Sticks and Stones – A Framework for Naming Apple’s Device Software
As evidenced by my recent post history, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0, Apple’s rumored “netbook” device, and generally evaluating Apple’s products from a product design perspective.
Although Apple’s revenues are driven largely by hardware sales, it’s the software running on that hardware that actually delivers the value. After all, Apple doesn’t have exclusive access to any hardware components that aren’t also available, in some form, to their competitors. Sure, there are some chips they create in-house, but these components certainly have direct competitors in the market. A variety of vendors produce comparable touch-screen technology, graphics chip sets, and the rest.
Apple has long touted software quality as their products’ key differentiator, and they’ve been aggressively developing their operating system (I’ll delve deeper into this particular term later on) as the centerpiece of their software ecosystem.
This common software code base is presently powering Macs, iPhones, iPod Touch, and even Apple TV.
This is brilliant. Read more…
