Apple's magic isn't that they have ideas of beautiful things. I'm sure every company does. Apple's magic is that the beautiful things they imagine come true.
(And I'd guess that's why a lot of people are Apple fans, myself included: because Apple seems to spit in the face of the idea that you can dream but it'll never come true. It's almost a giddy feeling.)
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Real_Artists_Ship...
A commercial company’s ability to innovate is inversely proportional to its proclivity to publicly release conceptual products.
These concept devices are useful the same way (as they essentially are) science fiction is. Inspiration and a focus on new ideas instead of implementation. Too much focus on the latter can distract engineers from solving higher-level user problems.
You just have to look at them more as sci-fi than vaporware.
Guys, I think I should be a concept phone designer. I especially like how you get to talk about imaginary phones like they're real. ("So naturally, the whole surface is a touchscreen.")
