A first version of this piece was almost ready to be published two days ago, but after writing more than 2,000 words, I grew increasingly angry and exasperated, and that made the article become too meandering and rant-like, so I deleted everything, and started afresh several hours later.
This, of course, is about Awe-dropping, Apple’s September 9 event, where they presented the new iPhone lineup, the new AirPods Pro, and the new Apple Watches. And the honest truth here is that I’m becoming less and less inclined to talk about Apple, because it’s a company that I feel has lost its alignment with me and other long-time Apple users and customers.
The more Apple talks and moves like other big tech companies, the less special it gets; the less special and distinctive it gets, the less I’m interested in finding ways to talk about it. Yes, I have admitted that Apple makes me mad lately, so they still elicit a response that isn’t utter indifference on my part. And yes, you could argue that if Apple makes me mad, it means that in the end I still care.
But things aren’t this clear-cut. I currently don’t really care about Apple — I care that their bad software design decisions and their constant user-interface dumbing down may become trends and get picked up by other tech companies. So, what I still care about that’s related to Apple is essentially the consequences of their actions.
The Steve Jobs quote
The event kicked off with the famous Steve Jobs quote,
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
and I immediately felt the whiplash.
Why that quote? Why now, after months of criticism towards the new design æsthetic of Liquid Glass? I gave this choice three possible interpretations — I still may be missing something here; I’m sure my readers will let me know.
It’s Apple’s way of trolling the critics, who have repeatedly resorted to Steve Jobs’s words to criticise the several misguided UI choices in Liquid Glass. It’s the same kind of response as Phil Schiller famously blurting, Can’t innovate anymore, my ass! in 2013 during the presentation of the then-redesigned Mac Pro. But it feels like a less genuine, more passive-aggressive response (if this is the way we’re supposed to read their use of that quote). Apple used the quote in earnest. As in, they really believe that what they’re doing is in line with Jobs’s words. If that’s the case, this is utter self-deception. The quote doesn’t reflect at all what Apple is doing in the UI and software department — the Liquid Glass design is more ‘look & feel’ than ‘work’. And the very introduction of the iPhone Air proves that Jobs’s words are falling on deaf ears on the hardware front as well. Apple used the quote ‘for effect’. As if Meta started a keynote by saying, Our mission is to connect people, no more no less. You know, something that makes you sound great and noble, but not necessarily something you truly believe (or something that is actually true, for that matter).
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