3 Trends that Apple (Steve Jobs) Started

1. Portable MP3 player
The first popular product that put Apple on the map of the mainstream media - or technology world  was the iPod. The first generation was much simpler than the second, third and fourth etc. naturally but they were certainly not the first MP3 player on the market, so why was their success so much better than their competition? I guess there could be many factors and depending on who you ask it's a different answer - I think it's interface is/was not great and the restriction of the music sucked! but they seemed to have much more space in terms of GB than anyone else and thanks to using hard drive technology, yes that's right and you can actually feel the platter spin up if you have the older ones!
This was the case even up to the 4th generation ipod video which now had a color screen (never before seen) and could play videos (formated to their desire of mp4 of course). Now with the newer touch making the ipod simply an older iPhone minus the phone. ipod touch can install apps and make skype or gmail phone calls (with video whichnNorth America seems slow to adopt) but we still require wifi for that which is no good if you have a data plan. Which brings us to the next trend.

2. Touch Screen Mobile Phones

In the case of the iPhone it started with 2G and went to 3G, later 3GS. S is for speed I guess being a faster processor as it is with the 4 and the new 4S being faster then the last. There were not many phones that had a great touch screen ability before the iPhone and this is where blackberry hoped they would remain key competitor but touch is so simple and fun that it seemed to have cought on and most modern phones have this capability. Android is now a serious competitor as the hardware gets better the OS is also great from the search engine giant Google.
And with this new touch screen technology as it was adopted in iPods it is also made into the larger screen of the tablet bringing us to the next trend.

3. Tablets (touch screen too)

Ah the tablets, this old friend to many designers and artists of all sorts, even laptops with touch screens are not uncommon before the iPad came out. But once the iPad came out suddenly there appeared to double the amount of competition for this market of tablets from HP to Acer all the computer manufacturers started producing direct and indirect (different specs and price ranges) competitors. Of course with new android OS it became clear that Google has something great going on with their software. Remember though that the first iPad was actually lacking many of the new features iPad 2 has such as two cameras (back and front), speed and apps which didn't work well (if you remember other features comment below).

This is why Apple was important in the technology industry, even going back to the first computer - the macintosh which was the competitor to the first PCs, later the mac and macbook to compete with laptops which are in fact very popular with certain people such as designers and DJs seem to have as well.

It's clear that whatever Apple does, the rest of technology companies will follow but the fact that they make the trends does not mean they have the best products for me. In fact I can't wait for the next OS from Google which is supposed to be called Chrome OS but is yet to be made available.

Apple's success is directly related to the marketing of their products and in fact the brand which Steve Jobs helped build. They focus on the non-technical, regular people middle to higher middle class people that would find the ease-of-use and fun factor of the products. But this is where technical people are not benefited from their products and to me, being tech-savvy I find their products lack the flexibly I require and the restrictive nature is always a huge turn down problem that I tend to not like about them and I have never owned any of their products nor will I feel the need to get it. Of course I was always able to use their products when friends and family have them so the ease of use is a plus.

Do you own Apple products?
What do you like/dislike about Apple products?
Leave a comment and let me know what you think.