Now that I've got my iPhone 6 and whilst it is lovely and it is growing on me, it is largely just more of the same in technology terms. So it makes me wonder where the next really big innovation will come from, not just for music making, but in mobile tech as well, in general.
In fact, if I think about it, the last really big step forward was the iPad and what that did for mobile music, but since then there hasn't been anything on the same scale. Certainly not in my opinion anyway.
Of course you might argue that the next big innovation could be with the Apple Watch, although I know lots of people don't see it yet really. I still like the idea of a smart watch, but perhaps I'm wrong. We'll just have to see where that goes and how adoption works for both users and developers
The other area where you could argue that innovation could come from is Android. I know that to date Android hasn't been seen as anywhere near iOS in terms of mobile innovation, but with Samsung's latest SDK for Pro Audio it could catch up very fast indeed, especially if there is good develop support for it. But even so, this is likely to be a catch up more than anything rather than a different course for innovation in mobile music tech.
So could it be in software (apps)? Well I think that it is quite possible here. In the iOS world, and in fact in Android as well, we've largely seen a replication of the desktop into mobile. That's not a bad thing though, or at least it doesn't have to be a bad thing. We've got great synths, drum machines, controllers and DAWs. There's just about everything you could wish for in the mobile world, but if we simply recreate desktop systems in mobile aren't we forgetting something? Aren't we loosing out on all of the benefits of a device that is meant to be moving around with us? That in itself is probably a whole discussion for another day though. However, in terms of what I'm interested in here, I wonder if we'll see some major new step forward in mobile innovation via an app or a way that an app is able to utilise the device or device data.
So what do you think will be the next major innovation will be, and I suppose as importantly, where will it come from? I'm really intrigued to hear your thoughts on this.
2 comments:
The innovation you seek will not be found via a device or app, but likely through the way someone uses the devices and apps.
Apps are repeating themselves now, synths, drum machines and daws that mimic their desktop counterparts. So expect no innovation there. Rare exceptions include apps by Alex Matheu, Henry Lowengard, Kymatica, sonosaurus and maybe very few others.
Apps for apps sake, made with the touchscreen in mind and with little reference to desktop functionality.
It doesn't help that people keep asking for midi tricks either or multi routing. This creates dependancy on external tools or other apps.
When such "conditional use" is the norm, then innovation will not breed. Nor will innovative apps be developed.
Take Nodebeat or Noatikl. Both great apps that were created for a very specific purpose but very underrated. Apps like this, if used correctly, can create or generate such abstraction and spontaneous grooves compared to the regular synths and best box apps.
As far as devices go, we are at a plateau, apple have set the standard and stability and are maintaining it. The devices won't wash your dishes or make the music for you lol:)
The innovation will come when there is a paradigm shift of what music actually is and abandon any form of rigid workflows that are dependant on anything other than the immediate task at hand.
We are too dependant and scared to take that leap into the unknown!
MIDI over Bluetooth le is going to be big! Just wait a little until os x is up for it and until cool controllers are out.
Android still has its old problems, the latest os won't run on all devices, so there are n os versions for n hardware configurations ...
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