Apple’s Star Trek Teching

By Matthew John

Apple has been in the news a lot recently, for both good and bad reasons. Good for the new product releases, and bad for some of the feedback that its received and bounced around in the media (and we all know how the media loves bad feedback!). In the past month we have seen the introduction of the new iPhone 4 and the revolutionary iPad, two of the most eagerly anticipated product launches in the past few years – in fact since the last apple launch of the iPhone 3GS! That is a very key point… what major business hardware product release other than an Apple product has had the same impact in the last 10 years? My only guess would be in the home games console industry (XBOX, PlayStation and Wii). All of which has had its product faults – Controllers smashing TV’s, Red Rings of Doom, and the Yellow Light of Death.

Apple, so proud in the 90’s that their product was far superior to PC’s and the MS operating system, have become victims of their own success – following in the footsteps of their counter parts (Microsoft and IBM). It seems that as your product demand grows larger, the oversights and product failures become more apparent. The iPad that can’t support Flash and the inability to use in direct sunlight – this causes massive issues due to the fact that those of us who want an e-reader/mobile games unit whilst on the sun lounger are going to have to go back to the printed book. Further to this the iPhone 4 seems to have issues with people losing signal while holding the phone! Whilst I do not want to turn this blog into a blast of negativity, this seems to be some of the biggest product flaws since MS Vista, ME, OS2 Warp and in some cases the original iPhone.

From an MSP (Managed Service Provider) point of view, one of the biggest flaws is that some of their clients that have bought into the product launch but have not had it supported. This is because the iPad and the iPhone 4 haven’t been added to the Service Catalogue, and most support staff hadn’t even seen one before some users had called their Service Desk!

One of the challenges for any MSP or IT department that has users or clients with a nature to buy the latest and greatest, is to stay ahead of the game before the user gets a disappointing and resounding “your product is not supported” conversation over the phone. One of the key offerings of software (like Windows 7), is that you can have access to Beta versions to test, but still until full Research and Development is carried out and the product is placed on the Service Catalogue, ANY product new or old is just ‘Not Supported’. To combat that, communication is key. Companies like Apple and Microsoft rely very heavily on their suppliers and partners to communicate to their client base the strategy of implementing their products. A trick that so many companies miss.

The Internet Group are one of the few companies who are carrying out intensive research and development project on the iPad to ensure they are providing their clients with the best possible support with this new technology before it is allowed to go on the supported products list.

However, trying to stay away from a product bashing, I have the pleasure of owning the iPad and the iPhone 4, and to be honest, aside the flaws, both are amazing pieces of technology and the benefits of these far outweigh the flaws. The iPad is an amazing piece of kit, it has taken the laptop technology to a next level, and the applications are cheap enough that you find yourself surfing the App store almost daily. It is one step closer to the ‘Star Trek Tech’ that we all wished we had when were younger, and maybe that is Apple’s appeal. They’ve tapped into our childish dreams and created the “cool” gadgets that we always wanted? I hate to admit it, but I believe they have.