..for our customers...

Something I've always admired about Apple's approach to products is their seeming unwavering focus on "the user" or "the customer".

My feeling is the original iPhone was such a hit because it focused on ease of use, and making sure it had 80%+ of the features people need. Subsequent iPhone updates have added features only when 2 main boxed were ticked. Do a lot of people actually want it, and can we do it in such a way that it's easier that the current way for the user to use. Copy and Paste, Multitasking, Video Chat...the list goes on of features that other phones had, but Apple didn't add until it had ticked the 2 boxes.

There are a lot of features on my Galaxy S3 that don't tick either of these boxes. NFC is one of them. Great feature, and when acceptability is around, a lot of people will want it, but at the moment, no-one really cares about it, and there's no common way of implementing it. It's nice to say I've got it, but at the end of the day, I've never used it.

There was 1 decision though in relation to Apple that doesn't seem to tick either of these boxes, and that's the removal of Google's integration into iOS 6. Honestly, the way that Youtube and Google Maps were intergrated into iOS were better than Android. Embeded Youtube in webpages was a far more superior experience than Android (which on some sites still tries to fire up Flash, looking at you Verge), and the Maps solution, while basic, was very smooth, and super easy to use.

It would appear from the outside looking in that these changes were purely based on the current tiff between Apple and Google, and that flys in the face of the 2 requirements for a feature on an iPhone. I haven't had feedback on the impact of the youtube removal, but the Maps change seems to have a fair few people expressing disappointment about this.

Comparison of Maps Apps, source - http://www.reddit.com/user/Steve_J0bs

Now, I would hope that over time, the maps used will update to the point where they are on par with Google's map, but on launch day, this is pretty lousy. This does nothing towards making the maps experience better for the customer. Flyover is a "show off" feature more than anything, and turn by turn is certainly welcome, and knocks another Android feature off the "we don't have that" list. My hope is that the Google versions of apps will fly in and pick up from where Apple left, but this more than anything, makes me wonder if Apple's focus for the iPhone is starting the waiver.