Every year, Apple hosts its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. I used to be really excited about it because I would expect a brand new device, or at least a new version of a device that had amazing new features. Now it just seems like a dull affair. I say this mainly because Apple seems to be focusing on updating rather than innovating. For the past few years, each new iPhone has had improvements over the previous version, but nothing groundbreaking. I was thinking that Apple was at that phase where a company just doesn’t know which direction to go – should it take risks like it used to, or should it stay safe and focus on getting consumers through its brand? But now that I think of it, I think that the tech industry and its consumers are suffering from the “yearly-update” syndrome.
What I mean by this is the fact that we as consumers expect our devices to be upgraded consistently, or our software to be updated periodically. We can’t get excited about developments in technology anymore because upgrading is now a standard that every company must have; otherwise, people will switch to whatever else is new. Even when we talk about huge software updates, like an operating system upgrade, no one really seems to care. Mac users get their OS upgraded FOR FREE, and I remember getting excited for 5 minutes before losing interest when it happened last year. 5 years ago I would have gone crazy for a new OS, especially one that has the features that the current one has.
Maybe it’s just a sign of the times, or maybe it’s just human nature. We get used to things and then forget about them. I keep thinking how we’ve become accustomed to touch screen phones, voice recognition, and rapid online connections when all of this didn’t even exist 7 or 8 years ago.
And this type of thinking effects everything digital – even when browsing a website. For example, if a website doesn’t have a clean design, I will immediately assume that something is wrong with my internet connection. Either that or the people running the website need to fire their designer. We as consumers have expectations, which is understandable since we’re paying money for our products. But with these expectations comes the understanding that we can’t really appreciate the capability of an iPhone or the intuitive nature of a laptop. It’s the beauty and curse of standardization.
Arman is Awesome 