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Fast Company’s Complete Interview with Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi→

Fast Company published an article on Monday about Apple’s approach to product design. Today, it posted the full text of its interview with Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi that was the basis for much of the article. I enjoyed Rick Tetzeli’s piece, but there’s nothing better than reading the quotes that were pulled for the article in the context of the whole interview.

Tetzeli’s conversation with Cue and Federighi is filled with additional details about how Apple approached the development of Apple Maps after its rocky launch in 2012. Tidbits like this from Cue on how app usage helps Apple improve Maps:

Let me give you a good example: a golf course. How do we know when a new golf course opens up? We’re not exactly driving around looking for golf courses. But we know it’s there, because there are all these golf apps that get used at a golf course. If we see that all these golf apps are being used at a particular location, and we don’t show that as a golf course, we probably have a problem.

Federighi, who didn’t have many quotes in Tetzeli’s article, had this to say about how Apple approaches new features and products:

We think in terms of experiences. We all use these devices every day, and we think about what we’d like them to do for us. Those aspirational experiences lead us down all sorts of roads technologically, to all kinds of problems that we need to solve. So we think, “Oh, we’d like your Watch to unlock your Mac,” because we need to unlock our Macs every day. It doesn’t start with, “Hey, we’ve been doing development in wireless and they want something to use their technology for.”

Finally, Federighi confirmed what I have always felt has had a profound effect on the way Apple has been run since the late 90s:

I think it’s significant that upper management has lived through periods of austerity [1999 to 2001] and appreciates that this hasn’t been a straight ride up. People who look at Apple’s success and think we look at it as “okay, great, we’re done” don’t appreciate what’s really going on here.

That’s just a small sample of the sort of detail contained in the over 4500 word interview with Cue and Federighi, which I highly recommend reading in its entirety.

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Google Docs and Sheets Add Split-View Support

Earlier today, Google Docs and Google Sheets for iOS were updated with Split View support. Google Docs also added the ability to insert images and page breaks in documents. With iOS 9, Apple introduced the ability to run two apps side-by-side on certain models of the iPad. In the ensuing months, Google Docs and Sheets were updated regularly, but Split View remained conspicuously absent. Now, on the eve of the release of iOS 10, users who rely on Google Docs and Sheets can finally write and work on spreadsheets on the iPad alongside another iOS app.

Update: In addition to Docs and Sheets, Google has updated Slides for iOS with Split View support.

Google’s Chrome Browser to Block Flash

Yesterday, Google announced that its Chrome browser will begin blocking Flash that runs in the background of webpages in September and make HTML5 the ‘default Chrome experience’ in December. According to Google:

Today, more than 90% of Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics. This kind of Flash slows you down, and starting this September, Chrome 53 will begin to block it. HTML5 is much lighter and faster, and publishers are switching over to speed up page loading and save you more battery life. You’ll see an improvement in responsiveness and efficiency for many sites.
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In December, Chrome 55 will make HTML5 the default experience, except for sites which only support Flash.

It has been more than six years since Steve Jobs penned an open letter titled ‘Thoughts on Flash,’ in which he concluded:

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 250,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

Jobs’ open letter was controversial when it was published. In 2010, Flash was everywhere, serving much of the video on the web and acting as a platform for online gaming. HTML5 was making headway, but it was the clear underdog.

Adobe’s initial response to Jobs came from none other than Kevin Lynch, who was the CTO of Adobe in 2010, but is now a Vice President of Technology at Apple, leading the development of watchOS. Lynch announced that Adobe was shifting its focus away from the iPhone and iPad in favor of implementing Flash on Android and other mobile platforms.

Flash never got a firm foothold in the mobile world. Roughly eighteen months after Jobs’ open letter, Adobe abandoned Flash for mobile and began to embrace HTML5. Since then, HTML5 has been incorporated into many of Adobe’s products and Adobe has actively participated in its development. The decline of Flash on PCs has been slower, but is likely to accelerate given Chrome’s browser market share, which, according to NetMarketShare, exceeds 50%.

Chrome is notoriously hard on laptops’ battery life. In what struck me as a significant understatement, Google says that:

Aside from [being prompted to enable Flash on Flash-only sites], the only change you’ll notice is a safer and more power-efficient browsing experience.

In a consumer PC market dominated by laptops, better battery life and safety may be the ‘only’ benefits users will notice, but they are nonetheless significant.

Apple Responds to Australian Banks’ Request to Collectively Boycott and Negotiate Over Apple Pay

Late last week Apple made a preliminary submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in relation to the request for permission from various Australian banks to boycott Apple Pay and collectively negotiate with Apple. Apple’s submission is comparatively brief at just three pages, but it clearly highlights the approach Apple will take in opposing the banks’ request.

In its submission, Apple is quick to highlight the collective dominance of the banks in Australia which account for 66% of credit card balances in Australia, whilst characterising itself as the “new entrant to the Australian market” having only launched Apple Pay in November 2015.

The other angle of attack from Apple is more surprising, and in the submission it appears quite clear that Apple is asserting that the closed nature of the NFC antenna in the iPhone is pivotal to maintaining the security of its users.

Now they ask the ACCC for explicit permission to negotiate with Apple as a collective group. The goal of which is to force Apple and other third party providers to accept their terms, allow them to charge consumers that choose to use Apple Pay, and force Apple to undermine the security of its mobile payment service by opening access to the NFC antenna, placing at risk the consumer experience of a simple, secure, and private way to make payments in store, within, applications, or on the web.

Apple notes that it will make a further, more comprehensive submission, at a later date. But a key purpose of this prelimary submission was to persuade the ACCC that the banks should not be given any interim approval, and that the ACCC should take the “normal 6 month statutory period for assessment”.

A few other interesting tidbits from Apple’s submission:

  • Apple’s discussions with Australian banks in relation to Apple Pay began in “late 2014”. Apple Pay launched in the US in October 2014.
  • One of the applicant banks “has refused to even enter into a confidentiality agreement with Apple to allow for preliminary discussions about the terms under which it would participate in Apple Pay”.
  • Apple argues that “interim authorisation of a collective boycott will have a lasting and irreversible impact on the adoption of Apple Pay and other third party wallets, and the Australian payment market”.
  • Apple suggests that Apple Pay is not a competitive threat to the banks; “Unfortunately, and based on their limited understanding of the offering, the applicants perceive Apple Pay as a competitive threat”.
  • Apple writes “These banks want to maintain complete control over their customers”, I would wager the banks would say the exact same thing about Apple.

(via AFR)

iPad Pro Plays a Role in the Stranger Things Poster Art→

Adario Strange of Mashable takes a look at how artist Kyle Lambert created the 80s-style poster art for Netflix’s original series Stranger Things using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate, a Mac, and Photoshop.

I used the iPad Pro to do the preliminary composition ideas and the sketch that became the final Stranger Things poster. I chose to use the iPad Pro for the drawing stage of the poster because I find that I am able to sketch in a very natural way on the device using the Apple Pencil. The device in general is nice to hold for long periods of time, it is really portable and Procreate, the app that I used, has some really great Pencil brushes for drawing with.

Lambert exported the image to Photoshop on a Mac to do detail work using an Wacom Intuos tablet, which involved editing hundreds of layers. In the final stage, Lambert exported a flattened version of the art back to Procreate on an iPad Pro to add a “more fluid sketch style” to parts of the final product.

Image: Kyle Lambert

Image: Kyle Lambert

The depth and detail of Lambert’s process and artwork are fascinating and demonstrate just how powerful Procreate combined with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil can be in the hands of a talented artist. Check out the full article on Mashable to learn more about how Kyle Lambert created the Stranger Things poster.

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Putting Apple Product Development into Perspective→

Rick Tetzeli, co-author of Becoming Steve Jobs, interviewed Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, and Craig Federighi for an article about Apple’s approach to product development that was published by Fast Company yesterday. Tetzeli does an excellent job exploring critics’ ‘Apple is doomed’ refrain, putting it into historical context, and exploring what Apple’s long-term approach to product development might mean for the company’s future.

Apple often seems to be criticized for simultaneously doing too much and too little. The ‘Apple is doing too much’ criticism typically points to recent product misses as evidence that Apple has lost its focus under Tim Cook’s leadership and needs to return to its core products. But as Tetzeli points out, product failures at Apple are not a new phenomenon:

Indeed, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad—and the financial success they engendered—obscured the fact that Jobs oversaw almost as many flops as hits during Apple’s resurgence: the circular, nearly unusable mouse that came with the first iMac in 1997; 2001’s beautiful PowerMac G4 “Cube,” which was discontinued after one year; Rokr, a music phone Apple released with Motorola in 2005; the iTunes social recommendation network Ping, and many more.

The complaint that ’Apple is doing too little’ seems to come from fear that Apple is missing out on technologies announced by companies like, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. But as Tim Cook explains:

“What tends to happen with Apple, not just today but in the 18 years I’ve been here,… is that invariably some people compare what we’re doing now to a vision or a product that somebody says they will create in the future.”

Apple’s approach is different. It doesn’t announce technologies; it announces products. As Tim Cook puts it:

“People like things they can do now, not just think about…. I’ve been thinking about The Jetsons since I was a kid. But occasionally you want The Jetsons to come to reality. That’s what Apple is so great at: Productizing things and bringing them to you, so you can be a part of it.”

Tetzeli concludes by looking at what the future may hold for Apple. Acknowledging that the iPhone may have been a once-in-a-lifetime product, Tetzeli makes the case that there are other large markets for Apple to conquer with this closing remark from Tim Cook about the health care industry:

“When you look at most of the solutions, whether it’s devices, or things coming up out of Big Pharma, first and foremost, they are done to get the reimbursement [from an insurance provider]. Not thinking about what helps the patient. So if you don’t care about reimbursement, which we have the privilege of doing, that may even make the smartphone market look small.”

Tim Cook’s perspective on health care is classic Apple. The company developed the Mac by building computers for people, not corporate IT departments. It’s not hard to see how Apple’s approach to PCs could play out similarly in the health care industry if it builds products that are patient-focused.

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Bozoma Saint John on Apple Music→

Yesterday, Mark Sullivan of Fast Company interviewed Apple Music’s Head of Global Consumer Marketing, Bozoma Saint John, about Apple Music. On the upcoming changes to Apple Music in iOS 10, Saint John said that the goal was to make the experience simpler and easier whether you are a casual listener or an expert. She also expressed her thoughts on the importance of human-curated music:

Yeah, it’s important, it really is important. Human curation allows you to have the emotion and feel music, because it is a very emotional thing. It makes you feel happy, it helps you when you are feeling sad, gets you pumped up, calms you down. You want me to keep going? Because I could preach. I think it is a very emotional thing and you should treat it as such. We as humans have that and we can express it.

There have been an interesting series of features about Apple Music since WWDC. First, BuzzFeed had a behind-the-scenes look at the people who create playlists for Apple Music and other services. Then, Eddy Cue discussed Apple Music’s integration with Apple’s products, curation, and radio in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. The message from Apple is clear. Apple Music is distinguished from other streaming services by human curation. I like the emphasis on the human touch, but remain skeptical about whether Apple’s editorial team can create new playlists regularly enough to keep them feeling fresh, which has not always been the case in the past.

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Connected, Episode 103: No Such Thing as a Sticker Emergency→

Before Federico heads to the beach for many months of vacation, the guys talk about iPad keyboards, Dropbox Paper and Instagram Stories before answering listener questions.

I wasn’t expecting to discuss Instagram Stories this week, but, as it turns out, I’m a fan. You can listen here.

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Pocket Casts 6

When it comes to podcast apps on iOS, we are really spoiled for choice. There are many options, but I would say that there are four podcast apps in particular that rise above the rest; Apple’s own Podcasts app, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and Castro. Narrowing that field of four to determine which is objectively the best is an almost impossible task from where I stand. Instead, which one is best will depend entirely on which app’s design and feature set most closely aligns with how you want to manage and listen to podcasts.

Keeping that in mind, just over a week ago was the release of a major new version of Pocket Casts. Now on version 6 for iOS, Pocket Casts is the podcast app that has been around the longest (out of those four listed above), first launching in January 2011. It’s also the one with the most cross-platform support, running on iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android, Windows Phone, and on the web.

So, what’s new in Pocket Casts 6? The tl;dr version is that the user interface has been redesigned in various ways, most notably with the addition of a dark theme and “up next” queue improvements. There are new audio effects to trim silences and volume boost for those podcasts which sound too quiet. The iPad version now supports multitasking (Split View and Picture in Picture), and whilst it isn’t noticeable to users, almost the entire app has been re-written in Swift.

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