What the hell is going on at Apple?

SECURITY holes, bendy phones, bad updates and U2. Has the magic of Apple finally started to disappear?

ANALYSIS

APPLE has always been a brand synonymous with reliability and seamlessness. A force to reckon with, full of magic that can draw people in. But that hasn’t been the Apple we have seen lately.

We have seen blunder after blunder, and more catch-up than innovation. Has the Apple magic finally run out?

Before all of the problems that have arisen around the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple had a very un-Apple moment when holes in its security were exploited, leaving dozens of celebrities’ private photos to be scattered all over the internet. To make matters worse, leaked emails obtained by The Daily Dot reveal that Apple knew about the security hole for six months and did nothing about it. Apple’s image of being an impenetrable fortress where all your information can be kept without a worry disappeared overnight. News_Image_File: Is it safe to still upload your pics to the iCloud? Picture: AFP / Robyn Beck

Fast forward a few weeks to the iPhone launch, and we again saw glimpses of a different Apple. For one, the live stream for the event did not work at all, something so basic that the old Apple would have made sure it worked flawlessly.

On the surface, the announcement of the Apple Watch seemed very Apple. It announced a device that showed it had seen the shortcomings of devices already released in the category and tried to fix them all. However, it won’t be out for six months. Six months! Where was the magic Apple that would finish the announcement with something like, “You can buy the Apple Watch ... right now from an Apple retail or online store”. That would have blown everyone’s minds and restored faith in the company. But instead, they chose to announce it when it wasn’t ready in the hope that people will hold off for their product and not buy Samsung, Motorola or LG’s latest offerings. News_Image_File: He might be smiling, but Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is probably furious about the less-than-smooth performance at the company recently. Picture: AP / Tony Avelar

Then there was the U2 incident. Let’s just try to forget about that.

The initial release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was a hit, with records numbers and fans lining up for days to get their hands on the new devices.

Just days after though, issues started to roll in. The first was something quite stupid, with people reporting that the iPhone 6 Plus was prone to bending. Of course it is, anything will bend or break if you apply enough force.

The next issue though, was frankly inexcusable. Apple released an update that took away the fundamental feature of the iPhone, the ability to use it as a phone. On top of that, a key feature of the iPhone, Touch ID was also broken. How this managed to get past quality control is beyond me, especially Apple’s quality control.

To make matters worse, the fix that was released today was no better, breaking our iPhone 6 Plus and many others just the same way the previous update did.

The fact that the first update got released is bad enough, but having a second bad update is something else.

So, all of this leaves us with one just question: What the hell is going on at Apple?