Inside Apple R&D -- Apple Patents Realized

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Inside Apple R&D -- Apple Patents Realized

Posted 05/14/2008 at 8:08:37pm | by Roger Hibbert, 3D Illustration by Adam Benton

The Superbad SuperPad, 2007

Forget puny trackpads: this design offers wall-to-wall touch sensitivity for ham-handed action. Don’t grab your folders with a finger; manhandle them with a two-fisted multigrope. True multitaskers can type with one hand while they browse the Internet or flip through photos with the other.

While the extended surface area takes up the space for wrist rests, the patent mentions that this pad is “smarter” than its cousins, able to distinguish purposeful touching from inadvertent brushing. But really, who needs wrist rests anyway? Our wrists will rest when they’re dead.

The iRemote, 1993

Back in ’93, Apple was apparently hot to get into the universal-remote game, as this patent sketch shows. Though short on description, the patent images Apple created show a decidedly fashion-forward remote, but with questionable usefulness.

First of all, what is that lil’ nubbin in the middle? Some kind of cross between
an Etch A Sketch and a joystick, it may have been intended as an early pointing device. Or maybe it was meant for for Skittle storage.

Though pretty, the thing has 10 buttons total—not great for channel surfing as the mere six numeric keys leave many channels out of reach. But an obvious power button means it would probably work just as well as Archie Bunker’s archaic clicker. Now those were the days.

Why is Apple So Hush-Hush?

We are all pawns in an elaborate game of big buzz and bigger sales.

It was—unequivocally—the most talked-about tech product of the year.

When Apple announced the iPhone in January of 2007, months ahead of its commercial release, it broke with years of tradition in which Apple never talked about its upcoming products ahead of their availability, period. While iPhone was a special case (FCC filings had to be made well in adpvance of the product’s release), it’s long been customary that, when Steve Jobs takes to the stage to talk about
new products, the Apple online store is closed. When the speech is done, the store reopens, and everything Jobs just announced is suddenly available.

It’s a strategy that doesn’t make a lot of sense on paper. What if Hollywood didn’t advertise movies until opening day? What if a new
car suddenly appeared on dealer lots without advance warning? Who would notice?

Yet it’s a strategy that has unquestionably worked. In the past month, press mentions of Apple have outpaced mentions of Dell by a ratio of about three to one, despite the fact that Dell is nearly three times the size.

What’s going on? Can simple secrecy really have this much of an impact? “Mystery is sexier than transparency,” offers Brian Lam, editor of the gadget blog Gizmodo. “Do I think it works? Let’s put it this way, when was the last time you wrote about a phone 25 times before it was even confirmed as being real?”

But how much can secrecy and the resulting “buzz” really add to the bottom line? According to Blackfriars Marketing, $700 million a year. Analyst Rob Enderle, analyst with the Enderle Group, offers one explanation, saying, “Apple has learned that much of the initial excitement over a new product is created when potential buyers first learn of it. When products are predisclosed, often the market has lost its excitement prior to release, and competitors are better able to position their offerings around products they have known about for some time. China, in particular, can have clones on the market very quickly.”

In other words, demand for a product—at least an Apple product—is at its height the day the product is announced, and then it starts to fade. Apple positions itself to capture the highest possible amount of sales while that frenzy is in full bloom. And that in turn is fed by the bare trickle of information that seeps out of Apple as slowly as molasses, a vicious circle of incredibly high demand for a virtually nonexistent supply of information

COMMENTS: 16

TAGS: mac concepts

COMMENTS

Proto iMac & G3 All-In-One
Submitted by Randy (not verified) on Wed, 2008-05-14 18:53

The drawing of the Proto iMac looks strikingly similar to the realized G3 All-In-One, sans speakers and phone (the A-I-O did have a ZIP drive and was housed in a case that looks almost exactly like the one in the picture)

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This exists
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2008-05-18 19:35

This was my first Mac in the UK. I cant remember the exact name but it Was a powerpc version around 1997.

The drive looking like a zip was the CD tray.. It didnt have the phone but it had those little speakers and it could swivel around on a base thingy..

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Secrecy has another benefit
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-05-15 04:34

Apple's secrecy catches competitors unawares. When other companies blather about future products, their competitors start planning another way of doing the same thing, and everyone's version of the product comes out at the same time.

Apple's competitors have no advance notice. They can't begin to plan until Apple's product is out. They can't even begin to know what they should plan!

That means that by the time the competitor's product is in version 1, Apple has already moved to version 2. Apple's competition is always playing catch-up. Apple gets them to use all their resources to find alternative ways of imitating Apple so that they have no resources left for innovation.

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new macs
Submitted by raindogg (not verified) on Thu, 2008-05-15 07:27

I like the new ideas but I'm sickened by the Glossy Screen road Apple is taking. It leaves me very little choice in what computer to choose. I'm hoping these new Mac Clones become more reliable so I have choices. Or better yet some attorney sues for a Monopoly for their Hardware and OS ties. I mean the bigger Apple gets and the more people that use OSX it will soon become a monopoly.

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You said you love the new
Submitted by urbain (not verified) on Thu, 2008-05-15 10:30

You said you love the new ideas. But in stead of giving your opinion on them, you just bash on other apple stuff that isn't related to the subject.

And to answer to your enlightning statements:
You have the choice already: buy a mac pro or a mini and a display you prefer. But still, you would only need a non-glossy display when you're in the publishing business. For all of the other things you can do with your mac: the glossy screens are great (I admit: at first I wasn't convinced either).

I really can't grasp why you would favor a clone over the real thing. Would you also buy a Chinese "ifone" when it gets more reliable just because the iPhone is the only phone on the market that comes with OS X and could become a monopoly? At least buy one with a non-glossy screen so YOU would feel you have the best phone out there.

You'll have to wait for that monopoly to rise for at least a decade, which I think will never come. By then cloud computing will be the standard. Do you really think that a marketshare of about 7% in the US can "soon" become a monopoly. Give me a break. Even here Europe there are still people who never heard of apple or OS X yet. (yes, there still are such people!)

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New Macs - Glossy Screens
Submitted by Fazekas (not verified) on Wed, 2008-05-21 09:07

I agree with Raindogg regarding the glossy screens. I've tried to warm up to them, but honestly I hate them, not because they are merely glossy, but because there is a significant amount of glare and reflection on the screen in most environments that I personally find distracting from what is intended to be shown on the display, meaning hard to read and focus on the subject matter. Go into an Apple Store and notice all the things in the store being reflected onto the screens of the pretty iMacs. As far as Mac Mini / Mac Pro, I've heard arguments about this on many other blogs, the Mac Mini if pitifully underpowered, and the Mac Pro is overkill for most people, plain and simple. Apple either needs to offer Matte screen as an option on the iMac, or come up with a mini tower.

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Monopoly
Submitted by TheConfuzed1 (not verified) on Wed, 2008-05-21 21:44

It is not illegal to operate or maintain a monoploy. It is only illegal to abuse a monopoly.

Foe example, Microsoft got into trouble for strongarming their hardware "partners" into excluding competitor software alongside their own.

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Great research! Can you
Submitted by Andrew (not verified) on Sat, 2008-05-17 08:17

Great research!
Can you provide us with patent or application publication numbers for these inventions?

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Mac Monopoly and Cult(ure)
Submitted by Fahad Alam (not verified) on Tue, 2008-05-27 21:50

I don't like the way Apple doesn't allow other companies to make their own Macs, so I think they'll always have a niche market. Having many companies producing variants of the Mac would be great for consumers. That's why Apple won't do it. They want their money more than the happiness of the consumer, no matter what they say about their altruistic business methods and overarching dream of making technology great for people.

I also really, REALLY hate the whole Mac culture. It's incredibly obnoxious to walk into a store and hear people fawning over a piece of plastic and silicon like it's a baby or something--and then addressing you like some piece of mud because you have a Tablet PC in your backpack. I also don't understand why people are so devoted to the brand. There have been times when Apple's screwed up, like the 90s, and the only reason they stayed afloat is because people religiously bought the same Apple product multiple times, no matter how crappy it was. I had a friend who bought three of the old Macs, then 2 Mac Pros, 2 Macbook Pros, and now he has two iPhones. He doesn't use the other copies, they're just there as relics of his favorite institution, Apple, Inc. He keeps them in a trailer somewhere.

I don't understand why people do that with Apple products. To me, it's like a cult or something. I don't need a cult, or some sort of business theology. I'm already religious, so the whole fawning aspect of the culture turns me off, especially when it's being manipulated by a business to make itself more money--not to better other people's situation. I won't buy a Mac as long as I live, because I feel uncomfortable with the whole fanatic culture that's such a big part of the brand.

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It's because you still have
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-05-29 17:10

It's because you still have a shitty PC you will never understand.

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arguing on the internet is like running in the special Olympics
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2008-06-01 12:08

even if you win your still a retarded.

one its obvious only one person who posted actually knows what a monopoly is. and if you think its you. its probably not.

and two the reason that they don't allow others to make their product is simple it would cause the company to crash. because they have to charge more for developing the product. while the other company takes the design and sell it for less.

and this argument about the glossy screens if you don't like them find another product instead of complain on message boards.

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I know this has nothing to
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2008-06-11 06:49

I know this has nothing to do with this discussion but why do so many people have to drag special olympics into these things? I've seen it so many times and it's always the same juvenile uneducated comment "even if you win you're still..." Get away from your computer once in awhile, get outside and do something meaningful with your life. Go coach Special Olympic atheletes and have your eyes opened. (Bet most a lot of them are in better shape than you are)

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You just described microsoft
Submitted by Dan dorfman (not verified) on Sun, 2008-06-01 17:24

Oh really? the behavior you just talked about is a carbon copy of the microsoft behavior; even though people saw the pricetag of vista, heard about how it was incompatible with 2 year old computers, and heard of all it's glitches and slow speed, they STILL BOUGHT IT! at least macs don't have euthanasia built in.

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While I can't find the
Submitted by Joe (not verified) on Sun, 2008-06-08 20:16

While I can't find the origin of the strategy, the other big reason Apple announces products and then immediately sells them is so that existing products don't see a drop in sales before a new product is to be released. For example, if Apple announced the latest iPod 6 months in advance, sales of the pod would drop constantly up until the release. When the general public is kept in endless anticipation for the next big thing, sales don't drop that much, other then before Mac World (conveniently positioned just after Christmas), before WWDC and mid Septemeber, the usual time of year that Apple announces the latest iPods for the holiday masses.

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Hi , I was stoked to see
Submitted by jc (not verified) on Mon, 2008-06-30 04:49

Hi , I was stoked to see this mac tablet in the mag . I hope it comes out , if it is anything like the other products from apple then yeah I want one . I currently use a samsung Q1 ultra umpc and have it hooked up to a 19 inch lcd monitor/tv with a wireless keyboard and mouse . For me it is a very handy tool because I fly in and out to work . I use it for movies on the plane and its not to bulky to throw into the back pack . When I'm on site I'm able to take it to work and check emails and keep in touch with everyone . I hate trying to use pda's or mobile's to check these things . It is also handy doing my banking on it . To see the conveniance of less wire's with the mac tablet sliding into the imac , It would be just what I need . I just hope they don't make the mistake of the processor in the sammy Q1 . I'm almost converted to mac , vista is giving me the S@#*S! Bring on the future seeya's

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omega watches
Submitted by benet (not verified) on Tue, 2009-11-10 17:57

Every little chat Salon 1000 ah!replica watchYou are my best's buddy fefew

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