One of the most important technology companies of our generation, Apple, yesterday announced record profits and seem to be the best at everything they put their mind to. Just look at what the did for music players when they introduced the iPod, is there any other music player on the market? They then turned their attention to the phone market quickly made the most desired phone on the market that continues to grow market share and change our lives. So it is well established that they are a truly innovative company but we wanted to take it a step further by looking at some truly horrendous products and problems that we have in the world today and suggest that Apple turn their hand to making the better…
1.The Remote Control
What are all the fiddly buttons? We use about 10% of them on average and most of our actions revolve around changing channel and altering the volume. There has to be a simpler design that could be just as effective and Apple could surely come up with one standard device that would work in every lounge in the world and revolutionize the whole channel hopping experience. Rather than adding stuff on it would be a simple process of removing as many buttons as possible.
2.Facebook
Facebook may be one of the biggest social networks in the world with more than 300 million users but it has always been fairly basic in design and could do with being sexed up by the good folk over at Apple. We want our social networks as functional as possible which Facebook are really great at delivering but as we all spend so much time looking at it every day of the week we sure would be a lot happier if it looked a little better than it does.
3.Power Cables
This is a problem that we all have all across the globe and it is only getting worse by the day as the number of electric appliances increases. We have to charge everything from phones, music players, computers and televisions more often than not all spilling out of an extension cable. The first thing that Apple would have to do would be invent wireless charging which even given my limited understanding of technology could be a pretty tough thing to do. If inventing a whole new way of charging stuff without wires wasn’t deemed possible the other option would be to invent standard wires with standard adaptors that could by tied together and charge everything uniformly and be switched between devices as needed. Getting all the competing manufacturers of devices on board here would be the tricky part of the challenge!
4.Logins
If you spend your working day on the web one of the things that will annoy you the most is logging in and out of the various accounts that you have. We have so many accounts here for both ourselves and clients that we will do it up to 20 times an hour. There have been initiatives like Open ID and Facebook connect but to be honest this needs Apple’s touch ASAP. We are thinking some sort of Iris recognition device that scans your eyes through the web cam on your computer without you having to do anything and logs you in automatically to any account you have matched up correctly in the past.
Airports
In fairness some of the airports in the world are getting better and have already incorporated some of these features but many have not and Apple should be given a remit to redesign every single airport in the world to include…Free wifi in every nook and cranny in the airport, good quality coffee at every gate, check in using bar code on your phone that has been emailed to you (iPhone has this already in some airports), some sort of X Ray machine that means you don’t have to empty your hand luggage and can just walk through without stopping and last but not least airports in the very center of big cities.
All of the above should be possible apart from the city center airports but Apple should be able to have a good stab at that! Come on Apple and get the finger out and start improving these products and services and make the world a better place for us all!
Read other posts related to this topic:
- Apple About To Embrace Social Media? Apple are one of the coolest companies in the world and they sure know...
- How To DIY Site Design And Usability One of the trendiest topics online at the moment seems to be usability...
- 10 Most Distracting Online Services Most of us who spend our time online will find that we get distracted...
- The Apple Brand Is Starting To Lose It’s Magic Does anybody else feel the wind of change when it comes to Apple? Sure...
Have to say for all the shtick that Facebook gets, one thing I love is being able to go from photo to photo with left and right arrows. No other interface beats that. I hate clicking next buttons, specially when they keep moving with photo size.
Yes I can’t wait for the end to power cables. And remote controls do my head in.
For logins you need to get yourself sxxipper. You won’t regret it.
http://www.sxipper.com/
Airports are exactly like the health system. The whole process is designed soley for the benefit of the provider, not the plebs. You have to turn up at 9am but they’ll see you when they get around to it.
p.s. apple need to redesign this comment box
could do with being a wholoe lot taller.
I suppose airports maybe do it so as you spend more money in their shops and services? Good point on the comment box. Just calling Apple now bu not sure we have the budget!
Well for 3. you could look at a charging mat http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/wireless_charging_mat_12379.asp
Stewart that looks very slick! We are on the right track now! Dam you though I am looking for pricing! Last thing I need is more gadgets!
On the “Login” point – an iris-recognition automatic login wouldn’t work in your case as you want to log in using different accounts (different clients or whatever), so how does it know which one to log you in as at any particular time?
Make good use of the “Remember Me” feature where available and use multiple Firefox profiles (as shown here http://lifehacker.com/231646/geek-to-live–manage-multiple-firefox-profiles) to create a separate profile for each client. This will allow you to “remember” different accounts for the same website, you just use a separate Firefox shortcut for each client. Be sure to keep track of your passwords somewhere though, as you’ll forget them more easily if you’re not using them 20 times an hour
Joe I hadn’t seen the ‘Remember Me’ feature before. I’m always switching computers and working from different accounts so I’m definitely going to try it out. I wonder how many people would take the time to set that up and get into the habit of using it though?
Good point on the ‘Iris’ login – we can’t profess to be experts on the technical aspects of that! Just wish there was something that could instantly recognise me at the touch of a button and log me in to everywhere I want to go.
Good post! The whole power cable has been solved by Apple already. How many power cables do you really see in a Mac? I totally agreed on the Logins. I like Facebook Connect but there should be a web standard; some sort of login form that uses all major services.