I'm probably mutilating this quote, but according to Steve Jobs
"Apple only has one bottom line"
Samsung thinks it has many bottom lines, and I've worked in companies where individual departments are all working to many mutually exclusive goals and they all treat their own individual budgets and success as the most important bottom line in the organisation.
I'd hazard a guess that Apple's ability and willingness to harmonise it's entire operation starts with that one very simple statement of fact. A company only has one bottom line.
This post is rightly empathetic towards the designers at samsung. The drastically different outcomes come down to different corporate strategies.
Apple is a product focused business seeking to sell best of breed products.
Samsung is a sales focused business seeking to maximize marketshare of their products.
Those two strategies yield totally different outcomes when they trickle down through the business. That's the reason samsung makes 143 different cell phones with different screen sizes and software and Apple doesn't.
I found it interesting that he mused about the 3.5" vs. 4.12" screen, particularly when you take into consideration how Apple has defended their designs recently. If it is really true that they hit on the "this is the size that humans perceive as perfect" goldmine, then the way that Apple has argued against imitators is less "they shouldn't copy" and more "we want to be the only ones who sell 'perfect'". A subtle difference, but if true, a very interesting approach to battle your competition. After all, it leaves you in a very comfortable position - your competitors can try all day to build strong products if you have control over the ultimate perfection that nobody will be allowed to get to.
At least for now, you can't patent sizes, but it's not like we haven't said this about other things and it's certainly not like they wouldn't try.
What I found interesting about the 3.5" vs 4+" screen comments was that I disagreed with the entire premise. I don't want a phone, I want a pocket computer that can connect to the internet over a cellular network.
Using the device one handed is a non-feature for me: I am not going to hold a $400 device in one hand, my thumb is too big for most of the buttons, and I need the precision of my index finger for most apps.
Whereas a bigger screen gives me bigger videos, bigger buttons, and more screen real estate for reading articles. As long as it is comfortable in my pocket, bigger screens are better.
I love how this talks about problems with design in companies at a much deeper sense than all the shallow Apple-worshipping bullshit tech blogs everywhere are coming up with.
Everybody here assumes the smaller sized phone is the obvious choice, design wise. Why? I personally hate the small screen on the iPhone. I find it hard to read, especially on the go. I also don't have to use two hands to use it on the go (it's not an iPad, after all). I will admit my hand position is different than when using a smaller phone, so maybe this is a simple case of dogmatic "you must hold it THIS way" thinking.
The overall point isn't lost on me. Apple does seem to have less bureaucratic nonsense than other companies, like Samsung. Then again, Samsung makes a far wider variety of phones. Which is worse, a company that assumes everybody has the same tastes and should do everything the same way, or a company who understands variety? As somebody who frequently is at odds with the apple way of thinking, I appreciate the latter.
2. If it successfully emulates Apple, it is awesome
3. If it tries to emulate Apple, it is good
4. If it is different from Apple, it is bad, devil, unintuitive, terrible, be-damned, should-be-destroyed-and-cursed-by-the-whole-internet
5. If it challenges/threatens Apple's position, or the reviewer's position (which is as described above), it is harmful to humanity, innovation, the economy, and everything; the imperative object of the government/media/users is to destroy such thing.
Speaking as someone who loves most of Apple's design, I do find there to be a (very) few other close-to-perfect products: TiVo's are perfect, and yet they are nothing like Apple's products. My Miata is close-to-perfect (other than the stereo), and is nothing like an Apple product.
Most products do actually have sucky design. You don't agree?
well, samsung makes phones with smaller screens too - so I can choose if I want a phone to operate with one hand or a phone to watch videos while commuting.
Fair enough-- I'm sure the decisions behind which components go into the smaller phones is quite a complicated and even bureaucratic exercise. Products are tough, and, unlike software, hardware design is irreversible in the immediate sense.
"Apple only has one bottom line"
Samsung thinks it has many bottom lines, and I've worked in companies where individual departments are all working to many mutually exclusive goals and they all treat their own individual budgets and success as the most important bottom line in the organisation.
I'd hazard a guess that Apple's ability and willingness to harmonise it's entire operation starts with that one very simple statement of fact. A company only has one bottom line.