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If you’ve followed Apple for any length of time, a pattern emerges.
Take the first iPod: It was big, bulky, FireWire-Mac-only, and pretty pricey.
But by version three, it was a lean, mean market-leading machine.
Same with several other examples: Apple Maps, Apple Music and perhaps the biggest of them all — the Macintosh itself.
Of course, not everything Apple touches turns to gold (Vision Pro pops to mind, but the jury is still out).
But in general, if Apple sticks with something, you can probably bet on a turnaround.
The latest example is Image Playground, Apple’s AI image generator.
Version 1? Horrible! Weird, cartoony, plastic-looking images that no one had any interest in. I don’t think I’ve ever come across an Image Playground picture in the wild.
Version 2? Way, way better. The upcoming version (currently in beta) is a vast improvement on the original.
It may still not be to everyone’s taste, and it is still behind competitors, but there are some good reasons to stick with it.
Also in today’s newsletter:
And here’s another example! Apple’s Mail app search functionality — which maybe hopefully possibly is finally going from wretched and maddening to somewhat usable!
I’ve been enjoying the World Cup, although I missed reportedly the best game so far (Japan versus Sweden). I’m really curious how Philips TV backlighting enhances the action.
🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: Momax makes great charging products, and if you’re headed overseas this summer, this compact travel charger looks just the ticket. It works in 200-plus countries and is almost 40% off. #affiliate
An Apple industrial designer told me the company ditched replaceable batteries in products like the iPod for several good reasons — No. 1 being they added a ton of bulk and compromised waterproofing and dustproofing. Plus, customers say they want to replace their batteries, but in practice, very few do. Maybe it’s time to revisit that, especially for audio products.
Someone finally found a good use for the Vision Pro headset — see the top X post below!
Friday’s poll results returned some interesting results. (Also below.)
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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One more thing ...
I found that there were these incredibly great people at doing certain things, and you couldn't replace one of these people with 50 average people. They could just do stuff that no number of average people could do.… And so I have spent my work life trying to find and recruit and retain and work with these kind of people. My number one job here at Apple is to make sure that the top 100 people are A+ players. And everything else will take care of itself.
Today’s poll
Do you currently use Image Playground?
Results from yesterday’s poll:
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