The Big Apple Kingdom

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Apple is an incredible successful company. It’s position as the number one trendsetter in the world of computers, smartphones, tablets and soon wearables is undeniable. Others may try, but it is what Apple do that sets the standard.

One of the new really hot things they have come up with is Apple Pay. Yesterday I got the news that  CVS Health Corp. (CVS) and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) disabled the technology in their drugstores. Really? They want to launch their own system called CurrentC, which seems to be a clumsy attempt to create a system for digital payment. When Apple offers Apple Pay with both security, privacy and simple to use, CurrentC uses QR codes – which are a laugh even outside this payment system, and then they want to spy on the customers buying habits.

The right way to compete with Apple is to compete with quality and user satisfaction. Not to shut out a good payment solution and make the customers angry. When you think about it like this, it seems to be a, let us be kind, not so smart way to handle the situation.

However, we are living in a world that is rapidly changing. Two years ago I wrote the blogpost ”What is a country now when we have internet?” I was pointing at the fact that borders between countries become more irrelevant when we spend so much time in the digital world. One of the things that define a country is it’s currency. Digital currency is one of the options for the new digital world and Bitcoin is the first example of that, but so far it’s not trustworthy. Another way might be what Apple is about to do with Apple Pay and when I think about it like that, someone is bound to react and try to defend themselves from Apple’s growing, powerful kingdom.

What is a country in these days and where will our future wars be fought? I love Apple but I realize that when one company become as big and powerful as Apple, problems will follow and it’s extremely important that Apple works with good ethics. When you are big, you have to be kind.

Maybe opposition against Apple Pay could be considered as a guerrilla group’s attempt to defend themselves from becoming part of Apple’s kingdom?

My wishes for the next iPhone

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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!