The claim was the criticisms were the same.
The magnitude of negative comments made about the watch, iphone, and ipod were not in the same universe as those made about the VP pre/post release. No history rewrite.
I feel the point being made here is that the people who claim that every new Apple product release will fail are not basing their arguments on any objective facts or reasoning. They just want to see it fail, and they are content to keep parroting the same refrain every time, in the hopes that they will finally be "right", and that it somehow means that their criticism of Apple was valid all along.
For example, I recall many people arguing that Apple needed to release cheaper iPhones to compete with Android handsets, or risk being crowded out of the market. Apple has done the opposite, while relying on trade-ins and instalment plans to make their devices more accessible. The end result is that Apple holds its own in the smartphone market despite having just 20% market share worldwide, without taking a hit to its profitability, while also successfully navigating a paradigm shift where users are holding on to their devices for longer (by pivoting to services).
Another argument was how Apple needed a cheap laptop to compete with netbooks. Instead, Apple released the iPad, because they correctly bet that people bought cheap computers primarily to access the internet. But it was always the internet portion they wanted, not so much a full-fledged computer. And the rest as we know it is history.
There's now this thought that having the iPad become more like the Mac will help the iPad, and that the hardware is more than good enough while the software is holding it back. The opposite is likely true. The iPad's key selling point has always been that it is this magical piece of glass, and in this context, I believe that macOS will only make interacting with it more awkward and unwieldy.
There were jokes about how ridiculous the AirPods appeared, but their appearance is now iconic and synonymous with the company.
I could go on, but my point is that in all these scenarios, while the problems they identified may have had some merit or truth to it, the critics were almost always universally wrong when it came to identifying the correct remedies to take. I can't quite put my finger on it. There seems to be this disconnect between a design-led company like Apple, vs the engineering-led arguments being made by the people here (eg: many points made tend to revolve around price, specs, mergers and acquisitions, with seemingly little focus on the end user experience or the underlying technology makes a product more personal and "fun" to interact with or how people can get more out of their devices).
I don't think I am rewriting history by pointing out that many people here do not seem to understand Apple or business in general. Maybe the Vision Pro will sell well, and maybe it won't. My point is that it won't be because of what the "haters" here say, because honestly speaking, they have zero credibility in my eyes.
