Why the iPhone May Not Be the Best Device, But Something Better: the Most Important

Ten summers ago, thousands of people camped outside of Apple and AT&T stores as millions more eagerly awaited the arrival of the very first iPhone. At the time, the tech giant had partnered solely with AT&T – a bold move considering the telecom provider market – to roll out a device that more than 700 million people around the world rely on today.

When Apple launched the iPhone, the company was best known to consumers for the iconic Macintosh that changed personal computing in the 1980s and the iPod that absolutely unhinged the music industry in the early 2000s. So how would Apple’s experience with PCs and music translate into success in the mobile-phone market, one that was saturated with dozens of manufacturers and very much driven by carriers?

One word sums it up: Interoperability.

By no means is anything in Apple’s iPhone – from the first-generation model Steve Jobs introduced in 2007 to the iPhone X announced yesterday – unanimously crowned as “best-in-market” from a stand-alone vantage point. For instance, the phone’s camera has always been an enamored feature, but it does not hold up in comparison to a professional-grade digital camera. While new features like wireless charging and facial recognition are much hyped, they’ve already existed in competing smartphones.

The reason the conversation always revolves around Apple is because of their ability to optimize every aspect of the phone, pulling it together in the most seamless way possible for the consumer. In other words, interoperability.

What Apple has demonstrated with the iPhone is what every company needs to achieve in its own business. Apple has trained consumers – and business people – to expect features to work together more seamlessly and effortlessly than ever before. We’ve been trained to expect one device to connect flawlessly to any other device, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We see it in our own business, which is providing solutions and services to office-based dental, veterinary, and medical practitioners. Our software increasingly connects with the devices and machines that the practitioner uses to schedule visits, record data, and communicate with and treat patients. Once connected, a practice – and a consumer – won’t ever consider going back.

In an age where attention spans are compared to that of a goldfish, and life’s busier than ever, the interoperability that Apple pioneered is the most important feature of any technology. It saves money and, of greater value, time. Hopefully, we’re using that time for something we love.