Apple's Recent Leadership Changes Suggest Transition From iPhone Reliance to Focus on Services

[bluecoast]

A slightly random comment:

Could smaller iPhones now only be the preserve of ‘well-off’ people?

Let me explain.

There’s a general mass market preference for bigger phones, as video, the web, insta etc obviously looks better on it.

This coupled with the forthcoming Apple TV video and apple news subscription services (which will both look better on larger screens) means that apple has no market or strategic imperative to launch a mass-market new smaller phone.

However there are some people who prefer their phones to be smaller (you suspect that Jony Ive is one of them) and that they’re in the minority (however there will be enough of them to justify making a phone of that size).

If so, that’s ok, Apple will always have one ‘smaller’ phone in their line up that they’d rather that most people don’t buy - so they’ll price it accordingly.

 

[Yojimbo007]

Yet Eddy still lingers around.. continuing his mastery in convolution.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

there is no Apple "services" without the iPhone

Well there's Apple music subscriptions through Amazon's Echo which is a sign of things to come.

 

[Tech198]

Well there's Apple music subscriptions through Amazon's Echo which is a sign of things to come.

That's an extension because chances are if you'd also an Eco, you'd also have a iOS device. If you wanna get 2FA codes, that's kind of difficult with Homepod only.

If Microsoft does it with services, then Apple would follow...

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Services, OTOH, allow a reliable income stream even if it's no phone sale. If Apple made an all in one subscription for $60 a month, which gave you access to bigger cloud storage, Apple Music, TV, etc. I'm sure they'll get a lot of bites.
[doublepost=1550534109][/doublepost]These guys get it. Though I'll admit, $80 sounds more realistic than my proposed $60.

While you raise many good points I see no evidence from Apple that they'll, despite what people want on this site, offer a bundled service. You can guess they might; but'll it'll be just that, guessing.

Do they bundle AppleCare and iCloud storage? or iTunes Match and Apple Music?

 

[0388631]

While you raise many good points I see no evidence from Apple that they'll, despite what people want on this site, offer a bundled service. You can guess they might; but'll it'll be just that, guessing.

Do they bundle AppleCare and iCloud storage? or iTunes Match and Apple Music?

Tiered bundling seems more reasonable.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

That's an extension because chances are if you'd also an Eco, you'd also have a iOS device. If you wanna get 2FA codes, that's kind of difficult with Homepod only.

If Microsoft does it with services, then Apple would follow...

You could have an Apple Music subscription on Android or a Mac and have never even looked at an iOS device.

 

[partsofspeech]

As if Yankee Stadium shifts operation focus onto sales of soda and popcorn.

 

[andyyau]

iTunes Match is actually pretty bad for large cloud libraries. It is the perfect example of an Apple service and Apple software that sucks at large scale. The matching takes forever and there are always syncing issues.

You are better off setting up a NAS and streaming off of that.

Use Google Music then. It is free too. My iTunes library is always synced to Google Music.

I did pay for 3 months trial of Apple Music. And I logged out one hour later after testing. Apple music is not what I need.
I have Synology nas app for music and also Google music. But for Apple music, it is country restricted and those I want are not available in my location. So why do I have to pay for this thing while I have better choice?

 

[Hallouminati]

They don’t care about business currently so it’ll take a major change in direction. All they currently care about are dumb emoticons and gimmicky features for kids

 

[KPandian1]

So Apple finally copies Microsoft?

Apple has the parts to compete with Office 365 at customer level. But they don’t seem to do anything to link everything together and/or spruce up iCloud. Instead, they’re chasing the Netflix model.

It is a pity Apple did not put up a better fight thru the 00's against Office; even worse now that they seem to have given up on iWork!

The reality is that people are going to experience subscription fatigue a lot quicker than Tim Cook wants to believe.

Apple is mesmerized with Microsoft's subscription format (and Netflix). Wonder if they will survive if there is an identical streaming service (to their proposed service) that undercuts Apple by even $15/month. The fatigue will kick in sooner, especially if Disney gets off to a sprinting start - no hardware base to build upon for Disney.

 

[MacBH928]

Again, what made Apple the company it is today is the user experience. Tim does not care about that, its all about the money. Its so obvious in the buggy software they release, lack of real advancement on MacOS, relic Mac hardware, and the aging iOS-the Blackberry competitor-that is supposed to be the postPC OS.

its all about the money now...like Microsoft..yikes!

 

[Doomtomb]

iPhones of the future are last year's model with today's services.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

So Apple finally copies Microsoft?

iCloud - OneDrive
iWork - Office 365 apps
iMessage + FaceTime - Skype

Apple has the parts to compete with Office 365 at customer level. But they don’t seem to do anything to link everything together and/or spruce up iCloud. Instead, they’re chasing the Netflix model.

But you've missed an important point; all those Microsoft products work on PC/iOS/MacOS, Apples attempts only work on Apples devices....

 

[512ke]

iCloud vs Dropbox? I like Dropbox better.

Apple Music vs Spotify? Spotify.

Apple Mail vs Gmail? Gmail wins.

Apple streaming platform vs Netflix? From what I’ve been reading, Netflix and Amazon Prime seem more appealing

Apple App Store? Yeah I use it. Because it’s my only choice.

If I didn’t love my Apple products I wouldn’t use Apple services.

If Apple’s iPhone sales dry up, poof go their services UNLESS they seriously up their game.

 

[ipedro]

Apple has never demonstrated much competency in delivering services, so if Apple does not survive, it will because they shifted their focus to something they suck at.

iTunes was the biggest service success in the entire music industry’s history and made the iPod an untouchable leader for its entire run.

iCloud is today, the largest and most seamless cloud syncing service in the world. It’s easy to forget that after .mac and MobileMe that iCloud is now performing the goals of both of those services plus new ones on a much bigger installed base. Yet, we don’t hear about it because it just quietly does its job without issue. Your photos sync over to all your devices, your settings span all your devices, your phone and iPad are backed up routinely, you take for granted that if you lose your phone, you’ll just have to sign in on a new phone and everything will be there exactly as it was before and you didn’t have to do anything.

The App Store? The world’s biggest software store that easily installs apps on devices and gets their developers paid, with virtually zero piracy. I still remember when being a developer was a dead end job or just a hobby because piracy neglected a revenue source and most people just didn’t want to pay for software. It’s another record breaking service offered by Apple. It just works.

Then there’s iMessage. It’s so popular and performs so flawlessly that it’s the glue that keeps a lot of people on iOS and brings others on to the platform.

That old line that Apple isn’t good at services hasn’t held true for years now and is only used by those who can’t come up with presently valid criticism. Trust me, there are plenty of other things for you to criticize, but services isn’t one of them.

 

[cardfan]

iCloud vs Dropbox? I like Dropbox better.

Apple Music vs Spotify? Spotify.

Apple Mail vs Gmail? Gmail wins.

Apple streaming platform vs Netflix? From what I’ve been reading, Netflix and Amazon Prime seem more appealing

Apple App Store? Yeah I use it. Because it’s my only choice.

If I didn’t love my Apple products I wouldn’t use Apple services.

If Apple’s iPhone sales dry up, poof go their services UNLESS they seriously up their game.

Apple anything service is usually inferior to 3rd party. Maps, music, photos, cloud, email, calendar, you name it. What drove Apple's services in last quarter? Google. What they pay apple to be default Search. That's a service. And it's a good one. Apple couldn't begin to compete there. MS tried with Bing years ago.

So if Apple can outsource that service, why not double down? Quit focusing on things you're no good at. Embrace google maps, etc and outsource for other services that people actually want and use and are superior to anything you could do. MS office, amazon for books & things, google's list of services, netflix, disney, etc, they would pay apple. Apple focuses on hardware and synergy between iOS and mac devices and leaves these services to others while raking in the revenue from them.

Apple's job is to make amazing hardware that just works with its OS and ecosystem. Premium experience. That's what separates them from the rest. Half baked services or just good enough services hurt Apple.

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

So the guy overseeing Siri Development is promoted to Senior Vice President for Machine Learning and AI? Yup, Tim needs to go.

What could this possibly mean????!!!

They very recently got an incredible new hire; a god in the AI field.
Siri desperately needed someone with his level of expertise.
The previous guy that was running the crappy & finicky Siri was demoted, whilst the new guy that anyone sane would want to have more power, landed an svp position. This can only signal good news for Siri & AI in general at Apple.
I have zero idea what you think you’re trying to say.

 

[pgwalsh]

What they don't realize is the service industry doesn't work if they force people to buy their hardware. It needs to be cross-platform to work like Amazon, Google, Netflix, Spotify, etc. so pretty much all non-Apple services.

I completely agree, but also think they should get wide scale adoption of OS X. Look at the hackintosh community, it's huge (not that I have a hackintosh), but OS X should be free and available to install on any hardware and 3rd party vendors. They'd grow their install base massively which will grown iPhone and iDevice sales and services.

 

[dan110]

The reality is that ALL of Apple's hardware will now become akin to overpriced toys with the primary purpose of accessing a weakened Apple ecosystem with half baked services. You thought you didn't like the removal of the head phone jack? Wait till you see devices with only the charging port! Do you really think they're going to revamp iTunes? LOL Don't hold your breath.

Aside from that, Apple has never really done the "internet" or "social" very well. (eg Ping). Hence, I really don't see them being able to grow their services with the current trajectory. It's like they can't chew gum and walk at the same time. They can barely focus on hardware issues AND build their services businesses to what we expect from "Apple". (eg the entire Mac/MacBook line).

For them to be as successful as they were in the past, they will need to recapture the magic that was in their hardware and software business when they catered to creatives. They will ALSO NEED to successfully marry that UX with whatever future services they're going to fumble through with Eddy at the helm.

Unfortunately, I don't think Tim, Eddy, Phil, and Jony are still the right people to pull that off.

 

[dan110]

What could this possibly mean????!!!

They very recently got an incredible new hire; a god in the AI field.
Siri desperately needed someone with his level of expertise.
The previous guy that was running the crappy & finicky Siri was demoted, whilst the new guy that anyone sane would want to have more power, landed an svp position. This can only signal good news for Siri & AI in general at Apple.
I have zero idea what you think you’re trying to say.

Did you not read the article. All they did was shuffle the chairs. The new SVP is not coming from outside of Apple. He was already at Apple's machine learning/AI shop.

 

[charlituna]

Every investor already knows this and has known this for some time.

Right. All that ‘today at apple’ stuff was a pretty big sign

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

Did you not read the article. All they did was shuffle the chairs. The new SVP is not coming from outside of Apple. He was already at Apple's machine learning/AI shop.

Lol, the new SVP is also new to Apple. I think this “new new” HUGE promotion comes less than a year after he’s been an employee for Apple, he previously ran Google’s entire search team. For real, look up his title at Google.
He is an AI stud. Apple is VERY lucky to have him.
Anyone saying “Tim has to go” for rapidly promoting one of their most valuable new AI assets is really desperate for something to complain about, and comes off silly & ridiculous.