Good Innovators Create and Promote Open Standards

One of the things to come out of WWDC was Apple’s plans to partner with several car manufacturers to integrate Siri into your system. Thankfully this seems more like wishfully thinking then an actual partnership. Don’t get me wrong having access to Siri in a hands free way is probably a good way to keep people from doing dangerous things while driving. It’s not the idea that I have a problem with it’s the method of implementation. Apple may be revolutionary but they do as much to stunt innovation as they do to advance it.


Proprietary systems are the bane of my existence. And with the 30 pin connectors, magsafe 1 and 2, 3-button headphones, a myriad of display connectors, and airplay, Apple has a lot of proprietary systems. It’s one of my biggest problems with Apple. Many would claim the reason Apple prefers proprietary systems is to ensure quality user experience. This is a load of FUD. Even if you believe it is necessary to prevent users from using “bad” connectors the use of proprietary systems does nothing to stop this. Look at the inkjet printer industry. Every cartridge is proprietary in order to ensure quality printing, but search out any printer available for sale today and there will be at least 5 knock off ink cartridge resellers. As far as I’m concerned the use of proprietary systems serves one purpose; protecting the bottom line of the company. The goal is to make sure you the consumer buys more of their products. It’s an attempt to kick out the competition and lock the door behind them.

This isn’t to say you can only use existing standards. There are many valid reasons why apple chose to create new systems. The 30 pin connector allowed Apple to use a smaller interface that not only supported the fast, but limitedly supported firewire cable, as well as the more compatible USB connector, as well as creating an easy interface for a variety of manufacturers to develop an entire suite of accessories. The problem is only Apple can use it. Worse yet, it diminished the effectiveness and usefulness of USB and firewire as standards. No one says creating new system standards is an easy task. One needs to only look at the recent histories of HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray, or the adoption process of 802.11n wireless standard to see how hard it is to develop and gain adoption of new standards. It often takes a long time, and during the interim you often have cludgy workarounds involving the lewd sounding adapter dongle. For a company like Apple that wants to move quickly and keep design lines clean conforming to standards is a burden to righteously be opposed. Ironically after over ten years the 30 pin connector has become a standard, at least for apple. As a result when rumors began circulating that they may ditch the standard for the next version of the iPhone, both consumers and accessory manufacturers responded with frustration.

The other problem with proprietary systems is it Balkanizes the industry, as each manufacturer tries to carve out their own proprietary system. I've had 30 pin like connectors for my iPod, Zune, sansa, and gigabeat music players, and now my tablet has a new different one. It confuses and frustrates the consumer when this happens and you end up with needless product duplication like the Blu-ray, HD-DVD fiasco.

The solution to all of these problems is to create platforms that others can build on. One of the best examples of this is surprisingly Microsoft. Microsoft introduced sync for cars years ago, and as the years have gone by they've realized the way to make it truly useful to consumer is to make it device agnostic, so now on the new electric focus the sync technology is available on both android and iOS, even though it's powered by windows ce. At E3 when Microsoft announced smart glass for the Xbox they made a point to note that it will with your windows devices as well as android and iOS. You could rightly make the argument that Microsoft has to do this due to their utter weakness in the mobile market, but this doesn't negate the value to the user.

I've said it before; Apple makes some truly amazing products. Unfortunately the company has very little regard for standards and conventions. It is part of their think different mantra. This can be good, because it challenges and innovates as a result. The bad though, is they prefer to wall off their improvements to standards forcing others to replicate the obvious improvements in a constant re-invention of the wheel. Apple is not alone in this in any way, Nintendo and Sony are equally odious in this regard and there are plenty more. I don't expect this to change anytime. It makes logical sense to press the advantage you have over the competition with your innovations. Apple has introduced some revolutionary features that they deserve credit and reward for. It is only the tech enthusiast in me interested in a better more compatible world that is frustrated by Apple's methods.