The only problem I have with Tim Cook is his seemingly extreme lack of technological ambition for arguably the world’s leading electronics company. This is a very strange miss-match and I hope he can turn this around.
Apple, what if trying 10 extremely off the wall, radically innovative projects, and failing at MOST OF THEM, would be much less embarrassing to the image of Apple than just releasing another variation of a tablet computer (iPhone/iPad) every so often? This is not revolutionary, it’s old technology.
I asked around a bunch of students on Facebook: Which is the most innovative technology company?
Google. Of course.
Why would they say that? Well, maybe its because Google have the guts to try some really bold ideas, which some people may make fun of, but in the end earn them respect and an image of being the innovator.
*Glass- a computer you wear on your face.
*Driverless cars – the biggest change to cars since they were invented, as well as an AI breakthrough.
*Project Loon- A project that aspires to create a network of balloons in the sky around the world to beam internet access to everyone in remote areas. An information revolution for EVERYONE.
*They are bankrolling the Google Lunar XPrize- sending robots to the moon.
*They have a keen interest in AI and are working hard on building intelligent computers. They are a backer of Singularity University and the Singularity scene.
*They bought an experimental quantum computer from DWave.
*Their venture capital division has expressed interest in investing in life extension/anti-aging technology, and nanotechnology.
*They have recently started a new venture called Calico, a project to extend human life and improve the quality of people’s health.
I’m told Steve Jobs once wanted to make an Apple car. I’m told that Steve Jobs knew he scared people with his unpredictability and didn’t really care, and could be a bit of a maniac. But he sure was obsessed with innovation, which is how a technology CEO should be.
Tim cook is perhaps a much kinder, more charitable person, but its hard to imagine him announce an Apple brand car. I want to see the CEO of Apple have "insanely great" ambitions for the future of humanity, even if they are not always an obvious success.
Elon Musk… I’m not trying to turn this into worship, but finally we seem to have someone here who is the most ambitious guy in the world, and actually seems calm, occasionally a little modest, even shy. And importantly, he just seems to deliver on what he promises, or make real progress in that direction.
Extreme ambitions from Elon Musk…
*Cheap launch vehicles to orbit.
*Then fully reusable rockets to radically reduce costs by orders of magnitude and provide easy access to space.
*A human civilization on mars.
*An electric car revolution
*A solar power revolution
*Low pressure, ultra high speed, tube style shuttle trains (Hyperloop),
*He is also talking about how he has ambitions for a supersonic all electric VTOL passenger jet. ( A super-Concorde )
I don’t think Apple is going to announce a plan to open an Apple Store on the moon anytime soon. It would not surprise me much if Elon Musk has plans to open a Tesla store on mars, and sell Tesla vehicles (adapted for the terrain) to the eventual civilization on Mars he wants to put there.
One more thing
When Apple announced their new iPhone as unapologetically plastic, doesn’t that imply they know iphone fans are wanting them to apologize for doing this?
I kid, I have nothing against plastic backed phones, really, my Galaxy S4 looks fine as do the new iPhones!
I love Apple because they make good products, but now I just really want to see them do something that catches us completely by surprise, Google or Elon Musk style. They easily have the resources, but I’m not sure its going to happen.
I want to see Apple COPY Google [x]. Be bold and let’s say, make an announcement that apple will produce a a battery 20x the gold standard of today by 2020.
They may succeed, or fail, and having tried very hard, only end up with a battery 10x the gold standard of today. Every tech blog in the world will be singing their praises, that they actually tried something hard to push the electronics industry forward, and created something very useful.
It’s time for Apple to fill the pages of the tech news and science news with their stunning ambition. How long can this predictability continue before people find them boring?
“Does God Exist? Well I would say, not yet.”
-Ray Kurzweil: (Director of Engineering, Google) on stunning ambition