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Right but AW didn't totally kill the smartwatch market. It's one brand among many. Fitbit is a big as ever with new models. Garmin, Suunto, are untouched. AW may be the top selling watch -- we don't have any numbers to verify, of course -- but it's hardly scaring off or crushing competition.

OTOH when Apple combined the iPod with Windows + iTunes the MP3 player market vanished. Poof. No other company could compete -- many tried, but didn't last long. Same with the iPhone. Killed Blackberry. Killed Palm. Android phones took many years to get on par.

The MP3 player market still had small players selling cheap junk. If I remember correctly, Apple captured around 70% of the MP3 player market.

AW is different in that it's tied to iOS whereas iPod worked with 99% of the computer platforms.

Even then, AW killed Pebble and Jawbone, and Fitbit, the largest fitness tracker maker might be next. They've been bleeding money as the market has been shifting away from fitness trackers to smartwatches. Also, their new smartwatch which was supposed to save them got poor reviews so Fitbit may not make it. In that regard, Apple Watch has been as disruptive as iPod and iPhone IMO.
 
Anybody who says Apple has slowed innovation is blind or greedy.

Apple may not be innovating in the way you want, but it’s idiotic to say they’ve slowed innovating.

Actually you are right... they haven't "slowed", because they weren't innovating quickly in the first place.
 
I agree with Eddy that innovation requires more time than the market allows. One can try to be innovative, but Eureka moments are usually serendipitous events. Which is why companies with handpicked talent, like Apple, still have to purchase unknown start ups to acquire the next big thing or solution.

Eddy’s denial is partly correct. Apple has maintained their pace of innovation, but the quality and significance of their innovation has been hit or miss. Touch ID… hit the mark. Siri… not so much. And details that mattered to Apple’s oldest customers, like the quality of a display, are insignificant to the larger audience.
 

Look, if you want to play the link an article game: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4113151-fitbits-ionic-smartwatch-sales-appear-strong

And my link is from a few days ago. Yours months ago when Fitbit's line was stale.

Silly. AW is a good watch. I enjoy mine. But it's not a category killer. Sorry. Fitbit is competing, has it's market. Garmin and Suunto are untouched by AW because AW isn't a true sports watch -- as I noted earlier AW can't even count reps like the high end Garmins now can.
 
Wrong.

You're confused, not those you're replying to. Invention means something new. We don't expect something new from Apple constantly. Innovation is just a PROCESS of moving toward something. Not a result.

Apple has left Siri a joke for years. Apple has left many of their advertised features out of their release products.

Apple HAS been inventing (Macbook Pro, Airpods, Pencil, etc). However apple has not been innovating.

Thanks - I know what invention means. And on forums I've read, people absolutely have confused 'innovation' with 'invention'.

Are there no innovative features / tech in any of the Apple hardware you mention?
 
When you lay out the differences between the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 8... it's quite obvious the ideas have run aground. I just upgraded from the 6 to the 8 and the only enhancement that stands out to me is the water resistance, which is old news for smart phones.

Apple playing catchup with Samsung, et al. What a sad day.
 
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The MP3 player market still had small players selling cheap junk. If I remember correctly, Apple captured around 70% of the MP3 player market.

AW is different in that it's tied to iOS whereas iPod worked with 99% of the computer platforms.

Even then, AW killed Pebble and Jawbone, and Fitbit, the largest fitness tracker maker might be next. They've been bleeding money as the market has been shifting away from fitness trackers to smartwatches. Also, their new smartwatch which was supposed to save them got poor reviews so Fitbit may not make it. In that regard, Apple Watch has been as disruptive as iPod and iPhone IMO.

Well, Pebble and Jawbone were POS. I owned both. Sold my Pebble the day it arrived, returned my Jawbone 2 hours after buying it. AW didn't kill those two. They were not good product. Fitbit is doing fine as it expands from just activity monitors to smart watches.

As for the MP3 market, yes the pre-iPod players were terrible. But even after the iPod was launch and Apple showed the world how to make a decent player no manufacturer could compete. OTOH companies are competing with AW and even iPhone has to compete hard against Android. iOS and top end Android phones have feature parity these days and build quality isn't far off.

My point here is no one is scared of Apple these days. They compete and do well and don't even have to copy to get there.
 
When you lay out the differences between the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 8... it's quite obvious the ideas have run aground. I just upgraded from the 6 to the 8 and the only enhancement that stands out to me is the water resistance, which is old news for smart phones.

Apple playing catchup with Samsung, et al. What a sad day.

This is exactly why I ended up going from my 6s+ to a Note 8. I can't see spending all that money to get the same basic thing I already had, minus the headphone jack. Everything else, like wireless charging and water resistance, were just keeping up with the Jones's. And then there is the SE, and even older design they keep milking. This is a big part of why Apple is so profitable. They are able to keep selling similar designs for more money, and have millions that turn over their cash. Other companies are pushing harder to bring out new tech.
 
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Well Eddie, the IPad numbers have been slipping for a year (don’t get me wrong, I like mine), thankfully some new life was put into it with the Pro, but regardless, the market doesn’t bear the exciting innovation angle.

As for the watch, it’s severely hampered by being tethered to both a charger every day and a half, and tethered to a specific phone that 60% or so of the US market doesn’t own based on sales. Open it up to Android phones (they won’t for any number of reasons) like Samsung did for the Gear series for IOS.
And there are very good watches from Garmin and Fitbit etc that allow most of the functions people find useful (after the honeymoon period of looking at a iMessage picture or drawing a heart on your watch) in a smart watch such as basic notifications, and last for a week or longer of daily use between charges.

Apple now has the resources to change the tech world and popular culture. I just think they, as most large companies get, are bogged down with layers of management and people looking out for themselves. People that aren’t risk takers, or, have gotten where they are based on past accomplishments in a different time and place, and are now on auto mode or stuck in their ways.

That, and internal politics causes those with creative and innovative ideas, now has to pass that through probabaly 5 people above them to get on the radar, any one of which can shut it down for whatever reason. So at some point people likely don’t even try to bring new ideas to the plate. Innovative companies take risks and step out of the box. There’s little risk taking at Apple anymore (at least the kind that sees the light of day in consumer products), for better (polished products that get analyzed in any number of ways for months before being released, that can be marketed to command a premium price, driving up the brand cache and the bottom line finances of the company) or worse (as failure of any product isn’t going to fly at Apple anymore).
 
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I disagree vehemently with Eddy's vehement disagreement.

Aside from the same old same old from apple, lets talk about their innovations that fall by the wayside. (There are more than I discuss.) Apple in the past has come up with some great things. But they have really abandoned or fell asleep at the wheel with many of their products and software.

One of the most glaring things in my mind is siri. They were the first at the table with a good voice assistant. Then as usual they rest on their laurels and don't really develop or do much with what they have. (You can apply this statement with nearly everything they did innovate BTW). Nearly every other voice assistant came AFTER siri and they are miles ahead for the most part. They have abandoned much of their software or left it in limbo. The whole iWork suite could have been much farther along. They abandoned Aperture, they let Final Cut sit for years, the Mac pro was in limbo for years, then they finally released an update and let that sit for years. Maps sucks. iOS 11 also does not have a very polished feel to it. I haven't looked forward to an update in a long time as much as i hope they get more bugs worked out of it. Their software releases have gotten sloppy, and I KNOW they weren't perfect in the past, but it has gotten worse

Every iPhone is the same year after year with the only thing improved is the processor. The camera improvements are marginal. (In some instances, I actually preferred the iPhone 6plus camera to the 7plus. Many of the 7plus pictures look horribly OVER processed) You still have to buy a plus size iphone just for a 1080p display. LOL!! The apple TV is a year and a half late to the 4K party. If apple was innovating it would have come out 2 years ago to lead the field.

The iPad is not a laptop replacement because iOS is not robust enough, it an OS for simpletons. If they keep touting their mobile ARM as powerful enough as laptop processors then put MacOS on the iPad and make the device more useful. But they are not stupid. They are careful as to not cannibalize sales of their other devices and thats what it is all about.

There is plenty I didn't mention in this post they have also fell asleep at the wheel on.
 
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People like to say Apple hasn’t brought out a ground breaking product since the iPhone. Sometimes I don’t think they understand the gravity of what iPhone did or was. Don’t compare iPhone to the release of the iPod or iMac. iPhone was as big as the advent of desktop computing. It wasn’t just the leap to a good phone, or Apples new shiny toy. It was an entirely new way of doing things. It was constant connection.

And that skews things. People aren’t saying “hey when are you going to bring out something innovative again?” People are asking “hey when are you going to change the course of computing again?”. And that seems to take about 30 years guys, so if you want iPhone level excitement, you still have a big wait & it easily might not be Apple.

Me, I’m pretty impressed with the AirPods and the Watch because it’s a pretty robust wearable computer system now, and to me, that didn’t exist before and is pretty innovative. YMMV.
 
...Me, I’m pretty impressed with the AirPods and the Watch because it’s a pretty robust wearable computer system now, and to me, that didn’t exist before and is pretty innovative. YMMV.

Well, the Air Pods are a good example of aesthetics (although I suppose they are a touch ugly out of necessity) having a higher priority than function at Apple. The Air Pods are cool but damned if they will stay solidly in my ear for more than a minute. They don't really fall out, but get very loose constantly no matter how I try to wedge them in.
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Is this really a surprise or news?...he does work for Apple...

Yeah, he sounds a bit desperate. I like one of the commenters on this Thread saying "He dost protest too much." Need action, not talk.
 
It's weird how Samsung can be viewed as innovative/superior for making faster phones with better cameras and screens, but people will write off everything Apple has done along similar lines. (For example: They would argue that Apple making the iPhone faster and faster isn't innovative).

Those people also totally write off new things Apple is trying like Face ID, AR Kit, AirPods and Apple Pay.

Ignoring reality on this level is remarkable. What's even more mind boggling to me is these same people argue this wouldn't have happened if Steve Jobs was here. The man who got a cheer when he announced "iPad 2 comes in two colours. We're going to be shipping white on day one." A new colour and managing to not repeat a mistake is seen as innovative by him, but the Apple Watch is thrown aside.

Talking of Apple Watch. Has there ever been a product which took on three market leaders: Rolex, Fitbit and Android and so successfully merged their functionality? Apple Watch is fashionable, and looks good (and brings in a lot of money) like Rolex. It tracks health as accurately, if not more so, than a Fitbit. And it's smarter (and more relevant) than the smartest Android Wear device.
 
Apple can't even be bothered to simply update the internals on the Mini.

It's not just that they aren't innovative... they're flat out lazy at this point.

You can cut the gas on a soaring rocket, but when it starts to fall, good luck firing it back up again.
 
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disagrees vehemently with those who believes apples pace of innovation has slowed.

Haven't those people seen the straps and emoji??

That is pure courage.
 
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