tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/ipad-574/articlesiPad – The Conversation2020-06-02T12:15:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1386942020-06-02T12:15:17Z2020-06-02T12:15:17ZMobile technology may support kids learning to recognize emotions in photos of faces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338980/original/file-20200601-95009-1b3i5td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=199%2C145%2C4483%2C3257&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many kids use screens all day long and are adept at reading what they see on them.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/students-using-laptop-in-classroom-royalty-free-image/104737316">LWA/Dann Tardif/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>An essential social skill is understanding emotion. Children learn about emotion even before language by <a href="https://theconversation.com/clear-masks-for-caregivers-mean-young-children-can-keep-learning-from-adults-faces-139432">paying attention to a caregiver’s face</a>. Watching people around them <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-happens-when-kids-go-cold-turkey-from-their-screens-for-5-days_b_5700805">provides children with essential facts</a> for survival: Who will love me? Whom should I be scared of?</p>
<p>These days everyone’s seen infants and toddlers, and their parents, with screens in their faces. So how could little ones be getting the critical in-person, face-to-face interaction they desperately need in those early years? </p>
<p>Yet in today’s world, just about everyone uses devices to communicate with others, even face to face. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/09/do-babies-know-when-theyre-skyping/404650/">Toddlers learn</a> from video chatting with their grandparents, and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/">teens devour image-driven social media</a> on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">There’s a reason they’re called digital natives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-boy-using-digital-tablet-while-lying-on-bed-royalty-free-image/1155478145">Chachawal Prapai/EyeEm via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>What if, rather than stunting the emotional skills traditionally learned from in-person interactions, the hours kids spend staring at screens and sharing selfies with friends actually teach them to read emotion in facial expressions?</p>
<p>My colleagues and I recently published a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0174">study in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Networking</a> that found screen-based communication, rather than being a barrier to social learning, may instead help it.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad">iPad in 2010</a> <a href="https://www.vjrconsulting.com/children-media-1/2018/9/19/just-out-the-next-wave-of-the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-kids-age-zero-to-eight-2017">drastically changed</a> early learning environments – and set off a decade of hand-wringing about screen time.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/">Center for Scholars & Storytellers</a>, we seek to understand how media affect learning during the tween and teen years. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202">growing body of research</a> from a variety of disciplines points to these years as a crucial time for social and emotional learning. As early adolescents work toward achieving independence from their parents, they begin to look to peers and media to learn about the world.</p>
<p>Especially in the time of the coronavirus, it’s critical to understand how and what children learn from the digital media they use to communicate, such as social media and video chat, in order to maximize the positive impact of screen time and minimize the negative effects.</p>
<h2>How we did this work</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How would you classify the emotion portrayed in this photo?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Nowicki Jr.</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>We designed a study to test whether the increase in early childhood screen time affects children’s ability to read emotional cues from facial expressions.</p>
<p>In 2017, we showed 56 sixth grade students who were born in 2006 photographs that test their ability to read basic emotions and asked them to identify the emotion depicted. We compared these kids’ scores with those from an earlier study done in 2012 that had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.036">tested sixth grade students</a> who were born in 2001. While both groups spent about the same time watching television and playing video games, their device ownership had changed. Out of the 56 tweens in the 2017 group, 44 reported owning tablets. We hadn’t even asked that question of the group tested in 2012, because tablets were still rare then.</p>
<p>To our surprise, the students who grew up with tablets and phones scored 40% higher on this test than the students from five years earlier. In other words, they were better at reading emotions in the photographs than the older group.</p>
<p>In today’s world, young people use photos and, increasingly, video to communicate. With cameras now installed on every device and the rise of visual-based communication, we suspect our 2017 participants had more opportunities to see, communicate and learn nonverbal emotion expressed in photographs of faces than did the kids from 2012.</p>
<p>While we found a dramatic improvement in reading emotional cues in photos, we don’t know whether this skill would apply to reading emotions in real life.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Technology is always evolving, and just like the studies that have investigated <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sesame-street-and-its-surprisingly-powerful-effects-on-how-children-learn/2015/06/07/59c73fe4-095c-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html">how kids learn from television</a>, researchers need to study how increased exposure to pictures, videos, games and other emerging platforms for communication influences young people.</p>
<p>During this time of social distancing, screen-based communication may be one of the only ways kids can socialize with their friends. We hope our findings give parents some peace of mind that kids at the very least don’t seem to be losing this one particular social skill.</p>
<p>Other research supports this notion. A recent study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/707985">current generations are no worse at social skills</a> than prior ones, even when judged by teachers.</p>
<p>In-person face-to-face interaction is still the gold standard for understanding emotion. But maybe there’s a silver lining to people increasingly relying on their devices to communicate during the time of the coronavirus. Kids might come out of this pandemic even better at identifying the emotions of others.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yalda T. Uhls is an advisor for YouTube Kids and Family, The Bill and Melinda Gates Equitable Future project, Common Sense Media, Bark and the Jacobs Foundations Learning and Science Exchange.</span></em></p>Understanding others’ emotions is a crucial social skill. Counter to concerns about screen time stunting kids’ development, one study suggests they’re getting better at recognizing emotion on screen.Yalda T. Uhls, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers and Assistant Adjunct Professor in Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1221452019-08-29T09:23:12Z2019-08-29T09:23:12ZCurious Kids: how do mobile phones and tablets work?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289924/original/file-20190828-184207-m5hia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C163%2C5472%2C3473&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Like magic. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-asian-child-girl-look-smart-1092089723?src=-1-53">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>How do mobile phones and tablets work? Tom, aged six, Quorn, UK</strong></p>
<p>Great question, Tom! There’s a lot of amazing technology packed into mobile phones and tablets. Nowadays, most have a touch screen, speakers, a microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, a camera, a telephone and more. </p>
<p>Underneath all these fun features, though, mobile phones and tablets are basically mini computers. And computers work by carrying out instructions we humans have given them. </p>
<p>To a computer, <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/367621/what-is-binary-and-why-do-computers-use-it/">everything is a number</a>. A picture? Lots of numbers: three for every tiny dot in the image. A sound? A long list of numbers, including one for how “loud” the sound is at each point in time (that’s thousands every second). A word? Each letter has its own unique number, too.</p>
<h2>Machine brains</h2>
<p>Computers have a machine “brain” called the <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/2851/central-processing-unit-cpu">Central Processing Unit</a> (CPU), which has two main jobs: getting instructions from the computer’s memory, and carrying them out. The instructions are stored as numbers, too, of course. </p>
<p>The programs or “apps” you find on a mobile phone or tablet are basically lists of instructions. With a bit of practice, you can even write your own: it’s called “programming” or “coding”. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282267/original/file-20190702-126345-1np1y7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282267/original/file-20190702-126345-1np1y7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282267/original/file-20190702-126345-1np1y7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282267/original/file-20190702-126345-1np1y7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282267/original/file-20190702-126345-1np1y7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282267/original/file-20190702-126345-1np1y7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282267/original/file-20190702-126345-1np1y7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series by <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk">The Conversation</a>, which gives children the chance to have their questions about the world answered by experts. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskids@theconversation.com">curiouskids@theconversation.com</a>. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we’ll do our very best.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>But writing down lots of lists of numbers to give your instructions to the computer would be really difficult, and takes a very long time. Luckily, people have invented special coding languages, that are much easier for us to read and understand. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://medium.com/web-development-zone/a-complete-list-of-computer-programming-languages-1d8bc5a891f">lots of different programming languages</a> these days, with names like C, C++, Python and Java. Different languages are better for different jobs – but mostly it’s just down to what the programmer likes to use. </p>
<p>There are even programming languages made of different shapes, like a jigsaw, which can be great for learning – like <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu">Scratch</a>, which you can use to make games.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289925/original/file-20190828-184240-14xtljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289925/original/file-20190828-184240-14xtljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289925/original/file-20190828-184240-14xtljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289925/original/file-20190828-184240-14xtljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289925/original/file-20190828-184240-14xtljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289925/original/file-20190828-184240-14xtljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289925/original/file-20190828-184240-14xtljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Learning to code can be lots of fun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/group-african-american-kids-learn-coding-656332537?src=-1-24">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>Once you’ve used one of those languages to make a list of instructions, you run it through a special programme – called a compiler – that turns them into programs or apps that computers can run.</p>
<h2>Powering up</h2>
<p>The most important program on any mobile phone or tablet is the operating system. The operating system runs all the different programs and helps them use the phone’s different features, like speakers, touchscreen and microphones. </p>
<p>The operating system also lets you do lots of things at once, so you can still get a phone call even while you’re playing a game. </p>
<p>And, of course, mobile phones wouldn’t be very “mobile” without a battery. Batteries have been around for <a href="https://phys.org/news/2015-04-history-batteries.html">at least 200 years</a>, but they have got a lot better recently, so they can power complicated things like mobile phones, tablets – and even electric cars. </p>
<p>Batteries work by converting chemicals to electricity. With an adult’s help, you can make a simple battery using fruit and some coins, which is fun – but wouldn’t be strong enough to run a mobile phone. </p>
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<p><em>Children can have their own questions answered by experts – just send them in to <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a>, along with the child’s first name, age and town or city. You can:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em>email <a href="mailto:curiouskids@theconversation.com">curiouskids@theconversation.com</a></em></li>
<li><em>tweet us <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationUK">@ConversationUK</a> with #curiouskids</em></li>
<li><em>DM us on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">@theconversationdotcom</a></em></li>
</ul>
<p><em>Here are some more <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/curious-kids-36782?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">Curious Kids</a> articles, written by academic experts:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-some-animals-have-two-different-coloured-eyes-119727?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">Why do some animals have two different coloured eyes? – George, aged ten, Hethersett, UK.</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-high-could-i-jump-on-the-moon-120865?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">How high could I jump on the moon? – Miles, aged five, London, UK.</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-are-the-bubbles-in-fizzy-drinks-so-small-the-ones-i-blow-are-much-bigger-121513?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">Why are the bubbles in fizzy drink so small? The ones I blow are much bigger - Alison, aged seven, Aberdeen, UK.</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bernie Tiddeman has previously received funding from AHRC, EPSRC, ESRC and Unilever Research. He has current funding from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, the European Social Fund, RHE Global and the Welsh European Funding Office. He works for Aberystwyth University. </span></em></p>Mobile phones and tablets are basically mini computers – and to a computer, everything is a number.Bernie Tiddeman, Reader in Computer Science, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1093772019-01-04T14:56:09Z2019-01-04T14:56:09ZWhat is really eating Apple – and why Steve Jobs would not be doing a lot better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252483/original/file-20190104-32148-il9aoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jobs worth?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/christmas-island-australia-may-20-2017-643756204?src=ZjPYK8kUoRO8W7XPDOZuoA-1-39">franz12</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Apple has started the new year by disappointing investors with <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/letter-from-tim-cook-to-apple-investors/">its first</a> profit warning in 17 years. The company said that poor sales of its <a href="https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/iphone/new-iphone-xs-2018-3646340/">latest range</a> of iPhones has helped to weaken its first financial quarter (September to December 2018). Apple now expects revenues of US$84 billion (£66 billion) with a gross profit margin of 38%, having <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-02/apple-cut-first-quarter-sales-forecast-on-weak-iphone-sales">initially expected</a> between US$89 billion and US$93 billion. In the same quarter last year, Apple brought in US$88.3 billion on a gross margin of 42%. </p>
<p>This revision <a href="https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/chart/AAPL#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">caused</a> the company’s stock to drop 10% to its lowest level in 21 months. It is time to find culprits, and I will not be surprised to see headlines like, “Tim Cook is not up to the Job(s)” or: “Seven years after Jobs’ death, Apple is starting to rot.” We mustn’t believe them, however. </p>
<p>The reason why is explained in <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Halo-Effect/Phil-Rosenzweig/9781476784038">The Halo Effect</a>, which was published by my colleague Phil Rosenzweig in 2007 – in my opinion one of the most important books in the history of management. Phil argues that perceptions of performance contaminate the assessments that we make about managers and leaders. He uses several examples, from Lego to Cisco to ABB, to show that a leader’s skills do not affect a company’s performance in a significant way. </p>
<p>When a company performs well, we tend to evaluate its leader in way that is too positive. This induces us to attribute stellar performance to certain leadership skills. So, in the case of Steve Jobs, many will eulogise his visionary perfectionism, and the great risks he took in reinventing consumer electronics categories. Yet the evidence doesn’t back this up. </p>
<h2>The dirty truth</h2>
<p>The one academic paper that has done a decent (econometric) job of identifying and quantifying the effect of individual leadership in corporate performance is <a href="http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/marianne.bertrand/research/papers/managing_style_qje.pdf">this one</a> from 2003. The two professors, Marianne Bertrand and Antoinette Schoar, from University of Chicago and MIT respectively, calculated that individual chief executives only contribute to between 2% and 4% of a company’s total performance. </p>
<p>In other words, if Apple’s profit margin is 38%, Tim Cook would be able to add or detract 1.5% at most. The same is true in reverse of Steve Jobs’ achievements during his two periods at the helm (1976-85 and 1997-2011). We can’t attribute Apple’s once skyrocketing stock to his tenure because we don’t know what the alternative best-case scenario would have been. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252492/original/file-20190104-32139-1tzx65o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cook who’s talking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tim-cook-chief-executive-officer-apple-1069919423?src=BdA7WdkbRoQW8G906FtfJA-1-18">John Gress Media Inc</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my view, Apple’s problems are primarily caused by external events. Cook explains in his recent letter that, with the exception of the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/apple-earnings-software-and-services-revenue.html">services business</a> – which includes the App Store and iTunes and accounted for 14% of revenues in financial 2018 – all the other Apple businesses will be “constrained”. This means Macs, iPads, iWatches but most importantly iPhones, which <a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/396847794/files/doc_financials/quarterly/2018/Q4/10-K-2018-(As-Filed).pdf">accounted for</a> 62.7% of total Apple revenues in 2018, compared to 63.4% in 2016. </p>
<p>What is causing this constraint? The increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi – but also from Google, LG and Samsung – has eroded the once dominant position of Apple in the smartphone market. Competition has been particularly damaging in emerging markets, which Cook is blaming on a strong dollar and weaker macroeconomic conditions – as opposed to any faulty Apple strategy in this part of the world. </p>
<p>With respect to markets where the iPhone has enjoyed a more dominant position – especially the US – Apple recognises that customers don’t replace their devices as often as they used to. A <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/silver-lining-apples-very-bad-iphone-news/">recent report</a> by BayStreet Research estimated that, while the average user upgraded her iPhone every 24 months as recently as 2015, by the last quarter of 2018 this holding period had jumped to 36 months. </p>
<p>This is due to fewer carrier subsidies, according to Apple – but also, in my opinion, to the fact that the new devices do not have much more to offer. I use an iPhone 7, which I bought in 2016, and I am honestly not inclined to spend US$1,000 for I-am-not-sure-which new features on a newer version. I already get much more from my current device than I need. </p>
<h2>Apple’s problem</h2>
<p>It worries me that Apple is a single-product company. Among its other revenues, iPad sales are one-tenth of iPhone sales eight years after tablets were launched. By comparison, Samsung mobile phone sales <a href="https://images.samsung.com/is/content/samsung/p5/global/ir/docs/2018_3Q_conference_eng.pdf">only represent</a> 36.6% of its total revenues. Wearables by Apple are not taking off either – and the company <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/04/03/why-microsoft-and-apple-dont-need-to-sell-your-data/">is not</a> monetising its platform business by selling customer data to the same extent as digital rivals such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.</p>
<p>As I argued in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-apple-is-no-longer-a-byword-for-innovation-just-ask-the-markets-107529">an article</a> in The Conversation a few weeks ago, the decline in Apple stock in recent months, down 37% since August 2018, reflects a change in market perception about the company’s ability to grow. Apple is no longer seen as a growth stock, but rather a dividend-paying, profitable company whose value is less based on a bright future than what is currently being delivered to its shareholders. The new financials confirm this view. </p>
<p><strong>Apple share price, 2010-19</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/252491/original/file-20190104-32154-1ibwei8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/chart/AAPL#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">Yahoo Finance</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Phil Rosenzweig explains in his book, Apple’s story is not a new one. Today we blame the current Apple management’s over-dependence on a single product for the problems with investors. Cook and his team will respond by diversifying through acquisitions, or betting more heavily on new territories, or even staying put with its current product offerings. </p>
<p>Whether this works or fails, the management’s style of leadership will probably be disproportionately praised or criticised. It is always easy for analysts to be wise in hindsight. But the reality is that even the world’s biggest businesses are more vulnerable to external forces than we like to think. However the leadership reacts and, whoever is at the helm, the effect is actually quite limited.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arturo Bris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some will point to Apple’s lost talisman as the reason for the company’s current woes. They needn’t bother.Arturo Bris, Professor of Finance, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/829742017-09-13T02:33:05Z2017-09-13T02:33:05ZA bloody decade of the iPhone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184482/original/file-20170904-17292-1nx8xtk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Foxconn was nominated for the 2011 Public Eye Award, which produced this image as part of its campaign to end labour exploitation. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeace_switzerland/5354250483">Greenpeace Switzerland/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/democracy-futures">Democracy Futures</a> series, a <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/shortcodes/images-videos/articles-democracy-futures/">joint global initiative</a> with the <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/">Sydney Democracy Network</a>. The project aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the many challenges facing democracies in the 21st century.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Ten years ago the <a href="https://www.wired.com/2009/06/dayintech_0629/">first iPhone</a> went on sale. The iconic product not only profoundly altered the world of gadgets, but also of consumption and tall corporate profit; this world would be impossible without the toiling of millions along the assembly line.</p>
<p>I look back at the first ten years of the iPhone and see a bloody decade of labour abuse, especially in Chinese factories such as those run by <a href="http://www.foxconn.com/GroupProfile_En/GroupProfile.html">Foxconn</a>, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer. At one <a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/77shx5qp9780252040627.html">point</a> Foxconn had more employees in China than the US armed forces combined.</p>
<p>Foxconn makes most of its money from assembling iPhones, iPads, iMacs and iPods. Its notorious “<a href="https://www.somo.nl/workers-as-machines-military-management-in-foxconn/">military management</a>” was blamed for causing a string of 17 worker suicides in 2010. </p>
<p>The company tried so hard to stop the suicides, not by digging out the roots of exploitation, but by erecting “<a href="https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/08/03/foxconn-installs-antijumping-nets-at-hebei-plants/">anti-jumping nets</a>” atop its buildings. Never before has a modern factory hidden behind such suicide-prevention netting, which last appeared on transatlantic slave ships centuries ago.</p>
<p>Foxconn is only one part of the Apple empire. The long and complicated supply chain has caused innumerable work injuries, occupational diseases and premature deaths over the past decade. </p>
<p>To date, Apple does not offer a full account for the total damage of victimised lives. The number must be many, many thousands if we include all Apple suppliers. And yet factories like Foxconn often enjoy immunity, sometimes taking no responsibility at all.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hJIxdxU3Wq4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Readers unfamiliar with the dark reality behind the iPhone need only watch Complicit.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>To make a living, workers must break the law</h2>
<p>Apple continues to put out <a href="https://images.apple.com/au/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-Progress-Report-2017.pdf">bogus claims</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Products made to have a positive impact. On the world and the people who make them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The company claims to hold its suppliers accountable “to the highest standards”.</p>
<p>In reality, corporate practices in the making of the iPhone are substandard when held up against either <a href="http://www.chinalawblog.com/2014/08/chinas-forty-hour-work-week-is-mandatory-except-when-its-not-part-iii.html">Chinese labour regulations</a> or ethical smartphone companies such as <a href="https://www.fairphone.com/en/">Fairphone</a>. Apple’s standards for their workers are anything but “the highest”.</p>
<p>Wages remain low. <a href="http://sacom.hk/">Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour</a> calculate that the living wage for an iPhone worker in Shenzhen, China, should be about $650 per month. But to earn this amount today, an average worker would need to pull off 80-90 hours of overtime every month – that’s more than double the legal cap of 36 hours. </p>
<p>In other words, to make a living, workers have no choice but to break Chinese law.</p>
<p>Back in 2012, Apple <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-foxconn-idUSBRE82S19720120329">vowed</a> to work with Foxconn to bring the amount of overtime down to no more than 49 hours a week. It later broke its promise and retreated to adopt the <a href="http://www.eiccoalition.org/media/docs/EICCCodeofConduct5_English.pdf">Electronic Industry Code of Conduct</a> (EICC), which stipulates “no more than 60 hours a week”. </p>
<p>The EICC standard is 25% lower than the Chinese legal threshold. So why did Apple opt for a less-than-legal code of conduct in the Chinese context over a higher standard? Tim Cook owes us an explanation.</p>
<p>Even with the EICC, workers refusing to do excessive overtime at the current wage level simply won’t be able to make ends meet. The only way for workers to earn a livelihood without doing an illegal amount of overtime, and without compromising their physical, mental and social health, is for Apple and their suppliers to raise basic wages.</p>
<h2>Is there real progress behind the progress reports?</h2>
<p>Apple also brags about its training programs. According to its <a href="https://images.apple.com/au/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-Progress-Report-2017.pdf">2017 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report</a>, the company partnered with its suppliers to train more than 2.4 million workers on their rights as employees. One basic right is for workers to unionise. </p>
<p>However, those at Foxconn are stuck with a management-run <a href="http://sacom.hk/statement-foxconn-should-keep-its-promise-we-need-no-fake-trade-unions/">fake union</a> that is ineffective and fooling no one.</p>
<p>If Apple is serious about its words, it should let workers know about their rights to genuine union representation and use its influence to let workers exercise this right. Unfortunately, no such thing has occurred in the past ten years. Will it happen in the next ten?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183591/original/file-20170828-1549-1kk4oyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183591/original/file-20170828-1549-1kk4oyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183591/original/file-20170828-1549-1kk4oyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183591/original/file-20170828-1549-1kk4oyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183591/original/file-20170828-1549-1kk4oyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183591/original/file-20170828-1549-1kk4oyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183591/original/file-20170828-1549-1kk4oyc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apple’s standards for their workers are anything but ‘the highest’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annette Bernhardt/flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Considering that Apple has recently backed out from the <a href="http://www.fairlabor.org/">Fair Labor Association</a>, a third-party auditor of corporate social responsibility (CSR), I’m sceptical. The FLA is not exactly “the highest standard” in labour-related auditing to begin with. But Apple no longer even bothers to ask it to assess supplier working conditions.</p>
<p>Despite this regressive move, Apple declared in its annual CSR <a href="https://images.apple.com/au/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-Progress-Report-2017.pdf">report</a> that it “continue(s) to partner with independent third-party auditors”.</p>
<p>The glossy report offers no information on who the auditors actually are, and how their independence is guaranteed. This is fairly inconsistent with Apple’s claim to be <a href="http://images.apple.com/br/supplier-responsibility/pdf/apple_named_top_manufacturer.pdf">the most transparent of IT companies</a>.</p>
<p>What then, are “the highest standards”? The least Apple can do is to let international trade union federations audit Foxconn and other suppliers to ensure their workers are not mistreated. If Apple and Foxconn are so proud of what they have done for workers, why would they be afraid?</p>
<p>Apple should also stop pretending it doesn’t know about <a href="https://www.fairphone.com/en/">Fairphone</a>, the <a href="https://www.lovieawards.eu/sv/press/press-releases/the-6th-annual-lovie-award-winners-announced/">Lovie Award</a>-winning Dutch smartphone firm that was Europe’s “<a href="https://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/03/31/tech5-netherlands-fairphone-named-the-netherlands-fastest-growing-tech-startup/#.tnw_hvsJq6SB">fastest-growing tech startup</a>” in 2015. </p>
<p>Fairphone, with its modular design, information transparency and worker welfare fund, has brought revolutionary change to the ethical design, manufacture and recycling of smartphones, setting a truly new standard for the likes of Apple.</p>
<p>Last August, I visited <a href="http://www.hi-p.com/index.php?c=article&a=type&tid=87">Hi-P</a>, a factory in Suzhou, eastern China, that assembles Fairphones. Hi-P also happens to be a supplier for Apple. According to a worker I spoke to, she and her colleagues preferred to make Fairphones because the job was less demanding and more generously remunerated.</p>
<p>“It’s much harder working for Apple. They are so stingy,” the assembly-line worker in her late 30s told me. “Our managers asked them [Apple] to give us similar bonuses [as we received from Fairphone]. They tried again and again, but ended up getting nothing even close.”</p>
<p>If an ordinary worker can plainly demonstrate that Apple does not, in fact, have the “highest standards”, surely it’s time the company stopped pleading ignorance or innocence of its labour abuse. </p>
<p>There’s no excuse for Apple’s first bloody decade of the iPhone. And even less so for its next ten years.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jack Linchuan Qiu’s book, <a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/77shx5qp9780252040627.html">Goodbye iSlave: A Manifesto for Digital Abolition</a>, is available from The University of Illinois Press.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82974/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Linchuan Qiu receives funding from the General Research Fund of Hong Kong SAR Government. He is also a board member of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour.</span></em></p>The first ten years of the iPhone has been a bloody decade of labour abuse, especially in Chinese factories such as those run by Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer.Jack Linchuan Qiu, Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong KongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/823472017-08-17T13:09:45Z2017-08-17T13:09:45ZWhy the very idea of ‘screen time’ is muddled and misguided<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182219/original/file-20170816-32682-1a7qr4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hang on mum, I'm just catching up on The Conversation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-boy-eye-glasses-reading-playing-141556504?src=c4v9N4poBQWXWywYOwlsDg-1-60">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of “screen time” causes arguments – but not just between children and their anxious parents. The Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, recently compared overuse of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/05/children-bingeing-social-media-anne-longfield-childrens-commissioner">social media to junk food</a> and urged parents to regulate screen time using her <a href="https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/2017/08/06/digital-5-a-day/">“Digital 5 A Day” campaign</a>.</p>
<p>This prompted the former director of Britain’s electronic surveillance agency, GCHQ, to respond by telling parents to <em>increase</em> screen time for children so they can gain skills <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/let-your-kids-spend-more-time-online-to-save-the-country-says-ex-gchq-chief-10978898">to “save the country”</a>, since the UK is “desperately” short of engineers and computer scientists. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, parents are left in the middle, trying to make sense of it all.</p>
<p>But the term “screen time” is problematic to begin with. A screen can refer to an iPad used to Skype their grandparents, a Kindle for reading poetry, a television for playing video games, or a desktop computer for their homework. Most screens are now multifunctional, so unless we specify the <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2017/06/08/the-trouble-with-screen-time-rules/">content, context and connections</a> involved in particular screen time activities, any discussion will be muddled.</p>
<p>Measuring technology usage in terms of quantity rather than quality is also difficult. Children spend time on multiple devices in multiple places, sometimes in short bursts, sometimes <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2016/02/24/learning-from-children-and-young-people-about-positive-smartphone-opportunities/">constantly connected</a>. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-natalia-kucirkova/the-continuing-debate-ove_b_15668774.html">Calculating the incalculable</a> puts unnecessary pressure on parents, who end up <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2017/06/08/the-trouble-with-screen-time-rules/">looking at the clock</a> rather than their children.</p>
<p>The Digital 5 A Day campaign has <a href="https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/2017/08/06/digital-5-a-day/">five key messages</a>, covering areas like privacy, physical activity and creativity. Its focus on constructive activities and attitudes towards technology is a good start. Likewise, a key recommendation of the <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66927/1/Policy%20Brief%2017-%20Families%20%20Screen%20Time.pdf">LSE Media Policy Project report</a> was for more positive messaging about children’s technology use. </p>
<p>After all, an overwhelming focus on risk and harm creates fear, underplays possible benefits of technology, and limits parents’ role to policing and protecting rather than <a href="http://www.readingrockets.org/article/children-and-digital-media-rethinking-parent-roles">mentoring</a> and <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2017/02/07/digital-skills-matter-in-the-quest-for-the-holy-grail/">enabling</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182228/original/file-20170816-32640-1m9uwsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182228/original/file-20170816-32640-1m9uwsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182228/original/file-20170816-32640-1m9uwsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182228/original/file-20170816-32640-1m9uwsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182228/original/file-20170816-32640-1m9uwsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182228/original/file-20170816-32640-1m9uwsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182228/original/file-20170816-32640-1m9uwsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tablet time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grandfather-grandchildren-home-using-digital-tablet-539137576?src=Gvh7JpoNUZEXm9y0G3KPhg-1-36">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Technology use is complex and takes time to understand. Content matters. Context matters. Connections matter. Children’s age and capacity matters. Reducing this intricate mix to a simple digital five-a-day runs the risk of losing all the nutrients. Just like the NHS’s Five Fruit and Veg A Day Campaign, future studies will no doubt announce that <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/23/five-a-day-fruit-veg-must-double-10-major-study-finds/">five ought to be doubled to ten</a>.</p>
<p>Another problem will come from attempts to interpret the digital five-a-day as a quality indicator. Commercial producers often use government campaigns to drive sales and interest in their products. If a so-called “educational” app claims that it “supports creative and active engagement”, parents might buy it – but there will be little guarantee that it will offer a great experience. It is an unregulated and <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2016/12/28/what-are-the-effects-of-touchscreens-on-toddler-development/">confusing market</a> – although help is currently provided by organisations providing evidence-based recommendations such as the NSPCC, National Literacy Trust, Connect Safely, Parent Zone, and the BBC’s CBeebies.</p>
<p>The constant flow of panicky media headlines don’t help parents or improve the level of public discussion. The trouble is that there’s too little delving into the whys and wherefores behind each story, nor much independent <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-the-internet-is-not-actually-stealing-kids-innocence-80543">examination of the evidence</a> that might (or might not) support the claims being publicised. Luckily, some bodies, such as the <a href="http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/">Science Media Centre</a>, do try to act as responsible intermediaries.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"894797187183464448"}"></div></p>
<p>When it comes to young people and technology, it’s vital to widen the lens – away from a close focus on time spent, to the reality of people’s lives. Today’s children grow up in increasingly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/05/upshot/stressed-tired-rushed-a-portrait-of-the-modern-family.html">stressed, tired and rushed modern families</a>. Technology commentators often revert to food metaphors to call for a balanced diet or even an occasional digital detox, and <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797616678438">that’s fine to a degree</a>. </p>
<p>But they can be taken too far, especially when the underlying harms <a href="https://www.netfamilynews.org/generation-destroying-smartphone-researchers-push-back">are contested by science</a>. “One-size-fits-all” solutions <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2017/02/23/supporting-and-developing-parents-strategies-for-childrens-use-of-digital-media-at-home/">don’t work</a> when they are taken too literally, or when they become yet <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2016/10/26/when-parents-choose-screen-time/">another reason to blame parents</a> (or children), or because they don’t allow for <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2017/02/23/supporting-and-developing-parents-strategies-for-childrens-use-of-digital-media-at-home/">the diverse conditions</a> of real people’s lives. </p>
<p>If there is a food metaphor that works for technology, it’s that we should all try some humble pie when it comes to telling others how to live. “Screen time” is an <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2017/08/02/screen-time-for-kids/">outdated and misguided shorthand</a> for all the different ways of interacting, creating and learning through screen-based technologies. It’s time to drop it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalia Kucirkova receives funding from the ESRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonia Livingstone receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation for her research project, Parenting for a Digital Future.</span></em></p>Technology enables many ways of interacting. We need to be more specific and scientific.Natalia Kucirkova, Senior research associate, UCLSonia Livingstone, Professor of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/569082016-03-29T19:06:18Z2016-03-29T19:06:18ZTablets at the table can influence child development, not always in a good way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116574/original/image-20160329-10194-htzcn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How you let young children use a tablet device can influence their behaviour in later years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Nataliia Budianska</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you “i-Pad your child” when you go to a restaurant? </p>
<p>I couldn’t help but notice the one-year-old at the restaurant table next to me who had been iPad-ed. That is, an iPad loaded with his favourite animation had been propped up on the table to act as a surrogate babysitter.</p>
<p>While screens can solve short-term issues of keeping children quiet, consistently using them to anaesthetise kids does us all a disservice in the long term. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/over-three-quarters-british-mums-6455379">Research</a> shows that 75% to 80% of parents now use technology to <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2015/10/28/peds.2015-2151.full.pdf">placate or distract children</a>, for example on a long car trip, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, when mum or dad is cooking dinner, or when it’s nap time.</p>
<h2>Take a tablet and keep quiet</h2>
<p>While this strategy works, it raises important questions about how children will develop all the social skills they need for our world. Screens may ward off kids’ complaints (or complaints from adults around us) but we’re doing children a disservice if our go-to strategy is always to use technology to keep them quiet.</p>
<p>How can we grumble about kids not knowing how to act in public, or how to manage boredom when they haven’t had the chance to learn those skills?</p>
<p>Technology has enormous potential to support children’s learning. But how adults guide that use is key. </p>
<p>Research published in the journal <a href="http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=2498404">Psychology</a> consistently shows that television has for many years been effectively used as a strategy to calm children with identified difficult behaviour, but mobile devices takes this one big step further.</p>
<p>Parents can now calm down – or digitally sedate – wherever and whenever they feel they are (or may) lose control over a child’s behaviour. It’s unlikely that a child will say no to the device being handed to them, therefore it’s a parent’s responsibility to give this strategy some careful thought, especially in terms of how often to use technology as a pacifier. </p>
<h2>Early adopter</h2>
<p>Most children start using mobile devices in their <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2015/10/28/peds.2015-2151.full.pdf">first year of life</a> and from day one the context around when and why that device is given to them is crucial.</p>
<p>Is a mobile automatically handed to a child when waiting in line? Is the family iPad or other tablet device mostly used to reward or punish behaviour? Are your devices loaded with apps to keep your child quiet? Is a parent always angry or disappointed with the child when letting them use a device? </p>
<p>Consistent negative uses of technology, which aim to suppress child behaviour, have many long-term implications.</p>
<p>For example, knowing how to change our speech and actions in different social situations comes from engaging in different social scenarios over and over again. If a child is always encouraged to be head down and focused on their screen when they are in a café or on the bus, then they will miss developing these understandings and skills.</p>
<p>Can we really blame them for inappropriate behaviour if they’ve never had opportunity to become familiar with what is appropriate and understand it? Similarly, we often lament dinner table conversation or conversation in the car but if the DVD player is always turned on when children get in the car, then the learnt behaviour is not talk in that context.</p>
<h2>A positive influence</h2>
<p>Very different implications are achieved if a device is used in a positive and empowering way, for example when a device is consistently handed to a child at home to support their creativity, imagination, communication and language skills.</p>
<p>Not only is technology being used in a way that will enhance learning, but it’s also communicating the understanding that it is an empowering part of our lives.</p>
<p>This is important in the long term if we actually want children to have positive attitudes towards using technology to learn at school and in future employment. Imagine a child’s confusion if they were asked to work on a iPad at school, when at home it had only been given to them in response to screaming and bad behaviour.</p>
<p>From a practical point of view, there are times when parents need quiet but consistently using tablets or mobile devices as the preferred method for achieving it is a problem. It dumbs down the potential that technology holds for children’s learning. </p>
<p>It also strips our children of important knowledge and skills for life today.</p>
<p>The effects are exacerbated since this use often begins when a child is still in infancy. Consistently demanding children disengage with the world around them and expecting them to be quiet all the time limits their opportunities to learn how to engage confidently with society. It teaches them that they are not important. </p>
<p>They may be having fun using a device, but the message is subliminal. If we want happy and successful children then it’s important to take stock of our own actions for developing their behaviour so that technology is an empowering part of children’s lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne Orlando does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you use a tablet device to keep a child quiet at the dining table or other event then you could be limiting their social skills. That could have an impact on the way they behave later in life.Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Technology and Learning, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/566582016-03-22T13:56:46Z2016-03-22T13:56:46ZiPhone SE and iPad Pro offer power in a small package, but can they reverse Apple’s sales slide?<p>Is bigger always better? Not when it’s smaller – and here’s the proof. For the first time, <a href="http://www.apple.com/apple-events/march-2016/">Apple has released</a> an iPhone out of its usual release cycle, one that goes against the trend by arriving smaller and cheaper, targeted at those still using older devices. </p>
<p>In the iPhone SE, Apple has returned to a smaller 4" form factor, but with a modern processor, fingerprint authentication, a 12 megapixel camera capable of astonishing 4K video, and at a lower price point than the larger models. The improved architecture enables the voice-activated digital assistant Siri and Apple Pay, but not the <a href="http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-6s/3d-touch/">pressure-sensitive 3D display</a> seen in the larger phones. It comes in 16GB and 64GB versions, despite the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/09/16gb-iphone-6s-storage-tips/">lack of free space issues</a> that users have encountered attempting to upgrade versions of iOS in the 16GB model.</p>
<p>The traditional smaller 9.7" iPad has been rebranded as the iPad Pro and updated to include features first seen in the larger model Pro last September: a better camera, the latest A9X processor, a smart keyboard cover and most importantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/apples-ipad-pro-looks-good-but-who-needs-a-phone-with-a-13-screen-47372">support for the Apple Pencil stylus</a>. This is still rated as the best stylus in the market, and building in support for it will boost sales, particularly in education where the larger Pro may have been regarded as too expensive. Attaching a 4K camera to a tablet may seem counter-intuitive, but judging by the number of people waving them around to take pictures or movies there is a market for it.</p>
<p>Other incremental releases announced in the keynote include iOS 9.3, featuring <a href="http://www.apple.com/ios/updates/">Night Shift mode</a> which changes the colour of the screen at night to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/too-much-exposure-to-smartphone-screens-ruins-your-sleep-study-shows-10019185.html">reduce the disruptive effects</a> blue light from screens can have on sleep patterns. There are also various software updates including security enhancements in Notes, extra functionality in News and Health apps, CarPlay and maps improvements. A multi-user mode finally becomes available on the iPad, although its use primarily will be targeted at the education market where iPads are passed from student to student.</p>
<h2>Why this, why now?</h2>
<p>Why bring out these new devices now? Apple traditionally introduces new iPhone models in the September keynote, with new designs arriving every two years. But in its recent earnings briefing it appeared that iPhone sales <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/01/26/apple-guides-first-ever-iphone-sales-decline-in-q2">will decline for the first time since they were launched</a> in 2007. This should be seen in the context of last year’s <a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/263401/global-apple-iphone-sales-since-3rd-quarter-2007/">record 160m sales</a>, however.</p>
<p>Releasing a smaller phone out of cycle is a play to target the <a href="https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/iphone_models/from_date:-20,to_date:0">36% of iPhone owners who have yet to upgrade</a> to the larger sixth generation models, many of whom may be attracted to a model that is smaller than the largest available, but which is nevertheless equipped with the latest features. Similar issues apply to the tablet market: when a tablet does what’s expected of it, users need a significant reason to upgrade from earlier models, and a slightly faster processor or better camera is not sufficient a lure.</p>
<p>It would be easy to follow anti-Apple rhetoric among some commentators that <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/apple-ipad-vs-microsoft-surface-3-its-a-closer-race-than-youd-think-2015-3?r=US&IR=T">suggests iPads are now outclassed by Microsoft’s latest Surface</a> tablets. Or that iPhone sales are bottoming out due to the ever-increasing quality of cheaper Android phones. Or even that taking on the US government and the current Republican party candidates over <a href="http://time.com/4261796/tim-cook-transcript/?xid=time_socialflow_twitter">security and encryption</a> has run up against the public’s disinterest, and that consumers are more willing to sacrifice privacy in a notional fight against terrorism.</p>
<p>Whether Apple cares about this perception is open to debate, but for the first time the start of the keynote was dominated by issues such as encryption, Apple’s use of renewable energy and the Apple Renew recycling system. This and a focus on the use of data collated through HealthKit suggests an attempt at reinforcing Apple as a company that works to, as Tim Cook put it, “leave the planet better than we found it”.</p>
<p>There are some truths to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/17/apple-co-founder-steve-wozniak-criticises-company-over-apple-watch">Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s critique</a> that Apple has branched out into the jewellery market where aesthetics trump functionality, seen here with the introduction of yet more Apple Watch wrist straps. But the reality is that despite falling sales, Apple is still making the vast majority of its profits through phones and tablets. Adding to and reinvigorating the number of devices running iOS is important in the long term, as it is this that will fund Apple’s continued push into the living room, the car, health, and the Internet of Things markets where it sees its future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Avery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Packing more into less may appeal to those holding out against upgrading their older devices – something that could boost sales.Barry Avery, Associate Professor, Informatics and Operations , Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/480602015-09-25T05:28:30Z2015-09-25T05:28:30ZHackers have finally breached Apple’s security but your iPhone’s probably safe (for now)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95916/original/image-20150923-2605-1068j24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cyber security experts recently discovered that the almost impenetrable Apple App Store <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/21/apple-removes-malicious-programs-after-first-major-attack-on-app-store?CMP=twt_gu">had been hacked</a>. While cyber break-ins have become routine news for many companies, Apple has long prided itself on providing technology for its phones and tablets that was incredibly secure.</p>
<p>This was done by controlling how developers – the people who create your apps on your device – not only create their code but also upload it on to the app store. Steve Jobs ensured that Apple would check each app before it entered the marketplace, as well as the developers themselves, and the firm has enforced tight controls on what the devices could access.</p>
<p>This meant that Apple mobile products arguably were (and probably still are) the most <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-which-phone-is-most-vulnerable-to-malware-25942">secure you could buy</a>. However a new attack dubbed XCodeGhost has done a great job of undermining Apple’s otherwise strong security.</p>
<p>The attack method used was cunning and, in a technical sense, impressive. Rather than attack the devices or the App Store, the hackers compromised the Xcode framework, the underlying programming system used by developers to create the apps. This is akin to poisoning a city’s water supply at its source rather than attacking the settlement’s buildings or army directly.</p>
<p>App developers use a suite of software known as <a href="https://developer.apple.com/xcode/">Xcode</a> to create programs for Apple devices. Within this is a large library of functions that enable each created app to talk to the underlying phone or tablet. Each library function has different roles, from allowing you to share your location to making your phone sound like a light sabre when you wave it around.</p>
<p>The hackers created a malicious program (malware) that used the internet to seek out Mac computers with Xcode installed, gambling on the possibility that some of these devices were used to create apps for the Apple App store. It then dropped contaminated code library features into the Xcode system. These will appear to do what the app developers programmed them to do but also capture and send personal data from your device back to the hackers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95918/original/image-20150923-2614-1ve79ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95918/original/image-20150923-2614-1ve79ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95918/original/image-20150923-2614-1ve79ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95918/original/image-20150923-2614-1ve79ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95918/original/image-20150923-2614-1ve79ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95918/original/image-20150923-2614-1ve79ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95918/original/image-20150923-2614-1ve79ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Malicious intent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Security experts <a href="http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/2015/09/more-details-on-the-xcodeghost-malware-and-affected-ios-apps/#">are concerned</a> that this innovative attack leaves Apple open to future attacks. It attacks anyone who has this coding environment installed on their computer system and compromises the code before it enters the secured systems offered by Apple.</p>
<p>Not only is this embarrassing for the company, as their checks clearly missed this compromise. It is also embarrassing for the many developers affected as their own internal security and anti-malware processes have been compromised.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for you?</h2>
<p>If you are the owner of an iPhone or iPad, there is nothing you can do. Apple has never offered Apple device owners the opportunity to protect their own technology. Apple has owned this, controlled this and until recently has been very successful in protecting its products.</p>
<p>Android-powered devices have historically been relatively vulnerable to an excess of 40,000 types of malware. The equivalent number for Apple devices remains very low. However, this new and interesting attack means that attackers have established an alternative route into your device, through the framework used by app developers. They only need one compromised app from one compromised developer machine to be successful.</p>
<p>Different experts have already found <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/21/xcodeghost-infected-apps/">multiple apps</a>, such as Angry Birds 2, that are infected. Many of these apps are being updated in earnest by their creators to patch the security breach and new versions are automatically being installed on your iPhone or iPad. If you are ultra concerned you can delete the app and re-install in a few days time when you know it has been secured.</p>
<p>In order to prevent further breaches, Apple must review its security policies and how it checks all code before it enters their App Store. It also means that the onus is on all developers to improve the way they scan their own systems. Otherwise, Apple will refuse to allow them to participate in this otherwise very successful and secure system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cyber criminals have found a way to harvest data from iPhones and iPads using the weak point in Apple’s otherwise top security system - app developers.Andrew Smith, Lecturer in Networking, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/474972015-09-22T13:00:48Z2015-09-22T13:00:48ZNew iPad? Tech firms have abandoned radical innovation for mediocrity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95671/original/image-20150922-16698-1jsabbz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The dust has now settled on the latest <a href="https://theconversation.com/apple-provides-a-technology-spritz-keeping-their-products-fresh-but-familiar-47360">product launch from Apple</a>, which for many trumped headlines about refugees, poverty and the battles for the Republican nomination and leadership of the UK Labour Party. We have new iPads, iPhones and more. But how new are they really?</p>
<p>Innovation is often characterised as being either <a href="http://www.innovationtoolbox.com.au/why-innovate/innovation-can-be-incremental-or-radical">“radical” or “incremental”</a>. When it is radical, it sets new precedents and fundamentally changes the way we do things. From self-administered insulin to solar powered houses to driverless cars, radical innovation releases potential. Incremental innovation on the other hand builds upon what is already there in small steps.</p>
<p>In the world of mobile phones and tablets, incremental has become the new radical, and true radical innovation has been relegated to the sidelines. Incremental innovation has become the norm because of a belief that <a href="http://www.incrementalinnovation.com/incremental-innovation/incremental-innovation-vs-radical-innovation">“slow and steady wins the race”</a>, that people don’t like the risks that come with big dramatic changes. That seems to be Apple’s long-term strategy and, as a dominant player, it is setting the culture for other players in the market. </p>
<p>Using staged marketing in the form of annual or biannual high-profile media launches, tech firms have groomed us as consumers to accept small change as normal. More radical innovation, such as a <a href="http://www.projectara.com/">modular phone</a> that can be continually upgraded, is seen as crazy, quirky or even science fiction.</p>
<h2>No radical innovation</h2>
<p>The new iPad Pro that is a few inches bigger than the last one is being hailed as a “<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/ipad-pro-first-look-thats-one-big-leap-for-ipad-1441853938">big leap</a>” when it’s really just tinkering with the old design. Despite the new features, it in no way represents a radical innovation worthy of ecstatic celebration. The whoops of delight <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34205451">at its launch</a> were followed by voices of <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/2405769/apples-ipad-pro-gets-mixed-reactions-is-the-surface-pro-better/">disappointment online</a>.</p>
<p>It is primarily <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-to-beat-10-million-sales-record-2015-9?IR=T">for commercial reasons</a> that Apple has institutionalised incremental innovation and tried to convince us all it is radical. iPhones and iPads are brilliantly designed things. Incremental innovation requires expertise and excellence in design and improvement. Phones and tablets play a major part in millions of peoples’ lives. But continued innovation happens at a slow pace designed to suit the supplier not the user, who is nonetheless pushed to pay significant amounts of money each year for minor changes.</p>
<p>Fear of failure may have also contributed to the disappearance of radical innovation. The struggles of more unusual designs such as that of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34200253">the Amazon Fire phone</a> may have made innovators more cautious, delaying and lengthening <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/17/9166667/google-project-ara-phone-delayed">product development and rollout</a> to compensate. Perhaps it isn’t surprising that virtually none of the radical (labelled “crazy” at the time) <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/195965/20_crazy_concept_phones.html">concept phones of 2010</a> have never appeared on the market.</p>
<p>We may have also reached a point where phone design is so good that truly impressive change has become much <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/27/8666861/smartphone-design-stagnation">harder to achieve</a>. So we continue to buy similar looking products, putting them to our ears (just as we did with landlines), snapping cameras with slightly better picture clarity, and getting slightly more intelligent answers from Siri. Same game, tiny changes, price hike.</p>
<h2>A smartphone revolution</h2>
<p>At the same time, major new challenges are emerging for smartphone makers, from evidence that current phone designs may be <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-out-your-mind/201409/the-unexpected-way-new-technology-makes-us-unhappy">fuelling unhappiness</a> and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2022440/Mobile-phones-laptops-given-workers-actually-DECREASE-productivity.html">reducing productivity</a> to the worrying <a href="http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/%7Exun/papers/reuse-ictbook12.pdf">environmental impact</a> of manufacturing them. Radical innovation is needed so that phones fully serve customer interests in a sustainable way. </p>
<p>But for the time being, more radical products, such as the <a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/review/a624957/yotaphone-2-review-why-two-screens-can-be-better-than-one.html">Yotaphone 2</a>, (which offers a dual screen), or <a href="http://www.cnet.com/products/runcible/">the Runcible</a> (round, beautiful and rather different), will be at best seen as quirky and niche. The existing market leaders will only change their tortoise-speed approach to radical innovation if a major new player genuinely disrupts the market with fast, penetrative changes. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/02/may-never-use-xiaomis-phones-theyll-change-life-anyway/">Chinese company Xiaomi</a> is creating a range of products for the home (from TVs to air purifiers) that automatically link with their smartphones in a single, integrated system. This is the kind of radical idea that could shock Apple into becoming more radical and adventurous.</p>
<p>We could eventually see mobile computing move away from hand-held, screen-based devices towards seamless interaction across different devices and platforms such as wearable technology and projected holograms.</p>
<p>For the foreseeable future, however, innovation in the mobile and wearable space is going to be dominated by incremental and fairly mediocre approaches to innovation. Radical thinking will be consigned to concepts for the future and the iPhone 7 will probably look a lot like the iPhone 3. But the launch will be offered as another revolution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47497/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Levy owns shares in CATS3000 LTd</span></em></p>The new iPad Pro reminds us that firms like Apple are favouring incremental change rather than tackling technology’s big challenges.Paul Levy, Senior Researcher in Innovation Management, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/473722015-09-10T14:23:14Z2015-09-10T14:23:14ZApple’s iPad Pro looks good, but who needs a phone with a 13" screen?<p>Apple’s annual September keynote as usual brings hardware changes, software updates and the occasional surprise. </p>
<p>Rumours of a larger iPad Pro <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/09/ipad-pro-first-impressions/">were proved true</a>: the significantly larger 12.9 inch iPad with upgraded ARM A9X processor and faster graphics and internal components is being sold as a device on which desktop-class applications could run.</p>
<p>This is supported with a stylus and keyboard (sold separately in typical Apple fashion) that essentially converts the iPad Pro into a laptop. The stylus, dubbed Apple Pencil, has provoked comment as Steve Jobs had <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/jobs-if-you-see-a-stylus-or-a-task-manager-they-blew-it/">expressed his distaste for them</a> in the past. The Pencil features hand writing recognition software, and improvements to iOS finally allow multitasking by splitting the screen between two apps. </p>
<p>However, with prices starting at an eye-watering US$799, there will be many who think that this won’t light a fire under tablet sales, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/12/forrester-tablet-sales-have-plateaued-but-theres-a-future-in-business">which have been flat</a>. For example, Amazon has taken the opposite approach, aiming for the bottom end of the market with <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/2402232/amazon-to-release-50-tablet-will-the-6-incher-have-mainstream-hardware-and-features/">a US$50 tablet</a> subsidised by purchases made through Amazon’s services. </p>
<p>There may be iPad sales in education, and in retail where they are often used as point of sale devices, but in business the iPad faces considerable competition. For example, the iPad Pro bears an uncanny similarity to Microsoft’s own convertible tablet/laptop device, the <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/2402232/amazon-to-release-50-tablet-will-the-6-incher-have-mainstream-hardware-and-features/">Surface Pro</a>, in cost and size and style. But the big difference is that Surface comes with a full operating system, Windows 10: few will take Apple’s claims that the iPad Pro can run desktop-class applications for professional use while it’s running the stripped-down iOS operating system originally designed for phones, instead of the full OS X as found on Macbooks and iMacs.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94403/original/image-20150910-27340-ztjq4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet, keyboard and stylus combo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Microsoft</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p> </p>
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<p>A surprise was the <a href="http://winsupersite.com/apple/microsoft-makes-appearance-during-apple-product-keynote">appearance of Microsoft staff</a> on stage to demonstrate Microsoft Office apps running on the iPad – something greeted with a stunned silence in the auditorium. Microsoft Office has been updated to support the stylus, and the invitation to appear at such a high-profile Apple event shows the extent to which Microsoft has been pouring money and effort into ensuring its software suites are cross-platform, rather than tied to Microsoft Windows. Another visitor to the stage was Adobe, whose reps showed off <a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2015/09/10/apple-ipad-pro-apple-pencil-stylus-launch-technical-drawing/">new design tools with the stylus</a> – which all suggests an outbreak of corporate peace between the firms. </p>
<h2>Pushing Apple TV into the home</h2>
<p>The Apple TV finally gets a long-awaited upgrade, a wait during which many competing devices have appeared such as NOW TV, Roku, or Google’s Chromecast. Originally classified as a “media extender”, Steve Jobs called the Apple TV a “<a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/02/jobs_apple_tv_a_hobby_because_theres_no_market">hobby</a>” when introduced in 2007, but with this update Apple has refreshed the device, reorienting it to support the app ecosystem that has thrived elsewhere.</p>
<p>The new Apple TV features a new operating system <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/09/apple-tv-first-impressions/">tvOS</a>, making use of the extensive iPhone/iPad developer tools and software already available. Boasting a much higher hardware specification, the Apple TV now runs apps and games, provides a new interface and a touch-enabled remote that can also process audio commands through the Siri digital assistant voice recognition system. With this a user can use their voice to search for content across multiple television networks.</p>
<p>It should be easy to port existing iPad/iPhone applications to the TV, bringing an unparalleled range of services compared to the competition. The surge in streaming services from Amazon and Netflix has sidelined Apple to some extent, so it will be interesting to see whether reorienting the device around apps will increase Apple’s footprint in this space. Sony and Microsoft should be worried that the massive back catalogue of iOS games can now be used in the living room through Apple TV. Prices start from US$149, available from October.</p>
<h2>Phone and Watch</h2>
<p>An update to the Watch, dubbed <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/wearables/apple-watch-os-2-release-date-news-and-features-1296413">WatchOS2</a>, arrives later this month and features updated accessories, colours and straps. The update will give apps direct access to the hardware, allowing developers to write full native applications for that are more independent of the iPhone, to which the Watch has so far played second fiddle.</p>
<p>The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6SPlus are unchanged externally, but Apple claims internal upgrades including a 12 megapixel capable camera, faster A9 processor and a <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/09/what-is-the-difference-between-apple-iphone-3d-touch-and-force-touch/">Force Touch</a> capable screen, which responds to varying degrees of pressure. This is still a new tech, for which capable software has yet to be written. </p>
<p>Finally, as signalled in the developer conference earlier in the year, owners of older devices will get access to new features when iOS 9 is launched very soon. An incremental upgrade, nevertheless it offers features many users have been calling for and will provide a significant increase in speed and features for older devices.</p>
<p>It’s unlikely these changes will lead to the extraordinary sales achieved with the larger iPhones last year, so it may provide an opportunity for other manufacturers to play catch-up – improving their hardware and services which Apple has always claimed is what differentiates them from the competition in a crowded market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Avery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Apple tries to repeat the same supersize trick with the iPad that made the iPhone 6 wildly popular. But bigger isn’t necessarily better.Barry Avery, Associate Professor, Informatics and Operations , Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/331262014-10-17T12:28:15Z2014-10-17T12:28:15ZNew iPads, no surprises: Apple may struggle in competitive tablet market<p>Compared to the Apple keynote that <a href="https://theconversation.com/apple-launches-smart-watch-new-iphones-and-mobile-payment-system-31482">launched the iPhone 6/6+ and Apple Watch</a>, the follow up iPad event was always going to be a low-key affair. That the new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 bring only long-expected features and that gives them the feel of yesterday’s news – not a good thing when iPad sales are <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/07/apple_s_ipad_problem_tablet_sales_down_in_q3_earnings.html">down almost 10%</a> in a market filled with other choices.</p>
<p>Despite the <a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/1543343/apple-reveals-gigantic-ipad-is-bigger-really-better/">rumours of a gigantic iPad</a> or hybrid laptop/tablet models, Apple stuck with the same form factors but made them even thinner: the iPad Air 2 is now just <a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/ipad-air-2/">6.1mm thick</a>. </p>
<p>The Air 2 comes with this year’s A8X processor, which Apple claims is 40% faster than the previous A7 model, and a graphics chip that boasts 2.5x the speed. It also gains a better 8mp camera that supports high-resolution 1080p video, and software in iOS 8 that allows for slow-motion, burst mode, and time lapse recording. It also includes the TouchID fingerprint reader, first introduced in the iPhone 5S and also found on the latest iPhone models.</p>
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<p>What is unusual is that Apple now has several devices competing for the same market space. The top of the range iPhone 6+ and the iPad Mini 3 are roughly the same size, and this update doesn’t really do enough to differentiate them. Don’t be surprised if the mini disappears within two years as the larger iPhone drops in price. </p>
<p>Apple will also <a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/ipad/compare/#comparison-chart">continue to sell previous versions</a> of its iPads, with a model that sits at every point in the price range, from £199 for the oldest Mini model to an eye-watering £629 for the largest, newest iPad Air 2. It seems crowded, but perhaps this is Apple’s gambit to chase off other tablet manufacturers looking to compete on price.</p>
<p>The recent announcement of a <a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-ibm-today-microsoft-tomorrow-google/">collaboration with IBM</a> signals a reversal of Apple’s shyness toward the corporate market. Perhaps the introduction of TouchID and better support for locking down devices’ contents more securely will make an iPad-enabled business more appealing. The issue here is the cost: many organisations choose the cheapest android model available, locking it into a single application. When it breaks, they are simply replaced. This may explain the thinking behind keeping many iPad models on the market. </p>
<p>The big reveal in the keynote was the introduction of a retina display to the iMac: a 27" machine with a jaw-dropping 5120x2880 screen. This is big enough to allow the editing of <a href="http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/televisions/article/advice/what-is-4k-tv">super-high-resolution 4K</a> videos, at full size, with space around it for the panels and windows of the editing software – you could call it <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/10/apples-new-imac-with-retina-5k-display-risks-making-your-web-pages-a-little-heavier/">a 5K screen</a>. It starts from £1,999 which, considering the <a href="http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-4k-monitor-doesnt-exist/">cost of a 4K screen</a> is very good value. The Mac Mini also gets an update – still an entry-level desktop for many people, requiring a separate keyboard, mouse and monitor, it gets the latest processors based on Intel’s Haswell core, and the price falls to £399. </p>
<p>Apple’s productivity suite gets an upgrade on both OS X and iOS. The latest version of its desktop operating system, Yosemite, was revealed over the summer and is released today. As Apple promised last year, the annual upgrades to the operating system will now come for free.</p>
<p>Are these updates to the iPad line enough to reinvigorate Apples sales in the tablet market? Probably not. The biggest problem for Apple is that the market is saturated, with cheaper alternatives or second-hand iPads that can run iOS 8 perfectly well. </p>
<p>With a crowded range of iPads and devices competing in the same space, perhaps the lessons learned when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990s have been forgotten: manufacture few things, ensure they are of the highest quality and be prepared to sacrifice lines.</p>
<p>As with all Apple devices, the new iPads are extremely well engineered, but there’s simply not enough to differentiate them from the other models – that they are now available in a gold colour isn’t enough to make them a must-buy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Avery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Compared to the Apple keynote that launched the iPhone 6/6+ and Apple Watch, the follow up iPad event was always going to be a low-key affair. That the new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 bring only long-expected…Barry Avery, Associate Professor, Informatics and Operations , Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194492013-10-22T20:28:56Z2013-10-22T20:28:56ZSlim iPad and new hardware show Apple can still innovate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33500/original/tn6t2f39-1382469850.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Slimmed down before the Christmas binge. Apple's latest iPads.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Is it time to reappraise the idea that Apple is incapable of innovation in the post Jobs era? The company has failed to introduce a game changing consumer device since the iPad but its latest range contains some significant breakthroughs.</p>
<p>In a world where bloggers can offer to pay Apple factory line workers hundreds of dollars to leak a photograph of a shell or an internal component, the days of the surprise keynote reveal seem over, but that shouldn’t detract from the fact that the new operating systems, 64 bit chip designs and software updates that have just been announced are significant innovations in hardware and software.</p>
<p>In the latest keynote Apple completes its Christmas lineup. We get a slimmer, thinner iPad, a refreshed iPad mini, upgraded laptops and a new version of its desktop operating system OS X Mavericks. In a major departure for Apple, this will be available for free and immediate download.</p>
<h2>iPad goes slimline</h2>
<p>Conspiracy theorists are already suggesting that the timing of this keynote was specifically set to <a href="http://macdailynews.com/2013/10/09/apples-october-22nd-special-event-screws-beleaguered-microsoft">derail Microsoft and Nokia</a>, who are also launching tablets. It is indeed the case that the tablet market has heated up significantly over the past year, so the pressure was on to produce something the would stand out.</p>
<p>Last year the iPad put on a little weight to accommodate the battery and technology needed to offer a <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/why-does-a-retina-display-matter-1082433">retina display</a>. This year’s renamed iPad Air has lost weight, narrowed, improved its capacity and speed and now comes with free iWorks and iLife software.</p>
<p>Weighing 1lb, Apple claims it to be the lightest full size tablet available. Just as iPhone 5 users are likely not to upgrade to the newer version immediately, the features on the iPad Air may not be enough to get users with last year’s iPad to switch up, but anyone with a pre-retina device will see significant performance increases. The iPad mini gets a retina display and the same A7 chip as the iPad Air, without losing its precious ten hours battery life. </p>
<p>Most users will be unaware of the technical complexities required in porting an operating system to a new 64bit chip design, but accomplishing this whilst simultaneously designing a new interface in iOS is a remarkable achievement. From a user perspective, the switch to a 64bit processor inside both devices will offer immediate speed advantages and an increase in the sophistication of the apps available.</p>
<p>Attempting all this in a year has meant that parts of the iOS transformation weren’t finished for the iPhone launch - iLife and iWorks have been updated on both the Mac and mobile platforms, abandoning leather stitching and wood panels, unifying the interface and ironing out some of the incompatibilities between versions.</p>
<h2>Hardware back in fashion</h2>
<p>Completing the announcements are hardware upgrades to the Mac computer line. Many have speculated that Apple would embrace the post-PC era by terminating its computer line, but such analysis fails to take account of Steve Jobs’ vision of a “virtuous circle”, where features developed on one platform migrate to another. They also fail to explain how developers would create mobile device applications if not with Mac platform development tools.</p>
<p>iOS and Mac OS X share a significant amount of under-the-bonnet code, so increases in functionality flow both ways. Techniques used to improve battery life in Apple laptops make their way into tablets and phones. This ability to advance hardware and software features in parallel offers Apple a significant advantage, which is why you now see companies like Microsoft manufacturing its own tablets, or purchasing Nokia to make its own phones.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/22/4849960/mac-pro-2013-price">canister-shaped Mac Pro</a>, to be released on the market in December, signals the return of Apple’s attention to its professional range after several years of neglect. Having failed to offer an upgrade for a long time, the company is gambling that most professional users would prefer easily switchable external storage connected through a super fast thunderbolt connector, rather than having a big case with internal components.</p>
<p>Apple famously decries market research, as it suggests that results can only ever be framed in terms of what people have experienced rather than what they could like. The jury is out on this one, but don’t be surprised to discover similar barrel style computers appearing from hardware manufacturers next year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19449/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Avery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Is it time to reappraise the idea that Apple is incapable of innovation in the post Jobs era? The company has failed to introduce a game changing consumer device since the iPad but its latest range contains…Barry Avery, Principal Lecturer, Informatics and Operations , Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/117432013-01-24T07:09:03Z2013-01-24T07:09:03ZNo longer a brand apart: getting to the core of Apple’s share price slump<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19601/original/5x33kf5b-1359006934.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Apple share price has been punished after unveilling disappointing first quarter earnings, but its "cool" status has taken a bigger hit.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The stockmarket was hoping for great things from Apple’s earnings announcement for the December quarter. Most of all, they were hoping for something that would turn around a <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=AAPL+Interactive#symbol=aapl;range=5y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;">four month slide</a> in Apple’s share price that has seen Apple lose nearly $200 billion in value. That is the equivalent of losing the entire value of Microsoft.</p>
<p>However, it was not to be. Apple’s first quarter <a href="http://www.technologyspectator.com.au/apple-q1-revenue-misses-expectations-iphone-sales-below-targets">earnings announcement</a> for 2013 slightly missed analysts targets and the market responded swiftly with share prices dropping a massive 10% in after-market trading. </p>
<p>The fact that Apple could actually have a record quarter of sales of iPhones and iPads and still disappoint the market shows how out of love investors are with Apple. Apple’s <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/apple-s-holiday-sales-miss-predictions.html">overall sales</a> were a record $54.5 billion, an 18% increase over the same period last year. Profit, however, was largely unchanged at $13.1 billion. The reason for this was increased costs of manufacturing, largely due to the number of new products that Apple released at the end of last year.</p>
<p>The market has been looking for a sign that Apple could do something “insanely great”. All year, it has been waiting for Apple to announce the next product or strategy that was going to move them on from just iPhones and iPads. For <a href="http://www.cultofmac.com/208402/itv-will-be-the-big-elephant-in-the-room-at-ces-this-year-ces-2013-preview/">many</a>, there was the hope that Apple would release their version of a Smart TV. Tim Cook had <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/12/06/tim-cook-publicly-hints-that-apple-plans-to-redefine-the-television-set">hinted</a> as much in an interview but as yet, it has failed to materialise. Others believed (so far, wrongly) that Apple would get into music streaming and would <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57556472-37/apples-streaming-music-service-could-debut-in-2013-analyst/">release a service</a> called iRadio to compete against services such as <a href="http://www.spotify.com/">Spotify</a> and <a href="http://www.rdio.com/">Rdio</a>. </p>
<p>Coupled with a lack of new initiatives has been the relatively lacklustre critical response to new releases of the iPhone and iPad. The release of the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 were seen as incremental and starting to fall behind technologies and designs being incorporated into cheaper Android phones and tablets, especially those from rival Samsung.</p>
<p><strong>A brand for oldies in cardigans and slippers</strong></p>
<p>For Apple, of possibly more concern is the general perception that its overall brand is suffering. Samsung in particular has done a brilliant job of portraying Apple phones as the type of phone your parents would own. This has seemingly already turned the teen market against Apple, who <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2013/01/09/is-apples-iphone-no-longer-cool-to-teens/">no longer see</a> the iPhone as being “cool”.</p>
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<p>Apple also took a massive credibility hit with the <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/26/the-apple-ios-6-maps-fiasco-clarified-in-3-minutes/">Maps fiasco</a>. The maps application was shockingly bad and highlighted the disparity between the hype of its announcement with the reality of its use. This event became a tipping point for a large number of people who up to that time had not been fully ware of Apple’s “reality distortion field”. The Apple Maps application highlighted the difference between Apple and Google when it came to their ability to deliver services. Some commentators are now starting to think that Google will learn Apple’s design and manufacturing skills faster than Apple will ever learn how to deliver web services like Google.</p>
<p><strong>The next six months</strong></p>
<p>Apple’s share price forms only a poor proxy for how a company is viewed generally and there are many factors that will determine where the share price goes over the next 6 months. Technical analysts have <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-apple-earnings-overcome-technical-malaise-234913081--sector.html">described the stock</a> as “broken” and see its declines continuing with some support at the $425 level. Given the upswing in other stocks like Google, RIM and even Nokia, investors may simply just switch their allegiances elsewhere for the time being. </p>
<p>It is very tempting to draw parallels between the current situation with Apple’s mobile platform and where Apple was in the past in its battle with Microsoft over the PC market. If the past is repeated, Android and other phones will extend their domination of the global market and Apple will become a relatively successful but increasingly niche player. </p>
<p>Paradoxically, Apple can continue to be a financially successful company and continue to sell millions of devices but still end up playing a relatively minor role in driving future innovation and techno-social change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The stockmarket was hoping for great things from Apple’s earnings announcement for the December quarter. Most of all, they were hoping for something that would turn around a four month slide in Apple’s…David Glance, Director, Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/111312012-12-04T00:50:31Z2012-12-04T00:50:31ZThe Daily didn’t work, but it’s not the end for news on tablets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18297/original/h239r3h5-1354580238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C94%2C3379%2C2153&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After launching with fanfare less than two years ago, News Corporation's iPad newspaper, The Daily, will close after failing to attract a large enough audience.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Daily was launched in February 2011 to great fanfare. It was the first iPad only newspaper (although it did have a web mirror but that was just for sharing). It had a simple price, $1 per week, and had a slick tablet interface. Apple promoted it very strongly and gave News Corp assistance in app design.</p>
<p>So why did it fail? It failed because, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/43582.html">as I wrote at its launch</a>, “that this is the past of newspapers rather than the future of the news.” My reasoning for that was simple: it was a newspaper. It was a product designed to grab the exclusive attention of its reader for 30 minutes a day. Put simply, it was exactly the sort of product that News Corp had excelled in producing for many years, had strong capabilities in producing and so were naturally going to experiment with on a new digital media.</p>
<p>The problem is that that product is no longer valuable to consumers. Well, that is a little strong. It is valuable to some consumers. There are those who still devote their attention to a daily newspaper or equivalent. They do so because they are happy to accept exclusivity of the filter because they prefer how the filter curates the news for them. This is a shrinking segment of the market. And The Daily was competing for customers in that segment. And in that regard, apart from price, it had little to distinguish itself on.</p>
<p>But does this mean that news on tablets isn’t the way of the future? <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/12/03/the-impossibility-of-tablet-native-journalism/">Felix Salmon seems to believe so</a> but I think he is wrong. Tablets are great for reading in the way webpages are not. You just have to get the interface right as Macro Arment among others have learned. </p>
<p>Readers want text and there is a place for that. The hard thing is to mix text with a good browsing experience to find what you want to read. The Daily presumed you wanted to read something or flip. For the rest of us, how to find what to read is still the challenge. Someone will solve it for me and others will solve it for other people. But solutions will be found.</p>
<p>[Update: as if to prove my point, <a href="http://paidcontent.org/2012/12/03/the-economist-unbundles-digital-from-print-subscriptions/">The Economist will now unbundle print and digital subscriptions</a> as well as providing a bundled product. But they key fact is this: the print and digital editions both give you access to the economist.com website while the digital one is required if you want access to <em>The Economist</em> apps. In other words, <em>The Economist</em> thinks there is a difference between browsing and tablet use that is enough for consumers to pay a premium for.]</p>
<p><em>This piece first ran on <a href="http://www.digitopoly.org/about-3/">Digitopoly</a>. Reproduced with permission.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Gans receives funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>The Daily was launched in February 2011 to great fanfare. It was the first iPad only newspaper (although it did have a web mirror but that was just for sharing). It had a simple price, $1 per week, and…Joshua Gans, Professor of Strategic Management, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96492012-09-27T04:07:31Z2012-09-27T04:07:31ZFinger-flicking good: have digital tablets become essential?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15706/original/ggd4mj73-1348120734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ropey for writing on … but still easy to fall in love with.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ebayink</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The onward march of digital tablets looks incontestable. Tablets are now <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/04/apples_ipad_now_definitively_replacing_pc_sales_in_education.html">threatening sales</a> of personal computers in K-12 education in the USA. And the forthcoming launch of a new kiddie-tablet called <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57509518-93/toys-r-us-unwraps-$150-tabeo-tablet-for-kids/">Tabeo</a> will further erode the PC end of the education market. </p>
<p>If there can be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application">killer app</a>, there can presumably be a killer product. Call it, for now, a killer prod. Is the tablet a killer prod? </p>
<p>The first question is: what distinguishes it from a laptop? Novelty, which will pass. Added portability. </p>
<p>What distinguishes it from a mobile phone? Size. And most can’t function as a phone. Yet. But they are converging. </p>
<p>When I first started using a tablet I was not sure where it would find a place in my work pattern. Did I really want to be a three-device digital user: phone, tablet, laptop?</p>
<p>The tablet has become my meetings machine: PDFs of agendas, minutes, papers work really nicely. It’s a smooth web browser. It skypes. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15704/original/hz25xxkh-1348119613.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">courosa</span></span>
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<p>And it’s excellent for interactive and shared learning. Whether it involves multiple learners around one tablet, or multiple learners with a table each, or multiple tablets for a single learner, tablets help take us away from the teacher-fronted classroom and into more student-driven learning. </p>
<p>Laptops with Wi-Fi can do this, to be sure. But for real mobility, cellular+tablet wins. And the tablet is less limited to laps than a laptop. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the volume and quality of teaching and learning apps are advancing at a stunning pace, much faster than our ability to sift and assess for quality. </p>
<p>And I am immensely heartened and impressed by the abilities of four-year-olds to manage tablets, to master their ergonomics, to use them to learn and to use them to learn about learning. So, in their way, do some domestic felines. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK2dwTVi-aQ">Check out the web</a> for proof. </p>
<p>None of this can take away from the fact that the tablet is a really, hopelessly, disastrously, cosmically awful instrument for text entry. I write a lot, and fast. Tablets drive me beyond distraction.</p>
<h2>Good for writing (slowly and poorly)</h2>
<p>Tablets’ on-screen keyboards are functionally poor, slow and lack the feedback necessary for all but laboured and slow typing. Some tablets can work with associated Bluetooth or USB keyboards. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15705/original/26ncg6mn-1348119946.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Federico</span></span>
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<p>Well, some of these are ergonomically vile, and many require you to tote two instruments around, the tablet and the keyboard. So why not a laptop? </p>
<p>Further, text-processing software for tablets is not yet mature, and bears witness to incomplete innovation about how to be textually creative on a tablet screen. </p>
<p>Voice recognition input to tablets is not yet sufficiently advanced to be reliable. It compares poorly with parallel software on laptops, and tends to be capricious, limited and rigid, and not great with surrounding ambient noise. </p>
<p>I write here – on a laptop – with some asperity, born of frustration and irritation that tablets haven’t got it right yet, and still have far to go. Their poor performance with text input means that using them may skew literacy and its learning. </p>
<p>Granted, mobile phones and tablets are tolerable for the input of short text messages: emails, blogs, tweets. For the creation of sustained prose they are pulsatingly, superlatively, transcendentally terrible. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=783&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/15701/original/k5ryrcbm-1348119281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com</span></span>
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<p>And for the rest? Well, as a literacy curmudgeon I mourn the decline of paper literacy. There is nothing like a well printed page in quality type on quality paper. I mourn the decline of handwriting. </p>
<p>But then I am already an anachronism. </p>
<p>And though tablets are more robust than they used to be, they still don’t respond well to immersion in water, or to percussive contact, as with the heads of an importunate sibling. They tend to crack. But so does the sibling, which may be some small comfort. </p>
<p>All this means that tablets cannot yet be a total learning device. For what they do well they are fine. For the rest they need to be complemented. And using them effectively will require some rethinking of how we plan, execute, support and monitor learning. </p>
<p>A tablet, to be fairer than I have been so far, is not a reduced laptop. It’s something different, which is creating new functions and learning spaces. It’s a game-changer. We are still discovering – and creating – the new games. </p>
<p>And for the remaining rest? I have started to learn some Chinese, so I need the textbook, a dictionary, a grammar guide, and access to texts in Chinese to check some expressions. </p>
<p>Some audio files of pronunciation, and some videos of real life situations, would be most convenient. I’d like to share questions with other students and with the tutor. </p>
<p>The prescription? My daily tablet. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roland Sussex does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The onward march of digital tablets looks incontestable. Tablets are now threatening sales of personal computers in K-12 education in the USA. And the forthcoming launch of a new kiddie-tablet called Tabeo…Roland Sussex, Professor Emeritus, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/83312012-07-25T20:37:49Z2012-07-25T20:37:49ZWeighing the environmental costs: buy an eReader, or a shelf of books?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13294/original/899x4kb8-1343024852.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The jury is still out over the environmental impacts of eReaders versus paper books.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julie Falk</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bookshelves towering floor to ceiling filled with weighty tomes, or one book-sized device holding hundreds of “books” in electronic form: which one of these options for the voracious reader creates the least damaging environmental footprint?</p>
<p>There is no easy answer to the question, dependent as it is on personal environmental values and a reader’s reading habits. eReaders tend to be popular not only amongst voracious readers but also amongst occasional readers, who might previously have only owned a handful of books, complicating the question further. </p>
<p>Regardless, more can be done to improve the environmental performance of both eReaders and paper publications. </p>
<p>The environmental consequences of pulp and paper manufacturing are well documented, even though the worst excesses are now corrected. But at least once the paper is made and the book published, there are no significant further negative impacts and the carbon is captured. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13298/original/hr296rkn-1343024954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13298/original/hr296rkn-1343024954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13298/original/hr296rkn-1343024954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13298/original/hr296rkn-1343024954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13298/original/hr296rkn-1343024954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13298/original/hr296rkn-1343024954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13298/original/hr296rkn-1343024954.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">eReaders have a higher environmental cost per unit - but unlike books, you can get by with only one.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christchurch City Libraries</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are higher environmental costs involved in manufacturing an eReader unit compared to a unit of paper, and there are on-going operational effects. However, one eReader can hold any number of eBooks, newspapers and magazines – which means that eReader users purchase fewer printed publications.</p>
<p>Trying to environmentally promote or denigrate - depending on your point of view - one form of reading over another is inevitably controversial, and perhaps futile. It is not just about numbers, such as tonnes of CO₂, raw materials and waste, but also about human behaviour and interpretation of the impacts.</p>
<p>For example, is the logging of (mostly plantation) trees of greater environmental significance than the extraction of limited resources of rare earth metals? Is it more important to consider the greenhouse effect of CO₂ emissions rather than the health effects of air and water quality? These are just a few of the many environmental issues involved. </p>
<p>Much of the discussion about eReaders versus paper books has taken place with the best of intentions and indeed makes the most of available information. But the fact remains that reliable information at the required scale (both micro and macro) is not available, and probably never will be because of the cost of acquiring that information in light of how quickly it becomes redundant.</p>
<p>The few areas where commentators are in agreement are that:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>eReaders will continue to increase their share of human reading needs regardless of environmental considerations – few people will make purchases based on environmental credentials;</p></li>
<li><p>Paper based reading will continue to meet a significant proportion of reading needs;</p></li>
<li><p>The more eBooks read on a single eReader, the greater the potential offset vs paper books. Depending on who you believe and <a href="http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/documents/ebooks.pdf">what is being compared</a>, that might be 20-100 paper books for equivalent CO2 emissions, or 40-70 paper books taking into account other impacts like fuel, water, minerals and human health. But that does not mean either has an impact that is good – both can improve; and</p></li>
<li><p>the lowest long term environmental impact remains sharing paper books, buying second hand books and borrowing books from a library (provided you catch public transport there). While a feel good option, this is an unlikely game changer.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13316/original/p2ywdm63-1343089913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13316/original/p2ywdm63-1343089913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13316/original/p2ywdm63-1343089913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13316/original/p2ywdm63-1343089913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13316/original/p2ywdm63-1343089913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13316/original/p2ywdm63-1343089913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13316/original/p2ywdm63-1343089913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Borrowing from libraries, sharing books or buying second-hand minimises the environmental footprint left by your reading habits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marcus Hansson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inevitably the eReader and paper books (both including newspapers and magazines) have their environmental pluses and minuses. These cover the cradle to grave elements: sourcing and extraction of raw material sources; processing materials and manufacturing products (including byproducts and disposal); distribution and retailing; end user uses (including maintenance and replacement); disposal; and transport at all stages.</p>
<p>Each of these elements has within it considerations of sustainability, energy consumption (source of fuel and production of emissions), health and environmental hazards, air and water pollution, and waste disposal. </p>
<p>Then there are further individual human behaviour variables such as how the eReader or paper book is used, frequency of use, frequency of replacement (including planned obsolescence) and recycling/solid waste disposal. </p>
<p>For example, any environmental benefits arising from using an eReader and not buying paper books are likely to vanish if, like many of us, people give in to the temptation to update their reading device every year or two - long before it stops working.</p>
<p>A full Life Cycle Analysis of books versus eReaders might be desirable but is difficult and potentially misleading. These analyses rely on averages or a range of performance inputs and outputs. For the consumer it is difficult to evaluate all the issues let alone compare the different approaches to reading. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13300/original/d9sp8q6g-1343025370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13300/original/d9sp8q6g-1343025370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13300/original/d9sp8q6g-1343025370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13300/original/d9sp8q6g-1343025370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13300/original/d9sp8q6g-1343025370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13300/original/d9sp8q6g-1343025370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13300/original/d9sp8q6g-1343025370.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Both eReaders and paper publications are likely to be part of our reading future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Mole</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The future will have both eReaders and paper publications. Rather than comparing one with the other for the “best” environmental credentials, it would be better to aim at improving the environmental performance of each. </p>
<p>We should require manufacturers to strive for the smallest possible footprint in a sustainable cradle-to-grave operating environment. If manufacturers transparently demonstrate they are meeting this objective, then consumers have the option to prefer their products. Responsible environmental behaviour by consumers is a further critical element in maintaining a sustainable reading environment. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, sharing a book appears to be the best way to ensure you minimise the impact of your reading habits.</p>
<p><em>This article was written with the assistance of Dr Bruce Allender, Microscopist & Environmental Specialist at Covey Consulting.</em></p>
<p>Comments welcome below.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Rainey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bookshelves towering floor to ceiling filled with weighty tomes, or one book-sized device holding hundreds of “books” in electronic form: which one of these options for the voracious reader creates the…Tom Rainey, Research Fellow, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/57672012-03-08T01:40:33Z2012-03-08T01:40:33ZApple’s new iPad is no game-changer … but does that really matter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/8444/original/8ch6r58d-1331167402.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's got new cameras, a new screen and it generated plenty of old-fashioned launch hype.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rip-steve-jobs-the-ceo-we-felt-we-knew-3733">death of Steve Jobs</a>, interested onlookers have been watching for the first missteps in Apple’s seemingly faultless journey to becoming the world’s most <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/most-admired/2012/full_list/">valued</a> and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/05/us-apple-options-idUSTRE8241SB20120305">valuable</a> company.</p>
<p>Because commentary on Apple is so polarised, it’s difficult to judge whether today’s announcement of the <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/07/apple-ipad-3-liveblog/">new iPad</a> will continue to propel Apple’s growth or herald the start of its decline.</p>
<p>Steve Jobs was, among many things, a consummate magician. With sleight of hand and a smokescreen of charisma, he made small changes in Apple products seem momentous. It is not clear whether Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook, has the same tricks up his sleeve.</p>
<p>Cook’s plight was not helped by the announcement today of Apple’s new iPad. As was <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9124074/Apple-iPad-3-event-a-guide-to-the-rumours.html">rumoured</a> in the press beforehand, the new iPad is more of a specifications upgrade than a radical redesign.</p>
<p>The new iPad boasts a higher resolution “retina” display (2048 x 1536 pixels) which <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/03/05/ipad-3-retina-display-overkill/">analysts</a> have already dismissed as being overkill. Displaying a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080p">1080p HD</a> movie would leave 33% of the screen’s pixels unused.</p>
<p>Of course the new iPad’s high resolution would be really useful if Apple was going to split the screen and allow more than one app to display at the same time. Sadly, that’s not going to happen, at least not with the latest operating system upgrade – to iOS 5.1 – which was also <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/07/apple-siri-japanese-iOS%205.1/">announced</a> today.</p>
<p>The new iPad, which will go on sale in Australia as early as March 16, also features a faster processor – an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A5x">A5X</a> compared to an A5 in the iPad 2. The A5X, Apple claims, is twice as fast as the A5. This sounds impressive but there really haven’t been any complaints about the iPad 2 being too slow. Of course, faster processors and graphics chips <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/03/how-a-quad-core-chip-would-supercharge-ipad-performance/">are necessary</a> when you increase the screen resolution. Perhaps Apple has upgraded the processor for that reason.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most popular upgrade, however, will be the higher-quality and higher-resolution cameras: a five megapixel camera on the rear of the device and a HD camera at the front. Apparently, the idea of employing a tablet as a camera (unwieldy, to say the least) has not deterred people from using the iPad in this way.</p>
<p>And finally there is the move to support <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-me-and-4g-the-future-is-in-our-hands-884">4G LTE</a> wireless networking – the next generation of wireless connectivity.</p>
<p>The limited availability of 4G in most countries (<a href="http://www.zdnet.com.au/why-the-new-ipad-wont-be-4g-in-australia-339333239.htm">including Australia</a>) and its extra power requirements would also presumably limit this feature’s popularity. That said, the larger battery in the new iPad partially offsets this. Just being able to say that your iPad supports 4G is probably reason enough for many people to buy the latest incarnation of the Apple tablet.</p>
<p>So, should we all be excited?</p>
<p>To answer this, it’s worth looking back to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/apples-iphone-4s-is-a-game-changer-siri-ously-3880">launch of the iPhone 4S</a> in October of last year. Pre-launch rumours had primed consumers to expect the iPhone 5, only for the iPhone 4S to be launched – more or less a specification upgrade. Any disappointment was seemingly offset by the launch of <a href="https://theconversation.com/something-about-siri-has-the-iphone-virtual-assistant-become-the-apple-of-our-eye-4817">Siri</a> and Apple got away with an otherwise unremarkable upgrade.</p>
<p>Although the new iPad has a voice dictation feature, it’s not Siri. Similarly, the expected announcement of the new Apple TV also didn’t happen.</p>
<p>The Apple TV is a <a href="http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/science-updates/apple-tv-to-join-the-ipad-3-launch-on-march-7">rumoured</a> 37-inch TV that is touch capable, can be operated through Siri and has a camera that can be used for hand gestures.</p>
<p>But Apple <em>did</em> announce an upgrade to its existing media box which, confusingly, is also called the Apple TV. But this launch was expected and is hardly earth-shattering news.</p>
<p>But perhaps consumers are simply happy to see incremental improvements as long as such improvements are in the right direction. After all, it’s unrealistic to expect a company – even one as large and influential as Apple – to introduce revolutionary new products every year.</p>
<p>It’s worth mentioning that any buzz around the announcement of the new iPad – positive or negative – will really have little impact on whether the device will sell. <a href="http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipad-iphone/news/?newsid=3342274">Some are predicting</a> Apple will sell 65 million iPads this year, up from 51.4 million in 2011. People with the original iPads will have enough incentive to trade up to the new iPad. Further expansion into the Chinese market, and within existing markets, will also see new iPad users join the fray.</p>
<p>What Apple has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/technology/as-new-ipad-debut-nears-some-see-decline-of-pcs.html?_r=1&ref=technology">succeeded in doing</a> is convincing people they need multiple devices and persuading them to buy an iPad instead of a second or third PC in the home. This trend will continue when the Apple TV is eventually announced.</p>
<p>Apple’s annual product announcements are now almost a national pastime in the US. A mythology has grown around them, fed by rumours in the lead-up to announcements and analysis after the event. All of this hype, both good and bad, is rendered largely irrelevant by the queues of expectant customers outside the Apple shops, waiting to get their hands on whatever has been announced. At the end of the day, it is hard to see that changing any time soon.</p>
<p>Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and line up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/5767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ever since the death of Steve Jobs, interested onlookers have been watching for the first missteps in Apple’s seemingly faultless journey to becoming the world’s most valued and valuable company. Because…David Glance, Director, Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/49992012-01-23T03:52:33Z2012-01-23T03:52:33ZTeaching with tech: could iBooks Author spark an education revolution?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7085/original/ngxcmzch-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The days of bulky textbooks could soon be behind us.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Late last week, Apple <a href="http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1201oihbafvpihboijhpihbasdouhbasv/event/index.html">announced</a> the launch of a new piece of software, <a href="http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/">iBooks Author</a>, and a new version of its eBook reader, iBooks 2. It’s a development that promises to accelerate the move to interactive eBooks, by radically simplifying their development.</p>
<p>iBooks Author does to eBooks what Apple’s <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/01/apple-to-announce-tools-platform-to-digitally-destroy-textbook-publishing.ars">GarageBand</a> does to producing music – it makes the development of an interactive eBook as simple as dropping in a presentation or document. Videos, audio and other interactive elements can also be included, and the software automatically positions these elements, adjusting text and layout.</p>
<p>Once produced, eBooks can be distributed through Apple’s iBooks store – after going through the Apple review process – for download onto iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch.</p>
<p>iBooks 2, Apple’s new eBook reader, has been updated to support the new textbook format and has launched in the US with a sample of beautifully crafted high school textbooks covering science and maths.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pr076C_ty_M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>A catalyst for change?</h2>
<p>It’s an ironic feature of new technology – the social and cultural change that new tech brings is so unequal. Nowhere is this more clearly highlighted than in education.</p>
<p>Kids, living permanently connected and socially mediated lives, are transported into the dark ages the moment they step into a classroom. Although there are examples of excellence and progress, there are many classrooms in which teaching and learning practices have remained unchanged for hundreds of years.</p>
<p>In the early 1980s, MIT Professor <a href="http://web.media.mit.edu/%7Epapert/">Seymour Papert</a> believed personal computers would bring about <a href="http://crste.org/images/Halverson_Smith_How_New_Technologies.pdf">radical changes</a> in schools, both in the way students learned and how educators taught.</p>
<p>Using computers, Papert thought, students would be able to move at their own pace, learning, experimenting and testing themselves. Teachers would become facilitators and guides, and not the source of the content.</p>
<p>It’s now 30 years later and progress has been slow. Teaching has barely scratched the surface of the potential integration of computers (especially mobile devices) into the classroom. </p>
<p>There are many reasons for this. Lack of funding, training and infrastructure play a large part, along with a fear of change and the potential scrutiny and criticism this change may spark off. </p>
<p>It is possible, though, that we are at a point where this might all change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7084/original/pxvgt39r-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7084/original/pxvgt39r-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7084/original/pxvgt39r-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7084/original/pxvgt39r-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7084/original/pxvgt39r-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7084/original/pxvgt39r-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7084/original/pxvgt39r-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The platform is right</h2>
<p>One of the impediments to integrating computers into the classroom has been purely practical – in many schools, there was literally nowhere to put them. Even with notebooks, issues such as power and storage were enough to limit their use. </p>
<p>Tablets such as the iPad are an ideal platform because of their weight, size, battery life and versatility. Importantly, a tablet also doesn’t form a physical barrier between student and teacher in the same way that a desktop or even notebook computer can.</p>
<p>The iPad’s versatility is starting to be recognised, with roughly <a href="http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1201oihbafvpihboijhpihbasdouhbasv/event/index.html">1.5 million iPads</a> now used in educational establishments. Some <a href="http://hubscher.org/roland/courses/hf765/readings/eJBEST_Murphy_2011_1.pdf">universities</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html?pagewanted=all">schools</a> have even started issuing students with iPads.</p>
<h2>The content is coming</h2>
<p>The second significant roadblock in the way of using computers in education has been the lack of content. More specifically, there has been a lack of electronic versions of textbooks that are tailored to a learning curriculum.</p>
<p>Traditional publishers have not rushed into the eBook market, with <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/exec-tech/apple-unveils-ibooks-2-for-textbooks/story-e6frgazf-1226248972719">Forrester Research estimating</a> that eBooks make up only 2.8% of the US$8 billion textbook market in the US. Reasons for this include:</p>
<ul>
<li>the fear of sabotaging profits on print versions of the texts</li>
<li>the cost of eBook production, and</li>
<li>the fragmentation of publishing formats and platforms.</li>
</ul>
<p>(Interestingly, eBook sales in general <a href="http://www.slashgear.com/kindle-ebook-sales-exceed-print-sales-in-us-19153084/">exceeded</a> print book sales on Amazon for the first time last year.) </p>
<p>Of course, publishers have now learned the inevitability of an electronic future for textbooks. The fear of not being part of this will drive the move from print.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7086/original/6rjwbc7v-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7086/original/6rjwbc7v-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7086/original/6rjwbc7v-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7086/original/6rjwbc7v-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7086/original/6rjwbc7v-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7086/original/6rjwbc7v-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7086/original/6rjwbc7v-1327286442.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">iBooks Author makes it easier than ever before to create your own eBook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The release of iBooks Author (a free application for Mac) opens up the production of educational material to anyone. It’s not so much the ability to author the books simply – although this is significant – but the ability to distribute, and potentially get paid for, such works. As with its apps, Apple has created an ecosystem with critical mass that makes it worth the effort of producing books in this way.</p>
<p>Of course it’s not just books that are important for content. Apple has for some time been delivering educational video and audio content through <a href="http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/">iTunes U</a>. This education-specific section of iTunes <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/news/iTunes-U-Downloads-Top-600-Million-220986.shtml">has seen</a> 600 million downloads of educational video, audio and study material since it started in 2007. Stanford University and the Open University top the list of universities providing material, each with more than 30 million downloads. </p>
<p>Last week, Apple also announced the availability of a <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apple-revamps-itunes-u-and-intros-dedicated-app/">dedicated iTunes U app</a>. This app joins 200,000 <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/apples-new-apps-revealed-potential-student-reaction/14740?tag=mantle_skin;content">educational apps</a> in the iTunes App Store. </p>
<h2>Is Apple the future of education?</h2>
<p>Every announcement from Apple seems to bring out the sceptics. </p>
<p>There is <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/19/ibooks-author-end-user-license-agreement-sparks-controversy/">resentment</a> at the revenue cut that Apple takes when products are sold through their sales network. With iBooks Author, the <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/20/apple_ibooks/">License Agreement</a> prohibits the use of eBooks produced in this way to be distributed anywhere other than through the iBooks store, where Apple takes 30% of the revenue. (This limitation doesn’t seem to exist for content given away for free.) </p>
<p>What the critics haven’t mentioned is that most textbook authors receive little financial return for their efforts from publishers. In most cases textbooks are written out of dedication or for academic recognition, with the financial returns rarely covering the time invested in the writing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7082/original/jndq4sy3-1327284764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/7082/original/jndq4sy3-1327284764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7082/original/jndq4sy3-1327284764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7082/original/jndq4sy3-1327284764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7082/original/jndq4sy3-1327284764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7082/original/jndq4sy3-1327284764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/7082/original/jndq4sy3-1327284764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BarbaraLN</span></span>
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<p>Further criticisms have <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/19/ibooks-author-end-user-license-agreement-sparks-controversy/">been levelled</a> at Apple for creating a closed environment that forces people to use Apple products to access their content. This is in contrast to Amazon, Google and others that provide software that allows users to access their media purchases on any platform. Sites such as the <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/">Khan Academy</a> provide high quality instructional videos for free and there is a wealth of free educational websites available on the internet.</p>
<p>Finally, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html?pagewanted=all">critics argue</a> that in American schools at least, the money for iPads would be better spent on recruiting and training teachers. Their argument is that there’s little evidence to show iPads contribute to improved learning outcomes.</p>
<p>But a <a href="http://www.hmhco.com/content/student-math-scores-jump-20-percent-hmh-algebra-curriculum-apple-ipad-app-transforms-class">report</a> released last week about a pilot study found students using an algebra application on an iPad (instead of a printed textbook) performed 20% better in <a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/css05rtq.asp">California Standard Tests</a>.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>For anyone involved in education – whether a teacher, administrator, parent or student – the ability to produce and distribute educational material represents an exciting and pivotal moment. All of the necessary stars have aligned to spur the move to digital educational material.</p>
<p>Of course we haven’t yet seen how Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others will respond to this, but the net result is sure to be positive for learners and teachers everwhere.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/4999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Late last week, Apple announced the launch of a new piece of software, iBooks Author, and a new version of its eBook reader, iBooks 2. It’s a development that promises to accelerate the move to interactive…David Glance, Director, Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/38432011-10-13T06:09:34Z2011-10-13T06:09:34ZiOS 5 is a leap forward for Apple … once you get past Error 3200<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4453/original/aapone-20110607000323437235-correction-entertainment-us-it-company-music-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Steve Jobs discussed iOS5 in one of his final public appearances.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP/Kimihiro Hoshino</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Apple has made a series of releases today, including an upgrade to its iPhone and iPad operating system <a href="http://www.apple.com/ios/features.html">iOS 5</a>, the introduction of <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/icloud/">iCloud</a>, its cloud storage service and, in the US, its new music matching service, <a href="http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/08/itunes-match-what-you-need-to-know">iTunes Match</a>.</p>
<p>For many, it seems the upgrade to iOS 5 has not gone smoothly. </p>
<p>The massive load of everyone trying to update the phone has <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/10/12/apples-ios-5-upgrade-servers-are-slammed-causing-3200-or-internal-error-update-issues/">swamped Apple’s servers</a>, resulting in thousands of customers receiving an “Error 3200” message. </p>
<p>Apple support staff have said they are working on the problem, but there’s no fix until the server load dies down. </p>
<p>The advice to anyone wanting to upgrade their phones or iPads to iOS 5 is to wait at least a few hours. </p>
<p>But it doesn’t stop with iPads and iPhones. It seems the entire Apple support site is suffering similar problems. This has led several people to joke that Apple is experiencing a form of unwitting customer-led <a href="http://theconversation.com/zombie-computers-cyber-security-phishing-what-you-need-to-know-1671">Distributed Denial of Service attack</a>. <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/Error%203200">“Error 3200”</a> and “<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/Downloading%20iOS%205">Downloading iOS 5</a>” have been in the top trends on Twitter.</p>
<h2>So what will you (eventually) get?</h2>
<p>The new features available on iOS 5 have been discussed extensively in the <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/06/06/texts-tweets-and-to-dos-whats-new-in-ios-5/">media</a>, and there are a lot of them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4452/original/Dekuwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4452/original/Dekuwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=142&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4452/original/Dekuwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4452/original/Dekuwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=142&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4452/original/Dekuwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=178&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4452/original/Dekuwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=178&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4452/original/Dekuwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=178&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dekuwa</span></span>
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<p>I’ve used iOS 5 for the past month or two as a developer. In that time, the new features have become second nature and in reviewing this article I was surprised to see how many of the features I now use daily were actually introduced in this upgrade. </p>
<p>These include a new pull-down notification centre that brings all of your notifications into one place. This can be accessed by pulling down from the top of the screen. Notifications (such as text messages) also now appear at the top of the screen of whatever application you are in.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.apple.com/safari/">Safari</a>, Apple’s browser, has been upgraded. Tabbed browsing has been introduced, as has a reading list, which allows you to save articles to read later, as well as reader view, which eliminates clutter from a page.</p>
<p>And now that everyone else has (or will be) upgrading to iOS 5, I will be able to test out the new iMessage feature. </p>
<p>This is the Apple equivalent of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_Messenger">BlackBerry Messenger</a> feature, allowing Apple users to message each other for free. </p>
<p>It’s thought this feature alone is responsible for the popularity of BlackBerry in countries such as the UK. Apple’s introduction of this similar feature will be <a href="http://www.rimarkable.com/apple-introduces-bbm-clone-imessage-at-wwdc">potentially devastating</a> for the BlackBerry MARKET. </p>
<p>What makes the iMessage feature more likely to succeed is its ability to decide if the person you are messaging can receive an iMessage or not. If not, it will revert to SMS.</p>
<p>There are host of other <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/ios/">features</a>, including Twitter integration, photo editing capabilities, taking photos from a locked screen (something I have only managed to do by accident) and new apps such as Reminders and Find My Friends (the Apple equivalent to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Latitude">Google’s Latitude</a> service.</p>
<h2>Your mobile in the iCloud</h2>
<p>For those users that used <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Me">MobileMe</a>, Apple’s cloud service, <a href="http://theconversation.com/apple-icloud-storms-the-market-a-review-1709">iCloud</a> will not be that much of a change. Unlike MobileMe, the service is free for storage of up to 5GB of documents, music, appointments and email. </p>
<p>The other difference is that the iDisk feature, where any file type could be stored, has now gone. Users who depended on this service will have to use an alternative such as <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/">DropBox</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4467/original/IMG_0583.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4467/original/IMG_0583.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4467/original/IMG_0583.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4467/original/IMG_0583.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4467/original/IMG_0583.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4467/original/IMG_0583.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4467/original/IMG_0583.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Apple dispensed with the iDisk feature because iCloud storage is directly integrated with the apps themselves. New versions of Apple’s word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications now support iCloud. Other vendors will issue updates of their applications to do the same.</p>
<p>Although the iCloud integration is an improvement from the perspective of simplifying the user’s experience with the phone, it does make it harder to share documents with other users. </p>
<p>DropBox, for example, has a feature that makes a document publicly available. iCloud users will still need to use other services to share photos, documents and other app content.</p>
<p>The availability of iCloud as a free service is going to be popular. It brings more seamless sharing of calendars and contacts across multiple mobile and desktop platforms and allows iPhone and iPad backups and automatic installation of purchased apps and music.</p>
<p>iOS 5 brings the ability to synchronise with iTunes wirelessly. This makes a start on breaking the need to plug your iPhone into a PC or Mac.</p>
<h2>Is it worth it?</h2>
<p>In my opinion, iOS 5 is well worth the effort (and wait) in upgrading. It’s another step towards making the mobile platform more usable (and pleasurable to use) and takes us inexorably on to a post-PC future. </p>
<p>What users don’t see are the changes made “under the hood” with each of these releases.</p>
<p>From a developer’s point of view, there were changes in iOS 5 that made building application easier and less prone to problems. </p>
<p>The success of the iPhone and iPad has been in part due to the devices and their operating systems, but it is also largely to do with the apps that run on the platform. </p>
<p>The verdict? Despite the teething problems many are experiencing, Apple continues to innovate and improve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/3843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Apple has made a series of releases today, including an upgrade to its iPhone and iPad operating system iOS 5, the introduction of iCloud, its cloud storage service and, in the US, its new music matching…David Glance, Director, Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/37352011-10-06T03:48:29Z2011-10-06T03:48:29ZSteve Jobs transformed our lives: now he’s dead this changes everything<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4177/original/aapone-20111006000348788952-us-it-internet-telecom-apple-jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jobs's influence on the "iGeneration" has been profound.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kimiro Hoshino/AFP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than one commentator has noted the poignant irony of learning today of the death of Steve Jobs on a product the founder and former CEO of Apple created. </p>
<p>Millions of people around the world, writing and reading news stories, blog posts, tweets and Facebook updates will do so using an iPhone, iPod or MacBook. </p>
<p>Even if they’re not using an Apple product, they will be arguably using one that was heavily “influenced” by Apple and, ultimately, by Steve Jobs.</p>
<p>In his 2005 address to commencing students at Stanford University (see below), Jobs talked about a passion for design that started with a passion for calligraphy and typographical fonts. </p>
<p>This passion for design, more than anything about Steve Jobs, permeated everything else he did.</p>
<p>But there is more to the products that Apple has created than simple and beautiful design. They have arguably redefined how people interact with technology to the extent that the phone, mp3 player and computer have become extensions of who most of us are and how we interact with the world around us. </p>
<p>It’s not that Apple necessarily invented these technologies, but it recreated them in a way that made them a pleasure to use, and this consequently made them universal in their reach.</p>
<p>It’s always interesting to consider the influence of a single person on a company. How much of what Apple has done really came down to Steve Jobs and how will his death now impact Apple? </p>
<p>It’s clear the psychological impact of <a href="http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/">today’s announcement</a> on Apple and its employees will be great. While he had already handed over control of the company to <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/24/apples-coo-tim-cook-replaces-steve-jobs-as-ceo/">Tim Cook, the current CEO</a>, Apple employees would have still held on to the expectation Jobs would have exerted some influence through his position on Apple’s Board. </p>
<p>They are now truly on their own. </p>
<p>In the many types of CEO, there are those that truly lead and become the embodiment of the ideas and vision of a company. </p>
<p>Jobs played a hands-on role in decisions that shaped Apple’s products and the way they worked. </p>
<p>This was reflected in his almost pathological <a href="http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/A_History_of_Steve_Jobs_War_on_Buttons/">dislike for buttons</a>. The irony of this is that the buttons Apple did create, including the power button of their computers, are now one of the most popular items of jewellery sold by <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/products/440">Adafruit Industries</a>.</p>
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<p>Not everything Steve Jobs did was successful. But even here, the early attempts of products and ideas were often the foundation of things that did eventually succeed. </p>
<p>After Jobs’s departure from Apple in 1985, he went on to found <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT_Computer">NeXT Computer</a> in 1988. At the time, the interface of the first NeXT computer was visually beautiful but this came at the cost of performance. The slowness of the computer contributed to its lack of success. </p>
<p>At the time, the choice of the computer language it was written in (Objective-C) was also an unpopular choice. But the NeXTSTEP operating system was sold back to Apple and brought Steve Jobs back into the company to become CEO once more in 1996. </p>
<p>NeXTSTEP went on to become the Mac OSX operating system and Objective-C is now one of the world’s most <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/objective-c-c-d-language-winners-in-programming-popularity-172587">popular programming languages</a>.</p>
<p>Of course, it was not only in computing that Steve Jobs succeeded. The animation film company Pixar <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs">he bought in 1986</a> brought computer animation to an entirely new level with <a href="http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/ts/">Toy Story</a>. </p>
<p>It was a lack of success in Pixar’s original ambitions of seeling a graphics computer (the (Pixar Image Computer)[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar_Image_Computer]) that led to a change in tactics to producing film.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4176/original/aapone-20111006000348798282-china_apple_steve_jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4176/original/aapone-20111006000348798282-china_apple_steve_jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4176/original/aapone-20111006000348798282-china_apple_steve_jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4176/original/aapone-20111006000348798282-china_apple_steve_jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4176/original/aapone-20111006000348798282-china_apple_steve_jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4176/original/aapone-20111006000348798282-china_apple_steve_jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4176/original/aapone-20111006000348798282-china_apple_steve_jobs-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adrian Bradshaw/EPA</span></span>
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<p>A curious anomaly with Jobs was his attitude to philanthropy. On his return to Apple in 1997, he <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/02/news/companies/elkind_jobs.fortune/index4.htm">terminated</a> all of Apple’s corporate philanthropy programs. </p>
<p>Unlike Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who has decided to give away most of his fortune through the <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx">Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</a>, Jobs – and Apple – shied away from any involvement in public causes. This is coupled with Apple’s ongoing controversial use of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn">factories in China</a> with poor employee health and safety records. </p>
<p>In 2000, Jobs <a href="http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/01/05/macworld.keynote/index.html">famously announced</a> he had become Apple’s “iCEO” – a move from his interim position to being the official CEO. </p>
<p>The letter “i” in product names is now synonymous with Apple and has even been used to designate the “iGeneration” – those of us who have had the good fortune to live through these radically changing times. Many of these changes, of course, have been heavily influenced by Jobs.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-114/Connecting-the-Dots-Steve-Jobs.html">Jobs’s words</a>: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. </p>
<p>"So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”</p>
<p>And in ours.
<br>
<strong>Related article: <a href="http://theconversation.com/rip-steve-jobs-the-ceo-we-felt-we-knew-3733">RiP Steve Jobs – the CEO we felt we knew</a></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/3735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than one commentator has noted the poignant irony of learning today of the death of Steve Jobs on a product the founder and former CEO of Apple created. Millions of people around the world, writing…David Glance, Director, Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/37332011-10-06T02:01:27Z2011-10-06T02:01:27ZRiP Steve Jobs – the CEO we felt we knew<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4168/original/Jobby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Apple's "visionary and creative genius" has died at the age of 56.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Apple founder Steve Jobs, one of the technology industry’s most influential figures, has died after a battle with cancer, at 56.</p>
<p>In a brief statement, the company announced his death without giving a specific cause:</p>
<p>“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4160/original/iCloud_June_2011_AFP_PHOTO_Kimihiro_HOSHINO.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4160/original/iCloud_June_2011_AFP_PHOTO_Kimihiro_HOSHINO.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4160/original/iCloud_June_2011_AFP_PHOTO_Kimihiro_HOSHINO.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4160/original/iCloud_June_2011_AFP_PHOTO_Kimihiro_HOSHINO.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4160/original/iCloud_June_2011_AFP_PHOTO_Kimihiro_HOSHINO.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4160/original/iCloud_June_2011_AFP_PHOTO_Kimihiro_HOSHINO.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4160/original/iCloud_June_2011_AFP_PHOTO_Kimihiro_HOSHINO.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobs launched the iCloud in June 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP/Kimihiro Hoshino</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>"Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”</p>
<p>Jobs underwent a liver transplant in 2009 and had battled cancer since 2004. </p>
<p>He officially resigned as Apple’s CEO in August.</p>
<p>The Conversation has collected some reflections on Jobs’s legacy.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Rod Tucker, Director of the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES) at University of Melbourne</strong></p>
<p>Steve Jobs’s brilliance was in his understanding of the paramount importance of the interface between the human and the machine. </p>
<p>Apple’s success has always been linked to the fact its computers and devices are a delight to use, and somehow always seem to know what you want.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Joshua Gans, Professor of Strategic Management at University of Toronto</strong></p>
<p>I live in a world of economics where we tend to doubt the power of the individual. To be sure, there are individuals who are in positions of power and who can inflict damage on the world.</p>
<p>But in the world of business, these tend to wash out. Leaders may come and go but very little of substantive economic value changes. </p>
<p>Steve Jobs was and had become, in so many ways, the exception that proves the rule. Take him out of the world and one can imagine what we might be without. From the personal computer to the iPhone to a revolution in animated movies, one gets a sense that these parts of our lives – both technologically and culturally – would not be with us.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4149/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_John_G._MABANGLO_1997.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4149/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_John_G._MABANGLO_1997.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4149/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_John_G._MABANGLO_1997.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4149/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_John_G._MABANGLO_1997.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4149/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_John_G._MABANGLO_1997.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4149/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_John_G._MABANGLO_1997.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4149/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_John_G._MABANGLO_1997.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1177&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobs in 1997.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP/John G. Mabanglo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But if I’m being honest rather than emotional (which is terribly hard as I write this), we would have had most of these innovations (eventually). However, alongside it we would have had considerably more frustration. Steve Jobs made our lives easier by sheer willpower. </p>
<p>This is as true for myself as a loyal Apple customer as it is for everyone else. PCs were made better as were Android phones all because Jobs insisted that the consumer came first. </p>
<p>I recall this passion from a video of Jobs talking to a MacWorld audience just before he returned as Apple CEO. Right then he told his audience of developers that they shouldn’t have to struggle to write programs for the Mac. </p>
<p>It should be easier. And that if he had his way, his phone would be able to do email properly. You can see Jobs as the very frustrated consumer that he set his life’s work to save both himself and the rest of us from. </p>
<p>He was our representative agent in the technological world. And what a fine example he turned out to be. There is no one there to fill that void. The rest of us are mere atoms.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>David Glance, Director of the Centre for Software Practice at University of Western Australia</strong></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4157/original/AFP_Photo_Tony_AVELAR_Launch_of_first_iPhone_January_2007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4157/original/AFP_Photo_Tony_AVELAR_Launch_of_first_iPhone_January_2007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4157/original/AFP_Photo_Tony_AVELAR_Launch_of_first_iPhone_January_2007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4157/original/AFP_Photo_Tony_AVELAR_Launch_of_first_iPhone_January_2007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4157/original/AFP_Photo_Tony_AVELAR_Launch_of_first_iPhone_January_2007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4157/original/AFP_Photo_Tony_AVELAR_Launch_of_first_iPhone_January_2007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4157/original/AFP_Photo_Tony_AVELAR_Launch_of_first_iPhone_January_2007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobs launched the first iPhone in January 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP/Tony Evelar</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s a very sad announcement. The significance is not just for Apple. Steve Jobs was one of the central people in terms of the whole technology revolution from PCs through to mobile phones.</p>
<p>In terms of the most influential people in the past 30 or 40 years, I would say he was in that list.</p>
<p>You can’t underestimate his legacy.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Professor Sanjay Chawla, Head of the School of Information Technologies, University of Sydney</strong></p>
<p>Steve Jobs is singularly responsible for taking computing to the masses. First with the introduction of the MacIntosh in 1984, he completely revolutionised how people viewed the computer – from a cold number crunching machine to something “personal”. </p>
<p>Then, in 2007, with the introduction of the iPhone, computing became even more personal. The underlying message that came through Steve Jobs’ innovations was that computing is as much about art, culture and aesthetics as science and engineering.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Daniel Golding, PhD candidate and sessional lecturer at University of Melbourne</strong></p>
<p>At the end of a tutorial this morning, two students of mine opened a MacBook Pro and brought up the homepage of Apple. Steve Jobs had died. </p>
<p>Somewhat more shocked than I thought I might be, I walked back to my office, following the news on my iPhone. I wasn’t aware until I sat down to write this that every device that has told me about Job’s death was also a product of his vision.</p>
<p>Many will remember Jobs solely as the auteur of Apple, but it was his brief time at videogame company Atari in the 1970s that also lingers in my mind.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4159/original/EPA_MONICA_M._DAVEY_iPod_Nano_September_2008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4159/original/EPA_MONICA_M._DAVEY_iPod_Nano_September_2008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4159/original/EPA_MONICA_M._DAVEY_iPod_Nano_September_2008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4159/original/EPA_MONICA_M._DAVEY_iPod_Nano_September_2008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4159/original/EPA_MONICA_M._DAVEY_iPod_Nano_September_2008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4159/original/EPA_MONICA_M._DAVEY_iPod_Nano_September_2008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4159/original/EPA_MONICA_M._DAVEY_iPod_Nano_September_2008.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An updated version of the iPod Nano landed in September 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Monica M. Davey</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jobs was then a shaggy-haired hippie saving money for a trip to India, and was assigned the task of creating a prototype of the game that was to become Breakout. Along with his friend and Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, Jobs created a lean and memorable game that foregrounded his skills as a designer. </p>
<p>Breakout’s strength was not originality, but a brilliant leanness of form and style. Surrounded, as he was then, by talented people, Jobs clearly had a talent for direction, quality, and business. </p>
<p>Given a $5,000 bonus, Jobs reportedly only passed on $350 to Wozniak, the co-creator of the game. He was ruthless and brilliant to the last.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Remy Davison, Associate Director, Monash European and EU Centre</strong></p>
<p><em>Disclosure: Remy Davison owns one share in Apple.</em></p>
<p>Jobs’s death has left a tremendous void, not only at Apple, but also in the entire technology industry.</p>
<p>When Jobs resigned as Apple’s CEO in August this year, few believed he would relinquish control of the company he founded in 1976 with Steve Wozniak. After all, Jobs would remain as chairman of the board, and within the industry it was largely believed that Jobs would continue to be the power behind the throne now occupied by former Chief Operating Officer, Timothy Cook.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4164/original/theducks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4164/original/theducks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4164/original/theducks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4164/original/theducks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4164/original/theducks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4164/original/theducks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4164/original/theducks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobs oversaw the evolution of Apple’s range of personal computers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">theducks</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure> <p></p>
<p>For the past 14 years, Jobs’s star had been in the ascendant, following his return to Apple in 1997. Ejected from Apple in a boardroom coup in 1985, Jobs founded NeXT, a company that produced elegant computers that nobody bought. But he also proved a shrewd investor, buying animation studio Pixar, which went on to produce Disney’s biggest movies of the last decade.</p>
<p>Jobs ultimately went on to sell Pixar to Disney in 2006, in exchange for the largest individual shareholding in Disney. In doing so, Jobs forced out his erstwhile rival, Michael Eisner, and wound up controlling the company. </p>
<p>From this point, Jobs began to split his duties between Apple and Disney, a move complicated by his contraction of a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Both Jobs and Apple maintained publicly that the disease was not life-threatening. Even when Jobs underwent a liver transplant in 2009 and began to take medical leave from the company, Wall Street did not punish the Cupertino, California company, as Apple continued to release hit after hit: the iPod; the iPhone and the iPad.</p>
<p><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4167/original/freeasinfreedom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4167/original/freeasinfreedom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4167/original/freeasinfreedom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4167/original/freeasinfreedom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4167/original/freeasinfreedom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4167/original/freeasinfreedom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4167/original/freeasinfreedom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobs (right) founded Apple with Steve Wozniak (left) in 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
</p><p>Jobs and Wozniak started in the 1970s by screwing together circuit boards in a garage. Jobs ended his tenure leading the world’s most valuable company, with a current market cap of more than $US350 billion.</p>
<p>Yesterday, CEO Tim Cook released the iPhone 4S, a product greeted with tepid enthusiasm by the market. Apple’s market dominance in several sectors, its $76 billion in cash and short-term investments and zero debt mean it is cushioned from a prospective double-dip world recession, even if the company does have to burn cash for a while.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that Apple cannot replace Jobs’s vision, his ability to predict the future of the information age, nor his showmanship, long on display at Apple’s product launches. If Apple does not demonstrate – and soon – that there is life after Steve Jobs, Wall Street will be merciless in meting out punishment.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Professor David Abramson, Associate Director of the Monash e-Research Centre, Monash University</strong></p>
<p>Jobs made a huge contribution to the state of computer science and to the world in general. You only have to observe the influence of Apple on daily life to realise just how significant it has been. Professionals use Apple. Grandparents use Apple. Kids use Apple. It is totally pervasive.</p>
<p>From a professional point of view, I began using some of the earliest Apple computers in the 1980s, but then shifted to Microsoft-based systems for about 10 years – before returning to almost exclusively Apple-based personal platforms (some of the larger computational resources I use are not based on Apple equipment, and adoption in this area has been limited). </p>
<p>The return to using Apple equipment was no accident and was largely a result of Jobs’s influence. I now have reliable personal computing that affects almost every aspect of my work and private life. </p>
<p>I simply couldn’t imagine my life without this level of technological support.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Jayne Ion, Web Developer, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney</strong></p>
<p>Many will say Steve Jobs was a visionary – he did give us what we wanted before we knew what it was, after all. And he was a visionary, but he was so much more – organ donor activist, CEO of the Decade (Fortune Magazine, 2007), user-based design guru, philanthropist, tech oracle, and today has achieved a Twitter Fail Whale message as the Twitterati made for the digital airwaves to mourn his passing.</p>
<p>I believe the world is a more interesting and user friendly place for having had it’s time with Steve Jobs, albeit too brief.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>John Vaz, Course Director Master of Applied Finance at Monash University</strong></p>
<p>Although owned as a trade name by IBM, it is Steve Jobs with Steve Wozniak who can be credited with creating the first real personal computer. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4165/original/Luigi_Rosa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4165/original/Luigi_Rosa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4165/original/Luigi_Rosa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4165/original/Luigi_Rosa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4165/original/Luigi_Rosa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4165/original/Luigi_Rosa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4165/original/Luigi_Rosa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Apple 2e.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luigi Rosa</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure> <p></p>
<p>Jobs made computers usable for ordinary, non-technical people and in a sense that was scary to IT professionals. Jobs was the smartest and most insightful CEO ever known. More than that, he was a passionate believer in bringing computing to the masses. This started with the first Apple computer. </p>
<p>Quality for Jobs was defined in terms of the user experience. This meant he drove Apple’s industrial design so that the products looked great but were also technically excellent but not necessarily the best. </p>
<p>He understood corporate employees were also consumers and it was providing the best consumer experience that resulted in Apple as a provider of products to most to the Fortune 500 companies in the world.</p>
<p>He also understood that innovation was about enhancing yet simplifying the user interface. The MAC was born in 1984. When Apple’s board disagreed with some of the direction Jobs was giving he was pushed out of Apple in the early 1990s. </p>
<p>Jobs was brought back to Apple on a trivial nominal salary when the company was close to bankruptcy later in the 1990s.</p>
<p><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4152/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Ryan_ANSON_2010_iPad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4152/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Ryan_ANSON_2010_iPad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4152/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Ryan_ANSON_2010_iPad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4152/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Ryan_ANSON_2010_iPad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4152/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Ryan_ANSON_2010_iPad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4152/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Ryan_ANSON_2010_iPad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4152/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Ryan_ANSON_2010_iPad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobs at the launch of the Apple iPad, in early 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP/Ryan Anson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure> </p>
<p>Yes he had some failures – oddly enough because the technology wasn’t up to it, such as was the case with the Apple Newton (the first personal pad with a pen). </p>
<p>Jobs took Apple into the music market creating the total experience by having a service and a product (the iPod). </p>
<p>This experience provided apple with the understanding in this market to bring out the iPhone in a declining smart phone market.</p>
<p>The three families of products, namely iPod, iPhone and iPad have one thing in common: a total user experience with great looking and products that meet the needs of most consumers without technical sales points. </p>
<p>It is Jobs’s visionary consumer-driven approach that took the share price from single digits to well over $300. More importantly, he made a major contribution to society by enabling a whole range of new ways of doing things.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Roly Sussex, Professor of Applied Language Studies at University of Queensland, and Alan Cody, Senior eResearch Fellow at University of Queensland</strong>
</p><p>Sometimes individuals emerge in society at a time ripe for change. These individuals seem to be in harmony with those changes and, critically, both accelerate and enrich those changes through vision, persistence in the face of societal inertia coupled with a unique ability to engage with a wide spectrum of that society. </p>
<p>Steve Jobs was such an individual. With no regular “qualifications”, he showed what an earth-shaking effect a clever intellectual can have when that cleverness is combined with vision, lateral thinking, business acumen and determination. His genius was to assemble ideas and things in innovative ways, imagine the way people would use them before they had even thought about it, reinvent the whole thing, and then to wrap it up in products people wanted. </p>
<p>Jobs was a superlative synthesiser. Some of his earliest studies were in typography. And this impacted the life of one of us [RS] in a fundamental way. I [RS] used to teach Russian at the University of Melbourne. In those days DOS could not display non-Roman scripts on the screen with Roman. Russian was a huge problem. Then came the Fat Mac, with a whole garden full of character sets. </p>
<p>Steve Jobs was uncannily good at synthesis like this. And more particularly with the fusion of personal and subsequently mobile computing devices. This, with the emergence of the web, provided the perfect potpourri for (i)nnovative thinking - iPod, iMac, iPhone, iTunes, iPad, iCloud. And so iSteve – vale and well-played.</p>
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<p><strong>Danny Samson, Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne</strong></p>
<p>I first took notice of Steve Jobs in the early 1980s when I was living in the USA and Apple, under his leadership, “dared to be different”. </p>
<p>He set a vision then to change the world of computing, to challenge the status quo, dominated at that time by IBM and later by Microsoft, and he had the vision, passion and inspirational communication skills to see it through.</p>
<p>We who study leadership and management or who practise profesional management and leadership have much to learn from Jobs and his achievements. These lessons include “lead from the front”, which he always did, and “have the courage of your convictions”. </p>
<p>He was also inspirational in being able to balance the needs of many stakeholders, and in doing so, led a company from nowhere to industry leadership status, not once but twice. </p>
<p>Jobs was able to cleverly assess challenges and set strategy and vision, then implement those strategies hard, which is a rare combination.</p>
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<p><strong>Cameron Rose, Department of Multimedia and Digital Arts, Faculty of Art and Design, Monash University</strong></p>
<p>Steve Jobs was a college drop-out who began his computer company in his parent’s garage in 1976. His brilliance was not really technical, but in his ability to combine a number of innovations together into products that not only had great usability, but also inspired devotion to the Apple brand. </p>
<p>It was his philosophy that the user should not learn how to use his products, but that the products had such immediacy that the user would already know how to use the product without instructions.</p>
<p>His first great success was with the release of the Apple Mac in 1984. Though the Apple Mac was not the first computer to use a mouse or graphic user interface (GUI), the all in one design almost looked like a little face and this friendly appearance opened up personal computing to a whole new audience (Microsoft computers still used a command-line interface). </p>
<p>Apart from the early to mid 90s, when Jobs was absent from Apple, this philosophy remains true for all Apple products. His return to Apple as CEO resulted in the iMac released in a range of jelly-bean colours (and the beginning of the i-Something naming protocol). </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4179/original/4929905153_81bd2a03ae_z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4179/original/4929905153_81bd2a03ae_z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4179/original/4929905153_81bd2a03ae_z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4179/original/4929905153_81bd2a03ae_z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4179/original/4929905153_81bd2a03ae_z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4179/original/4929905153_81bd2a03ae_z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4179/original/4929905153_81bd2a03ae_z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Esthr.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then the product range from iPod to iPad have all strived to put the user at the centre of design. The products should be as easy to pick up and use as if it were a pencil or pen. </p>
<p>They should be completely task oriented, so the design of the device does not get in the way of its function. The final design is the result of rigorous user testing and application of guidelines including the “80% rule” which considers that if 80% of your target audience is satisfied, this should be enough to keep the design simple for most to use.</p>
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<p><strong>Professor Albert Y. Zomaya, Chair Professor of High Performance Computing and Networking, School of Information Technologies, University of Sydney</strong></p>
<p>Steve Jobs left an indelible mark on the profession of computing. His journey as a visionary, entrepreneur and astute business leader inspired many people in academia and industry. He had a deep understanding of the technology combined with a canny ability of predicting market shifts. I am sure his memory will live with us for a long time and inspire future researchers and entrepreneurs. He will surely be missed.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Dr Mark Gregory, Senior Lecturer, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, RMIT University</strong></p>
<p>Mr Steve Jobs was a visionary leader of Apple Inc. for more than 25 years and possessed extraordinary skill in technology innovation. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4153/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Tony_AVELAR_Macbook_Air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/4153/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Tony_AVELAR_Macbook_Air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4153/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Tony_AVELAR_Macbook_Air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4153/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Tony_AVELAR_Macbook_Air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4153/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Tony_AVELAR_Macbook_Air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4153/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Tony_AVELAR_Macbook_Air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/4153/original/AFP_PHOTO_Files_Tony_AVELAR_Macbook_Air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Steve Jobs at the launch of the Macbook Air in 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP/Tony Avelar</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He will be remembered for the Apple and Macintosh computers, his time at Pixar Animation Studios (Toy Story) and the iPod, iPhone and iPad among a raft of other technology success stories.</p>
<p>As a young engineer in the early 80s, I took possession of an Apple computer and my future was shaped by what I was able to do and learn with this computer. From that time, my life and the lives of many others have been positively affected by Steve Jobs.</p>
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<p><strong>Stuart Cunningham, Director ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation</strong></p>
<p>Steve Jobs, as with the Apple empire, was often accused of being too innovative – it’s far easier to be a fast, or not so fast, follower and let the bleeding-edge work to be done by others. This was what Clayton Christensen called the innovator’s dilemma. </p>
<p>Apple almost bottomed out without Jobs, but with his second coming it grew to its present status as the one company that has, thus far, worked out how to make the transition from “analogue dollars” to “digital cents” in the creative economy. </p>
<p>In doing this, it has laid down a significant challenge to the mass media barons – and in doing so, has become a bullying baron itself.</p>
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<p><strong>Bruce Arnold, Lecturer in Law at University of Canberra</strong></p>
<p>IT entrepreneurs come and go … most end up as footnotes in dissertations and (with luck) as a plaque on a “named” building on campus and a substantial endowment. </p>
<p>Some are remembered both for marvellous technical achievement and problematical philosophies or pseudo-scientific enthusiasms.</p>
<p>Jobs will live on because he had style (an important attribute in a world of black T-shirted kiddies with over-large egos and money to match) and because he was an exponent of user-centric personal computing.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the end-user should drive IT, and this was certainly Jobs’s philosophy.</p>
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<p><strong>Trixie Barretto, Website Content Officer, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney</strong></p>
<p>Steve Jobs wanted to change the world and he did. He was a true visionary and will be remembered for the way he inspired a generation. RIP Steve and thank you for creating so many amazing tools that have positively shaped the way I work, live and create.
<br>
<strong>Related article: <a href="http://theconversation.com/steve-jobs-transformed-our-lives-and-now-hes-dead-this-changes-everything-3735">Steve Jobs transformed our lives, and now he’s dead this changes everything</a></strong>
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<em><strong>Has Steve Jobs had an impact on your life? Leave your comments below.</strong></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/3733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Apple founder Steve Jobs, one of the technology industry’s most influential figures, has died after a battle with cancer, at 56. In a brief statement, the company announced his death without giving a specific…Paul Dalgarno, EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26602011-08-03T04:12:03Z2011-08-03T04:12:03ZSamsung Galaxy Tab vs Apple iPad: the tablet patent wars hit Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/2627/original/aapone-20110720000332986082-samsung_release_tablet-original.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The battles currently being waged raise serious questions about patent law.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yonhap/AAPIMAGE</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The mobile patent wars, it seems, have reached Australian shores. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/tablets/tablet-wars-apple-seeks-to-destroy-rival-galaxy-20110802-1i90c.html">On Monday</a>, representatives of Apple and Samsung were in the Australian Federal Court, fighting it out over <a href="http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxytab/10.1/index.html">Samsung’s Galaxy Tab</a> tablet computer. </p>
<p>Apple is alleging infringement of a series of Australian patents – mainly related to gesture-sensitive touch screens (see list below) – as well as, it seems, breaches of consumer protection law (by misleading people into thinking that the Galaxy Tab is the iPad, or is licensed by Apple). </p>
<p>The hearing on Monday ended with Samsung <a href="http://blog.patentology.com.au/2011/08/its-apple-vs-samsung-down-under-as.html">undertaking</a> not to sell its US Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia (without permission from Apple first), and to give Apple, seven days before launch, samples of an allegedly different “Australian version” of their tablet. The parties are back in court for a procedural hearing at the end of this month.</p>
<p>But this is far from an isolated battle. It’s a very small part of a global battle over patents in the mobile space. Apple and Samsung are currently involved in litigation in <a href="http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/08/galaxy-tab-101-down-under-apple-has.html">at least nine other countries</a>, and these fights aren’t all one-way: in some, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983704576277863329446914.html">Samsung has countersued Apple</a> for infringing Samsung’s patents. </p>
<p>Apple is also <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100828132209651">fighting</a> with <a href="http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/07/itc-judge-finds-htc-in-infringement-of.html">HTC</a> and <a href="http://mobilebeyond.net/apple-vs-nokia-the-future-of-technology-patent-lawsuits/#axzz1TvbaPSb3">Nokia</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1202488335514&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1">Microsoft, too</a>, has been filing patent infringement suits against companies using Google’s mobile system, <a href="http://www.android.com/media/">Android</a>, and <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20110731130800781">observers have commented</a> that Google’s recent patent acquisitions <a href="http://www.techworld.com.au/article/383791/samsung_strike_back_against_apple_patent_suit/">have a lot to do with these battles</a>. </p>
<p>Just recently too, all the big companies in this space had a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/01/google-nortel-patents/">battle for a portfolio of 6,000 wireless patents</a> previously owned by communications equipment manufacturer, <a href="http://www.nortel.com/">Nortel</a>.</p>
<p>The reasons for the breakout of patent litigation in the mobile space aren’t all that hard to understand. </p>
<p>Historically, the big mobile phone companies (Nokia, Ericsson etc.) had plenty of patents, but ended up licensing each others’ technology. </p>
<p>The entry of Google, via the Android system, and Apple into this space must have been a massive disruption to these comfortable arrangements. And the result has been war.</p>
<p>It is entirely possible – even likely – that the Federal Court will <a href="http://blog.patentology.com.au/2011/08/its-apple-vs-samsung-down-under-as.html">never get to rule</a> on the case – either because the parties settle all the litigation, or because rulings by courts elsewhere lead to a settlement of the remaining cases. </p>
<p>In a way, that’s a shame, because the proceedings raise some interesting legal and policy questions. </p>
<p>The key legal question is whether these patents are valid – whether Apple can really claim that the inventions described are really new and inventive across the full scope of the claims. </p>
<p>Even once the <a href="http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/">Australian Patent Office</a> issues a patent, it is still possible for someone sued for infringement, such as Samsung, to allege the patent shouldn’t have been granted. </p>
<p>And the breadth of the monopoly Apple is claiming, particularly in <a href="http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/ols/auspat/applicationDetails.do;jsessionid=T41ML3hQnsKL3NRkhLvnhJyvJhH899csWL8V2MhMJTkF7B6XwYJG!156919560">patent 2007286532</a>, is breathtaking. On my quick reading, that patent seems to cover most commands given using more than one finger on a touchscreen of any computing device (mobile phone, tablet, or anything else). Think “pinch to zoom” and everything else.</p>
<p>I’d like to think Apple won’t be able to maintain a claim that broad, but in patent law, you never know – it all depends on what existed before the date of the patent. </p>
<p>The policy questions raised by this case – and all its foreign cousins – are whether the patent system is encouraging innovation in software and mobile technologies, and whether the costs these patents have for competition are just getting too high. </p>
<p>What if we were to tote up all the legal fees and expenses, the costs in court time and the diversion of efforts away from innovation and towards litigation, the costs in getting the patents in the first place, and fighting over them worldwide, and buying the patents of defunct companies? </p>
<p>Do you think we’d be convinced the costs are worth it? Apple and Samsung are big enough and ugly enough to take care of themselves in this kind of battle. But I do worry about the little guys. And I worry about the impact on competition.</p>
<p>If the case settles, we’ll forget these issues for a while – we’ll get our Galaxy Tabs and all the rest. But the patents will stay with us until the mid 2020s. </p>
<hr>
<p>The Australian patents Apple alleges Samsung infringed are:</p>
<p><strong>Innovation Patents</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>2008100283: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display</li>
<li>2008100372: Electronic device for photo management</li>
<li>2009100820: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image</li>
<li>2008100419: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image</li>
<li>2008101171: Portable electronic device for imaged-based browsing of contacts</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Standard Patents</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>2008201540: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display</li>
<li>2005246219: Multipoint touchscreen</li>
<li>2007283771: Portable electronic device for photo management</li>
<li>2009200366: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display</li>
<li>2007286532: Touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Related:</strong> Read the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-patents-attack-android.html">blog post</a> by Google’s Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, in which he argues that the patent wars are part of a “hostile, organised campaign” to push up the prices of Android smartphones and tablets. </p>
<p><em><strong>Should companies be able to patent ideas such as those listed above? Leave your comments below</strong></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/2660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberlee Weatherall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The mobile patent wars, it seems, have reached Australian shores. On Monday, representatives of Apple and Samsung were in the Australian Federal Court, fighting it out over Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet…Kimberlee Weatherall, Associate Professor of Law, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.