That is a good question. Many tech people, are just that technicians. They are not computer scientist, engineers, information analyst, or marketers.
I have training in computer science, information systems, and some marketing as well.
The reason why some tech people don’t like it, is it is not what they are use to, or they think it needs to have all the “bells and whistles”. Technicians are trained for specific things. They may want to “fix” or “upgrade” something.
Technology however is always changing – but can follow some basic principles.
Here is a possible explanation why Apple does what it is doing and possibly an explanation of what any company could do.
- Keep It Simple Simply (KISS): They keep a minimal product line: this reduces cost, reduces confusion and complaints among consumers. IBM cut out its PC line to bring their company to a focus. Apple cut out printers and floppy drives and simplified.
- Eliminating moving parts, extra connectors, expansion slots, and rarely used items does the following: reduces failure, reduces cost of product, improves energy efficiency and reduces physical space/size.
- Leaving room for improvement: not going with the latest technologies gives time for cost to come down, time to put it in the design and perfect it – and even see if there is an actual need for the technology or if it is just hype (ie: Blue-Ray).
- They focus on what the customer would want (not necessarily what customers tell the company they want but what they would actually want)
- They focus first on what the product would or could be used for, then specs. That is a marketing focused approached, rather than a tech or accounting approach. (ie: use it for entertainment, for taking and sharing photo and video, for getting business done, will it fit in your pocket?, will it fit in your hand?, able to use the product a whole working day without recharging)
- Environmental criticism: I do understand some environmental criticism- but the other technology companies aren’t much better. Do you want a product that is fixable easily or a product that needs to be fixed less, made of recyclable material, less packaging, and less transportation cost, and energy efficient? Do USB (and airport) ports on Macintosh allow upgrading? Definitely. On my Macintosh I use a EyeTV tuner, have external storage, and scanning. I even use the network, the Internet and software for upgrading.
- Near Field Technology: I think it would be great if they added that to let me unlock my door or pay for my groceries, but I do have some concerns as far as security.
- Physical Keyboard as an add on (not standard) to the touch screen devices, this is where voice recognition and video comes in.