Apple Optimistic About Future, Lots of 'Surprises' in the Works for Fall

I'd be happy with a new Mac Pro

Hopefully Apple remembers its Back to the Mac campaign...

Let's hope they live up to this. They've really been slacking off in the "revolutionary products" department recently, just releasing evolutionary ones.

So basically "new" versions of the same exact iPhone, Ipad, Ipad mini, and iOS, that Apple will still manage to sell/download plethoras of?

Seems legit.

Wow, Fall 2013? How about some new stuff before then?

It's time now for some revolutionary new products from Apple!

Lots of surprises? Because they are doubling down on security?

Has there been much in way of "surprises" lately? I guess not for forum readers. Perhaps others...

Dat iWatch.

dweezle3 said:

Let's hope they live up to this. They've really been slacking off in the "revolutionary products" department recently, just releasing evolutionary ones.

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That's what they should be focusing on right now. We don't need a revolutionary product every year. We need the last few years worth of revolutionary products to become fully realized. And we need internet services to improve, a lot. That is more important than a TV right now, especially considering that the TV problem that needs a solution is much harder to come by due to the content issues, and Apple can't do much about that real fast. There will be more, and I have a lot of faith in Apple's ability to stay relevant and on the cutting edge if they stay true to the Apple philosophy, but right now, I really think "evolutionary" and "refinement" are of the essence.

They have a huge lead in the mobile market space (based on every statistic that matters) and look set to be the most resilient of it's mobile competitors today. That's great, but it doesn't mean anything if the core products don't continue to get a lot better. As great as iOS is, there are a lot of core issues that could stand to be improved early on in this game so as to ensure future success and more great products. And obviously, iCloud needs to get a lot better, and I'm not even one of the people that thinks it's that bad. But "mostly good at syncing documents, great at backing up your devices," is just not going to cut it as time goes on, and despite their obvious secrecy, don't think for a second Apple doesn't know this.

That's why they don't release "revolutionary products" every year.

Aperture 4 please!

G5 Power Book!

"Fall" definitely pushes the Mac Pro beyond what I'm willing to wait for. Time to start shopping for my new PC parts!

This means no new products until the fall. Since the October announcement last year, no new products. We've had a 6+ month dry spell.

He dodged answering all of the questions. His statements are vague. He's a rock in a hard place between investors who are demanding to know when their stock will climb back to the unrealistic heights it was at, and keeping secrecy that leads to the excitement of their future products.

troop231 said:

Wow, Fall 2013? How about some new stuff before then?

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AMEN - this is just more Tim Cook blathering about a pipeline. That is nothing more than corporate speak for

WE AIN'T GOT NOTHING TO SHOW FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER 5 OR 6 MONTHS

samcraig said:

Lots of surprises? Because they are doubling down on security?

Has there been much in way of "surprises" lately? I guess not for forum readers. Perhaps others...

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What do you expect him to say? To 99% of Apple's customers, new product announcements are surprises. And even the nerds who read the rumor sites rarely get it all right. I don't think Apple's too worried about the level of "surprise" with the iPhone and iPad anymore. Everyone knows that we're likely to get a new one every year.

And let's be frank: the iPhone and iPad are screens that sit above a single home button that hasn't changed since the original iPhone. The part of the iPhone and iPad that makes them what they are hasn't really changed since the beginning from a hardware level. It's gotten taller, it's gotten more pixels, and it's added a camera, but it's basically the same thing it's been since the first iPhone, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. That's absolutely bound to take some wind out of nearly every new devices "surprise" sails, but it really doesn't matter so long as the devices keep getting better, which they absolutely have.

The secrecy they're "doubling-down" on is no doubt focused more on new product categories, such as a true Apple TV or greatly-expanded Apple TV box, the much-rumored Apple Watch, and what is likely a half-dozen other products being developed right now in the lab that will at some point be good enough to hit the market once the time is right. And there are probably countless more ideas kicked around that won't go anywhere. Those are the real secrets and surprises, and I highly doubt that anything that's leaked out about anything will be very accurate.

Just think about whether this watch thing comes to pass: realistically speaking, we don't know anything about it other than it will likely allow us to learn what time it is when we look it. There were rumors about an Apple phone before the iPhone too, but no one saw the iPhone coming. New versions of products that are already released will always be presented as "surprises," but we generally know what we're getting into. The true surprises will likely stay surprises, because much like the original iPhone and iPad, they'll probably be announced far enough ahead of launch that they won't have as many production leaks to worry about. Plus in new categories, people won't know so well what to look for.

I think more exciting "surprise" surprises are in store in the next few years, and I do think we'll come back to Tim's comments again in another light the next time they launch a product in a new category.

mdorais said:

"Fall" definitely pushes the Mac Pro beyond what I'm willing to wait for. Time to start shopping for my new PC parts!

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That disappoints me as well. Cook had made the impression a new Mac Pro would be announced sooner than the Fall or end of 2013. If one isn't announced by WWDC, my (now three year old) current gen 5,1 Mac Pro will be out of date and past its AppleCare. If that happens, I'll building my own system.

Need to add the App Store to AppleTV.

The onslaught of Android Nano PC's at $99 is about to begin:

http://www.ouya.tv (game console but can be hacked to be just an Android PC).

http://www.miipc.com (full fledged Android PC)

and so on...

"Surprises" ... so that can't be anything we're already expecting: new iPhones, new iPods Touch + Nano, new iPads + iPads mini, new Mac Pro, iWatch, preview Haswell MBPs, etc.

What would actually qualify as a surprise at this point? NFC in iDevices wouldn't be a surprise. 3G capability in Macs wouldn't be a surprise.

Thinking of what actually would surprise me, I think touch screen Macs, metro/modern UI version of iTunes, an OS X tablet, iWork updates to improve Office compatibility, and a renewed version of Safari for Windows, including a metro version.

Those would surprise me, so I hope that's what they're saying .

mdorais said:

"Fall" definitely pushes the Mac Pro beyond what I'm willing to wait for. Time to start shopping for my new PC parts!

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Who knows, they may have it planned for sooner and just realize that a MP release isn't going to wow analysts. And if you plan to go PC, might as well wait until fall for the next generation of intel chips anyway.

How about .. just for once, we remember this

"We don't want to be more specific, but we have some really great stuff coming in the fall and across all of 2014."

and look back?

Someone willing?

Love my iphone (4s) and retina mbp.. the rest? Not so much, been let down with itunes match. Imac needs to go back as screen is all mottled/dusty on inside(!) (known problem).

Apple Corps said:

AMEN - this is just more Tim Cook blathering about a pipeline. That is nothing more than corporate speak for

WE AIN'T GOT NOTHING TO SHOW FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER 5 OR 6 MONTHS

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Better not be. I wish the iPad 5 would be out by the summer already. This summer, that is.

pshady said:

This means no new products until the fall. Since the October announcement last year, no new products. We've had a 6+ month dry spell.

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Not necessarily. I wouldn't be shocked to see a new Mac Pro before then for one, and I wouldn't be surprised to see at least mild spec bumps for some of the other Macs. I don't think we will see a new iPhone and iPad until the fall, but I don't think this should really be surprising, especially given the changes. If anything, I think this is good. I'd gladly accept them continuing to put a more revolutionary TV product (and I have zero doubt that they have a revolutionary product/interface/solution of some sort 99% ready to go right now, with 1% being the variable of what A-series chips do we put in it based on when it launches, revolutionizing TV can only happen with content providers on board, and they're not there yet) on the back burner if it meant they were devoting more resources to iOS 7/8, which are likely to feature the first major overhaul of the look and feel of the software that ultimately is the device. I'd also rather have a better iCloud.

If you have an iPhone 5, a 4th generation iPad, a 1080P Apple TV, or any of the more modern Macs, what else do you "really need" right now? Other than perhaps the Apple TV which has a tremendous amount of room to grow, there's not a lot on the hardware front that needs to happen on these devices to make them very appealing choices right now. Again, I'd rather them be focusing on making the software and services better right now than anything. The A6 chip is the first chip that I think really caught up to the iOS software in terms of strength, 3 people have TVs with higher resolution than 1080P, and no one has much access to higher-res content, and the cheapest Mac on the market even is still a damn good machine. I've been installing base-level late-2012 Mac minis like mad lately for businesses. They're great, and they're about as much as a halfway descent PC costs now that prices are starting to creep up.

If they announce a 5th generation iPad tomorrow, are you going to buy it? Did you buy the 4th generation iPad when they announced it? Or the 3rd generation iPad when they announced it? I can answer "yes" to all of the above, because I always upgrade right away, so I always have the best and so I can get out of my device at it's peak point of value once another option is available. Most people don't do that though, yet they still complain about Apple not releasing more products. And when they do release a new iPad seemingly early, they complain about that.

I don't think Apple has any problems at all with their various release schedules, but I do think a lot of people have some fundamental problems when it comes to managing their expectations as they relate to reasonable wants and needs.

And then some people obviously have a much stronger need to complain in general than to actually have any given new device...

the problem with us apple customers is that we want those unannounced future products yesterday