Apple CEO Tim Cook Teases 'Great Innovation' in Product Pipeline on CNBC's Mad Money

[convergent]

I thought Obama canceled the "pipeline"!

Seriously, I think there are a lot of things they could do to improve our lives but I don't have a lot of hope that they are working on them. They seem to create starting points and then sit on them for too long. Like Apple TV... how long did they sit on that before starting to really invest in it. Or home automation? I would love to have the simplicity I expect from Apple's "it just works" in my home... but what we have is a fragmented market that doesn't quite live up to the "can't live without it" mantra. There is certainly a lot they can do to Applify our lives more, but sadly I think they will continue moving along with small incremental improvements.

 

[American Hero]

"I couldn't disagree more," said Cook when asked about the comment, attributing the perceived sales dip to an abnormally high upgrade rate in late 2014 and 2015 as people upgraded to the iPhone 6 and pointing towards growth opportunities in China and India. Cook went on to tease future advances in iPhone technology that will inspire people to buy new devices.

Gee, I wonder why so many people upgraded to the 6... Perhaps because they wanted an iPhone with a normal size screen and not a little dinky one with crappy battery life like all of the previous versions before it.

So Tim, what future advances in the iPhone do you have planned? Probably just a catch up to the current S7 about four years from now, and that's if he's still around at that point.
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He reiterated Apple's future plans later in the interview when questioned on whether Apple is still innovating. "We're fairly secretive," he said, "but I would tell you we're incredibly excited about things we're working on."

Been saying that line for five years, Tim. I think I saw diarrhea come out of your mouth.

 

[DevNull0]

Why do you think I bought a 5K iMac to replace my 5 year old mini? The mini is terribly underpowered and the Pro is almost 3 years old... at least the 5K comes with a 5K monitor, which alone is worth the price of admission.

My 2011 MBP (with a 480 gig SSD, 1TB HDD, and 16 gig of RAM), offers about the same processor power as the latest, and more storage than I can get in the latest at any price. Plus my 16 gig cost $80 back in 2011. Not Apple's crazy ripoff pricing.

There is zero reason to replace it. So I lose ports, lose storage space, have to pay an organ to keep the same ram, no better CPU. But hey it is 0.25 inches thinner. Wow. Real innovation. And we're talking about a 5 year old MBP compared to the latest MBP. It is just sad that they're even comparable.

And gluing a 5k monitor onto underpowered, obsolete computer parts that can't even drive the display properly isn't worth the price of admission. It's pure idiocy, just like everything else Timmy touches. Paying $1500 for a gorgeous monitor makes sense. replacing said monitor 5 years later when you want a newer CPU/GPU or even a newer port is just so stupid that only someone like Timmy could be dumb enough to bring it to market.

 

[theluggage]

The first few iPods didn't sell like crazy at first. It took a few iterations. Same with the iPhone. Same with Macs and the Apple brand as a whole.

Network effect? No, sorry, Apple's success has depended on innovation - even if its 'innovation' in design, packaging and marketing rather than carving new technologies from the raw firmament.

The first few iPods used Firewire, and initially only worked with a Mac and wasn't a serious product until Windows & USB support was added so the majority of customers could actually use them. At that stage, they took off. The iTunes music store (innovative at the time) was also a big driver.

The iPhone attracted huge interest from day 1, but was held back by being AT&T only: probably a necessary step to get support from other carriers. Also, note that the iPhone arrived just in time as "feature phones" with MP3 players started to eat in to the iPod market.

Next history lesson: The Mac was initially successful, but couldn't compete with the PC on price. The mid-term success of the Mac wasn't because of iterative improvements of the original Mac, it was largely because Apple produced the Laserwriter - the first remotely affordable laser printer - and Localtalk - a cheap'n'cheerful local area network that let a small business share one Laserwriter between several people - and thus created the Desktop Publishing market, something that early DOS PCs simply weren't up to.

Oh, and the original Apple ][ was pretty successful (in relative terms) from the get-go, as it was one of the first wave of personal computers that you could buy and use without needing a soldering iron and a second hand teletype. The problem was that the Apple 3 was an epic fail (it just didn't work), as was the Lisa (lovely interface but they don't do 25 year mortgages on personal computers).

No, the problem for Apple is that the demand for smartphones, personal computers and tablets has peaked and Apple haven't come through with the Next Big Thing. The Watch is a solution looking for a problem - and even if I did want one there are compelling alternatives. Hint 1: the crown on a watch is an ergonomically horrible UI that is uncomfortable to use - watches get away with it because its rarely used, especially since we've had self-winding watches & quartz movements that rarely need setting since forever. Hint 2: there are only a small, finite number of people you can brainwash into thinking that less than 48 hours battery life is any use in a watch (e.g. a long-haul air trip can easily be 24 hours door-to-door, and that's just when you might need smartwatch features). Hint 3: make the Watch support Android phones and you'll triple the number of potential buyers... you can always offer better support on iPhone.

 

[Basic75]

No, the problem for Apple is that the demand for smartphones, personal computers and tablets has peaked and Apple haven't come through with the Next Big Thing.

Which wouldn't even be a problem if it weren't for exaggerated growth expectations, otherwise everybody could be happy with flat multi-billion earnings every year, that would continue even if people change their phone only every 3 years.

 

[RedOrchestra]

"We've got great innovation in the pipeline. New iPhones that will incentivize you and other people that have iPhones today to upgrade to new iPhones."

Evolution is Tim Cook's new definition of innovation.

And stop pushing album art to my iPhone and iPad iTunes Apps - I DON'T WANT THAT CRAP ON MY DEVICES ... it ain't improving my life, it just flat out PMO.

 

[Rocketman]

The critics here seem to complain about the evolutionary changes to the existing form factor devices as being a lack of innovation. I have my own concerns about ports and battery capacity (2 days is my preference). AAPL has this evolutionary practice because they are focused on the annuity of the upgrade cycle driven by just enough improvements over 2 YEARS to justify an upgrade for MOST PEOPLE. It took me 3+. I had a 1, 4S, and now a 6S. That means I have given AAPL somewhere near $2200 in hardware plus the kickback they get from my overpriced carrier probably $10-20/month since 2007, so another ($15) $1440 or so. That annuity is increased every year as the ecosystem grows by some 50%+ per YEAR.

Intel has run into a Moore's Law barrier now, so speed increases are less exciting. But keep in mind even the lowest end Mac is faster than the highest end Mac from 7 years ago or so. All apps run "good enough" on essentially any Mac. It is now a form factor choice. Want ports? Get a MacBook Pro. Want featherweight power? Get a MacBook. Need maximum CPU? Mac Pro. It is designed to be that simple.

I wish I had a new Mac that could still run Classic. Can't have it. So I buy an older Mac for those apps and use a featherweight for daily email and browsing.

AAPL is about generating income and profits from as many people as possible. That makes some niche users unsatisfied. I get that. But it is not a problem, per se.

Rocketman

 

[parapup]

The level of delusion was pretty clear when Schiller unveiled the Mac Pro and a Cook introduced the watch 1.0 and showed tremendous amount of "look it's the first iPhone all over again" type enthusiasm.

 

[citysnaps]

Your 2006 MacBook with 2.0 GHz dual core is significantly slower than the new 1.3 GHz M7-6Y75 used in the 2016 MacBook. Don't know which processor you have, but let's take a look at the two possibilities....

Intel Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0 Ghz has an average CPU mark of 866

Intel Core Duo T7200 @ 2.0 Ghz has an average CPU mark of 1175

Meanwhile, the 1.2 GHz M7-6Y75 (not seeing CPU mark for 1.3 Ghz version) has an average CPU mark of 3714

And if you need more performance, the 1.2 Ghz M7-6Y75 can kick up its turbo speed to 3.1 GHz

You cannot determine CPU performance by looking at CPU frequency. That processor in your 2006 MacBook is super slow by today's standards.

And... Let's compare battery life. Ten hours for the *retina* MacBook. Perhaps 4-5 hours for the 2006 non-retina MacBook.

 

[6749974]

Network effect? No, sorry, Apple's success has depended on innovation - even if its 'innovation' in design, packaging and marketing rather than carving new technologies from the raw firmament.

The first few iPods used Firewire, and initially only worked with a Mac and wasn't a serious product until Windows & USB support was added so the majority of customers could actually use them. At that stage, they took off. The iTunes music store (innovative at the time) was also a big driver.

The iPhone attracted huge interest from day 1, but was held back by being AT&T only: probably a necessary step to get support from other carriers. Also, note that the iPhone arrived just in time as "feature phones" with MP3 players started to eat in to the iPod market.

Next history lesson: The Mac was initially successful, but couldn't compete with the PC on price. The mid-term success of the Mac wasn't because of iterative improvements of the original Mac, it was largely because Apple produced the Laserwriter - the first remotely affordable laser printer - and Localtalk - a cheap'n'cheerful local area network that let a small business share one Laserwriter between several people - and thus created the Desktop Publishing market, something that early DOS PCs simply weren't up to.

Oh, and the original Apple ][ was pretty successful (in relative terms) from the get-go, as it was one of the first wave of personal computers that you could buy and use without needing a soldering iron and a second hand teletype. The problem was that the Apple 3 was an epic fail (it just didn't work), as was the Lisa (lovely interface but they don't do 25 year mortgages on personal computers).

No, the problem for Apple is that the demand for smartphones, personal computers and tablets has peaked and Apple haven't come through with the Next Big Thing. The Watch is a solution looking for a problem - and even if I did want one there are compelling alternatives. Hint 1: the crown on a watch is an ergonomically horrible UI that is uncomfortable to use - watches get away with it because its rarely used, especially since we've had self-winding watches & quartz movements that rarely need setting since forever. Hint 2: there are only a small, finite number of people you can brainwash into thinking that less than 48 hours battery life is any use in a watch (e.g. a long-haul air trip can easily be 24 hours door-to-door, and that's just when you might need smartwatch features). Hint 3: make the Watch support Android phones and you'll triple the number of potential buyers... you can always offer better support on iPhone.

I don't disagree with you. We barely disagree. If you read my other posts (the popularity of this thread will make that hard, though) I outline similar points. It's called "Tehnology Adoption Lifecycle Model" and Apple's business model is in essence to take raw or early(ish) technology and repackage it to sell to an early majority market. But to do that they have to cross the chasm. And it takes a few iterations to do that. Especially because what consumers want doesn't always exist. Apple doesn't invent all technology. For example: Apple didn't invent the processor and they currently rely on Intel to innovate chip design for macs.

That's the long view model. But also, when they saturate and "peak" all they can do is hold on to market share in one arm, meanwhile develop and go into new product categories to create new streams of revenue.

And that's what Apple Watch is. and car. And so on.

Apple Watch sucks enough that even I didn't buy it. But that's the point I'm making: It's expected. They never saturate the market or develop the ideal anything until a few generations in.

Apple has to find early development and the supply chain, sell an early adopter version, make money, then fund the supply chain with sales from version 1, asking them, "Here's more money. Now help me make this better, faster, more effecifient." They do, and Apple comes back with Version 2. Then with profit, they return and continue the loop.

Version 1 is "just ok". Version 2 is "better." Version 3 is "great!" Version 4 is "Amazing! I have to have one." For this, see iPhone. I didn't buy until version 3G and it wasn't amazing until version 4. Of course everyone falls differently on that adoption line.

Again: do I think Apple Watch v1 is amazing? No. Proof: I didn't buy one.

Do I think Apple is following the pattern of tech adoption? Yes. Proof: Apple does this with every product.

 

[benedetti]

"(...) and by great innovation and upgrade, I mean bricking your current iPhones with next release of iOS"

 

[physicsprof]

Hmm... January 2013: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-pipeline-chock-full-apple-tv-growth.1530759/

I'm still waiting for that "incredible stuff."

 

[MarsViolet]

Very true. Especially when it comes to Touch ID and the version available on the iPhone 6s. It's so much faster than entering a passcode that I wonder how I lived with entering a passcode every single time I unlocked my phone. I already partially feel this way about the Apple Watch. For things like notifications and reminders, I find it very valuable.

Throw your smart phone in a lake and, once you get through the withdrawals, you'll wonder how you lived with that thing controlling your life and constantly demanding your attention.

 

[shk718]

I don't know what you're all talking about but I've see a lot of new apple innovations over the past few years. Touch Id is phenomenal and best in class - you'd have to drag that out of my cold dead fingerprints. Apple pay couldn't be any easier (that chip thing on my credit card is a nightmare). I LOVE my new apple TV - everything from the UI to "what did he say" to "I want to watch Arrow". It along with all of the phenomenal apps allowed me to cut the cord on my cable subscription (and is saving me a lot of money - thank you Apple). Apple watch is good and I suspect soon will be amazing. I take a picture on my phone and it shows up everywhere. I edit it on my iPad and those same non-destructive edits show up on my iPhone. 3D touch basically gives me a mouse pad on my iPhone. Apple is designing best in class mobile processors, just ask Intel.

 

[MaxBlast]

back to the mac!!!

 

[MarsViolet]

Very true. Especially when it comes to Touch ID and the version available on the iPhone 6s. It's so much faster than entering a passcode that I wonder how I lived with entering a passcode every single time I unlocked my phone. I already partially feel this way about the Apple Watch. For things like notifications and reminders, I find it very valuable.

See above.

 

[Xultar]

I think Apple gets lost in their own world. They need a wake up call.

The Apple Watch was new.

New to apple, but not to the space. Others had already done it before Apple put out their watch.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

"We are going to give you things you can't live without that you just don't know you need today." That's because we don't need them. What we DO need is for Apple to become a computer company again. When you stop innovating in computers, people go elsewhere, and sales decline. Then you use declining sales as an excuse to scale back computer development! People aren't buying Mac Pro's because they're overpriced 3 yr old hardware.

It's clear Apple is becoming a company clearly interested in iPhones and tablets and gadgets. It's looking more and more like Brookstone is going to have some competition! Every time I walk in there (not often) I always find something I didn't know I needed!

 

[physicsprof]

January 2013: https://www.macrumors.com/2013/01/2...-product-pipeline-chock-full-apple-tv-growth/

Still waiting for that "incredible stuff."

 

[MarsViolet]

I don't know what you're all talking about but I've see a lot of new apple innovations over the past few years. Touch Id is phenomenal and best in class - you'd have to drag that out of my cold dead fingerprints. Apple pay couldn't be any easier (that chip thing on my credit card is a nightmare). I LOVE my new apple TV - everything from the UI to "what did he say" to "I want to watch Arrow". It along with all of the phenomenal apps allowed me to cut the cord on my cable subscription (and is saving me a lot of money - thank you Apple). Apple watch is good and I suspect soon will be amazing. I take a picture on my phone and it shows up everywhere. I edit it on my iPad and those same non-destructive edits show up on my iPhone. 3D touch basically gives me a mouse pad on my iPhone. Apple is designing best in class mobile processors, just ask Intel.

With all that canned marketing speak, I can't tell if you're serious or if you're mocking the people who are.
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Gotta love the financially and market illiterate trolls on this forum. What he's saying is beyond true and you know it. There's a network effect, people. The first few iPods didn't sell like crazy at first. It took a few iterations. Same with the iPhone. Same with Macs and the Apple brand as a whole.

Apple is heavily investing in the next stage of technology and you guys are too stupid to even acknowledge it.

Everybody at and around Apple, from the executives and employees to business partners and long-term stock-holders will be making a wealth from this company; meanwhile you guys will be complaining about Apple on a forum with their devices. Good luck.

More Kool-Aid?

 

[kyleh22]

I don't know how I lived so long without more watch band options....

 

[brewmonkey]

The hate is strong with this thread.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Wow, negativity much?

First of all, what is a technology CEO supposed to say? "We're not really working on anything great right now, but we figure we can keep selling products based on momentum and brand name"

Secondly, Apple truly has been releasing innovative and amazing things every year. Perhaps it's not the innovation that YOU want to see. Just in the past 12 months we've seen....

2016: True Tone display - New way of dynamically calibrating the screen
2015: Apple Watch - Completely new product category
2015: Apple TV - New reimagining with apps, trackpad remote, etc
2015: 3D touch - New interface for interacting with iPhone, new technology required
2015: MacBook - A lot of changes in the new macbook

 

[Basic75]

I don't know how I lived so long without more watch band options....

They could innovate with watch bands made of carbon fiber or unobtanium alloy.

But how do we then drive our 4K TVs with a Mac mini or an Apple TV?

 

[2457282]

So from my little corner of the world here is what I have seen so far -
1. TouchID - love it
2. Apple Pay - love it
3. Bigger iphones - learned to love the 6, no plus sizes for my skinny white cuban ass
4. Apple watch - love it
5. ATV 4 - love it
6. Ipad pro with keyboard cover - looks very promising
7. Iphone battery cover with a bump - meh
8. iPhone SE - love it
9. Macbook - will probably replace my Mac Air soon, but not as exciting
10. Mac Pro - loved it when it came out, needs update
11. Beats - meh
12. Apple Music - I hate streaming, I prefer to own, but acknowledge that this is going in the right direction

These are all the things I remember that were released under Tim's watch. Mostly good (and I did not get into the bands or colors)

What I hope is in the pipeline
1. Waterproof - everything
2. True cable cutting apps for the ATV
3. More accurate sensors (and more sensors) for the Awatch
4. Bring back the ability for to listen to music without a contract
5. More home automation - homekit has not taken off and its time for Apple to develop their own products in this space
6. more development of the carplay app before thinking of the actual car
7. Arm based laptops to eliminate the constant product delays due to Intel
8. make iworks great again
9. make photos pro
10. fix cloud services to make sense. Family plan for icloud storage integrated with music match. Directory structure for saving stuff to icloud. integrate time-machine with icloud.

That is just my short list.