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The Newton was while Jobs was at NeXT. Also, the Board brought in Scully, not Jobs.

Also, name "a whole bunch of failed lines"... Lisa? Next Step was ported to other hardware when it was shown how powerful and flexible it was, which was always the intent so there wasn't any reason to keep making its hardware line. NeXt was more out to complete with Windows than it was with Apple.
The point is that Jobs was not the be all, and end all. Tim Cook contributes as much to Apple now as Jobs did then. It was a team then, and is a team now. Sure Jobs inspired, and by ALL accounts was a nasty person. For the direction Tim has taken the company with respect to privacy, equality, climate change and education, Tim wins in my book.
 
I knew a lot of people that had a smart watch before the apple watch was out, and I knew a lot of people with wireless earbuds before the Air pods were out.

None of that apple did on those were first or revolutionary, they just did their usual thing of making it function better than the versions in place at the time and putting it in a premium style/form factor.
Sure you did! ? And i’m sure they were all very happy with the quality of those products. ?
 
Calling Apple watch and Airpods new is more than a stretch.
And making a CPU is cool and good tech but hardly resolutionary by any standard.
Obviously, you know very little about CPU or chip design.

You’re not qualified to evaluate the significance of Apples contribution to this area. Apple has changed the direction of this industry. Go look at Intel’s new product roadmap before commenting further.
 
I knew a lot of people that had a smart watch before the apple watch was out, and I knew a lot of people with wireless earbuds before the Air pods were out.

None of that apple did on those were first or revolutionary, they just did their usual thing of making it function better than the versions in place at the time and putting it in a premium style/form factor.
Yeah I had a Garmin VivoActive HR. It was great. But it couldn’t open my front gate or view my cameras like my Apple Watch does. Not everything has to be "revolutionary". That’s just ridiculous!
 
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Calling Apple watch and Airpods new is more than a stretch.
And making a CPU is cool and good tech but hardly resolutionary by any standard.
I guess at some point, it doesn't really matter in the greater scheme of things.

Take the M1 chip for example. it gives me 9 hours of zoom, while not plugged into a power source. While staying cool enough that I can rest my MBA on my naked lap and not feel any sort of discomfort. And close to 2 years later, Intel still doesn't have an answer which provides the same battery life, performance or power efficiency as the M1 chip.

I bought my first pair of AirPods in 2016 and haven't looked back since. Compact, convenient to use, great battery life, spatial audio is supported on Apple Music and TV+ content, and I feel that says a lot about Apple's ability to advance their software in lockstep with their hardware.

My Apple Watch offers notifications, Apple Pay, runs shortcuts, media controls, unlocks my phone (prior to iOS15.4) and Mac, puts my calendar on my wrist (Siri watch face), and the bands are super-easy to swap out. It's just a shame that Fitness+ isn't yet available in my country.

You and I can argue until the cows come home about whether any of this is revolutionary, or whether the credit goes to Steve Jobs or Tim Cook or somebody else. What is undeniable, however, is that this does offer very tangible benefits to the products that Apple does sell. And the end result is that customers appreciate these enhancements and have once again voted with their wallets to give Apple another financially successful quarter.

And if we want to take this discussion one step further, what's your definition of "revolutionary" then? Folding phones? Round smartwatches? CPUs that guzzle enough electricity to heat up a small home? Netflix? Peloton?

We really should be trying to explain Apple's success. Not explain it away.
 
I guess at some point, it doesn't really matter in the greater scheme of things.

Take the M1 chip for example. it gives me 9 hours of zoom, while not plugged into a power source. While staying cool enough that I can rest my MBA on my naked lap and not feel any sort of discomfort. And close to 2 years later, Intel still doesn't have an answer which provides the same battery life, performance or power efficiency as the M1 chip.

I bought my first pair of AirPods in 2016 and haven't looked back since. Compact, convenient to use, great battery life, spatial audio is supported on Apple Music and TV+ content, and I feel that says a lot about Apple's ability to advance their software in lockstep with their hardware.

My Apple Watch offers notifications, Apple Pay, runs shortcuts, media controls, unlocks my phone (prior to iOS15.4) and Mac, puts my calendar on my wrist (Siri watch face), and the bands are super-easy to swap out. It's just a shame that Fitness+ isn't yet available in my country.

You and I can argue until the cows come home about whether any of this is revolutionary, or whether the credit goes to Steve Jobs or Tim Cook or somebody else. What is undeniable, however, is that this does offer very tangible benefits to the products that Apple does sell. And the end result is that customers appreciate these enhancements and have once again voted with their wallets to give Apple another financially successful quarter.

And if we want to take this discussion one step further, what's your definition of "revolutionary" then? Folding phones? Round smartwatches? CPUs that guzzle enough electricity to heat up a small home? Netflix? Peloton?

We really should be trying to explain Apple's success. Not explain it away.

Most of your post sums up exactly the problem. None of the things Apple had done is their own design or process. It's just other people's patent and hardware packed in Apple colors and and boxes.

Where is the next iPad? Where is the next iPhone that offers more than a extra lense?

But yeah, not everyone is willing / want to try new devices and ideas to move forward. And I seems like that is what we are getting these days, and people dont have a problem with it.

Steve Jobs said it: Stay hungry.
I'm sure he didn't mean money
 
Obviously, you know very little about CPU or chip design.

You’re not qualified to evaluate the significance of Apples contribution to this area. Apple has changed the direction of this industry. Go look at Intel’s new product roadmap before commenting further.

Obviously you don't know much about the computer industry in general. I could recommend a few books i don't think you would care enough. It would undermine you stance on things.
 
Most of your post sums up exactly the problem. None of the things Apple had done is their own design or process. It's just other people's patent and hardware packed in Apple colors and and boxes.

Where is the next iPad? Where is the next iPhone that offers more than a extra lense?

But yeah, not everyone is willing / want to try new devices and ideas to move forward. And I seems like that is what we are getting these days, and people dont have a problem with it.

Steve Jobs said it: Stay hungry.
I'm sure he didn't mean money
I feel that a lot of accomplishments by Apple really come into themselves when compared with what the competition is doing. We have seen a lot of "Apple should do X" comments over the years, and they have largely been woefully shortsighted in hindsight. Which in turn speaks of the immense discipline that Apple has demonstrated in not jumping on the bandwagon or in caving to public pressure.

I could probably write an entire essay on this, but the general trend I am seeing (which constantly frustrates me) is that nearly everything Apple does is doubted and criticised. Despite having a $2.7T market cap, it is Apple that is constantly needing to prove itself. Meanwhile, the actions of every other company does not seem to have received the same level of scrutiny. More often than not, they often form the basis of numerous "Apple should do X" articles to insinuate that Apple is no longer innovating and lagging behind its peers.

Nobody is willing to even entertain the possibility that maybe, just maybe, it's Apple who was right and the rest of the world who was wrong all along. Or in the very least, just because a company is doing X doesn't mean Apple has to follow along.

Just some examples off the top of my head:

1) Netflix saw a net loss in subscribers and its stock price cratering, which has shone the spotlight on its numerous questionable decisions, from raising monthly prices to prioritising quantity over quality to blaming account sharing for the lack of growth.

In contrast, Apple has been fairly disciplined in controlling their spending on new content, while resisting the siren's call of splurging on a back catalogue (contrary to what Amazon has done in acquiring MGM). It's been more than two years, and TV+ is growing to have quite a formidable selection of original content (all of which cost Apple nothing to host), and even gotten Apple its first Oscar award (making you wonder just what Amazon and Netflix have been doing all this while).

I will say credit ultimately goes to the oft-maligned Eddy Cue, who is overseeing Apple's overall content distribution strategy.

2) Spotify's podcast strategy architect has left the company, throwing into question their strategy of trying to monopolise podcast-related advertising, and their overall commitment to their core business music streaming and to musicians. I also hold zero sympathy for a company who is trying to use the EU to blast holes in Apple's App Store model, especially when they are clearly not the scrappy underdog they are painting themselves to be.

3) Peloton is struggling to find its next marginal customer (seems there are only so many people willing to buy pricey exercise gear and pay a monthly subscription on top of that). In contrast, Apple has leveraged on the Apple Watch to sell Fitness+ subscriptions at a fairly accessible price, and bundled it into Apple One to boot, further increasing its stickiness.

So I don't understand why people think Apple should acquire Peloton, unless they are existing Peloton shareholders looking to cash out.

4) The iPhone's market share is reportedly improved relative to Android. I credit Tim Cook's long term strategy of building a formidable ecosystem around the iPhone which makes iPhone users more predisposed to using other complimentary Apple services and hardware over the competing alternatives.

People wonder how it is that Apple can possibly keep growing, and I say - why not? When there are still plenty of iPhone users that Apple can continue selling hardware and services to, and Apple's install base continues to grow with each passing day. The sky's the limit really, I feel.

5) Facebook is reeling from massive competition from the likes of Tik Tok and let's not forget the impact of ATT.

Staying hungry doesn't mean flushing money down the toilet in an endless rabbit hole of endeavours that may make for catchy blog headlines, but don't result in a meaningful improvement in the end user experience for customers.
 
And services at 9.1%. Almost as much as Macs. Smart move by Cook long ago realizing Macs would be topping out.

People greatly underestimate Cook's role in Apple's success. Sadly, it has a lot to do with some people resenting his success simply because of who he is.
I think it’s more who he ISN’T (Steve Jobs) than who he IS.

Not 100% sure what you meant by that but did you possibly mean because he’s gay? I’ve not once read or heard anyone who follows the tech industry in any capacity take issue with that. I’ve seen plenty say “Steve would have never done X”, so I assume that’s what you mean.
 
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