The year 2012 is over, Apple, as another company, should also look back to learn from a year, this has been his year:
iPad Mini
A year after the death of Steve Jobs, Apple introduced the iPad mini, its compact tablet. 7'9 inches instead of the 9'7 that the previous three generations of iPad had carried. So Apple wanted to face the legion of 7-inch tablets that, going from less to more, have taken over the market, and have been planted as the only alternatives that have been able to stand up to the iPad, helping Android to reach 41% market share of the tablet market.
This movement was something that does not usually enter Apple's DNA, rectify. Although it was no longer around at the time of its launch, Jobs ruined tablets of this size (or very similar) a couple of years earlier. In any case, Apple has achieved abrand new input deviceRelatively inexpensive, with a design that makes you fall in love at first sight, and great performance.
iPhone 5
The other great protagonist of Apple's 2012, and in turn of technology in general. Not surprisingly, TIME magazine named it gadget of the year recently. To understand the launch of the iPhone 5, you have to have five keys:
- Continuity: There were few voices that branded this terminal as not very innovative, being like the 4S but with the bigger screen. Really, it was clear that Apple was not going to release a terminal radically different from its predecessors, or groundbreaking. Apple does not constantly change paradigms, that it did with the first iPhone, and it is not willing to make big changes that confuse its users. However, we do enter a stage in which some classic iOS users are looking for alternatives to replace or complement the iPhone to handle the operating system with more freedom and room for maneuver.
- New SIM: Apple's obsession with optimizing the size they have reaches the point of having used three types of SIM card in six iPhone models. Starting with the standard SIM in the original, the 3G and the 3GS, he surprised by announcing the arrival of the microSIM with the iPad 3G that would later be extended to the iPhone 4 and 4S. With the iPhone 5 the standard was changed again, and nanoSIMs arrived.
- Lightning connector: The other change of Apple, motivated among other causes by the possibility of reducing the size of a component to leave more internal space for the rest. After five iPhone models, three iPad and an endless number of iPods, Apple said goodbye to the 30-pin connector. Its replacement, the Lightning connector, is much smaller, in addition to providing other advantages such as higher data transfer speed, more possibilities for the future, or the fact that it is ambivalent.
- 4 inches: Although no one has ever shown me where that is written, it used to be said that 3 inches was the perfect size for a smartphone, on Apple's consideration. For this reason, the size of the screen that lasted five generations was never going to be changed. However, it does seem reasonable that Apple's concern was that we could handle the terminal with one hand, and four inches in 16: 9 ratio, falls within this canon. And with the appeal of huge screens from Samsung, HTC, Nokia and company, it would have been suicide to keep the 3 inches for another year.
- Scratches on the housing: Something must have gone wrong in the quality control from Apple at Foxconn so that so many iPhone 5s, especially from the first batch, were exposed to the problems of scratches on the side bezel of the case. So much so that Apple slowed down its production in order to make the controls more exhaustive and thus improve its resistance. Something that should not have happened in such an expensive device, and that boasted of being the best built, and with the best materials.
Forstall and all other changes
It wasn't even a week after the iPad mini was launched before Apple announced major changes to its leadership structure. The most talked about was undoubtedly Scott Forstall departure, the man at the forefront of iOS development. Much was speculated on the causes of their forced abandonment, although shortly after the reason was found out, it was none other than the resignation of signing Apple's letter of apology for the fiasco that led to its new map service.
Apple's new executive organization chart was especially notable for the increased power of Jony Ive, who would henceforth be in charge of the department of human interface, thus overseeing the design of software for both iOS and OS X. Very good news for not a few who love the superb design of Apple hardware (except for the horror of the iPod nano), which is the field that Ive led up to. now. In addition, there are other changes in the squad, with names to stand out like those of Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue, or Craig Federighi, as well as the loss of John Browett.
Apple Maps
The Google Maps application, native until iOS 5, had become somewhat stagnant over the years. Perhaps that is why we were looking forward to the arrival of Apple Maps in iOS 6. When it did, these expectations turned to outrage and astonishment, as the new maps application was lacking in information, constant inaccuracies, and was generally much less usable. than Google's. In some cases, the use was completely normal and smooth, but generally there was no color.
This fiasco was mocked by the competition, and especially by all kinds of social media users. Tim Cook had to post a An apology letter] (http://appleweblog.com/2012/09/tim-cook-disculpa-mapas-ios-6) for iOS 6 users, which also did not allow returning to iOS 5 or installing Google Maps in any way. The person responsible for this application was fired in November, and at the end of the year Google Maps arrived again on the App Store to finish putting out the fire.
iPad-Retina
In March, as was customary for new generations of iPad, the iPad with Retina display, with a resolution of X in just 9'7 inches, doubling the previous one of 1024 x 768. It was the main feature of the new Apple tablet, as well as including for the first time support for Crab, a design identical to that of its predecessor -the iPad 2-, except for making it a little thicker so that the battery life would not be reduced. In October, the XNUMXth generation iPad, whose two basic differences were the Lightning connector, and the incorporation of the A6X chip.
The third iPad was the first time the Retina display jumped out of the iPhone, at 9 inches. Later it would also do it with an even larger screen: the 7-inch MacBook Pro Retina. The dynamics in any case is the same: a pixel density much higher than what we were used to seeing until then, and that plays with the limit of what the human eye is capable of appreciating. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Will television be the next field in which Apple revolutionizes standard resolution? Surely in 2013 we will already have news from Apple's own television.
Siri in Spanish
In October 2011, during the presentation of the iPhone 4S, Apple impressed the world of technology with Crab, a voice assistant built into iOS 5, and capable of interpreting natural voice commands, not limited to the mediocre voice assistant before, which could only understand predetermined commands (and being wrong most of the time).
At that time, Castilian speakers still couldn't use it in our language, as it was still in beta and not in Spanish. Last June, with the first beta of iOS 6, Siri learned Spanish, definitively staying with the final launch of iOS 6 in September. Also, my partner Juan Diaz prepared a guide with all the uses of Siri in Spanish.
Arrival in China
The year ended with great news for Apple and technology fans in the world's most inhabited country: Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), landed in China in December, with its recent flagship launches, the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini. An arrival in a huge potential market to continue expanding the empire of the bitten apple, where even a counterfeit Apple Store was seen.
Mountain Lion
For the first time, Apple updated its operating system only a year after its predecessor: Mountain Lion was announced in February like the replacement of Lion, the OS X that did not convince many. Mountain Lionaported all the fluidity and stability that Snow Leopard was missing, as well as new details: notification center, Facebook and Twitter integration, greater integration with iCloud, Dictation, Game Center, Gatekeeper ...
If Apple continues with this line, and happens to update its operating system for Mac annually, in February 2013 we should already hear about the update to OS X 10.9. Mountain Lion was announced via a sudden press release, rather than during an Apple event or keynote, so we'll keep an eye on the mailbox.
Retina MacBook Pro
During the WWDC of 2012 the new MacBook Pro were announced. A very continuous line with what has been seen until then; Features such as a considerable increase in RAM memory, a redesign that went through the elimination of the optical drive, or above all, the Retina display were expected. This did not finally happen ... Or at least not as expected.
Behind them, it was the turn of the Retina MacBook Pro, a truly professional range with highly advanced specifications and a new ultra-slim design. And the long-awaited Retina display, which could lead the way for laptop displays, as the iPhone 4 did for competing smartphones.
iBooks Store arrives in Latin America
In October, at the doors of the presentation of the iPad mini, iBooks Storeit expanded to Latin America. 16 countries began to be able to acquire books for iOS through this platform: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.
With Apple trying to enter the education sector, coupled with the pressures it had been putting on publishers, it was not a matter of time this landing.
iTunes 11
Few times has Apple been portrayed as much as it did with iTunes 11. It is not normal that after announcing it and leaving all users wanting to install it and see it in the first person, they say that they will launch it in a period of between three and six weeks . Even worse was not meeting this deadline, and end the month of October with no news, until Apple admitted that it could be postponed for another month.
Finally, iTunes 11 It was released on November 29 with the biggest redesign the popular Apple app has seen. The overall impressions were pretty good, although every deep redesign has its detractors. On the other hand, at first it lost certain functionalities that were returned to it in the subsequent first update. Also, on AppleWeblog we publish a guide with tricks and features to get the most out of it.
The trial against Samsung
It was surely the most boring chapter of the year: the trial against Samsung for having infringed patents on multiple products. The truth is that it was nothing new that Samsung had copied several devices to some degree, although it is also true that Apple's obsession with appropriating certain patents borders on ridiculousness. And on some devices I had little reason to claim anything. In any case, with these types of disputes, the most affected is usually one: the end user.
The final verdict, in August, forced Samsung to pay about $ 1.000 billion to Apple, in compensation for the benefits obtained thanks to patents owned by Apple. As is often the case, each party gave their view of the conflict, both Samsung and Apple and Google itself felt in some way winners of the trial.
Year I without Steve Jobs
2012 was also the first year in which Apple had to deal without the leader who had led its direction since its inception. Steve Jobs, passed away in October 2011, left a gap impossible to replace in the same way given its unique character, for good and for bad. Tim Cook was the one who took the lead as CEO, and the truth is that this first year without Jobs has been somewhat bumpy for Apple (maps, stock market turmoil, scratches on the iPhone 5 case ...), but generally quite good, since it is still too early to evaluate this absence.
Thanks to Appleweblog
