Editorial: Apple Without Steve Jobs

If you haven't heard the news yet, it's time you did. Steve Jobs stepped down from his position of CEO, and instead opted for a lesser title of Chairman of the Board. He didn't die, and as far as we all know, he doesn't have cancer. But he's older, weaker and thinner. He isn't as fast as he used to be, and the CEO job just isn't working out anymore. Not only that, but the company needs stability and assurance for when that day comes when unfortunately, Steve will no longer be around. As much as we like to deny it, the world only gets one Steve Jobs. And unfortunately, if his condition (whatever it may be) is any indiction- he's a spent force.

The job of CEO is a stressful one, for any company. Then imagine being CEO of Apple. How exhausting must that be? You'd need to be cold, calculating, innovating and capable of dealing with loads of stress and pressure. Sure, Apple's been doing amazingly well lately. Hell, they just re-invented the tablet computer, and they launched the smartphone business full steam ahead. Apple's products are selling like hotcakes- even though the prices really aren't as affordable as the competition. After what is approaching only a year and a half, Apple's iPad is still the number one tablet "PC" on the market. And honestly, the competition is trying too hard to mimic the product. But that discussion is for another time and place. Again, Apple is doing amazingly well- better than any technology company on the planet, and for a brief moment, even better than Exxon Mobil.

Some may argue that Steve Job's is the only innovator behind Apple and if his presence were to cease, the company would dive down like an angry flock of vultures. But honestly, this isn't even close to true. Sure, Tim Cook isn't Steve Jobs, and he's not really the innovation type as far as we know. That's what Johnny Ive is for and Phil Schiller and all the other creative people down at Apple HQ. Still, the world and the company will never be the same when Steve does pass away, which hopefully is many years from now.

The way in which Apple looks and operates years from now is not too soon to change. They will always be that creative, evangelistic, powerful and innovative company we have come to know and love. That's just the way that Apple is. Sure, Steve's departure in 1986 didn't fare well for the company. But they were in a totally different situation. The executive's keeping the company alive wasted money in useless and troublesome products that appealed to neither the consumer nor the businessman. There were too many products, a problem that's all about control.

The products didn't compete either, and they lost the fun and excitement Steve brought to the table before. As a direct result of that, the company slipped under and by 1996, there were talks of bankruptcy. And then, miraculously, Steve Job's jumped into the picture and waved his magical wand of smart business man power and turned the company around completely.

The useless products were dropped, and the company focused only on four computer lines- consumer laptops and desktops and professional laptops and desktops. Then Apple changed the world with the iPod. It doesn't matter what MP3 player you are using today, it was influenced by the iPod. Then Apple changed the wheel again with the iPhone in 2007. How can you imagine a world without your smartphone? In the heat 0f fame and power, Apple did it again with the iPad, which took the world by storm and is currently killing the entire PC industry. Meanwhile, all the other companies are kicking themselves wondering why they never thought of that. And in the future, Apple will continue to launch major changes to products, or invent products like they've done on every opportunity. With Tim Cook, Johnny Ive, Phil Schiller, Peter Oppenheimer and Scott Forestal turning the wheel and executing major strategic decisions, Apple will fare well.

Steve Jobs is a control freak, a perfectionist and a product-making genius. His brain is one of a quickly calculating, innovative and powerful breed. He really is like no other man. He's arrogant, and that arrogance really just helps to make for a better boss who really, in the end, knows better than everybody else. That's an issue Apple is going to have to get used to. The idea of losing Steve, although extremely difficult to imagine, will happen one day. It's a sad, empty feeling. Things will simply never be the same.

We can't understand or begin to imagine a world without the genius that is Steve Jobs. And frankly, neither can Apple.

Editorial: Where HP Went Wrong, Right, and How to Fix Things

On April 28, 2010, HP announced it would acquire Palm for $1.2 Billion. At this time, HP was doing great, but Palm was failing fast- their products were aging, and the new hardware and software wasn't selling very well. At the same time though, the software had a lot of potential, being the only true user interface competitor to Apple's iPhone. As the year marched on, the Palm brand died and was replaced by HP. On July 1, 2011, HP launched the first and the last webOS tablet. Then on August 18- a mere fifty days after the release of the HP TouchPad, the large, successful company announced that they were done with webOS, they were done with the Pre and they were done with the TouchPad. The product itself didn't even have the time to grow or evolve. To add insult to injury, the company also revealed it's plan to duck out of the hardware business and jump into software.

What they got right.

The Touchpad, although rather bulky when compared to the competition, was the only product that actually staged itself as a reasonable competitor to Apple's iPad. It had the speedy, simple interface that's look and feel almost mirrored iOS. Yet, Palm's use of gestures was so innovative that it proved to the perfect rival to Apple's solution and helped make the interface feel more natural. Another worthy thing to mention was the multitasking- it was real and the only solution that just... felt right. Apple uses background multitasking, and it barely takes advantage of the memory under the hood. Google's Android solution just became a RAM hog, and RIM really didn't have it together.

The Pre was a fantastic phone. It was small enough to be cradled in the palm of your hand, it was light enough to shove or slip into any pocket. The interface, as mentioned before, was simple, clean and beautiful. For myself, I found it to be more visually stunning than iOS. But hey, it's just my opinion. The Pre also happens to be one of most attractive designs I've ever seen in a piece of hardware. Sure, it's not up to iPhone standards, but then again, it's target market doesn't really care about appearances.

Where they went wrong.

The Veer was horrible. That being said, the thing is freaking adorable. But in all seriousness (can you believe we're being serious today?) the Veer was lacking in more places than not. The largest flaw, which has been flaunted as the product's greatest feature, is it's tiny chasis. Unfortunately, most people who use a touchscreen phone, expect a display with a size of 3.5 inches or greater. The Veer, although following in the same screen size as it's older brother, the Pixi, is far too small to use and feels too much like a toy. To add to it's cheapness, webOS performance feels too sluggish and it annoys the hell out of me. Sure, it's faster than the original Pre, but this half-baked sequel to the rather snappy Pixi just feels rushed and over thought. Because of this, the unit didn't sell well. That just leads to the next issue...

Why didn't HP just release the Pre3 at the same time as the Veer? The Pre3 is perhaps the best looking and most sensible continuation of the Pre line- an upgraded chasis, a better keyboard, webOS 2.0, a 1.4 GHz processor... the list goes on and on. This is what the Pre2 should have been, but wasn't. Instead of focusing on the Pre3, which would have been the savior to the webOS product family, it focused on it's iPad competitor- the TouchPad.

The biggest problem with the TouchPad is, HP focused so hard on beating the first iPad instead of it's successor. The hardware feels the same- with the same thickness of the iPad and dimensions. To add to that, it shipped with a glitchy version of webOS, when they easily could have waited and shipped a fresher version that fixed everything. The use of plastics just makes the device feel cheap, and the display leaves a rather stale taste in our mouths. It's the iPad 1, in a world of iPad 2 copycats. Because of that, it was ignored. But then, HP decided to liquidate their stock at ultra-cheap prices. They brought it down by a hundred dollars and then three hundred dollars... until the product cost only $99. It sold out like wildfire. And apparently, the company is now processing more just so that they can satisfy the newfound desire for the product.

What HP should do to fix things.

Kill the Veer and focus on the Pre3. The Veer has no place on the market, and therefore is just cluttering the selection of webOS devices. The Pre3 is the potential savior of the platform, and so far has a lot more potential than the Veer or the TouchPad ever did.

Upgrade the TouchPad in terms of both hardware and software. Don't try and mirror the iPad 2. You should be able to say that your product not only competes with the iPad, but blows it out of the water. Get developers excited and ready to build the best applications they can, and make it easier for them to code. Focusing on just one development platform makes things a lot easier.

License webOS to other companies, and give the users more choice. Don't focus on exclusivity like Apple does. You're trying to hard to be Apple, instead of focusing on building the best products in the industry.

Support your early adopters; the people who bought the Pre, Pre Plus, Pixi, Pixi Plus and the Pre2. Those are the users who have stuck by you to the very bitter end, and like you for webOS and it's features. If you don't support them, you'll lose them to Apple or Google. Giving users 50 dollars off of the TouchPad, instead of providing software updates or new phones, is not the way to conduct business. When users purchase a device, they expect support for 3-4 years.

Just one more thing...

Selling off or even spinning off your powerful PC business is a huge mistake. Your users will never forgive you, your products will ultimately be garbage, and innovation will be non existant. Pump innovation through both business and consumer sectors. Give people what they crave for in a product. Make it sexy, make it affordable, make it easy for anybody to operate. That's why Apple's been kicking your ass these last few years. Take a stand, because if you don't, somebody else will.

Editorial: The Death of Borders Doesn't Spell the Death of Books

I hear it everyday, all the time and everywhere. They defend it so strongly, and refuse to listen to the truth and the data points and instead rely on their own standards. I'm talking about people who read, and actually, people who don't. I read very often. In fact, I constantly immerse myself in books, I read news everyday and I use those things to manage this blog. I am not a book hater, I am not illiterate, and I don't think the book industry will ever die. Sure, we've all seen a complete disappearance and loss of book stores in our neighborhoods. And it's not likely to stop anytime soon. Reading is a pastime, a hobby, a dedication and a purpose. We read because we want to learn, we want to live, we want to love and enjoy life through the eyes of others. We want to relate to other people and enjoy their stories- fiction or non. We read because we are human. And books, just like television, radio, gaming, music and even the internet is a form of media... and a popular one at that. Books can never die. But that doesn't mean they can't change.

Books have been the same way for so many years for a big reason- it just works. Books are amazing because they quickly and easily manage to disappear and allow the reader to experience and enjoy the world as created by the author. There really hasn't been a sensible replacement for books until now. Actually, there has been only one major change in how we read texts. Before books were made of paper (thus being made of trees) they were made of silk spun from silkworms- making literacy a rarity. However, once the medium shifted to paper, text became dirt cheap to own, easier to read and collect, and nicer to transport. Thus, the book hasn't changed since. But, after all these years, who's to dictate that change is so bad?

Books are also hard to mange when the collection becomes large, causing owners to go out an spend money on expensive book shelves and other means of storage to feed their obsessive reading and collecting habits. In the end, this not only costs more of your hard earned money, but also space in your home. Not to mention that books use up paper and cost money and energy to make. In contrast, ebooks are just simple files that are easy to edit, import, export and share- as they're very small in size. In the end, you pay more for standalone paper books than you do for ebooks. The Amazon Kindle costs only $114 for the ad-supported model, which only displays ads on the homescreen and as a screensaver- never getting in your way during your reading. It also supports PDFs and documents, allowing you to read your important files on the go with the click of a button. If you want internet access everywhere, it only costs $139 for the ad-supported model. Or, if you hate the barely apparent ads, it'll run you $139 for the Wi-Fi only kindle and $189 for the 3G model. But really, the ads are barely there and only help you out and give you deals on the Amazon store, so they're more of an advantage than a disadvantage.

People always worry about ebook readers and their readability in the strong sunlight. Thankfully, all good ebook readers make exclusive use of a technology called eink- which is just as clear and clean as paper. Not only that, but the device is thin and light for easy prolonged reading and transportation in bags, purses or backpacks with ease. In fact, most ereaders are the size, if not smaller and lighter than most paperbacks. You really won't have a problem transporting this thing where ever you need to go.

So, is the book dying? Not at all. The book is simply changing form and becoming something better and easier to use and own. In reality, the idea of a book is to become a convenience and not an experience. It's simply a vessel to allow the words of the author to thrive. If we can make it easy, why not do so? What's so great about carrying around large, clunky books and having the magical ability to physically turn a page? Do people use it as a workout or is it some strange nostalgic feeling that makes people feel better about reading? Whatever it is, it's time you stop making up excuses and at least take a little time to look at the ebook. You shan't be disappointed.