Nicholas Negroponte says Apple is not helping the tech industry
The co-founder of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop Per Child has once again hit out at Apple for not coming to the table in regards to research and participation.
Nicholas Negroponte spoke at the World Business Forum in Sydney on May 26 of his frustration at the company created by his "old friend," Steve Jobs, due to its lack of involvement in collaboration within the technology industry.
SEE ALSO:Apple's latest billion-dollar business: Venture capital?He claimed that in 20 years, the company has not written one research paper or attended any external research meetings, such as working groups, government-funded workshops, or held their own onsite research meetings with external scientists in the way Google, Microsoft and Facebook often do.
Negroponte said the company has a bad attitude and he has struggled to trust them due to their secrecy. "It is well known that Apple does not participate in research and technology in an open fashion and in a way that the field benefits from and it is very much a one-way street," Negroponte told Mashable Australia, after his talk.
He said although you get some benefit back in Apple's "perfectly good, beautiful products," which he admitted he uses as much as anyone, the way they do business is like nothing he has seen from the other tech giants.
"It is well known that Apple does not participate in research and technology in an open fashion and in a way that the field benefits from and it is very much a one-way street."
"If you look at Microsoft, which is a company which I may not admire as much for their products, they have an extraordinary research lab," Negroponte said. "... of course there is proprietary information but in the so-called precompetitive world, we really depend on an openness and a participation which Apple noticeably does not have."
In his talk, Negroponte pointed to the recent FBI phone debacle -- in which Apple refused to unlock a phone that was used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook -- as evidence of the company's desire for its customers' trust although it doesn't provide the same in return.
He said it was concerning the public was now in a position it had to trust Apple more than its government but with a lack of information. "Apple said they wouldn't, rather than they couldn't [unlock the phone]. That means they could," he said.
It's not the first time Negroponte has dissed Apple for its closed-doors policy. In a TED talk in 2014, he also used the podium to bring attention to his issues with the company. On Thursday, he called on the company to come to the table. Apple has been contacted for comment.
A company spokesperson directed Mashable Australiato examples of Apple's work in the research space, such as the creation of ResearchKit and CareKit. The company consulted medical institutions and foundations around the world to develop the tools.
ResearchKit is essentially a way of crowdsourcing information from from patients or carers, who are Apple users, to assist in medical research used by doctors and researchers. CareKit is an app that allows users to see how they are responding to medical care.
The open source framework also allows researchers and developers to build apps, which help source health data from a larger pool of people. Judging by his comments, Negroponte obviously thinks that is too little, too late. He has been contacted for further comment.
Negroponte urged Apple to come to the table.Credit: VCG via Getty ImagesStartups should actually try to change the world
A futurist and investor, Negroponte is one person who knows how important research is to the industry. He has seen a lot of companies grow and a lot of ideas come to fruition during his career. He has also been involved heavily with industry research.
During his discussion with Mashable Australia he made note that startups need to push forward with innovation and not create just another app. "There is a long-term deficit of young people working on the hard, long term problems," he said.
In today's technology marketplace, where everyone has a startup, Negroponte believes "there is a lot more money today than there are good ideas." And he should know, being an investor in more than 30 startups during the last three decades.
He advised startup founders to think big and not be put off by investors trying to get out a product quicker and faster. "I ask people to be a little bit more true to what they are trying to do, that doesn't mean to be stubborn, it may be more about the idea and less about the funding of it," Negroponte explained.
"I very often admire people who not just fly in the face of normal wisdom but tell their funders: 'If you find this too difficult, come back later, we'll find somebody else.' Not everyone is in that position but probably people are more often in that position than they believe."
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