Apple: the Great American Iteration

There really, truly is nothing new since the first wheel. Why then does the media expect  Apple literally to invent  a new wheel annually?

When the techno-journalists and analysts complain especially the native Internet media rags, that Apple is not launching any new products, what exactly did they expect? 
A driver-less skateboard? 

Pundits started that redundant litany again this week in anticipation of Apple's Fall product launch of some pretty amazing changes to the iPhone 6, Apple Watch, Apple TV and the new industrial strength iPad. 

From what I can tell these writers are young (by my standards) with little objective comprehension or perspective of the evolution of consumer technology...let alone the notion of product iterations. Iteration? What's that?

Apple has always taken existing products and transformed them. Apple has not invented anything new from the earliest days (the blow back on that one should be interesting). They do transformative iterations. Amazing transformative iterations.

Macintosh
For example, desktop computing wasn't new, but making stand-alone computers that were not connected to a mainframe was a new iteration. IBM created a desktop computer and asked Microsoft to do the DOS Operating system. What a dog that was.  Apple's iteration transformed the desktop computer.  Giving a desktop computer a graphical user interface (GUI) and a mouse created the people-friendly brilliance of the Macintosh.  

Macbook Air
At Apple, we joked about the weight of their first "portable" computer (the name for laptops in those days). It was so heavy, nine pounds, that we called it the "luggable". Just look at the Macbook Air now!  That is a transformative iteration.

iPod
I bought a Sony Walkman, a personal portable music player, sold before today's new media writers were born. It was the coolest gizmo of its day, but loading music on it was always problematic and it wasn't petite. Apple made a smaller, cooler, touchscreen iPod with an iTunes music service to go with it.. That iteration transformed not just the product but the entire music industry.

iPhone
I had a Motorola mobile phone in the 1990's. It was the size of a brick. Then I got a Blackberry and read email. Apple made a transformative iteration called the iPhone that had a touch screen with apps, a camera, and music. Who knew a phone could do all that? Who knew it would become literally a hand-held computer and phone calls an anachronism?

iPad
Palm came out with a little tablet years ago called the Palm Pilot. It used a stylus to write on the screen. It was small, awkward, and only recognized a jargon alphabet that no one could remember.  Apple's iteration, the iPad transformed the tablet into the product that for many replaced their laptops.

Apple Watch
The Apple watch is an iteration of digital wearable devices already out there that measure fitness and tell time. However, the Apple Watch is a product created with style, panache and sex appeal. It is their transformative iteration of the wearable device that will be commonly adopted.

Are we so thought-controlled by the media that if they say it, then it must be true? The media and analyst disparagement of Apple is a shame and disservice to a company that generates remarkable product iterations . Not to mention lazy authorship. As I said, perspective: use it or lose it....or at least do the research.

(Disclosure: I own a Samsung Galaxy phone, a couple Android tablets, and a PC with Windows 10. I did work for Apple a long time ago).

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