I see not just here but most everywhere people commenting on how Apple is no longer innovative. My question is how is that true? They came up with that awesome Force Touch Trackpad, 5k iMac, 3D Touch, Retina MacBook Pros (the first above HD laptops if I recall) and that new Apple Pencil is showing that it will be a big piece of quality tech. I mean let's say for arguments sake that Apple isn't innovative anymore... so what can they do? If they release a true hybrid-like MacBook/iPad they will be called copycats of the Surface. If they add a better camera or higher dpi for their phones they'll just be called copy cats to samsung or LG... Either way they lose. I think we already pretty much have such advanced tech that the only thing Apple can do is refine and make things run better. I also think many of us forget that without Apple's innovations we wouldn't have the grade A tech we have now... and yes much of that is due to Tim Cook's reign, not as much obviously as when Jobs was around but it's only been 4 years.
Not saying Apple is the king of everything, but let's be honest, without them launching the iPhone and iPad we wouldn't have near the quality tablets we have from other tech giants.
Kal.
I think it's more a case of Apple becoming more risk averse in their innovation. The iPod was a risk, the iPhone was a risk. Heck even the original iMac was a risk. The company is so valuable now that they must be careful in their assessment of product viability. Stock value being an important factor, I suspect.
I agree that they seem to have hit the sweet spot in terms of long term product evolution. They'll introduce a new product or service every 2-3 years then spend 4-5 years refining and improving that product/service. At the point where the market viability is established, they can gradually transfer resources to research and develop their next product.
Think of the iPad for example. The iPad Air 2, I'm guessing, has pretty much achieved their original vision. There is little else they can do other than add some bells and whistles. The iPad Pro is the next step, and whilst it contains some innovative and important advances in mobile tech, the device as a whole is not ground-breaking. I don't think it's a coincidence that the iPad pro is similar in weight to the original iPad. The weight of that device would have been heavily tested and researched to ensure it was comfortable to use as intended. Once they felt they could bring their envisioned 'pro' experience to a device that same weight, they did it. I wouldn't be surprised if a few years down the line, there's an even larger iPad, that's the same weight.
The iPad is an established market, requiring less and less development. So they've long since switched resources to the watch, or to the TV, which will be refined and improved over the next few years until something... the Car?
My guess is that the iPhone has swallowed up the vast majority of development resources for too long. This has probably been at the expense of major innovation in other/new categories. I don't blame them, the iPhone is such a successful and lucrative product that they must keep pushing.
The fact that force-touch/3D touch appears to have been developed for the watch before the phone, could indicate that the iPhone has now reached its development peak. Resources are being reallocated, ready for the next big thing.
