I have posted before about my take on Steve Jobs’ solution to holding the new iPhone 4 and several other things. I promise this is not necessarily about that, but it does have a spot here in the discussion. My question is are we moving too fast in technology to keep up with quality? Lately it seems the same for hardware, software and web applications that we are too obsessed with coming out new versions of seemingly everything to actually produce consistent quality results that continues to “wow” or improve user experiences.
According to the history of the iPhone, the notorious device was released mid 2007. Since then there have been multiple versions of the iPhone including the latest release in 2010 of the iPhone 4. Between the original iPhone and the current there was also the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Each new version came out with a new feature, and there were definite improvements in some areas. Unfortunately the latest iPhone released continues to face a public issue regarding the antenna which now Consumer Reports will not recommend. The problem started out small with Steve Jobs saying you’re holding it wrong, buy a case and you’ll be fine. Then Apple stated it was a software issue which miscalculated actual reception. People continue to test, and if you do a Google search on the iPhone 4 almost everything on the front page is regarding it’s antenna issue. I’d say this is a big problem for Apple. So did the desire to come up with new technology, new features and new design get in the way of quality? I know it’s all about sales, but there are a lot of people affected by the problem. Someone (most likely Apple) will have to pay some serious money to fix that.
Video games are culprits of this problem as well. The Madden series is probably the most notable. Every year they release a new version of the game, but the main purpose for each new release is to release new rosters. Rarely does a new release of this franchise offer such new spectacular features that it really does warrant ditching the old Madden game for the new release. During the current seasons the games represent you can download multiple times updated rosters. Why can’t sports franchises hold off new releases every single year and instead offer downloadable content (also known as DLC) and charge a few bucks every time a user wants to update their roster? I understand the total dollars may go down, but the overhead goes way down in the process. Continually improve the user experience and make it last awhile. The gaming systems today are so sophisticated game developers can roll out updates, patches and DLC to users almost as often as they want for a lot lower cost and price. Many gamers in the community prefer this as opposed to buying the “same” game continuously. Most prefer to buy new games when they’re sequels. Otherwise they would be just as happy with purchasing small and large DLC.
Can you name the last 20 new social media websites? I’m guessing probably not unless you are working in the field of news or research. I can’t even name the last 20 to be released. There are so many released throughout the year. They’re all competing with each other, and very few of them are remarkably different than their predecessors or siblings. I understand capitalism and competition is important, but there comes a time when you can only be so social that you’re now no longer able to manage.
My stance is not about less innovation and new technology, but it’s more about a better strategy around such innovation. It seems I can barely blink before something new comes out so closely related to the product before it that it really doesn’t offer a whole lot to it that a little software patch or purchase couldn’t do. I’m always one that suggests quality over quantity. Produce as many as you’d like as long as quality doesn’t ultimately suffer.
So are we moving too quickly now?
