The Mac. The iPod. The iPhone.
Apple has made quite significant contributions to the way we experience personal technology. Actually, I think you can easily make a case that Apple’s biggest legacy is the products. All three products have completely defined their categories and influenced every effort to follow on their successful paths.
For example, there is no doubt that the iPhone is one of the most remarkable inventions of the last twenty years. Next to the personal computer, it is perhaps the most revolutionary technology ever. It changed the way we contact and communicate with the world around us in unimaginable ways before it was launched on stage by Steve Jobs in 2007.
Or maybe Apple will be known as a campaigner for privacy. The company has taken a very public stand against many of the practices of other technology companies that track user information and can earn it with targeted advertising. Apple’s view that privacy is a ‘fundamental human right’ has not only benefited consumers but also raised awareness of how much of our data is collected by the programs and services we use on a daily basis. This is definitely a noble contribution.
However, Tim Cook says this is not one of the things that will define Apple’s legacy, at least in terms of what people would think it was the biggest contribution. As CEO of the most valuable company on earth, it’s interesting to hear what he believes Apple will be known for when people look back over 20 or 50 years.
In an interview with Outside Magazine, Cook reiterates what he said earlier about the most important contribution he thinks Apple makes:
“I really believe,” he adds, “that if you zoom out to the future and then look back and ask, ‘What was Apple’s biggest contribution?’ it will be in the area of health and wellness. ‘
I think there is definitely a case to be made that Apple has done more to increase the amount of information people now have about their own well-being. A recent report by analyst Above Avalon indicates that there are now 100 million Apple Watch users and that 35 percent of Americans who own an iPhone also have an Apple Watch on their wrist.
In particular, Apple Watch has made it possible to detect all kinds of data in a way that was previously just inaccessible. This does not mean that there are no other devices that can help you track your fitness, but there is no one that is so deeply integrated with the iPhone – a device used by more than 1 billion people today.
In addition, Apple has introduced Fitness +, a subscription service that uses your Apple Watch to monitor your activity while participating in video workouts. This may not seem like a big deal, but if you think most people had to drastically change their routine during stay-at-home orders and closings, it’s a definite victory to make these types of services so easily available.
Few companies have the existing platform, or scale, to move the needle across health and wellness as Apple can. The company has partnered with healthcare providers and researchers on everything from cardiac studies to the detection of Covid-19 to a week earlier.
Finally, it could actually be that the privacy commitment has just as much to do with it as anything else. There is something to be said for a business that has built a reputation for protecting user data, which is not important if you are wearing a device that constantly generates data about what you do and how your body responds.
Using the reputation and scope of it to help people have a better understanding of their health and give them useful information to do something about it is definitely a valuable contribution.