How Apple Changed the World of Smartphones

by Abdul Rimaaz Abdul Rimaaz Business Consultants UK

Brand loyalty is never more important to consumers than buying a car, choosing between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, or upgrading a smartphone. Whether you're a hyper-loyal iPhone user or prefer an Android device or whatever, there's an admission that all of us, as smartphone users, need to make. Apple's original iOS, interface, and environment it was in laid the foundation for the rest of our future mobile devices and smartphones to spread and thrive.

Before we jump in, this isn't a fanatical love letter from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and the iPhone, but rather a committed look at how Apple's first iOS altered smartphone culture and where the future of Apple is headed. that current culture.

Life before Apple iOS

Many major changes and innovations that alter the industry are the result of a void that must be filled. In 2007, one of these gaps certainly existed in the world of smartphones. At the time, mobile devices had many of the same utilities and capabilities as ours today. Sure, the app boom has not yet reached the horizon, but they have been able to perform all the necessary functions: email, text messages, web browsing, calendars, solitaires, videos, etc. In other words, whatever we need smartphones for, they were able to do it.

The problem was how they did it. Whether it was BlackBerry's trackball, scroll wheel, or stylus, every proposed innovation was typically overshadowed by its own drawbacks. For example, the stylus created an almost touch screen interface which made it much easier to switch between application and application, but had the immediate disadvantage of being easy to lose or miss (I actually remember a time when the store sold a package of stylus in the payment aisle).

The void began to grow as smartphones got smarter and smarter, but devices and their interfaces remained clunky and fraught with inconvenience.

Enter the OS X or, how Apple changed the world of smartphones

The first operating system for the iPhone was, at the time, called OS X, before later adopting the iOS label that Apple now uses. In many ways but one, this now prehistoric iPhone was mediocre. It didn't have the same functionality as other smartphone devices at the time. It lacked 3G connectivity, it lacked the ability to shoot and send quality images or videos, and it lacked other useful apps and utilities, such as GPS. Basically, in almost every category that we generally judge a smartphone's performance or capability, the original iOS and iPhone fell out pretty well, except for one.

The touchscreen environment

What Apple managed to create and revolutionize was the touchscreen environment. They weren't the first device to have this technology by far, which is why the word "environment" is included, because it correctly describes what OS X has achieved. Where other companies have simply taken advantage of touchscreen technology, only Apple has managed to create an interactive world that users have manipulated and modified to their liking.

They managed to create an illusion and a good idea. The magic of the first iOS was its ability to bring to users the feeling that every button, icon, page or other clickable had its own weight and size. A lot of this "magic", we take it for granted now, but at the time it was really amazing.

Even the act of using two fingers to zoom in or out, which has been adopted by every smartphone on the market, created an incredibly clever shortcut because it continued this illusion of interacting with an object and not just an organized collection of pixels. It was also an effective way to improve map navigation and zooming.

To express the effectiveness of this small innovation, we only have to look at the BlackBerry Curve 8300, which was probably the biggest competitor of the first Apple smartphone devices. While the Curve had GPS capabilities, unlike the iPhone, zooming or navigating on the map was such a complex process that you basically needed a professional cartographer and BlackBerry programmer on hand to figure it out.

After the release of the iPhone, all touchscreens and smartphone designs became a dinosaur. Even though the original iPhone had its flaws and shortcomings, the usage experience was superior and unmatched by any device that was currently on the market.

Why iOS versus Android matters less now

The impact that the seemingly physical environment has created, from Apple's touchscreen and OS X, has changed the way we look and continue to look at smartphones. Apple's detractors often suggest that they haven't innovated much since and have even copied many of their competing emerging and existing technologies. Yet, to do this, let's take away the tremendous splash that the first iPhone had.

This importance is often lost in the debates between iPhone and Android. The extreme brand loyalty for our chosen smartphone provider makes it difficult to admit the advantages and advantages of the opposition. This type of competitive companion is, at least it should be, lessening the number of debates we have about what smartphone is best. Probably, many of these conversations revolved around the apps brought to the table. Still, Android and iOS have both emerged as the undisputed leader that nearly every app has cross-platform features and updates.

So, it really comes down to preference. Almost all parts of the smartphone industry have done something, big or small, to advance the mobile device environment as a whole. Rather than continuing to consider the differences between them, we should welcome the progress made by the competing brand because they are ultimately driving all mobile devices to improve. Basically, they are all looking at what the next void will be and how to fill it perfectly like the original iOS.

What will it be next to be?

While the future of anything is always mere speculation, there are two emerging cases as to what will be the next big innovation that will make smartphones rise in the next generation. Many experts believe this will be the transformation from the current functionality of swipe, pinch and zoom, touch, hold, print, etc., to say and do processes, which is why we have seen so many digital assistants (Siri, Cortana) emerging lately .

The focus of these digital assistants is very similar to that of the original Apple iOS; they are trying to make things faster, simpler and more cohesive. For so long, our phones have operated via buttons (touch and physical) and we often fail to unlock their true potential out of sheer ignorance. In other words, we don't even know everything our devices and apps are capable of. A digital assistant can help you close this loop because they know all the functions, you just have to ask them.

The second possible innovation, which Apple is already working on, is alpha apps. In short, these apps combine a number of pre-existing programs under one umbrella. It is based on the premise that our apps today are very separate from each other and rarely play with each other.

For example, open Google Maps to find a new restaurant in your area. Then, you have to open a completely new application to find reviews or a menu on the restaurants in question. Finally, you have to open a browser because you see a parable in the menu that you have never seen before and you have to investigate it. We do this constantly; we open several apps while traveling to achieve a simple and simple goal.

Similar to digital assistants, alpha apps also aim to close the loop and ultimately make life easier and more productive for the user. It also solves the common problem many smartphone users have with respect to dead or unused apps on their device; many of these come preloaded on the phone. Alpha apps could use these programs better, even some of them are outdated and ultimately make our smartphones cleaner and more organized.

Conclusion

All three of these past, present, and future technologies (the original Apple iOS, digital assistants, and alpha apps) all have one thing in common. We don't realize we need it until I'm here. The world was satisfied with smartphone technology before the iPhone. While our BlackBerry and Motorola phones were far from perfect, considering the current smartphone market, they met our needs at the time.

What Apple did to truly alter the smartphone industry was only achieved by realizing that the innovation wasn't in the hardware or that it made phones smaller or more stylish. It was about changing the culture and the way people thought, interacted and how they understood the device in their pocket. They filled a void before we, as consumers, knew there was one.

Collectively, smartphone industry leaders will continue to push the boundaries of our mobile devices. It's still unclear what the future of the industry will be, whether it's alpha apps, more effective digital assistants, or something completely different. What is certain, however, is that there will be more moments to come, as if the earth were shaking like when Steve Jobs first slid to unlock the iPhone.

Posted By Abdul Rimaaz