I've been a believer in Apple products since their inception. However, I have to ask, "is Apple Dead". That reality seems to have happened with the unfortunate death of Steve Jobs. The creativity along with artistry seems to be gone. Competitors have the jump on virtually EVERYTHING. I jumped in an got the new MBPr and love it. But since then there is nil! My iPhone is almost a throw back to a former generation. iTunes is getting stogy and old. Innovation seems to be out the window for the same of profit. "Take the money and run... is this the mantra"?
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Is Apple Finished?
- Thread starter Renator
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With what? Granted, they are later than normal with new or updated stuff. The Apple stuff I use works for me. Don't want, and can't afford, the latest and greatest in the gadget world.
What is it you expect Apple to do in order to not be "dead?" Are you expecting a truly revolutionary product every year to be released? If so, what types of things should they invent?
Apple Inc. is bigger than any one man, including Steve Jobs. There are many people working there who everyday try to refine and make better their existing products as well as people who are no doubt working on potential future products.
I doubt inovation is something that comes easily and can be produced on a schedule.
Apple Inc. is bigger than any one man, including Steve Jobs. There are many people working there who everyday try to refine and make better their existing products as well as people who are no doubt working on potential future products.
I doubt inovation is something that comes easily and can be produced on a schedule.
I think they're in a bit of a lull but new releases with new processors are coming. The problem for Apple is competitors change their products so quickly, especially because there are so many of them, that Apple users become disappointed seeing device after device being released by those competitors.
I absolutely think the company will spring forward again, but I also think they need to continue to refine what they do already. I haven't lost faith in their ability to innovate and surprise, but I think we're due a bit of evidence that something great is coming and hopefully we see that in a couple weeks.
I absolutely think the company will spring forward again, but I also think they need to continue to refine what they do already. I haven't lost faith in their ability to innovate and surprise, but I think we're due a bit of evidence that something great is coming and hopefully we see that in a couple weeks.
Why do you feel we are due anything from Apple or any other company? Are they indebted to us whereby they owe us these things?
I didn't mean that to sound like they are in any way indebted to me or anyone else. I only meant it to mean that we need or want to see something come out of Apple soon that shows they're still pulling ahead strongly in order to keep us looking forward to future releases.
I did get a chuckle out of how you read my initial post and I can see how it could be misunderstood by the way I wrote it.
Jobs was a super clever intelligent guy and front man for apple.
I will always think the Ive / jobs was an unbeatable irreplaceable combo.
However there is nothing to suggest the post jobs apple is suffering. Apples share price reflects the confidence the market, shareholders and industry has in cook.
They have made some tough decisions on leadership and direction and their growth is showing consistency.
I think they have suffered slightly in the western world this last 6 months. We need to make some headway in June with the new software. Ios7 needs to be a success. We need new iPhones and perhaps something revolutionary not evolutionary.
Apples core is still perfectly intact and that the market has confidence in cook.
Apple is going from strength to strength, they are staying true to their DNA and only releasing products that can be experienced in their fullest. Maps was a flop but phones withholding all the bells and whistles is not a bad thing. They withold phones with NFC, finger print or massive screens because they aren't important and cheapen the user experience. Even if my iPhone had NFC I couldn't use it anywhere.
I think they have been focusing on the east recently. Now we just need to wait and see how the market reacts to the next revolutionary product. We need a pinnacle launch under cook, like the iPad and iPhone was back then. Cook needs one of them to cement his future as the apple CEO, they we all know he has was it takes to deliver a revolutionary product that works like the iPad did. So far he has directed in my opinion the remaining crib list that jobs had constructed before his death. It's easier to make things thinner, lighter and faster. It's very hard to design something new, revolutionary and appealing on mass. I'm looking forward to that day. That day will come but you have to give cook credit. He's a very bright businessman. He knows he has to maintain steady growth to protect apples share price. China is a huge market and he might be slowing the pace because if you balloon too early it can cause a lot more damage in the long run. At the same time, if you go too slow you can get left behind.
Apple is alive and well.
I will always think the Ive / jobs was an unbeatable irreplaceable combo.
However there is nothing to suggest the post jobs apple is suffering. Apples share price reflects the confidence the market, shareholders and industry has in cook.
They have made some tough decisions on leadership and direction and their growth is showing consistency.
I think they have suffered slightly in the western world this last 6 months. We need to make some headway in June with the new software. Ios7 needs to be a success. We need new iPhones and perhaps something revolutionary not evolutionary.
Apples core is still perfectly intact and that the market has confidence in cook.
Apple is going from strength to strength, they are staying true to their DNA and only releasing products that can be experienced in their fullest. Maps was a flop but phones withholding all the bells and whistles is not a bad thing. They withold phones with NFC, finger print or massive screens because they aren't important and cheapen the user experience. Even if my iPhone had NFC I couldn't use it anywhere.
I think they have been focusing on the east recently. Now we just need to wait and see how the market reacts to the next revolutionary product. We need a pinnacle launch under cook, like the iPad and iPhone was back then. Cook needs one of them to cement his future as the apple CEO, they we all know he has was it takes to deliver a revolutionary product that works like the iPad did. So far he has directed in my opinion the remaining crib list that jobs had constructed before his death. It's easier to make things thinner, lighter and faster. It's very hard to design something new, revolutionary and appealing on mass. I'm looking forward to that day. That day will come but you have to give cook credit. He's a very bright businessman. He knows he has to maintain steady growth to protect apples share price. China is a huge market and he might be slowing the pace because if you balloon too early it can cause a lot more damage in the long run. At the same time, if you go too slow you can get left behind.
Apple is alive and well.
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I didn't mean that to sound like they are in any way indebted to me or anyone else. I only meant it to mean that we need or want to see something come out of Apple soon that shows they're still pulling ahead strongly in order to keep us looking forward to future releases.
I did get a chuckle out of how you read my initial post and I can see how it could be misunderstood by the way I wrote it.
Okay, no worries.
Essentially you just want a concrete rumor or confirmation that they're working on something great that will blow us away, is that it?
Okay, no worries.
Essentially you just want a concrete rumor or confirmation that they're working on something great that will blow us away, is that it?
Yep, I just think we Apple fans/users want to see some innovation and not just another incremental evolution of the same products. After all, the competition is strong and going after some revolutionary technologies so Apple needs to be working toward equally challenging technologies to introduce to the world and remain the innovator it has been for so many years.
Sure they're dead with over 100 bil in the bank and named the most valuable company in the world...
Don't we have to admit that innovation isn't easy, even for a wealthy, talented company such as Apple? Apple isn't the type of company to push out inferior products (if they can help it, and I know they put out some duds in the past) and don't want to put out anything subpar of their own standards.
That leads me to believe they are probably working on something, but don't have it working the way they like it. They've said it in the past that they try to focus their energy on a few products and not a plethora of products. That way the few they do focus on are probably the best they can produce.
I undertand folks want to see revolutionary new things all the time, but I take a more conservative view of that, and feel that it must be difficult to do that on a regular basis.
Most things just get refined more and more rather than re-defined. The iPhone was revolutionary, no doubt, but now it's a matter of evolution and refinement.
Yup. Dead.
And let me guess: your idea of a larger screen or some other "innovative" thing that you want but Apple refuses to include for their own reasons would probably "save" them right?
See, that's the problem with all the doom and gloomers on Apple. They aren't basing it on any fundamental data (their cash pile alone could float them for years of missteps), but instead they base it on Apple not doing what THEY want, and not wowing THEM enough.
When Apple files bankruptcy and is having trouble selling anything (the last major launch (the iPad mini) was sold out/backordered for MONTHS), then you might have the slimmest sliver of a valid point.
If Apple isn't floating your boat, sail it elsewhere.
It does NOT mean Apple is "finished" just because you're unhappy with their level of innovation. Plenty of people were thrilled just to get LTE that lasts for 11 hours.... we don't all need laser beams and 8" screens...
And let me guess: your idea of a larger screen or some other "innovative" thing that you want but Apple refuses to include for their own reasons would probably "save" them right?
See, that's the problem with all the doom and gloomers on Apple. They aren't basing it on any fundamental data (their cash pile alone could float them for years of missteps), but instead they base it on Apple not doing what THEY want, and not wowing THEM enough.
When Apple files bankruptcy and is having trouble selling anything (the last major launch (the iPad mini) was sold out/backordered for MONTHS), then you might have the slimmest sliver of a valid point.
If Apple isn't floating your boat, sail it elsewhere.
It does NOT mean Apple is "finished" just because you're unhappy with their level of innovation. Plenty of people were thrilled just to get LTE that lasts for 11 hours.... we don't all need laser beams and 8" screens...
I don't think apple is finished. I think they will continue maintain and update there current line of successful products, iPhone , iPad , MacBooks, iMac, iOS, OSX, airport routers and iTunes/App store.
Now I don't think their new products like the new Apple TV or iWatch will be successful
The new Apple TV , well the Xbox One and PS4 will be better solutions for all in one home media entertainment and the iwatch, well I just don't have a need for another device that gets notifications and my email
Now I don't think their new products like the new Apple TV or iWatch will be successful
The new Apple TV , well the Xbox One and PS4 will be better solutions for all in one home media entertainment and the iwatch, well I just don't have a need for another device that gets notifications and my email
Whenever I see these threads, I can't help but wonder if OP isn't part of the paid Android legion populating the internet these days with anti-Apple drivel.
They are in their current place and product cycle because of Jobs. He had his hand in what is happening now.
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Thread of the day of the week?
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Thread of the day of the week?
so they came out with an expensive device last year that you got and you love. but you think they are dead because they don't inovate.
relax. they have been focused on software this year. ios7 is probably going to be sweet.
Yes, to the investors and the consumers. It's how Apple has created an insatiable appetite for its products over the past decade - the promise that something is better around the corner.
If that sense of newness is gone, Apple will revert back to it's sickly 90s self.
Hopefully Apple won't turn into a Blackberry. Blackberry still has the Enterprise and developing markets market to cushion its balance sheet. If Apple where to lose the consumer market, it's in serious trouble.
Assuming no major breakthroughs are developed, I think Apple still has enough goodwill to last 2 generations or so (2 - 3 years) before there will be a mass exodus to other platforms.
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If you've used an Android device you'll know that iOS is in serious need of a revamp. While I found Android to be frustratingly buggy at times, it does have some innovative features like customizable keyboards and widgets.
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Apple is far from dead...the Iphone is just no longer the must have phone that it used to be but it still has a strong following and will continue to evolve.
Apple's laptops on the other hand still beat the competition IMO for anyone who cares enough about certain aspects of the laptop they want to get.
Apple's laptops on the other hand still beat the competition IMO for anyone who cares enough about certain aspects of the laptop they want to get.
Hmm I was wondering what happened to all the doom and gloom topics. I hadn't seen one in a while.
My question to you, as a consumer, is what do you want, product wise and servie wise that apple currently do not do to accommodate your needs/desires...
I notice that most of the focus in this thread is about iOS devices, which is fair enough as they're now Apple's main source of income. For me, the iPhone 4S more than serves my needs, and will probably continue to do so for quite some time. I refuse to be convinced that every new application of technology is something that is desperately missing from my life.
My biggest bugbear with Apple, having used their gear since my 1993 PowerBook 180c, is not that they're 'slipping behind Samsung', it's that they're becoming sloppy in their quality control, particularly in Mac OS. When importing audiobooks from CDs, iTunes shuffles the order of the tracks to the point where it can take a couple of hours of manually renaming each track to persuade iTunes to play them in the right order.
The combination of key-presses for 'save as' differs from application to application, ever since the ill-thought-out implementation of autosave. I particularly found it distasteful that they charged me for removing 'save as' in Preview when they introduced autosave in Lion, then sold it back to me as a 'new feature' with an extra key-press in Mountain Lion when they realised autosave wasn't as universally popular as they expected.
I've seen Apple go through mixed fortunes in the past 20 years, and when they're on a high they become aggressive and dictatorial. There are many companies that have got themselves into problems by producing things they want to sell, rather than what customers want to buy. Jobs generally got it spot on, but I see a grim future for Apple with their current MO.
A desktop computer (iMac) with no user upgrade options, forcing grossly overpriced memory and hard drive upgrades?
iPhones boasting a myriad hi-tech features that have to be switched off to allow the battery to get through the day, all because of Apple's obsession with 'thinner, lighter'? Make the damn thing 1 or 2mm thicker and let us use these functions they brag about. And did customers really struggle with the weight of it?
And industry standard bluetooth that won't talk to other bluetooth devices?
To me, Apple are on a low right now, obsessing about controlling the user experience and the mobile universe in general, litigating against the competition, and forgetting about what took them to the top: innovation, quality, and providing the customer with what they want.
My biggest bugbear with Apple, having used their gear since my 1993 PowerBook 180c, is not that they're 'slipping behind Samsung', it's that they're becoming sloppy in their quality control, particularly in Mac OS. When importing audiobooks from CDs, iTunes shuffles the order of the tracks to the point where it can take a couple of hours of manually renaming each track to persuade iTunes to play them in the right order.
The combination of key-presses for 'save as' differs from application to application, ever since the ill-thought-out implementation of autosave. I particularly found it distasteful that they charged me for removing 'save as' in Preview when they introduced autosave in Lion, then sold it back to me as a 'new feature' with an extra key-press in Mountain Lion when they realised autosave wasn't as universally popular as they expected.
I've seen Apple go through mixed fortunes in the past 20 years, and when they're on a high they become aggressive and dictatorial. There are many companies that have got themselves into problems by producing things they want to sell, rather than what customers want to buy. Jobs generally got it spot on, but I see a grim future for Apple with their current MO.
A desktop computer (iMac) with no user upgrade options, forcing grossly overpriced memory and hard drive upgrades?
iPhones boasting a myriad hi-tech features that have to be switched off to allow the battery to get through the day, all because of Apple's obsession with 'thinner, lighter'? Make the damn thing 1 or 2mm thicker and let us use these functions they brag about. And did customers really struggle with the weight of it?
And industry standard bluetooth that won't talk to other bluetooth devices?
To me, Apple are on a low right now, obsessing about controlling the user experience and the mobile universe in general, litigating against the competition, and forgetting about what took them to the top: innovation, quality, and providing the customer with what they want.