Apple, Please Stop Making Everything Look Like The iPhone

Sure Apple, the iPhone may have set a precedent in the Smartphone sector by marking a touch screen as just ticket to compete with the big man that you are. Yea that’s working well, you even out paced RIM, taking their spot in Smartphone sales as number two. Heck, RIM is pushing the Storm at a lower price and is the first Blackberry with a touch screen but you know what all of these new phones are lacking Apple? Yea, a glossy screen.

Yes Apple, we all know you more than anyone else likes to push looks just as much, if not more than usability. You sell every product as if it were a work of art and I should stop at Aaron Brothers to pick up a frame and admire my purchase every time I leave an Apple store. But it’s not without compromise unfortunately.

We could take the chrome iPod backing and withhold a tear knowing it would be reduced to scratches while our little bundle of music playing goodness knew not what cruel fate awaited its shiny exterior. Even though our Macbook Pros got too hot to touch let alone place on our laps, we signed it off as the price everyone pays for a work house of a Mac in such a slim profile. Even the glossy screen, glass covered iMacs were bearable to a certain degree, a whole 160 rotational degrees of them but damn Apple, stop making every new design endeavor scream “iPhone.”

Just because you did this before by redesigning the iMac to mimic the iPod’s newly popular white plastic design, it was very subtle and not a far cry from the design hues of the iMac G4. Not only has the iMac followed the same design of reflecting Apple’s newest portable gadget but has taken on a familiar characteristic of the iPhone that has worked remotely well in all the areas a phone is used, but applied in such a way that it tends to hinder usability. Screen glare would have been limited solely to the Aluminum clad iMac and escaped being transplanted into the MacBook Air but has found a new home in its Laptop family. Glass coated glossy screens surrounded by a black bezel make up Apple’s newest MacBook line, they also look the same but come in varying sizes.

I can see the reasoning behind Apple’s choice to make their Macs reflect their newly popularized, hot selling item, the iPhone. It’s an extension of the iPod Halo effect and will possibly motivate consumers to take greater interest in a Mac if they really like their iPhones. Hey, it’s a great idea but to take the most notable characteristics of the iPhone, the screen, and apply it in such a way that it’s more of a hindrance than something useful. The iPhone screen looks plenty good outside and in because any glare that would be seen can be eliminated by a slight tilt of the hand. MacBooks and iMacs, eh, not so much. You can’t deny that the screen looks amazing, when its off and alright in certain lighting conditions but getting rid of screen glare isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do and moving your Mac around to prevent a light source hitting it doesn’t appeal to many.

C’mon Apple, vary it up a bit, give us a Matte screen too.