The Importance of Innovation in Engineering - Case Study Example

Importance of innovation in engineering Table of Contents Introduction 3 Case of Apple iphone 3 Effects on users 6 Patent of iphone 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Apple Iphone UK Release Date / Launch Date Confirmation, 2007, Apple Iphone User UK, [online] Available at: http://www.iphone-user.org/vote/?q=apple-iphone-uk-release-date-launch-date-confirmation [Accessed September 14, 2009]. 8 9 Introduction The word innovate came from the Latin word in novare which means make new. According to Michael Vance, “innovation is the creation of the new or the rearranging of the old in a new way”. Generally innovation is closely related with technology (Sarkar, 2007). In todays competitive scenario, innovation is the key to maintain success for any company, especially if it is dealing with any engineering product. Innovation of new technology and products are crucial for any engineering sector such as mechanical engineering, construction engineering, electronics engineering and software engineering. Generally, every organisation operates with the purpose of staying ahead in the competition, has to come up with new products at a regular interval in order to retain its existing customers and to attract new customer base. In order to come up with new products at a regular interval companies have to innovate new technologies or modify existing technologies. This is mainly applicable in case of electronic product companies. Almost every day a new electronic product is getting launched by the companies. But the process of innovation is quite messy and it is also very difficult to manage and measure this process (Rigby, Gruver, Allen, 2009). Case of Apple iphone One of the best examples of innovation in technology and engineering is the creation of iphone by Apple. According to the information provided by business week in its list of worlds top 50 innovative company published in 2007, Apple is the most innovative company in the world. iphone which is perhaps one of the most innovative products in history of telecommunication, was launched by Apple on June 29, 2007. There are various innovative features in iphone. Top ten innovative features or designs of iphone are briefly discussed below (Apple Iphone UK Release Date / Launch Date Confirmation, 2007). The best innovative feature in iphone is its touch screen interface. In iphone users need to simply find the number and point it in order to make a call. There is no need of clicking any button to make a call. Simply pointing at a name or number would be enough to make a call. The second best innovative feature in an iphone is the visual voice mail. Apple is the first company in the world to introduce this visual voice mail service. The best advantage of this feature is that user get a list of all its voice mail and can choose any of them according to the priority. The user has the opportunity of choosing to listen to the most important one and can ignore the least important one. Among many other innovative features of iphone one of the best is the SMS move over. In case of iphone writing a message is much simpler. The entire process of writing and sending a message is more user friendly and faster than ever before. In iphone, user does not have to click on three or four times to get the right letter. In iphone there is a touch screen which can predict the next letter that is likely to be written. This touch screen is even capable of preventing mistakes. But according to the recent reviewers, users need some time to get used to with the process of SMS in an iphone, but once they are comfortable with the process, they would definitely not willing to go back to the previous conventional process. There is special photo management software and a 2 mega pixel camera in iphone. This camera and software enables the user of the iphone to organise and manage all their photos according to their choice. Users can use these photos for setting as wallpaper; even they can email those photos from the iphone only. Another innovative design that has been used in iphone is a 3.5 inch wide screen. Users can actually ‘touch’ all the songs, photos, songs, videos etc. They can even see their favourite TV shows in their iphone in a landscape mode. Moreover, iphone users are able to add you tube to the video mix (Mickalowski, Mickelson, Keltgen, n.d.) Cover flow is one of the most attractive as well as distinctive features that an iphone has. Any music album can be enjoyed by the user in almost same way as they purchase it from the music store. Users, while navigating their music library in iphone they can automatically switch into the cover flow. The only thing that is required to this is to rotate the iphone along the position of its landscape. In iphone, users are able to access their Rich Email with all the graphics, photos and visuals which are associated with it. The best feature of iphone regarding email is that the users can continue their talking, writing and sending SMS, while everything gets downloaded in the background. Moreover, iphone is integrated with the yahoo mail in order to provide better service to its users. As far as web browsing is concerned in a iphone, it is as good as web browsing in a computer. Users of iphone are able to browse any web page from almost anywhere in the world thanks to the quad band GSM and wi-fi technology. Moreover they can zoom any part of a particular web page by tapping on the multi-touch display of the device. In an iphone, Google map and iphones own mapping system are integrated to provide the best mapping system to the user. This is the best mapping system that a pocket device can provide. Users of iphone are able to get any kind of geographical information by watching global as well as local maps on their iphone. They can even view satellite images, access information on traffic and get road directions from their iphone. Among all the innovative features of a iphone this is one of the most useful as far as user convenience is concerned. One of the major aspects that differentiate iphone from other pocket device is the use of artificial intelligence in it. Artificial intelligence used in an iphone in the form of advanced built in sensors-an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor. Main function of advanced built in sensor is to detect the rotation of the device from portrait to landscape. This enables the user to view a web page or a photo in its total width in the actual landscape ratio. Function of the proximity sensor is to turning off the display while the device is lifted to the users ear. This actually saves the power of the device. Brightness of the device is automatically adjusted by the ambient light sensor in order to enhance the user experience (Dalal, n.d.). Effects on users All these above mentioned innovative features of iphone have great impact on the daily life of its users. The modern communication process is revolutionised by the invention of the iphone. People, now do need a computer to send an email or view a local or global map. They can do it by simply using an iphone. People can now readily access yahoo mails, get road directions, watch videos on you tube, download pictures and songs without using computer. iphone users can make a call without typing clicking any key, rather they can do it by just pointing at the number. All these things have actually changed the way of both formal and informal daily communication. Patent of iphone Apple made an application of 358 pages to the US patent office for the purpose of getting patent of iphone in order to protect its intellectual property. The application was specifically made for iphones interface which entitled the touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics. The US patent department approved this application after a intense review which went on for two long years (kdawson, January 27, 2009). Conclusion The invention of iphone redefined the importance of innovation in engineering and technology. Response of the users of iphone has been terrific which shows that the innovation of new design is not only important in engineering but also important in improving the market share and customer base which eventually improve companys brand image. Finally it can be concluded that Innovation is the key for company deals with technological products in order to stay ahead in the competition. References Apple Iphone UK Release Date / Launch Date Confirmation, 2007, Apple Iphone User UK, [online] Available at: http://www.iphone-user.org/vote/?q=apple-iphone-uk-release-date-launch-date-confirmation [Accessed September 14, 2009]. Dalal, S. No Date, Creativity And Innovation in Business - 185-page collection of 48 best ..., Creativity Innovation eBook kdawson, January 27, 2009, Apple Awarded Patent For iPhone Interface, Slashdot, [online] Available at: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F27%2F024242&from=rss [Accessed September 14, 2009]. Mickalowski, K. Mickelson, M. Keltgen, J. No Date, Apples iPhone Launch: A Case Study in Effective Marketing, Augustana College, [online] Available at: www.augie.edu/dept/bsad/faculty/jaciel_subdocs/iPhone.pdf [Accessed September 14, 2009]. Rigby, D.K. Gruver, K. Allen, J. 2009, Innovation in Turbulent Times, Harvard Business Review, [online] Available at: http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/06/innovation-in-turbulent-times/ar/1 [Accessed September 14, 2009]. Sarkar, S. 2007, Innovation, market archetypes and outcome: an integrated framework, Springer Read More