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Before Apple's October 2012 Special Event After Apple's October 2012 Special Event

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Apple unveiled many updates to many of it’s products and introduced one new product earlier today. Even when I looked at the current Apple Online Store webpage and speculated along with every other major news publication about an “iPad mini” I began to think about a new store layout.

Why?

To make the product fit in their current layout they would have to retire a product and was that going to be the iPod classic? 

Then I started to look at the layout and wondered why some items were grouped and some weren’t. There was an inconsistency in organization of products. If the store layout was to remain unchanged it would have to be grouped with the iPad just look the new MacBook Pro 15” with Retina Display was grouped under MacBook Pro.

Then I thought well maybe everything is grouped by similar form factor and the difference between the original MacBook Pros and the ones with that Retina Display were so similar they could be grouped together. Even perhaps it was a high end computer that could be hidden, which then contradicts why the MacPro is on the front page but I suppose it is its own category. 

This all got me thinking more…

The new iPad mini would have to have its own section as the iPod touch and nano have their own sections. 

What had to happen is what ended up happening shortly after the special event was over. There was a new layout with simpler organization, but deeper navigation. How much deeper? Just one more level. 

Now you decide whether to shop for Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod. That’s it. 

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Network World recently got its hands on portions of a deposition Apple designer Jony Ive gave at Samsung’s request this past December, and he revealed that Apple was working on tablet prototypes “sometime between 2002 and 2004.” What’s more, the documents contained some grainy but revealing photos of a tablet computer prototype known as the “035 mockup or prototype” which Jony Ive dates to that same early-2000’s period.

Between 2002/2004 and 2010 it might be safe to say they were working on making it thinner as well as waiting to see how the iPhone did when it was released in 2007. Steve Jobs did mention that they were working on the iPad before the iPhone and felt to take a different direction for the time being. 

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The infamous glass staircase by Apple is pushed even farther. Notice anything different from other staircases that use that patent drawing from 2002?

This past Saturday our correspondent attended the re-opening of Apple’s SoHo, NYC flagship store. The newly-remodeled space is a heckuva lot bigger than it used to be, but what is bound to catch any architect/designer’s eye is the staircase. At first blush it seems the same as before, but look closer and you’ll see that this…

You have three big tech companies all on the mobile battleground map. Like any war-based strategy game like Starcraft or Command & Conquer you have the ability to see which sides do what. Because of the media, the Internet, and press events we see Apple, Google, and Microsoft in this mobile landscape. What’s great is they each offer different styles. Apple with skeuomorphic, Google with hybrid, and Microsoft with purely digital. It has yet to be proven if there can be three styles on the same map comfortably playing.  There are three distinct mobile user interfaces that challenge one another all being decided upon by the end user. Any UI adjustments made create even a greater challenge. This is the case for market leader, Apple.  High-res

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You have three big tech companies all on the mobile battleground map. Like any war-based strategy game like Starcraft or Command & Conquer you have the ability to see which sides do what. Because of the media, the Internet, and press events we see Apple, Google, and Microsoft in this mobile landscape.

What’s great is they each offer different styles. Apple with skeuomorphic, Google with hybrid, and Microsoft with purely digital. It has yet to be proven if there can be three styles on the same map comfortably playing. 

There are three distinct mobile user interfaces that challenge one another all being decided upon by the end user. Any UI adjustments made create even a greater challenge. This is the case for market leader, Apple. 

Google pushes the return of the “Made in the USA” approach for consumer electronics. The United States once the leader in manufacturing has, because of cheaper labor, lost its spot to China and Mexico.  At the Google I/O event they announced the Nexus Q, but they didn’t mention that is was manufactured in the United States. The price tag is $300, but that should be self explanatory. The New York Times and The Verge did a niece piece related to this matter. It’s a step in the right direction of not only designing quality hardware in the United States, but also manufacturing here. Google’s first in-house consumer hardware won’t just say, “Designed in California”. It says, “Designed and Manufactured in the USA.” High-res

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Google pushes the return of the “Made in the USA” approach for consumer electronics. The United States once the leader in manufacturing has, because of cheaper labor, lost its spot to China and Mexico. 

At the Google I/O event they announced the Nexus Q, but they didn’t mention that is was manufactured in the United States. The price tag is $300, but that should be self explanatory. The New York Times and The Verge did a niece piece related to this matter.

It’s a step in the right direction of not only designing quality hardware in the United States, but also manufacturing here.

Google’s first in-house consumer hardware won’t just say, “Designed in California”. It says, “Designed and Manufactured in the USA.”

  • Source The New York Times

Bloomberg says Apple is Overhauling iTunes

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iTunes debuted in 2003 with the intention on satisfying lovers of music. Then came apps, TV shows, and movies. The iTunes name is like the Windows name as they both are heavily recognized names for software.

But, over time the design of iTunes along with Windows has changed. Surely Windows is a much more flexible name. This makes the future of the iTunes in question.  Calling it iCloud is a possibility. Or maybe an in-the-browser solution part of Safari. 

According to Bloomberg, Apple is planning an overhaul of the design for iTunes. A new name could be in the works.

We just know that these design changes will be bigger than any prior design change made that were more visual enhancements such as those made in iTunes 10. Remember the debate over the new iTunes icon that Steve Jobs backed?

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Leap represents an entirely new way to interact with your computers. It’s more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen.

Apple will most likely buy this (maybe) as they have shied away from a touchscreen desktop or laptop. The interaction created is similar to the experience on any iOS device but without the awkward feeling (maybe). 

The debate here is motion over touch. While motion is cool and has been successful in games or other purposes where it makes sense there is a great deal of gratification from a touch interface.