to the Apple world.

Then Apple launched the iPhone. Hallelujah, jackpot! Everyone, I say, everyone around me bought an iPhone. This time it was not something for kids or young people, this time it was a tool that many CEOs found to be useful and of course, also employees and iPhone became the norm of mobiles. As we know, other companies tried to produce smartphones as well, but they are all iPhone wannabes. I remember, for example, when a man from a newspaper apologized that he had to use an HTC smartphone, because of the company’s policy. He was not happy.

The iPhone has changed so much in how we solve our daily tasks. We use it as a telephone, but it’s also a tool for email, internet and even reading, taking notes and much more. In fact, one of the features that totally has change our behavior is the camera. It has changed the camera market. The average person doesn’t need to buy a camera today because the iPhone’s camera is so good!

The next thing was the iPad. It didn’t become as successful as the iPhone, but still, very successful and it changed the way we work, study and entertain ourselves, even when we travel. It sure became an entrance to the Apple system for many.

By this time we became used to buying not only music, but also apps and e-books via Apple. One Apple ID and we get access to so many digital items and services. One category are the bank apps, which are very useful.

Today there are so many ways that Apple makes our lives easier to handle and for every way that people discover, no matter which entrance they used, they will become more curious about the rest of the Apple devices. This has lead to that Apple sell more Macs, even though other companies see declining sales of computers.

This autumn Apple released Apple Pay which might be the next really big entrance to the Apple world. It’s such an easy and safe way to pay that I think it will set the norm for what people expect.

Next year Apple Pay will continue to grow and it will get a boost when the Apple Watch is launched. The Apple Watch will also become a huge entrance to the Apple system. Many have already learned about health bracelets, but as usual, when Apple adds health features to a device, they do it so much smarter and cooler than the others. The Apple Watch will be used for so many things. Health is one big reason to buy the Apple Watch, but imagine the coolness and simplicity when you can pay with just tapping on your Apple Watch!

And, I haven’t even mentioned how much cash Apple Pay will bring to Apple…

Once you start to use an Apple device, it’s very likely that you will continue to buy more devices from Apple, which means that you will buy more digital items or services and then you will start to use Apple Pay when you buy other things. To think about this almost makes me dizzy… Imagine how much you buy at AppStore, iTunes and iBookStore, add everything you will be able to buy in your local stores or online – paying with Apple Pay. Is this the future, that almost everything we buy will go through Apple’s system for transactions? If that becomes the daily reality, Apple will have so many streams of money flowing to them.

And I will still use Apple because I think their devices and services are outstanding.

I think the best way to get some money back from Apple is to buy Apple shares. It’s like a variation of ”if you can’t beat them, join them!”, except, I don’t want to beat Apple. I want to be a happy citizen in the Apple Global Country. As long as Apple keep on doing good. And that’s the danger in all this: the moment Apple starts to do something evil, then this system will fall apart, because we are all in the system because of our free will. We can still choose other products and services outside the Apple system. But we don’t.

We enter the door to Apple and very few of us leave, once we have discovered what Apple can do for us. As long as they keep on making our lives better, we will stay.

Bendgate? Or just nonchalant iPhone users?

Today I stood in an office with seven persons. We came to talk about iPhone 6 and the buzz around that it’s possible to bend it. Everyone laughed. Did they laugh at Apple? No. They laughed at the stupid users who buy a high tech item that is deliciously designed to fit the highest standards and then puts in the backpocket of their jeans, sits on it and complains because it bends.

We talk about an item that some people consider to be a luxury item and one woman in the room said ”Hey, my iPhone is a little computer, my most important work tool!”

Many use snuff in Sweden and they put their snuffbox in their pockets. There is a big difference between a snuffbox and an iPhone. In fact it’s an insult to both the iPhone and Apple to put an iPhone in the back pocket. To do that and then sit on it is plain stupid.

My wishes for the next iPhone

Every day I see new articles about the iPhone 6 which is not launched and probably won’t be launched earlier than August – according to the rumors. This basic fact doesn’t stop people from writing about what the new iPhone will be like. The bigger screen size is by now like a fact, even though we haven’t actually seen the new iPhone. But, of course, we have seen pics of a couple of mock-ups that is supposed to show what the iPhone will look like.

I’m really not that interested in those kind of details. I’m more interested in features and there are a couple of things that feels like ”it has to come soon”.

A way to pay with your iPhone

When I sell books at an event I use iZettle for payments. People can pay with their card and a PIN code, or pay me in cash. The receipt is sent to the customers e-mail. When I want to send money to a friend, I usually do it with Swish. You register for the Swish payment service, which means that your mobile number will be connected to your bank account. So all I need to know about my friend is that she or he has registered for Swish and then I just send the money to her or his mobile number.

So far I think Swish works only with the Swedish bank system – which brings up the subject of the American bank system: how come you guys over there in that big country with so much innovation going on, still can’t use bank services as easy as we do it in Sweden? I mean, I can even manage my bank account on my iPhone… and it’s not even a new thing.

Siri for more languages

Come on Apple, it sucks that we can’t use use Siri in Swedish! I can speak English, but that doesn’t help when you ask Siri to call up someone with a Swedish name and such. It’s too silly if I have to figure out how an English speaking person would pronounce a Swedish name…

iCloud and Apple ID

Please Apple, make it easier for the average user to understand how it works! I am an Apple coach for a couple of persons and my experience that they don’t really get how neither iCloud nor Apple ID works. Well, this is of course a question for all of Apple’s devices.

iMessages and FaceTime 

This is of course connected to the part above, iCloud and Apple ID. When someone sends me a message all my devices go crazy… When someone wants to FaceTime with me, it’s crazy again. I get it, it’s splendid that I have access to both iMessages and FaceTime from all my devices, but what if a device could sense that the other devices are close to it and therefor it would just start the message alarm on the one device that is active.

I mean, Facebook’s messenger app doesn’t behave so crazy and what’s more, no matter from where I check my Facebook messages, I can always reach them from any device. iMessages has this annoying thing of not showing the last conversation from my iPhone on my computer for example. Not until that conversation will go active again because I or the other person sends a new message, can I see the full conversation on my computer.

Well, that was all for now!

Apple’s next innovation will be, eh, MacBooks?

There’s a lot of talk going on about Apple and what will become their next innovation. The pressure to deliver innovations get harder and harder for every year. Apple’s shareholders are very demanding and it sometimes seems like anything except miracles are regarded on as disappointments…

The buzz is about an iWatch or some new solution for TV, together with spy reports with pictures of new product details that comes from the ”next iPhone” and so on. There’s also some talk about a new, large iPad and I really hope that rumor is true.

But, we don’t hear much about the MacBooks. What will the next generation of MacBooks be like? We got a mind-blowing cylindric MacPro the autumn 2013. We also got big upgrades on iWork. It’s about time to get new models of the MacBook as well.

Horace Dediue writes:

But the bigger story is how Apple’s mobile platform has nearly reached the sales volume of Windows. In 2013 there were only 1.18 more Windows PCs than Apple devices sold. Odds are that in 2014 they will be at parity.

If you look at this graph from his blog Asymco, you can see that Macintosh (Apple’s computers) have just a small part of the amount of devices that Apple has sold.

I am sure that Apple wants to expand and gain more market shares also when it comes to computers. iPads and iPhone are fantastic devices, but most people need computers to do their work. The thing is: once someone has bought their first Apple device, they kind of want one more and then another. I think it often starts with that someone buys an iPhone.

Another trend is BYOD, Bring Your Own Device. It has been going on for a couple of years now and like Horace writes, the center for decision has moved from the IT departments to the individual user. The result is that more people are free to choose what they like and in a lot of cases it means Apple devices.

Therefore I think that the next big wave of development for Apple is not  TV-solutions or watches. I think they will start to sell a new generation of MacBooks that will be so delicious that everyone wants one. It seems like they are starting to revolutionize the MacBook in many ways and the last week we have seen evidence of a patent for flexible display device and a pressure sensitive touchpad. I think that we are getting closer to a MacBook without a keyboard… actually I started to think about that during the autumn 2010, so it’s not a new thought. Physical keyboard means more parts that can go broken. I always wear out my keyboard with my nails. It’s time for a touch board also on the MacBook.

Though, we won’t know what it will look like until we know. But I’m convinced that a new generation of MacBooks are an important part of establishing a solid market share filled with people that will use their Apple devices for work as well as private. The competitors need to work a lot smarter in order to challenge the growing success of Apple.