Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

DBZmusicboy01

Suspended
Original poster
Sep 30, 2011
1,273
2,221
I feel like in about 5 years they would start going down very fast...Samsung or another company will overtake them. It's very sad but I don't even know what could be amazing for iPhone 10
 
I don't even know what could be amazing for Newton 10.

I don't even know what could be amazing for Macintosh Plus 2.

I don't even know what could be amazing for Apple IV.

My point being: they'll last so long as they continue to iterate and innovate on products that have mass appeal. And I think they can do that. Maybe not consistently stay at the top, but survive nonetheless.
 
Last edited:
Well, no company lasts forever at the top. Look at how Sony declined and the way Microsoft is starting to do so.

I can picture two scenarios for Apple's possible future decline:

1. The retirement of the highly talented executive team (Ive, Federighi, Cook, Cue, etc.) causing an influx of upper management stiffs to replace them; or

2. A new, highly disruptive technology (e.g., flexible/stretchable screens) or gadget (think iPod and iPhone) comes out of nowhere like a curveball that no other company (including Apple) expected.
 
I feel like in about 5 years they would start going down very fast...Samsung or another company will overtake them. It's very sad but I don't even know what could be amazing for iPhone 10

15-20 years from now Apple and even MS could be a thing of the past. It's too long of a time frame to predict.

I think within 5 years or sooner, Apple will have full OSX on tablets. Whether it's dual booting iOS/OSX or just OSX. Maybe iOS will cease to exist as OSX is filling any iOS void when it comes to features and streamline way of doing things. This will crush any Surface pro and will give Android tablet manufacturers a very hard time selling the top of the line tablets without any full OS options for consumers. Only low priced Android tablets will sell.


I agree with you about the iPhone. I think Samsung will eventually create a smartphone that will make even the most die hard iPhone fanbois crossover.

Just my opinion of what might happen based on a 5 minute thought, no need for 10 paragraph relies. ;)
 
Apple was around for 30 years before the iPhone saw the light of day, so they're clearly capable of doing other things. I'm not even convinced we'll still be using phones 20 years from now, but even if the iPhone went away entirely, it does not necessarily follow that Apple would have nothing else to produce.

Put it this way: AT&T and Western Union both survived the death of the telegraph.
 
It would take an amazing plunge in fortune to be gone in 15-20 years.

I personally wouldn't bet on that outcome.
 
I doubt Apple will go away but I can certainly see it changing its offerings. Perhaps more devices under the Apple logo will appear, and of course - more services.

Apple might also go into other business ventures that complement what they are doing now and do their usual attempt to create a quasi monopoly akin to iTunes "lock in" with the ATV etc.

Apple to me is not an innovative company at this point but a large company that simply wishes to remain competitive with high mark up. I'll continue to use a Mac as long as Micro$haft produces a crap operating system. However, I am on my last iPhone and will exit Apple's IOS when my contract expires. Apple still does some things with form over function and similar with their iPads. (Last time at an Apple Store, one of the staff told me they had 7 returns of the Ipad Mini retina because the people complained how tiny the fonts were and the work arounds were pathetic).

I do hope to see Apple in our future but a more hungry, customer sensitive caring company.
 
It took Apple many many years to get where it is now. Some random company that we don't know about won't be able to take Apple down overnight. We already know who the players are ... and where they stand.

Considering how much more we are being invested in the Apple ecosystem (iTunes, App Store to Facetime and iMessage... etc) I don't think it's going anywhere.
 
Doubt it.

No competitor can match the quality and design of an Apple product, they have diversified their product line so theres something that appeals to everyone, and besides they have enough to survive on in terms of raw cash and other assets which can be liquified.
 
Who knows, 20 years is an awfully long time to prognosticate. I will say this, there has been a surprising lack if innovation from apple these past few years. Even last year there was grumbling from Apple's board of directors about the lack of new products being released and the slow pace.
 
...but I don't even know what could be amazing for iPhone 10

If Apple was a one-product-company (iPhone) then yes, you might have a point. But Apple's M.O. is more about taking existing technologies and refining and repackaging them into something that's easy for consumers to use. "Easy" sells. At a premium, apparently.

So as long as there's something being done badly in the world, Apple (and companies like it) will have endless opportunities to do it better.
 
I very much doubt it. Apple have been incredibly adaptable. They moved an intensely product-loyal user/fan-base from one product to another (switching OS from MacOS to Unix-based OS X, switching hardware platforms from 680x0 to PowerPC to Intel). They started making music players, and did very well. Started making phones, and excelled. Started making tablets, and have helped the market expand to the point it threatens desktop/laptop sales.

Provided they can keep their design-led focus, there still are a lot of "greenfield" opportunities out there. In-car computing. Wearable computing. (Home) gaming consoles. Smart TVs. Home automation integration.

I've been very critical of Apple in the past (planned obsolescence, limiting user choice) but to me it seems they're focusing more on well engineered solutions. My Air is one of the best devices I've ever owned, still think it's amazing the performance from such a small device. I'm sure if I could afford a Mac Pro, I'd say the same! Love iOS7 too, didn't think I would.
 
Everything is cyclical...civilizations, governments, industries, companies. Apple is the largest, most valuable tech company in the world right now. Do I think that they can sustain this type of dominance over the next 15-20 years? No. But it would take an incredible, incredible fall from grace for Apple to be completely obsolete in that time frame. It's impossible to predict since it's impossible to predict what type of products will be created, which new and un-thought-of product segments could be created between now and then, and which companies will create these products.

If Apple simply sits on their laurels for the next 15 years and continues to just release improved versions of the products they currently offer, I think they would still be around and thriving...not dominating, but thriving. If they continue to churn out new, "never seen before" type products every 5-10 years (iPod, iPhone, iPad.....insert product we haven't even thought of yet here), then they will remain a competitive powerhouse of a company IMO.
 
I disagree. Apple survived before the iPhone and i'd wager they'll do that post-iOS devices. They're tied down by legacy support like MS/Adobe and they're aren't flat-footed like Sony. They may not do what popular opinion suggests but they do something. Their cash-reserve is nothing to sneeze at either.

Also, there's a culture of grooming/discipleship whereby veterans pass on the torch. Example being Jobs to Cook, Ive and his design team, Mansfield and his Engineering team, Avie to Bertrand to Federighi (software team)

And even if Apple were to fail it won't be because of Samsung. Samsung is a hardware company first, they absolutely suck at software imho. Just look at what happened with Bada and how they're struggling to get Tizen to market.

Samsung are largely where they are today in the mobile space because of Apple...and to a lesser extent Google. Although credit to them because if there's one thing Samsung is good at, its being agile...unlike Sony.
 
Last edited:
Of course they'll last.

Their sales could go to zero tomorrow, and their cash will carry them about that long.

Sheesh.
 
Everything is cyclical...civilizations, governments, industries, companies. Apple is the largest, most valuable tech company in the world right now. Do I think that they can sustain this type of dominance over the next 15-20 years? No. But it would take an incredible, incredible fall from grace for Apple to be completely obsolete in that time frame. It's impossible to predict since it's impossible to predict what type of products will be created, which new and un-thought-of product segments could be created between now and then, and which companies will create these products.

Agreed. Think about all of the civilizations that were at the top hundreds or thousands of years ago. Think of the Roman Empire at it's peak.

Even more recently and more to the point, think of how far huge industries have fallen. Not that steel & railroads aren't important, but they've been surpassed.

Personally, in 15-20 years, I don't think that any of the top technology companies are still going to be at the top. Apple, Google, Microsoft will all be surpassed. (Companies like Samsung & Sony don't necessarily count, they're more like conglomerates who happen to have hi-tech divisions.)

Disruption will eventually happen, whether Apple misses the mark with a product (unlikely) or fails to realize a new market in time (more probably).

One thing is for sure, when it finally does happen, some anti-Apple tech pundit will point to all the past Apple-is-doomed articles, and say that the pundits were right all along. :rolleyes: (And even a broken watch is right twice a day).
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.