Apple isn’t building things for you

It’s building things for your mom.

Yes, we’re all angry about it. The October 2016 Apple Event was a complete disaster and we’re all still fuming.

Owen Williams said it himself — Apple just told the world it has no idea who the Mac is for, and that’s because the Mac isn’t for you.

You: the designer, the creator, the musician, the developer. Apple has left us behind long ago and we’ve just failed to accept it.

It became disastrously apparent as in the latest event, speakers unveiled a less than exciting Minecraft integration and constantly referred to football games. The applauses were almost forced, and the excitement slowly declined and lost its way to the stage.

Even Tim looks a little disappointed.

Apple doesn’t know its audience, because its audience is not you.

It is your mom. It is the jock hosting the Super Bowl party. It is the spoiled teenager who absolutely needs the rose gold everything.

This target audience will eat up anything Apple presents it, because whether we like it or not, that is who they are building things for. Most importantly, its got a trusted brand name behind it, and things really do just work.

And if it doesn’t, you just buy all the dongles, connectors, adaptors, and converters necessary to make it work. Because then, it really will just work. And because they don’t know any better, they’ll continue to purchase the necessary to have their ecosystem seamlessly adapt to their lives.

Is Tim Cook to blame?

Tim Cook is like the hip Silicon Valley Uncle.

Now don’t take me wrong, I love Tim. I think if we had a coffee we’d have a great time together, and I can’t deny he’s a super smart man.

But he is no longer moving Apple towards innovation, he’s moving Apple towards conformity. If it’s easy to use, stable, good quality, and virtually unbreakable — why wouldn’t people buy it? I hate to say it but… he’s actually not wrong.

This strategic move will certainly get him the sales numbers he’s looking for, while us hipster Mac users are left behind. (I’m sorry to say this, but if you were into Apple before Apple was cool, you are in fact a hipster.)

Now what?

While we’re left disappointed with Apple and its execution of “very cool” things (as Uncle Tim likes to say,) us creatives are left behind wondering who will pick up the pieces.

It’s safe to say we don’t have to look very far, as Microsoft seems to have stepped up and filled old Apple’s shoes. No one can deny that the new Microsoft Studio Surface is a thing of beauty.

Now all it needs is an OS that doesn’t suck.

Go on then Satya, make it happen.