I remember the article on why Apple doesn't make conceptual phones. This article reminded me of that.
Apple's magic isn't that they have ideas of beautiful things. I'm sure every company does. Apple's magic is that the beautiful things they imagine come true.
(And I'd guess that's why a lot of people are Apple fans, myself included: because Apple seems to spit in the face of the idea that you can dream but it'll never come true. It's almost a giddy feeling.)
That's an incredible story. What a concise look at the drive that Jobs puts into Apple employees. And, from what Apple's been churning out, it seems to work.
I also recall hearing that Apple engineers didn't think the iMac was technically possible, and Jobs made them build it anyway.
I'll have to disagree with the rest of the commenters here.
These concept devices are useful the same way (as they essentially are) science fiction is. Inspiration and a focus on new ideas instead of implementation. Too much focus on the latter can distract engineers from solving higher-level user problems.
You just have to look at them more as sci-fi than vaporware.
100% true, but as everyone is doing such concepts, the value of a particular one is rather low. Few ones get implemented, and these are what's really valued.
Also, it's a friggin HOVERCRAFT! And it shoots LASERS!
Guys, I think I should be a concept phone designer. I especially like how you get to talk about imaginary phones like they're real. ("So naturally, the whole surface is a touchscreen.")
The author is clueless about the response time of E-Ink. Also, no one is noting that E-Ink achieves a lot of its power thriftiness by being a reflective screen, not a luminescent screen.
