So the Apple Vision Pro, launched 40 years after the Macintosh, represents Apple's first attempt to enter a new product category with a new product, without Jobs or design expert Eve. This does not happen without challenges. That Vision Pro launched with only 600 native apps available, compared to the nearly 2 million iOS apps available via the App Store, is indicative of growing dissatisfaction among developers. It is not helpful that new European Union regulations will break up Apple's monopoly on app stores in its iOS products, which is happening at the same time that US authorities accuse Tim Cook and Apple of monopolistic behavior.
In many ways, Apple has become the company they warned about 40 years ago. Vision Pro, with its aloof and controlling nature, brings us closer to the dystopian future that the 1984 ad warned of; Technology that will control us humans more than serve us. So, 40 years after the introduction of the Macintosh, it's time we really start thinking about the role of Apple and other big tech companies in our lives.
Should we feel as relieved as we hand over more and more control to a company that has grown from being a rebel and counterculture, to becoming the biggest, richest, most powerful company in the world? Apple has clearly shown us that innovation isn't just about introducing us to new products, it's about how these products can manipulate and influence our perception of freedom and autonomy.
The question we should ask ourselves is whether we can trust that Big Tech, whatever its original intentions, can avoid becoming what it once stood against, and what we should do to prevent that from happening. We must do this before Big Brother refuses to ask us this question.
Hans Peter Nygaard Hansen
Communications Consultant at KommFrem
“Web specialist. Lifelong zombie maven. Coffee ninja. Hipster-friendly analyst.”
