The last technical decisions Apple made a lot of noise. The iPhone 7 has gone a 3.5 mm audio Jack, the new MacBook Pro replaced the usual connectors on the USB-C and there is no memory card slot. Resource Daily Afisha listed all the joy, which deprived us of the engineers from Cupertino, and why it is difficult to argue.
Apple for the past 30 years with enviable persistence produces a closed architecture computers running their own operating system. In this they were not able to dissuade nor the popularity of the PC as a gaming platform, nor the recognition in 2006 that the Intel chips better than their own. It turns out that the company that we believe is the most important developer of the innovation, in fact very conservative and rational in the market. Traditionally, Apple itself decides what is necessary and what is not necessary to the user, and the vector of competitors if they do not care.
Fear and hatred of iTunes
Its appearance on the shelves of the iPod not only changed the market for MP3 players, but also generated an army of haters. Then user could not do without the graphic EQ, mini-USB and the ability to throw music folders. But the highest wave of hatred covered iTunes — the user had to edit the tags, sync the player with your computer, and in the case of tagging errors is to do it a few times. Not all knew that iTunes does not so much attempt to impose another software, how much is the first truly convenient way to download music from the Internet without violating the copyright.
At a time when the music industry was exhausted Internet piracy, but musicians and listeners harbored tremendous hostility towards the record companies, iTunes opened the way to a new method of monetization. In 2003, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine Steve jobs talked about iTunes: “If you die copyright will disappear and the protect intellectual property, people will stop investing. It will harm everyone. People need the incentive that if they make a reasonable investment, they will get a good income. Anyway, stealing is bad. It spoils the character. We want to offer a legitimate alternative. Of course, today College students, downloading music from Internet, don’t know what you’re doing the same as you at the time when they made the bootlegs recordings of Bob Dylan. The fact that it is difficult to wean people from piracy, without offering a legal alternative”.
Complaints about the memory
By 2009, the iPhone accounted for 47% of the global market, ahead of Symbian, Blackberry and Android smartphones. Instant success is easy to explain: by the time a slow and complex Symbian has already been exhausted, and Android was still far from perfect. But the majority of smartphone owners accustomed to using flash cards was not going to refuse them.
Users were transferred to the SD card photos using the smartphone as a card reader, downloaded apps and music from my computer without slow and expensive mobile Internet. And, importantly, they were protected from data loss in case of breakage of the phone. But Apple has decided that memory cards are an extra option.
In 2011, Michael H., Phonearena columnist, wrote about external memory as about the big problem of Android devices. Apps moved to the card, was slower, widgets were missing, the download speed and operating system is significantly decreased, and the application files were scattered all over the file system.
The use of memory cards has also increased energy consumption — perhaps the chief whip of the smartphones of the time. Large companies such as HTC, Samsung and Motorola are still attempting to abandon memory cards, especially in the flagship models. However, faced with the indignation of users who return to the source. To date, only two manufacturers have completely abandoned the use of external memory cards: Apple (since the iPhone in 2007) and Google (c 2010, Nexus S).
Matias Duarte (lead designer for Google, and previously Director of technology user experience) said in an interview: “the Nexus we have limited built-in memory, so users do not have to think about drives and files on where is best to save music, videos and applications, and how to configure it. To the application just worked fine”.
MacBook as the Apple of discord
Abandoning memory cards on smartphones and tablets in 2016, the engineers of Cupertino switched to laptops. The rejection of memory cards in the MacBook Pro, which is used by professional photographers, musicians and filmmakers, many seemed absurd. But senior Vice President of marketing Phil Schiller in an interview for the Independent called the memory card slot is cumbersome, and noted that many cameras are equipped with devices for wireless data transmission that is the most convenient solution for when the camera with the computer.
Not everyone is ready to agree with it. In most cases, people use a cable or card reader, and among professionals were not the tendency to sudden revolutionary transition to wireless technology. A radical solution Apple has once again brought a surge of emotion from users, and many felt that Apple’s innovation will be a headache for those who used the Pro series of laptops as a working tool. The site The Verge published an article entitled “MacBook Pro Is a Lie!”, in which Apple is accused almost of betraying the true target audience.
The rejection of the memory card is inevitable?
To understand the real causes of rejection of memory cards, should turn to the figures. The reading speed of the fastest memory cards used in cameras in 2016, is 1250 MBs. Speed USB-C is almost 4.5 times higher. And thanks to the alternative modes it fully supports the protocols DisplayPort, MHL, HDMI, and others can simply plug in any cable. So on the new MacBook and MacBook Pro is not the usual USB 3.0 and HDMI. But there is one, two or four USB-C.
It turns out that instead of a bunch of outdated ports and expansion slots to users in a logical manner proposed upgrade of the unified connector. It not only boasts a data transfer speed but also the ability to charge your devices including the laptop itself (via any of the ports). The new USB perfectly works with all previous protocols. So users, especially professionals, have no choice but to change their habits in favor of technical progress.
Destiny mini-Jack
In 1998 Apple released the iMac G3. This computer has attracted interest for many reasons: all the components, including the monitor was enclosed in a single sleek chassis. The only thing that was missing in the new product, was a floppy disk drive. At the time everyone thought Apple was nuts, but Steve jobs was not until this case. In his opinion, “floppy disk was obsolete technology that should have been replaced by CD disks.”
In 2016 the iPhone 7 came out. The press immediately began to praise the excellent quality of picture and sound, slim design, powerful Quad-core processor and so on. The only thing that was confusing is the absence of 3.5 mm headphone jacks, without which it is hardly possible to introduce a smartphone.
Engineers blame the old analog connector is that it is bulky, interferes with water resistance, interference and does not allow to implement new headphones function like a thermometer or gauge physical activity. And iPhone is just one battle won in the campaign against classic analog connectors. But different companies have different visions of the future. So Intel promotes USB-C and Apple is in no hurry to part with Lightning and endangers the unification, which was achieved with a mini-Jack.
What about the refusal of the mini-Jack I think?
“The opportunity to equip their own headphones digital converters will improve the sound quality, but in terms of streets and public transport, this improvement does not make sense but also increase the cost of the headphones and reduce their service life”.
“On average, with careful use of digital interfaces combined with the power connector, they are 3-4 years (1-2 connections a day). Audio is switched at least 3 times a day, and it means that a new invention will require repair nearly every year.”
“Interference devices created analog connection, not visible to the user. And if you count how many years the analog audio outputs are used together with digital, you’d think that for engineers it is not a big problem.”
“Another motivation for the destruction of the analogue connector — the ability for record labels to combat piracy, restricting or impeding the user’s actions with files”.
