Studioclues

Recently Gizmodo.com got a hold of a supposedly next generation iPhone left in a bar by some careless Apple employee. A lot has been said of the new aesthetic shown below. It is somewhat of a departure from the flowing, highly curvaceous back uni-body design of the original iPhone and 3G iPhone. The new form is now an extrusion with a metal bezel around the edge. A three piece design as it appears. But now the back seems to be covered with glass or plastic as it appears. Beautiful, yes maybe. But turn over your iPhone if you have one. Turn over your 3G or 3GS and typically you will find a multitude of scratches around the area which makes contact with the table. It’s inevitable.

The current G3 iPhone , when launched, was unveiled as a faster and slicker (G3 actually) version of the original phone. The back housing was changed from aluminum in the first version to a highly complex sculpted plastic form in the g3 version. Both generally good looking. But the plastic housing actually takes scratches more easily that the original aluminum version. A step backward in functional progress. But neither of these three designs were designed for the mobile world.

In reality, if iPhones were design for their environment, you could imagine they would be covered with an integral rubber case or a scratch resistant outer housing would be integrated into the design. Glossy or aluminum finishes are not meant to be dropped onto a sidewalk or laid on the roof of your car. I want to ask the question, “Why not design a functional rubber case integrated with the phone ?”  The answer inevitably lies in the royalties that Apple gets from case manufacturers. If Apple designed a gorgeous, robust case (believe me there are plenty in the Apple prototype shop somewhere) multitudes of case manufacturers would be out of luck. It’s that simple. Design a product with shelf presence, get royalties from all the case manufacturers.

Can you image how tactile, robust,slim, and rugged a case similar to the one below would be if designed by Apple.

When apple launched the iPad earlier this year there was immediate skepticism on how users would type on the pad when on a table or counter. The case below was designed by Apple and addresses this issue. A pretty clean Apple-esque design actually.  This designed will inevitably replace some potential third party case sales. But it was an immediate attempt by Apple to address the one major flaw of the pad if nobody else would. At $40 Apple is making their money back on this one. Don’t worry.

Now all the previous thoughts are picking on Apple. Merely because ,what I  typically expect from them is forward thinking,  industry leading design. Portable electronics, such as laptops and cell phones have always been adorned with consumer marketed finishes such as painted silver, chrome, and high gloss plastic. They all look great but in about 1.5 years( the typical cell phone life span estimated by the EPA) the gloss and luster have long since departed. There have been numerous attempts by portable electronics manufacturers to create functional, real world cases and finishes as shown below. But normally focuses on business, military and civil service applications.

To sum up, I do not know if it will come to the point where the industry will come to a slow down in terms of innovation, feature set, and performance. When Apple or someone else just can’t seem to differentiate with their next product. At that point, they would have to focus on maintaining a high user experience after the 1.5 typical life cycle of the product has expired. Hopefully at that point the product will still be in as good condition as it was on the display shelf.