Better Integration with existing Technology

With rumors about the Apple iPhone 7 spreading, Apple is said to announce on September 7, the new iPhone will be ditching the head phone jack (Eadicicco, 2016). As long as they continue to produce phones with the lightning jack that’ fine by me. However, the iPhone is not the best smartphone but, it can be. I proposed this idea back in 2009 to a college. The idea is this: you come into work pull out your iPhone and place it onto a dock. That dock is connected to all your peripherals like, keyboard, mouse, printer, dual monitors, network etc. Cool right? When you want to browse the web, open Chrome, Safari, Firefox etc. When you need to edit a document, open a text editor. When you need to create complex Transact-SQL queries open SQL Server Management Studio. Simple. How is that in 2016 we still don’t have anything close to that? In fact, the market has shifted away from docking stations for laptops and shifted towards tablets. Tablets are portable, convenient, and now very powerful. Well, what about people like me that don’t want to lug around a tablet and prefer using an iPhone as an extension of a desktop computer?

Solving the Word’s Security Problems

Using an iPhone in this manner would solve many problems. The first problem is security. Apple solved that with the military’s help back in 2010 with remote wipe through the app Find My iPhone (Aamoth, 2010). I remember watching the interview with an Army general talking about this feature and how necessary it is to be able to control the device not if, but, when it falls into the wrong hands. Desktops can’t do that. Tablets can. But, tablets are not as portable as people say. Can you put a tablet into your pocket? No. You can put your iPhone into your pocket. Let’s be honest if a theft were to occur the iPhone would be harder to steal out of someone’s pocket over God knows where people store their tablets when not in use. Seriously, I never see people store tablets because they are always using them. Especially, when taking pictures with an iPad at the Zoo, the mall, concerts and the grocery store. Back on point, since remote wipe was conceived back in 2010, Apple has been improving its security with iCloud for several years now (Wakabayashi, 2016). And will continue to strengthen iCloud encryption. So, using your iPhone or iPad is becoming more secure, not less.

Apart from that feature using an iPhone to replace your desktop means you can literally take your work with you wherever you go. I know a lot of people that don’t have computers and rely solely on their iPhone for everything. That’s cool and all but, having a docking station for your iPhone is better. You can take advantage of your existing peripherals like two 24 inch LED monitors. Which, have a lot more real estate over the 5.4-inch screen of the iPhone 6 and 6s. Making editing multimedia a breeze compared to using an iPhone for YouTube edits.

How Apple Should Do It

Add dual boot options for new iPhones and future iOS releases. Having a desktop version dual booted with the standard mobile version would be awesome. When the iPhone is docked. iOS could automatically switch to the desktop version (like OS X 10.11 El Capitan) or whatever the new version will be. Next, Apple or any compatible third-party should create a docking systems for the iPhone that has Bluetooth pairing for peripherals like keyboards, mice, printers, Beats Pill + etc. Networking – use the existing wireless AC band on the iPhone but, have an optional Gigabit Ethernet port model for this new docking system. Also, it should have multiple IO ports for DVI, HDMI or mini Display for single and dual monitor support. Is this too hard? And maybe if it’s not too much trouble create a docking station for the iPad Pro.

All I’m saying is let’ make Apple great again!

References

Aamoth, D. (2010). App of the Week: Find My iPhone. Time Inc. Retrieved from: http://techland.time.com/2010/11/23/app-of-the-week-find-my-iphone/

Eadicicco, L. (2016). iPhone 7 Rumor Roundup: Release Date, Features and More. Time Inc. Retrieved from: http://time.com/4459835/apple-iphone-7/

Makabayashi, D. (2016). In Beefing Up iCloud Security, Apple Weighs Privacy Against Convenience. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-beefing-up-icloud-security-apple-weighs-privacy-against-convenience-1458089515