rcomeau

Alex_V said:

I don’t believe that this was a decision to prioritise form over function. Placing the power button, either on the back, or on the front, would look perfectly fine, in keeping with the Apple minimalist aesthetic. It appears that Apple are deliberately encouraging behavioural change: “Leave it on.” And there may be good technical reasons to leave the machine on rather than turning it on and off every day.

Plenty of use cases (mobile cart for example) where the computer needs to be powered on/off routinely. Not the most common application, but to exclude large chunk of users because they want to focus on one use-case is not good design.

bloggerblog said:

Can't it be powered on from the keyboard?

The keyboard power button was a hack that did not conform to USB standards, so they took it away. I recall when that happened because we manufactured computer trolleys for a medical application and the powermac was enclosed. We had to hot-wire a power switch somewhere else as it took screws to open the cart to get to the power button. PIA. 

dewme said:

I think a lot of automakers are struggling to provide differentiation in the vehicles they sell. So many new vehicles are virtually indistinguishable and only come in four colors. They want to use the dashboard to separate their vehicles from the competition now that the cup holder war has settled down.

It is also part of the overall shift of everyone making "durable products", meaning the only income is from the device sale itself to something with recurring revenue. BMW is trying to charge a monthly fee to subscribe to activating hardware features (like heated seats!). Also in the long run, they see the driver as a new passenger who will consume media while being driven around. They are jockeying for control of the delivery (and income) of the content. giving up control of the screen means losing that battle before it has started.

But at least on my Jaguar, access to the native apps is just a click away inside Carplay.

I-Pace? I do like the balance. It does help that the car has normal controls and instrument display. I'll never consider a Tesla for that reason. The driver was an afterthought.

jas99 said:

This is a very good thing. I was very relieved to read this article.

Having a great deal of experience in the auto industry over decades, I can tell you this is a field that Apple should stay away from.

It could be the worst of all businesses, bettter only than the hospitality industry. The auto industry has incredibly low margins, is highly capital intensive, has a great deal of exposure to lawsuits, and the list of negative attributes goes on and on. 

The ability to say, “No.” is one of Apple‘s greatest strengths. 

It could have been worse. Apple may have been trying to start an airline. How does one become a millionaire? Start with a billion$ and start an airline.

I am not sure what Apple could have brought to the table here that was so different. I think a few years ago, tech types did not see cars as cars, but holding pens for humans while a car drove them from A to B and thus consumers of whatever infotainment the owners of the screen content management could present to their eyeballs. It turns our automatic driving us harder than everyone thought and you can't service a car without a network of expensive service centres (those pesky dealers that somehow insist on making a living fixing cars). This turns out to be a very different business model and maybe not worth it for Apple at this time?