SOMM Soapbox

How many features can someone put into a product before they come off as superfluous bullet points? In a new series I am dubbing the Superfluous Tech Top Five, I take a look at tech categories, single products and everything in between to find product “features” that are overwhelmingly superfluous fluff.

The product I am examining today is produced by a company that has a history of overzealously placing superfluous bullet points to “features” that are most of the time common in their competitors’ products. If you haven’t guessed the name of the company by now, it is no other than Apple Inc and the product is iOS 5.

Stop! Everyone about to purchase or thinking about purchasing a new PC, just STOP! A PC is so yesterday according to Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. Never mind that iDevices like the iPad will never offer the same precision control as a keyboard/mouse combo in most applications. Never mind that there are hundreds of millions of smartphone users who STILL purchase and rely on notebooks and desktop computers for their everyday computing needs. Yes, stop all of your purchases of PC’s because iOS 5 with all of its revolutionary features has finally cut the need of wired connections (never mind that most phones – even featured phones – already have most of what iOS 5 offers).