steve_jobs_iphone

Steve Jobs was known to be adamant on what he believed was the right choice. He had his beliefs set in stone when it came to how devices should feel, look and work. Would the late legendary CEO of the biggest company in the world change his position on what he once thought was the right size of their iPhones? Well, since no one can give anything more than a speculative answer to this question, we thought we use what we learned from the late Apple CEO throughout the years about how he made decisions on products and their design in addition to his biography to see what he would think of the latest addition to the iPhone family. Read on to find out whether Chairman Jobs would follow the rest of the crowd or not.

Steve Jobs was the master of aesthetics and no one ever had a doubt that when he “felt” a specific design was right, we all seemed to agree with him and congratulate him on his innate taste and selection. He didn't have any specific background or education in industrial design or arts like his peer Sir Johnny Ive but certainly had an eye for beauty. He felt rather than thought about the design of products and the reason for that was his unconventional approach to different things in life. He always approached things, be it business, design or life in general, from an angle that most of us wouldn’t dare to approach. Since he was a natural born leader, it wasn’t possible for him to do what the rest of the world was doing in terms of their product line until he felt is the right time.

Take the iPad, as an example. For decades, Bill Gates and the leaders of some of the biggest software and hardware manufacturers in the world insisted that tablets are the "next big thing" and tried to gravitate towards tablets and other handheld devices but all of them somehow failed. Take windows CE for instance. They all followed each other and the crowed but they did so immaturely and in the wrong time. None of them set back to watch what is going on before jumping in.

This is Apple's biggest untold secret. They wait for others to make their mistakes and to play all their cards while they stay silent and just watch. Steve Jobs never chose to launch a product when that product line was immature and he never got excited about ideas that were still in their infancy. They were certainly not the first but the last to introduce a music player to the market but what they gave us, was the best and most wanted music player of all time. The same was true about the iPhone, and the iPad. They were the last but the best. But does the same sequence holds to be true when it comes to the iPhone 6?

Chairman Jobs never liked big and utterly weird shaped smartphones also known as phablets. We can’t blame him for that since phablets, well, are very bulky and ugly and would naturally to pass any aesthetics test let alone, the eyes of the most hardcore perfectionist in the technology and mobile industry. They are hard to hold and are hard carry and thus are hard to control. Remember the handle on the first iMac? They were supposed to give a sense of control to the user to make them feel superior and in control of their device. All that said, even after three to four years after the lunch of the iPhone we never saw a phablet from Apple. Was that because Jobs didn’t agree on phablets or was it because the time wasn't right yet?

If we want to have a speculative approach to this questions, we need to consider the fact that despite his stubborn attitude and mindset towards things, he was a very open-minded and changeable person. His appearance and style weren't the only things that changed throughout the years but his mindset and thoughts were also always changing as well. And that is true about anyone with an artistic mindset: they always change. He never made decisions about the future and always resisted the question from reporters about what he thought apple would be doing three or four years down the road. He usually responded that "my head-lights are not that strong".

Despite the fact that he hated ugly devices like phablets there is a possibility that he would change his mind due to an impressive factor, let’s say a bright or “insanely great” screen for instance. But other than the size, there are other design prospects of the new iPhone that are not as impressive and coherent as were its predecessors. The design is becoming more mainstream and thus it seems like Apple wants to feet in rather than stand out in the crowd and in the competition.

I remember staring at the first generation of iPhones when they first came out and would appreciate the fine lines, shape and it’s beautifully crafted exterior appearance and wondered what were the mindset of its designers. But I was never mesmerized with the design of the new iPhone. It seems as it is trying to be a follower and understate itself rather than having a bold and redefining design. Maybe we are not used to seeing Apple products looking similar to other manufacturers such as Samsung. Maybe we want to see Apple design products defy the gravity and bring out the rebel in us. All that being said, even if Apple would have decided to manufacture a phablet, it would do so with better aesthetics if it’s late chief executive was still in charge.
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