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0 pointscromwellian8y ago0 comments

Does Apple have a head start on most things they do? Most observers acknowledge they aren't usually the first to do something, rather, they're good at execution and polish. They were beaten to market on pretty much everything: watches, bezelless displays with notch (e.g. Essential Phone), smart/speakers (Amazon, Google, Sonos), Streaming/TV (Roku, Amazon, Chromecast), etc.

Really, I think the world would be better if they published more openly and were more open, and I don't think it would really hurt their ability to outsell their competitors at all. Let's say they're working on AR glasses (which they probably are) and Samsung catches wind of this and rushes to market with Samsung AR glasses. How many Apple fans actually think this will make a difference to people in the Apple ecosystem buying Apple AR glasses?

At this point I think the secrecy does more harm than good.

0 pointscromwellian8y ago0 comments

At this point I think the secrecy does more harm than good.

0 comments

8 comments · 3 top-level

millstone8y ago· 4 in thread

TouchID and FaceID come to mind.

lawnchair_larry8y ago

Both of those were on other phones before Apple did it.

stouset8y ago

And other people made smartphones before Apple did. The details and the secrecy thereof matter far, far more than the features themselves.

dpkonofa8y ago

The technology used on both of those was not on other phones before Apple did it. "Face recognition" and "fingerprint scanning" are not the same thing as "Face ID" and "Touch ID".

fastball8y ago

Which phone had actually usable/secure fingerprint auth before the iPhone?

1 more reply

valuearb8y ago· 1 in thread

If they told the world that the solution for touch screen phones failing in the market was this little idea called the “proximity sensor”, Google would have beaten them to the market with Android and the iPhone would be far less successful.

Apples success is built on unique inventions, in design, software and hardware. They rarely are first to market in any category. They are almost always first to market with the first mass market useful combination of features in those categories.

dpkonofa8y ago

Except that wasn't at all what Android was when the iPhone was released. Android was still a Blackberry clone at that period in time due, in part, to the secrecy surrounding the technology in the iPhone.

IBM8y ago

Maybe there's zero business value in keeping secrets (I don't believe that at all), but even if that were the case and Apple were just overly obsessed with "the prestige" [1][2], why would that change anything? They should be free to operate the company in anyway they want. Apple's a 40 year old business and everyone knows their culture. Employees know what they're signing up for (and I think their first day is an orientation about this topic specifically).

[1] https://youtu.be/gZY1mB9m9b0?t=19s

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/13/the-iphone-5-event/

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