It wasn’t that long ago when you could guarantee that your Mac, iPad and iPhone would never crash, never get a virus and allow you to do what you needed to do and not worry about the tech. On the other hand, Microsoft based PC’s would constantly crash, be forever downloading updates, and you’d spend more time sorting an issue than being productive.

Fast forward to now. It’s very rare that I switch on a Mac device and it doesn’t start downloading updates to the OS, iTunes or one of the many apps I have installed (last count 27 apps updated since 7 Dec). On top of this OS Mavericks seems to have slowed my 2 year old iMac to a crawl and this morning iOS7 on my iPad crashed and rebooted twice. It seems to me that the consumer is fast becoming the BETA tester. At least @Priceline had the decency to badge their latest APP a BETA. I know it’s not Apples fault entirely but they are guilty of releasing updates to apps that clearly have had little end-user testing , to eager end users who accept that updates are a way of life.

Once again I find that my tech is starting to get in the way of productivity. Now my most reliable of devices (my trusty iPad) has started to crash and lock up just when I need it.

We are in a world now where immediacy is key. The pressure on software developers and tech companies to deliver new things and fast, is reducing the user test time that was probably three or four times longer than it is now. It’s refreshing to see that Google has reduced the footprint of it’s latest Android release (KitKat) so that it can run on older android devices. There is now an opportunity and Google are taking it, to steal Apples flame and as it is doing, release affordable, high quality devices and a robust platform on which users can enjoy higher levels of productivity. Now we just need better battery life!