The Reason for Innovation

Apple has always been at the pinnacle of innovation and it always came at a price. They have a history of removing technologies from beloved devices which they do ultimately render obsolete. As the world progresses further with technology, it loses those that Apple considers legacy. This happens from time to time and more often than not with the presence of Apple.

However, with the release of the new iPhone 7, it does not seem like Apple has made a great choice in removing what some people would not consider legacy. "I'm always hoping [the rumors are] always wrong and that they'll come up with something that totally surprise and astound us," Blodget discusses the potential of Apple. It may be too soon to tell if Apple has made the right decision with the release of the iPhone. People have expressed outrage for this decision but it does not look too entirely different from what has happened in the past.

The removal of the CD drive in the new MacBook Pro had received the same kind of outrage that we see today. Now people carry around flash drives or use the cloud to store and send their personal files. We’re being blinded by the present of the idea, however, we must look towards the future and what Apple wants us to see. It is assumed that Apple wants a wireless future. Though it may not only be such a grandeur ideal they are aiming for.

Some may say that Apple is aiming to profit in licensing fees from manufacturers who’d like to manufacture accessories for the new iPhone. Some may say that Apple is valuing the beauty of the device more than functionality by focusing on how thin their engineering team can design it. There’s a lot to say but not much ground to cover with the secretive nature of Apple. “Maintaining an ancient, single-purpose, analogue, big connector doesn’t make sense because that space is at a premium,” Phil Schiller from Apple comments on the headphone jack (Forbes).

Consumers may never know what Apple has in store for them and may never even understand why when it does in fact come to that time. Whatever it may be, Apple has been the pinnacle of innovation time after time. Though the true question is: will they remain that way?

References

Chamary, J. (2016, September/October). Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2016/09/16/apple-iphone-headphone-jack/

Levy, S. (2016, September/October). New from Apple. Retrieved October 28, 2016, from https://charlierose.com/videos/28785

The Importance of Usability Testing

There comes a time when users don't quite get the experience they expect from a product. It is times like these that usability testing is important. Usability testing is simply testing the usability of a product from the perspective of the user. There are two main types of tests when it comes to usability testing which are reliability and validity. It is something we can equate with human interaction. If a product is reliable and the output is valid, it can more often than not provide a great experience. 

Some of the usability tools that I've used are Selenium which automate web browser actions using Chromium Web Driver. This allows for me to test rapid usage of a product and program a set of steps that a normal user would take. There are many options that are available in mobile application development as well which provide developers a way to test user input through automating input testing.

There are many companies that use usability testing where usability is important and the essence of their product. Apple is a good example of a company that cares about user experience, "Today, UX and UCD is strong as ever at Apple" (Spillers). It is a critical step in perfecting the connection between software and client.

Developers must pay careful attention to usability. It is not only functionality that carries the product to success. What good can a product give if it does not provide the users with a good experience? Users are the fundamental basis of success for any given software. We create software for users. Some users even go into development because they are dissatisfied with the standards of user experience seen in products they've used. "[U]sability is a necessary condition for survival," an article states the importance of usability with a taste of natural selection (

Upon applying the idea of usability testing to a project I'm currently working on, I have discovered that there are many things that a developer would not normally see. Would it continue to work after an overnight stress test? How long does a session take when using my product? Applying usability testing to my product allows me to see the things that developers often are ignorant of. Thinking from the perspective of the user has been a critical resource for me and my team.

References

Spillers, B. F. (n.d.). Busting the myth that Apple doesn't do User Research. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from https://www.experiencedynamics.com/blog/2014/09/busting-myth-apple-doesnt-do-user-research

Usability 101: Introduction to Usability. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2016, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/

--what is usability testing?
--why is it important?
--what usability tools do you use?
--who uses it and why?
--why should we care about usability testing?
--how do you apply usability testing to your project?
--what has usability testing revealed to you?