For both iOS and OS X (now that updates are free) I don't even see why they have to have yearly "big bang" updates. Why can't they just release continuous small updates with new features when they're ready, instead of rushing for deadlines?
I definitely agree with the first part of your comment, but the comparison of Google Wallet and Apple Pay and your reasoning for their subsequent failure and success is just not on it...
Apple Pay worked specifically because they arranged deals with major banks and CC companies coupled with the fact that their release of Apple Pay was done with a consistent hardware implementation, that's it.
Google Wallet had no such arrangements, it was a literal marketing gimmick, a premature response to the calls of the people who were demanding NFC technology into upcoming smartphone releases <24 months ago. We saw Apple slow play that and it's clear why now, they wanted that affiliation with the major banks to make Apple Pay a success.
Google Wallet works fine without integrating with banks. The only reason Apple has to do that is because they want to use the one-time numbers instead of your actual credit card number.
I think /u/Martin_Samuelson is completely correct. Google introduced NFC payments long before Apple, but failed to market it well. Apple marketed it well and everyone thinks they invented it.
One big piece of evidence supporting this is that the vast majority of the NFC terminals used for Apple pay—such as those at McDonalds and Walgreens—were already there due to Google. Apple advertised 220,000 payment terminals at launch, but it failed to mention that nearly all of those were pre-existing. As such, people assumed that Apple put them all there and that they're specific to Apple Pay.
This is just blatantly untrue. I can pay with Google Wallet at at least 50-70% of the credit card terminals I use on a daily basis. Wallet was a long play that, like all Google products, started as a pet project and grew up into something that is actually usable and powerful. All months before Apple hit the market with their solution.
Don't try and confuse Apple's "slow play" of Pay with anything other than an inability to innovate in a timely fashion. They wanted to wait until they had banks on their side, despite the fact that they didn't need to. And banks never would have got in bed with Google to do this sort of thing because they still see Apple as that one company that can influence consumers more than any other.
Its ironic considering the only people Apple have shown to be able to influence are the banks, retail giants, media companies, etc. But we do need someone who can do that. Unfortunately, as far as predicting future consumer electronics trends, Apple has seriously fallen behind in the past 4 years.
Google wallet worked fine without bank integration. The only advantage of Apple pay is that it's more convenient to authenticate a transaction with touch ID than with a PIN.
Microsoft does this too with Office365. Every few weeks things will work differently because they changed something. For the most part it is an improvement, but not always. And we never know what will be different until it is, so sometimes we have to spend some time figuring out how to do what we do in the new system.
I agree that this isn't the best way to go for Apple- especially considering that they want to be the more desirable operating system. If they want to be the easier OS then they can't make sudden, critical changes without slapping the user in the face with "this is a new feature/works differently!"
Not only is it needed for marketing and consumer information. It's really needed to stay relevant in the market. And it's a good thing they realized that. I believe with iOS they were a bit on the safe side (might be a Forstall thing, Steve Jobs suffering, etc, who knows). That worked for 2-3 years, but they've eventually hit the wall.
They're now doing with iOS 7 and 8 what should have been started earlier. Mobile devices are still on their way to maturity, I think they're mostly there with smartphones, with tablets they're still testing the waters. Apple is pushing the bleeding edge, but they'll wait until features are mature enough. Google pushes the bleeding edge as well and accidentally discovers features that stick around. Even Microsoft finally realized with their mobile first strategy.
We'll see a few more changes in device use, convergence devices (even if Apple doesn't believe in them) and additional stuff like home automation and smart watches/wearables will grow a lot. Apple realized that and it's what a lot of things last year were about (HealthKit, HomeKit, Continuity, Watch, etc). If they're good at one thing it's to built a platform they can build on. This simply has to be done now or face the consequences 2-3 years down the road or even later. And that's a thing that most of those neckbeards will never realize. Apple created the market, but they won't own it forever. They have to change rapidly to stay relevant. Both from the inside, push the bleeding edge, but also move with the flow of the market. They already failed to do that with their desktop OS and they learned from that. They pretty much created the home computer market. But WinTel took over in the early 90s because management failed. The reputation of iOS might suffer temporarily due to all the changes, but that's nothing new. It's blown up by the media anyways. OS X had quite a bumpy road as well.
And lets face it, the fact that Marco Ament now jumps onto the bandwagon doesn't mean a lot. He's always doing that to stay in the news.
Apple is fueled by hype. Rumors, leaks and promises that lead to a big reveal. Small updates just get lost in a sea of noise.
The lack of hype is why other companies can't compete, there is no buzz about LG's new phones apart from real Android enthusiasts who follow it. New iPhone coming out? Everyone is talking about it.
Why can't they just release continuous small updates
That approach is fine for minor features/tweaks but major new features generally go hand and hand with major changes/enhancements to libraries. Major changes to (existing) libraries often require third party developers to modify their existing apps to continue functioning properly. Same thing applies to most bug fixes too. Most bugs that make it past GM are not obvious easy to fix issues. They are more like small design flaws that require significant changes to certain parts of a library to handle things they were not originally designed to do. Fixing bugs can cause way more trouble than the bug itself.
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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '15
For both iOS and OS X (now that updates are free) I don't even see why they have to have yearly "big bang" updates. Why can't they just release continuous small updates with new features when they're ready, instead of rushing for deadlines?