Archive for October, 2011

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

10
227 days
by in Opinion

Having never met the man, it does feel strange that I am so deeply sadden by Steve Jobs passing, and I suppose that is because what I do today is really down to him. Not only did Steve Jobs have the vision to create the Mac, iPhone and iPad that are in front of me on my desk, he also had the passion to make me want them too.

Looked up to by millions, Steve Jobs was a charismatic visionary, who will go down as one of the greatest, if not the greatest CEO of all time. Not only did he start the computing revolution when he founded Apple in 70s, in his second stint as Apple CEO he brought a company on the brink of bankruptcy to be the most valuable company in the world in just under 15 years. Time and time again he ripped up the rule book and released product after product that change the world for good.

I could go on about how he changed the world but you already know that, and there are plenty of other articles that put it better than me. What I would like to say is that Steve Jobs’ passing has reiterated 3 things to me:

1) Find what you love

You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

Steve Jobs, Standford Speech (2005)

Don’t settle for second best, this is as true as it is for work as it is for love. You need to find what you love doing, and do that. If it makes you millions then thats great, but if it makes you happy then thats what counts.

2) Work hard to make it simple

That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

Steve Jobs, Interview with Business Week, 1998

If you design an make stuff like me, your appreciate that one of the things that Steve Jobs has proven, is that users are willing to pay more for simplicity.

My favourite Steve Jobs Quote is:

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

This goes hand in hand with simplify, it has to appear simple to use and be simple to use. Attention to detail in every aspect of design is key to a successful product. Make this your Mantra.

3) All good thing must come to an end

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.

Steve Jobs, Standford Speech (2005)

No matter how visionary you are, no matter how much money you have in the bank, one day you will be gone. Not everyone like Steve Jobs has the chance to become a legend, but you do have the chance to leave a legacy.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Let’s Talk iPhone Keynote Predictions

2
229 days
by in Keynote

So tomorrow is the day that we finally get to see the successor to the phenomenally successful iPhone 4, but what is going to be new?

1) iOS 5
The one thing that the new iPhone is guaranteed to will ship with iOS 5. If you have not already seen the WWDC Keynote (if not why not?) then you already know whats coming in iOS 5. As a reminder you can look on Apple’s Website. The biggest change is how notifications work, they are less obtrusive and are all visible in one place. The other change that you will notice straight away (if you also have friends running iOS 5) is iMessage. iMessage is Apple’s awnser to RIM’s Blackberry messagener. It allows you to send free message to other user’s iOS devices, and you also get the option of recieving sent, received and read receipts.

2) iCloud

Although strictly speaking part of iOS 5, iCloud is a headline feature all of it’s own. It allows applications to store data “in the cloud” so it is accessible on all of your devices, be it iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Mac or one of those PC things. An important thing to note which differentiates iCloud from services like DropBox, is that applications can only see their own data (it is sandboxed by company). So for example, you can’t edit a photo in one application, and then upload it using another application by finding the edited image on the file system, in fact as a user you can’t even see your iCloud file system at all!!

3) A5 Chip

The iPhone 4 has an under clocked version of the iPad’s A4 processor, so it would make sense that new iPhone will have an under clocked version of the iPad 2′s A5 processor. The A5 processor (on the iPad 2 at least) has two cores, which will make your iPhone experience a little bit more snappy.

4) 8MP Camera

Not confirmed by anyone, but it would make sense (and would also be relatively cheap) to put a higher quality camera in the new iPhone. Bumping up the megapixel count for 5MP to 8MP is a logical step, and a few phones already contain this sensor.

5) 64 GB of Storage

The iPhone has been stuck at 32GB of storage since the arrival of the 3GS, so I expect an upgrade to 64GB so I am able to carry half of music collection, instead of a quarter of it. (I could really do with a 128GB iPhone if you couldn’t tell)

6) iPhone 5 or 4S

If I was Apple, I would call it the iPhone 5 how ever minor the update is, and that is for 2 reasons:

  1. I think people are more likely to upgrade to an iPhone 5, as subconsciously it just sounds like a bigger update
  2. If it is called the iPhone 4S, then what is the next iPhone going to called? The 6th iPhone surely can’t be called the iPhone 5. (I know there has been a 3GS, but that was because Apple called the 2nd iPhone, the iPhone 3G)

Other Updates

In addition to the iPhone, I expect the iPod Touch to get an update so it’s specifications are inline with the new iPhone’s. I don’t think it will get a 8MP camera though, but we might even see a 128GB Model. If we do see a 128GB Model, I do expect the iPod Classic to retire to the gadget museum. If we don’t see a 128GB, I don’t expect to see an iPod Classic update anyway … does anybody still buy them?

The iPod Nano will also get a refresh for the holiday season, now wouldn’t it be amazing if that run iOS 5…

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