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What happened to “it just works”? Apple used to be the king of simplicity. With products you could buy, update, and use without any real technical knowledge. Recently, Apple seems to be losing it, with bricking updates, pulled software, and delayed ‘special builds’ that don’t make it out in time. This isn’t the Apple we’re used to.
Reports are sprouting up around the web that Apple’s latest and greatest update to its ‘hobby’, the Apple TV, is bricking devices, creating a £100 paperweight. The update was originally rolled out at the end of September, and brought with it a couple of streaming TV add-ons — primarily for the US and not the UK, it has to be said — but seems to be disabling an unknown number of Apple TVs. Thankfully a manual restore to an older software version, if you’ve already downloaded the old firmware that is, seems to revive the bricked TVs, but it’s not the exactly user-friendly Apple we’ve come to expect.
It’s not just the Apple TV that’s having software update problems either. Perhaps a much bigger issue is the latest roll out of OS X 10.8.2. Most Macs updated fine through Software Update as they should, but Apple quickly pulled the Mac Mini’s software upgrade for an unknown reason (probably more bricking), and disabled manual updating without telling anyone. That resulted in people apparently spending hours trying to force the update through, which seems a bit daft to me, but I guess some people are, quite rightly, OCD about updates.
If that wasn’t enough, Apple’s latest raft of new machines don’t seem to be able to grab that 10.8.2 update either, with the new retina 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 21.5-inch iMac out for the count.
I don’t know what’s going on in Cupertino that means its universal update strategy has gone to pot. Maybe Apple’s finally bitten off more than it can chew with too many devices and variants of devices out there? The more products you have, the more coding and more testing that’s required, I guess, but bricking devices and stalling security updates, well — that’s just bad form. Come on Apple; you’ve got to pick it up a bit here, OK? Let’s not turn into the nightmare of Android or Windows Phone updates, please. [Wired, Cnet via TechRadar]
Image credit: Brick from Shutterstock
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Cut off it’s head and the body will die.
Cut off one head and two more shall take it’s place, Hail Apple!
And neither head knows what the other is doing leading to lacklustre products with little innovation
That’s the problem though, the Two heads of Apple (Cook and Ive) are very good at what they do but Jobs was the one with the vision. Apple used to be about making stuff and telling people “you want this”, things like the iPad Mini and the increase in iPhone screen size are Apple saying “This is what you want so we made it”.
I’d say further to “This is what you want so we made it” it is more like “This is what you want so we made this instead”, because the iPad Mini is an under specced Nexus 7 at a greater price and the iPhone screen size is a frigging joke in the current market – both deeply compromised products, they aren’t giving people what they want, they are giving people a reminder of what they really want – and it ain’t some deeply compromised shite.
Hasn’t been the same since Steve Jobs passed away
It’s a bit more than that, but yes ,putting a supply chain manager in charge of your company is a bad idea from a quality control perspective.
And a lack of innovation is starting to affect Apple. They are losing market share to Android globally and will soon be a niche player if they don’t do something soon. Regurgitating the same old designs with a few minor software and cosmetic tweaks won’t do and while I get the whole “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” mantra, people are fickle and like new products, new market segments and want to buy Apple products. I wonder what (if anything) Ives has got up his sleeve?
The problem isn’t if it aint broke don’t fix it, the problem is it wasn’t broke but Apple decided to unfix it. with bloated buggy software updates such as the new App store, which discard simplicity in favour of attempted innovation.
Although I agree they are very much following the if it aint broke mantra with regards to hardware case in point the stretched by not widened iPhone 5, which is kind of stuck in the middle. “should we keep telling everyone big screen phones are bad or give them what they want a bigger screen, I know just make it taller that way we can say its bigger but at the same time keep it exactly the same as the old one” in doing so they have delivered a disappointing incomplete half product which offers nothing new.
Not sure about sleeve but wonder about other parts of the anatomy; consider the number of issues with the new iOS, battery, security, backlight that stays on forever if you misbehave and use the accessibility feature.. multitudes of them. And what is the innovation? Well a few bits and bots of integration with social activity apps, and not sure what else. It is ridiculous how little change there is from iOS5 to 6. Tech audience are suckers for intersting/daring new features.. not more or less the same old drab fucntionality that we’ve been seeing for the last 4 years at least?
I don’t know, I don’t see much change and they are likely still working to Jobs’ roadmap – what we may be missing here is what a great snake oil salesman Jobs was, he’d stand up there and say ‘warp the world with Apple maps’ and everyone would go ‘ohhhh, I need to warp the world’. He sold shite really well, and made you proud of buying that shite – Jobs was a visionary, technology purest, a motivator, etc, but above all else he could stand up and talk out of his arse like a TV preacher and make it sound believable – Apple don’t have that unethical and immoral edge since he passed away, and maybe not a bad thing for the rest of us.
Thinking about this more, it is likely in following Jobs’ roadmap, and trying to be true to that what has got this mess flowing. So ‘before the end of 2012 get Apple maps on iOS’ may have been a Jobs roadmap point, so they did it, but it wasn’t ready, if Jobs was around maybe he’d have said ‘box it for 2013′, but without direct feedback then it is hard to say what to do to be true to his wishes. So just maybe all this mess is around trying to please a ghost, maybe they need a exorcise him from the company if that is the case – and try and be true to themselves and their customers rather than some phantom menace.
Apple seems to have lost some of the original Jobs DNA in its core outlook. It’s a shame there is no prodige to follow in his footsteps.
Do you mean prodigy or protege?
Both I think.
I guess so, who’d want a protege that wasn’t a prodigy?
My MacBook said it had an update to OSX so I thought, ok, lets Google it (like I do with all updates) and guess what, some people were saying the update made their Mac slower and use more battery. Luckily I didn’t update, so now I’ve just got to wait for the update to the update. Not cool Apple.
I’ve updated both of my Macs and had no problems. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I’ve never had any problems with updates.
Surprised this article doesn’t mention anything about the latest iPhone updates and the Wi-fi nightmare problems problems and the maps ‘issues’.
problems problems … too many problems!
Too many to problems for sure. It’s sad, really.
I think it would be sad if they hadn’t been such douches in the past. And there have always been problems with iPhones, people were just more willing to accept their excuses for them.
Im glad you bought up the subject of WiFi its been going on for well over 4 years in my personal experience, my patience has run out. what makes it more annoying is the Apple PR machine and Apple zealots Keep telling me I don’t have a problem.
Shall we start this nugget again, Mr Tennent?
Lol
but seriously they need to sort that one out top priority. Im concerned about the direction Apple is taking in general but the WiFi issues make me foam at the mouth, its rapidly forming into a deep seated hatred.
as much as it is a Cliché they no longer have the angry passion of Steve Jobs.
I think the death of Steve Jobs is an easy target to say apple have lost it, but really i think even with Steve they were on a spiral, nothing really new came out just updates on their previous, biggest advance was the display really. thing is now they have a strong, focused product line that has flooded the market as well as reached a point where people hate it for nothing more than being successful. And now their line is going stale while someone like MS is ramping up to claim the limelight back for a while with amazing new tech and ideas that are a bit different. but im sure apple will be back once they start spending some of that cash on R&D in the same way MS do.. but to do it they need a new product line.. and that will be tough.. maybe a games machine? but i doubt it, maybe a decent camera line, nothing worse than watching someone take pics with an ipad at something like a gig or parade or during the Olympics… its just horrendous..
but i dont know.. i guess we will see..
Completely agree, even in the Steve era the signs where looking bad. The only difference is that I think Steve might see it too and he’d have a strong enough presence to do something about it.
The problem now is that Apple is making huge amounts of cash with everything they sell, so nobody wants to rock the boat. They darn’t try anything new in case it cuts off the money stream.
best comment i’ve seen on here about this
Steve Jobs would’ve made sure it stayed on top. Because he never did it for the money or the shareholders.
yer i think you could be right.. i think he truly did it to better technology
They simplified technology for the masses, and did a good job of that – if you wanted better you shopped elsewhere.
Yeah because the Galaxy Ace, The Galaxy, The Galaxy S2, The Galaxy S3, The Galaxy Note, The Galaxy Note 2, The Galaxy X, Y and Z were all so different, innovative and game changing.
You can’t expect a revolution from a company every year.
But the above Galaxy range is deeply progressive from each incarnation of the flagship products, while I wouldn’t expect revolutionary changes each year I would expect a progressive evolution every year – the last time Apple had a progressive evolution of a product was with the original iPad a few years back – they tend to tweak and not all of that tweaking is good.
tell me, how many people with 5.5″ phones did you see prior to the Galaxy Note? granted, it’s yet to take the market by storm, but the impact of the device is certainly noteworthy.
but Galaxy is one of Samsungs lines and its pretty dull, Apple dont just make phones.. no ones really thinks of a samsung laptop when they are looking to buy one and really i think of samsung as TV company before i think of them as a phone company and lets face it they have been pretty busy in that area of R&D and they have been a tad new with it here and there.. As great as the smasung phone is its still a stale product already and i think its only samsungs burn of cash on adverts and brand image that made it sell so well and the fact it was pretty much sold as the best “other iphone” when really i think the HTC one X was better then the S3 and i think some other HTC models are better but its just about brand awareness.. Apple on the other hand made amazing waves and built themselves up to be one of the biggest brands on the planet, way way bigger than samsung and i think their only real rivals are MS or maybe google if you read into the tides from their shores .. but only time will tell.
Yes diversifying will be good but perhaps relevant more in the longer term. There’s a lot that can be done with the existing setup (device, iOS) and has a lot of potential for improvements. For one, there isnt a lot of innovation, its like they feel ‘safer’ not doing somethign that might not work.. and perhaps good reason for that; am thinking Map app. But thats more of a business call, rather than a bold new feature.. Apple isnt really known for that and perhaps thats whats losing it its market share. There needs to be some balance in playing it safe and innovating– after all, technology is all about the latter.
i think apple will always be a big player now and i dont see the ipad fading anytime soon, but i do see them flooding their target audience too quick and loosing out purely on the fact not everyone can keep up with the cost of being up to date. But then its nice to see new tech and innovation so who know whats going to happen.. I am pretty sure though that google will be a bigger player soon,
Um. They have always had flaws.
It is just now that bigger ones are appearing; that they simply replace any device people take in to keep them quiet & that most apple users wouldn’t notice a flaw as they need to use “geniuses” to show them how to use iTunes!
First metal mac laptop couldn’t get good wifi (even sitting next to the router).
One of the first basic laptops in early 2000 had key marks on the screen.
The list is endless.
Surely a case of Rose-Tinted Spectacles?
But I think Stephen Fry puts it best: “It’s started to become clumsy. When you get that big every time you put your foot down you’re crushing something.”
I agree. Apple has grown too much and in very little time. This kind of situation always bring problems (very often related do quality and innovation).
And nowdays it’s they’re own products they’re crushing.
Nice article Sam and some really good points. I think you could take it further and talk about the products they are releasing at the moment.
iPhone 5 is just a 4S with a bigger screen and a tiny bump in specs
iPad mini is a over priced copy of the 7inch Androids
iPad maxi is another tiny bump in specs
Mac seems to be going retina crazy, but also price crazy. And I think I’m the only one to think this, but the Macbook pro looks dated, the outside design hasn’t changed for many years.
At the moment I think Apple is too rigid, they want to user to change the way they do things instead of change their approach. That works great when they are the biggest fish, or the only option, but They lost the battle with Mac, they are losing with iPhone and iPad is looking likely to go the same way. Unless there is a change or captains at Apple they will return to being a niche player.
I don’t think Apple will disappear, or Apple will stop being hugely successful. I just think Apple will fall back into the pack, and become a “me too” company.
iPad maxi?
You mean maxiPad?
From the hardware side, in recent years Apple have moved to being in the business of niche products to a much bigger enterprise in consumer electronics. The issues with products having technical issues were there back in the day, but not enough people were using them to kick up a fuss.
Software wise, lets be honest, Apple are definitely not the only one to have issues with updates, look at Nintendo just this week with their update causing bricking (though to be fair if you turn off your WiiU during the update you deserve it!)
I’m sure that Microsoft have pulled a few of their updates in the past!
Regarding 10.8.2 not being available yet for certain models, yes this isn’t great, it should be uniform HOWEVER it isn’t like you’re being denied major feature upgrades, and 10.8.x updates are normally bugfixes (though 10.8.2 did enable facebook I think? I forget) Apple are quite good at keeping their machines up-to-date with the latest 10.x version where possible, not as good as Windows is at supporting older hardware but right or wrong, that’s the way Apple choose to roll,
I really don’t see Apple at the point yet where we can start proclaiming that they are turning into the “nightmare of Windows and Android” yet, they’re going that way slowly but I don’t think they will let it get that bad.
Oh and lets be honest, you should never update your OS on day 1. Always wait a week to make sure it’s all good!
Was this blog just written to stir up an Apple hater circle jerk?
Updates have always resulted in reports of some feature no longer working or a device getting bricked. Just search you own site for the evidence.
The Software and Price is why I dislike them.
1. you can get the same hardware for a third of the price if you buy a Windows Laptop. Their Desktops are even worse, I build something like 5 times better for £800 compared to their like £3000 Desktop lol.
2. IOS is crap, it’s harder to use than Android because you have to jump through a load of hoops to get the same functionality and half the time you cannot. Despite what the haters say Flash is needed for media browsing on the web, it’s more used than HTML5 and until there is a full switch over you need it. Also like why can’t I use my own codecs? Where are Widgets? Why does every Network lock Tethering on IOS but not Android? Why can’t I install apps separate from the store if I want? I could go on.
I don’t think it has anything to do with Steve Jobs, they’re doing exactly what they did before he died.
i know flash is dying, but its not dead yet and at the weekend it was really annoying trying to use a few sites i use a lot on my old mans tablet.. right bummer.. lol
I don’t see any proof of it dying like people claim it crashes every 5 seconds and performs bad. I’ve never had a problem with it, sure it crashes once in a blue moon but what doesn’t? Games are far more unstable, I mean Hitman Ab keeps crashing on me, does that mean I should say games suck and never play them?
If I want to watch Sky Live Streams because I paid for Sky Go once and they have a device limit which is really restrictive making it useless, I have to use Flash. Half of the videos on Youtube seem to be Flash Only and it’s required for a lot of the desktop site, which you have to use because the search functions on the app sucks. Maybe I wanna have a wank? Oh yeah I need Flash……… lol. Frigging HTML5 always takes over the whole screen when playing video, Flash Players stays embedded into the browser so I can do other things while it is playing.
Sure the touch controls suck, it isn’t perfect, but I choose to use it and I should have the choice to do so.
you get my vote for PM!!
He had my vote until the wanking started.
People who expect people to use flash for anything shouldn’t even have a phone.
YouTube managed to get their ten hundred zillion videos to work on the iPhone, so people should get their shit together.
And if people have flash elements on their websites, they just need to die.
That’s funny because whenever I want to view something on Youtube with the iPhone app (which is rarely) I have to use the worst search features ever and loads of the content isn’t even there cause it is Flash only.
Oh yeh BBCiPlayer App, no streaming and again half the content isn’t there.
The list goes on.
Give me Flash Player and the Desktop site.
Sorted.
From my experience Flash is dying out on websites. It’s not dead yet, but it’s been about a year since I’ve designed a site with Flash, all of my clients want HTML 5 these days. I agree that you can build a desktop much cheaper, but then you can build one much cheaper than Dell, HP etc. With Apple desktops, you’re not just paying for the sum of the components, you’re paying for the build quality as well. I know this is very subjective, but some people prefer higher quality things, whereas other people see it as a waste of money.
I think your views on iOS are a bit out as well, I know you exaggerated your comments slightly for effect, but to say that iOS is harder to use is avery subjective, surely whichever OS you use day-in-day-out would be easier for you? I use OSX and Windows everyday, so I could say that they are easier to use than Ubuntu….but I wouldn’t know and it’s not a fact. And…by the way, I don’t have a problem using my iPhone as a personal hotspot, I’m on Orange and mine does it by default without extra charges.
The number of people that work for Apple has more than quadrupled over the last decade*
Lots of companies struggle to remain innovative when they get bigger.
*http://www.apple.com/about/job-creation/
Hmm, “the nightmare of Android updates”? Explain please Mr Biddle.
I’m sorry, Sam Biddle isn’t here right now.
But seeing as I wrote that, I mean the mess of things that Samsung and others have made, mainly around the same phones on different networks getting updates at different times. The Samsung Galaxy S III was a prime example, with the off-network phone basically being the last to get the OS update — it was a mess and totally didn’t need to be.
I think it’s unfair to proclaim Android updates a “nightmare” in comparison to iOS. Every update I’ve ever had for my phone has improved functionality and made it more responsive. From what I hear about the iOS camp (mainly off rampant Android fanboys, mind), their updates cripple older devices. The thing with Android too is that if I want the bleeding edge, I can easily root and get that. If I’m happy tootling along with outdated software that works adequately (which most people are, for some reason), then I can do that also.
N.B. I know the tone makes it sound like I think the Android update situation is better than iOS – I’m not (that) deluded, I just don’t think it’s a “nightmare” in comparison.
Sorry, Mr Gibbs. My utmostest apologies.
I own an S3 on Orange. I still haven’t been upgraded to 4.1 yet!
Annoying, yes. A nightmare, no. Then again, to be fair, I haven’t seen any killer Jellybean feature that I NEED to have. I’d have rooted otherwise. If I’d have been waiting for the upgrade to ICS that would have been entirely different.
i agree, got a One-X on Three.. no 4.1 for me yet.. is my life over.. (yes i guess i never had one to start with but!)
you’re obviously yet to witness project butter or google now, both features that make my willy weep.
Bricking? Bricking a device cannot usually be repaired by installing an earlier firmware. The purpose of the name is that you turn your Electrical device into an overpriced brick. Can’t recall ever plugging a house brick into a computer and turning it into an iPod with some software…
Good point, if you can bring a device back to life then it wasn’t bricked. Any news on these update fails, are they happening randomly? Or, like most things, is their a cause? I recall a similar thing happening some time ago with updates on jailbroken devices, which is likely going to explain much of this, I’m guessing. As an Apple TV that isn’t jailbroken is just a stupid Apple TV thing and not much use to anyone.
For the time it isn’t fixed, the device is as useful as a brick, hence the application of the term.
Job’s death was a major blow to Apple, but lets face it, the company was an anomaly under Jobs anyway. No other company was able to get to where Jobs put Apple. I agree that Apples innovation seems to have slipped somewhat these past few years, but frankly, i’ve not been seeing that much innovation anywhere else. Bigger screens? frankly my 4″ iphone 5 is pushing the limits of one handed use for me.
As for ‘niche product’ accusations; Android has the production lines of multiple major technology companies producing for it. Apple has one line, about 3 phones considered “current”, and still maintains around a 30% market share for smartphones, give or take. It’d be impressive at half that, considering it releases one phone per year, on an in-house operating system.
Do they need more innovation? Yes. Have they hit a stumbling block since the loss of Jobs? sure. But let’s be honest here. I’m not seeing anyone going for the throat right now. No other single company has the traction and following Apple produced. And they’re not about to go in for the kill on a company that has done half their innovation for them these past few years.
“and still maintains around a 30% market share for smartphones” A few years ago they had that market share, around 15% today, given that you thought it would be impressive at half of 30% then you may be surprised that this downward market share trend has been going on for years, so are we still impressed with next years 7% share of the smartphone market – that is like blackberry phone share of the market – are you saying you will be impressed next year, when doing a blackberry, when they have the 3rd best share of the market? So everything points to Apple doing a blackberry next year, how fucking impressive is that?
I don’t buy this line, Apple has one line, closed, fenced off line of products, it is limited and therefore better. Because in the history of the world that has never been a good thing, or a selling point, now it is? Why? Apple says it is – so they lose market share each year and we praise them for having one model of smartphone that isn’t currently worth a consideration to 85% of the market… sorry, what the fuck were we praising here? An unholy fuck up like the world has never seen before, well done.
Completely missing the point on the one-line issue. My point wasn’t that it somehow makes them better, my point was it makes their market share more impressive.
also; http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2012/9/comScore_Reports_July_2012_US_Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share
Granted it’s US only but it serves my point. Smartphone AND NON-SMARTPHONE might be 15-odd %, but Apple only compete in one market, in which they have, shock horror, around a 30% market share.
So your entire rant about Apple doing a Blackberry (technically RIMjob but i like the fruit symmetry) is based on… fuck all? how fucking impressive is that?
No biggie for me… Apple TV better of on an older version.