Jobs Biographer Walter Isaacson: Apple 'No Longer the Most Innovative Company'

[decafjava]

Nothing really hugely amazing about that, A new file system was long overdue and it has features that have been in other FS for many many years.

So while Apple has had some nice products, I wouldn't qualify all of them as true innovation

i won't ask about features but really?? the new file system is a big change from what went before but it was installed on millions of devices without any huge crashes - maybe minor glitches but EVERY non-Apple tech site I've seen praised Apple for pulling this off. Innovation is more than no bezels.

 

[44267547]

True! What more can be excepted when Tim Cook in office, New watch bands and new emojis that's what apple is innovating these days

@Sunny1990. I know, right. I mean what does Tim Cook do In Office?...

Only that he oversee's a 43 billion dollar company and their overall financial status, conducts a myriad transactions with part suppliers/manufacturers, which he overhauled Apple's operations for smoother supply chains, extended sales/support in Various market . He has helped the sale of the iPhone grow to tremendous lengths, the Companies stock is flourishing and is up 35%, He is responsible for Apple's Green energy product being up 30%. The newly released Airpods and Apple Watch both have been primarily successful under his reign.

 

[Stella]

deleted.

 

[jasonklee]

Yes, now show me where those are used in millions of consumer facing products. Then tell me where the devices running a previous filesystem were converted over to one of those listed en masse, at the same time.

Frankly I think you're dismissing exactly what Apple has done here. Just because other filesystems exist doesn't discount the amazing logistical feat that was pulled off seemingly in the background for millions of people.

Saying other file systems exist that share some of the same features isn't impressive (because why wouldn't you include features that make sense?) is like saying building a car like a Tesla in-house isn't impressive because, well even Teslas have tires right?

Isn't ZFS intended for servers with lots of RAM and wouldn't scale down to something small as watchOS?

Whatever. Apple crafting their own file system (and overrated chips: A has FEWER cores than what Samsung uses) isn't enough to call Apple innovative because Alexa and Google Assistant. Like Mr. Isaacson, I like to judge a company by their innovation in voice interfaces, not the experience of using a product.

After all this is a man who correctly documented in the Jobs biography that NeXTSTEP was useless in developing Mac OS X, and this is the same man who confessed that when he asked Jobs what creation was he most proud of, he was surprised that Jobs's answer was Apple itself, not the iPhone or iPad. Truly the Mencken of tech.

Also: 3D Touch is not innovative. No one needs pressure sensitivity for a TOUCH screen. Oooooooh, you can press hard for quick previews and actions and to move the insertion point. Laughable.

The next iPhone MUST include these true innovations: no bezels, fingerprint scanner on the back like the sexy Samsung Galaxy S8, BIGGER battery, thicker and heavier industrial design, no 3D Touch.

 

[Keane16]

It wasn't a chance, it was stupid and an opportunity to increase dongle sales. Mr. Dongle implementation of jack removal was horrible!

You think a billion dollar product line had a fundamental change made potentially damaging the parent company's bottom line to "increase dongle sales".

You might not like its removal, but to think it was to sell a few dongles (of which 1 is included in the box) is far fetched IMO.

 

[dwsolberg]

Isn't ZFS intended for servers with lots of RAM and wouldn't scale down to something small as watchOS?

Whatever. Apple crafting their own file system (and overrated chips: A has FEWER cores than what Samsung uses) isn't enough to call Apple innovative because Alexa and Google Assistant. Like Mr. Isaacson, I like to judge a company by their innovation in voice interfaces, not the experience of using a product.

After all this is a man who correctly documented in the Jobs biography that NeXTSTEP was useless in developing Mac OS X, and this is the same man who confessed that when he asked Jobs what creation was he most proud of, he was surprised that Jobs's answer was Apple itself, not the iPhone or iPad. Truly the Mencken of tech.

Also: 3D Touch is not innovative. No one needs pressure sensitivity for a TOUCH screen. Oooooooh, you can press hard for quick previews and actions and to move the insertion point. Laughable.

The next iPhone MUST include these true innovations: no bezels, fingerprint scanner on the back like the sexy Samsung Galaxy S8, BIGGER battery, thicker and heavier industrial design, no 3D Touch.

You're hilarious! I actually thought it was serious for a while.

 

[NT1440]

Isn't ZFS intended for servers with lots of RAM and wouldn't scale down to something small as watchOS?

Whatever. Apple crafting their own file system (and overrated chips: A has FEWER cores than what Samsung uses) isn't enough to call Apple innovative because Alexa and Google Assistant.

.....Are you suggesting that having less cores, while performing night and day faster at operating the phone, is somehow overrated? THAT is a sign of hardware innovation, there is nothing innovative about sticking more cores into something to achieve LESS performance than the chip that has less cores. What in the world are you trying to say here?

"This car has 800hp and goes 100mph" - phone industry
"Our car has 200hp and goes 150mph....while getting 40mpg" - Apple's A-series

I honestly can't tell if I'm missing the sarcasm....

 

[winston1236]

Think this obvious to anyone who pays attention. At the beginning I was positive about Tim Cook, but he have proved to be a unapologetic beancounter. Apple has become a money milking machine, things like leaving the dent in the universe are long forgotten. Unfortunately.

Agreed. Tim is a generic run of the mill CEO type who might at well be working at AT&T or Kimberly Clark. He's done great in the typical CEO duties of profit, etc but long term it would be better to have someone with a clear vision and ability to lead.

 

[litmag01]

I read articles like this and I wonder where is the photo of men in top-hats holding Punxsutawney Phil.

 

[hanser]

Note to other readers: It took me a while to understand jasonklee posts as the blatantly mocking, scathing sarcasm that it is. So just take the opposite of everything he says, and you are good And no, my post is NOT sarcasm!

 

[decafjava]

Isn't ZFS intended for servers with lots of RAM and wouldn't scale down to something small as watchOS?

Whatever. Apple crafting their own file system (and overrated chips: A has FEWER cores than what Samsung uses) isn't enough to call Apple innovative because Alexa and Google Assistant. Like Mr. Isaacson, I like to judge a company by their innovation in voice interfaces, not the experience of using a product.

After all this is a man who correctly documented in the Jobs biography that NeXTSTEP was useless in developing Mac OS X, and this is the same man who confessed that when he asked Jobs what creation was he most proud of, he was surprised that Jobs's answer was Apple itself, not the iPhone or iPad. Truly the Mencken of tech.

Also: 3D Touch is not innovative. No one needs pressure sensitivity for a TOUCH screen. Oooooooh, you can press hard for quick previews and actions and to move the insertion point. Laughable.

The next iPhone MUST include these true innovations: no bezels, fingerprint scanner on the back like the sexy Samsung Galaxy S8, BIGGER battery, thicker and heavier industrial design, no 3D Touch.

You don't care about surveillance capitalism - the rest in uninformed opinion that's all.

Edit: Hahahahaha you made this post??

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/force-touch-pita-or-usefull.2039637/page-2#post-24493797

#37
Will never buy any future phone that doesn't have some sort of pressure sensitivity. Way too useful, especially the way Apple has implemented 3D Touch. It's a no-brainer. Imagine using real-world objects like a pedal or pen where degrees of pressure didn't matter. Maddening.

 

[WaxedJacket]

I don't know about their lack of innovation because I feel a lot of talking heads feel innovation just means change. And change for the sake of change is the worst kind of fake innovation.

One thing I feel Apple is doing it playing things too safe with their design. There's nothing radical coming out from them in the past year or so. The last great thing that made me say "wow" was their cylinder Mac Pro.
Killing off their AirPort devices also makes me scratch my head.

Apple has the funds and talent to run things a little recklessly and unique. Think Different has been dead for a while unfortunately.

Just keeping my ear to the Mac culture via websites makes me feel they've been focused on their social image lately. I've spoken out against Tim Cooks front and center photo ops we see every day.

 

[NT1440]

Note to other readers: It took me a while to understand jasonklee posts as the blatantly mocking, scathing sarcasm that it is. So just take the opposite of everything he says, and you are good And no, my post is NOT sarcasm!

If that's the case he needs to do a better job from distinguishing his posts from the rest of the technologically illiterate that post here...

 

[Don't Foul me]

Really? We (USA) have been doing roughly that with the space program since the 60's. Only real difference is instead of landing in the ocean we put it on a platform. Which with today's technology should be expected. Heck, the Space Shuttle is more innovative than that.

Space travel is hard and while SpaceX is making grounds I'm not sure what innovation he's done. Refinement is more like it.

The only maned re-usable vehicle we HAD was the Space Shuttle We have zero completely re-usable launch vehicles. The SRB were recovered and recycled, but can not launch a vehicle without the primary tank.

The space travel part is the easy part. Once you're up there, give it a push, and constant velocity forever. Landing on a moving platform in the middle of the ocean... that's the hard part.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

A stinging statement. Anyone have the video?

 

[radiology]

Apple's DNA has suffered a mutation that has led to a state of complete paralysis. This condition has been linked to parasites called Tim Crook and Edie Noclue.

 

[bopajuice]

Isaacson thinks it could be too late for the company to catch up in that space, and suggested Apple should at other areas in which to innovate.

Remember the "if Apple does not release a smartwatch next month it will be in trouble" analyst guy? Apple did not release a smartwatch the following month. Today, they dominate the space.

So being continuously late to the party is OK if what you are releasing is a superior product?

Your comment gets to the heart of the innovation issue. They are not innovating, they are following along at a slower pace. I agree, when they do submit a new product it is great (Im sure having billions to back up R&D helps), but as far as coming out with something new and innovative, Google and Amazon are charging ahead.

Its always been said competition spurns innovation, but Apple doesn't seem to have got that memo.

 

[Sunny1990]

Apple's DNA has suffered a mutation that has led to a state of complete paralysis. This condition has been linked to parasites called Tim Crook and Edie Noclue.

Oh man !!! I can't agree more. This is the best comment i have ever seen in my entire life , thanks for posting.

 

[jasonklee]

If that's the case he needs to do a better job from distinguishing his posts from the rest of the technologically illiterate that post here...

But that's the point of being tongue-in-cheek...

Really though, if you've read Steve Jobs and any interview Isaacson's given related to technology and Apple, you'd know he's perfectly well-suited to misspeak about innovation. Again, this dolt thinks NeXTSTEP had no influence in crafting Mac OS X. Yet he thinks he can talk about Apple's DNA with erudition.

 

[Keane16]

These are some great social things, but none of that replaces their core business.

The guy I was responding to wrote:

"things like leaving the dent in the universe are long forgotten"

"Dent" is all the things I listed, and as I said, it's more than just releasing products (which as I also said Apple are doing fine with).

Steve Jobs brought Apple back from the ashes by making it the company that came up with incredible innovative things everyone loved, and that competitors copied. Then when the competitors started to get sort of close, and sales were still strong, Apple would replace it with something even more fresh and awesome. For years under Jobs, competitors were generations behind what Apple was doing. Compare that to today, when the narrative is people begging Apple to merely update a CPU in an existing product, or change course on a 3 year old design that clearly didn't work.

The last sentence is silly. And if you believe that you may want to read some detailed reviews on Apple's reecent products or for something a little lighter re-watch the keynote.

Also if you were around when the original iMac launched, or when the iPod launced, or when the iPhone launched, or when the iPad launched, or when the Apple Watch launched, or when the AirPods launched - you'll notice the narrative hasn't changed. People online mostly doubt, and Apple mostly succeed. The one large misstep in that was the re-imaging of the Mac pro - which completely missed the requirements of its target audience - they've held their hands up and have announced a replacement next year.

Also, they may be releasing products, but when was the last time they came up with something truly unique and awesome? I would argue it's the AirPods, but those are just a small accessory. The Apple Watch may be leading that tiny category, but only because there are a lot of people who love watches and really want the idea to work. I have an Apple Watch - many days I don't wear it, and can't even notice the difference.

If your yardstick is "something truly unique and awesome" then prepare to be disappointed.

I like my tech to help me get things done, stay out of my way - so I can enjoy life more. That's my benchmark. I don't sit about wondering if something is cool. The front of the S8 is really "cool", but the fingerprint location does nothing for the UX. That's a fail in my book.

I have an Apple Watch and wear it every day. I actually miss not wearing it because I'm so used to using it for notifcations instead of my phone - but even Apple Pay, directions, logging workouts, stand notifications - etc. it all adds up to a value added experince over my regular watches (which I wore daily before I got my AW). The biggest praise I can give the Apple Watch is that I no longer wear any of my analogue watches except to formal functions. You should perhaps sell yours as it sounds like it's not the product for you.

Alexa is an awesome example of other companies getting this right. I'm constantly amazed at all of the things my Echo can do. Just this week it gained the ability to make phone calls for me and read me text messages I received. Unlike the broken Siri, Alexa actually understands voice commands and I can consciously notice ways its' voice detection gets better over time. Apple was in this space in a really visible way long before Amazon, but they completely squandered that by doing nothing unique with it.

The Echo is certainly an innovative little package (for some) to have it in the form of larger speaker in their home. But everything you list I can do with my iPhone & Siri.

Siri understands me fine (English accent). Shame she doesn't understand you.

 

[decafjava]

But that's the point of being tongue-in-cheek...

Really though, if you've read Steve Jobs and any interview Isaacson's given related to technology and Apple, you'd know he's perfectly well-suited to misspeak about innovation. Again, this dolt thinks NeXTSTEP had no influence in crafting Mac OS X. Yet he thinks he can talk about Apple's DNA with erudition.

ok

 

[itguy06]

The only maned re-usable vehicle we HAD was the Space Shuttle We have zero completely re-usable launch vehicles. The SRB were recovered and recycled, but can not launch a vehicle without the primary tank.

The space travel part is the easy part. Once you're up there, give it a push, and constant velocity forever. Landing on a moving platform in the middle of the ocean... that's the hard part.

I'm no rocket scientist but we were gliding a vehicle down to one of 2 runways from space in the 80's so I'd think with modern GPS and technologies a platform in the ocean should not be crazy.

Yes, we HAD the Space Shuttle but I'm sure if we put our heads together we could come up with it's successor.

 

[nt5672]

Well you simply cannot call a company innovative when they don't even bother to update their core products (computers) with current technology.

There are a lot of people where their iPhone is the only Apple product they have. But you have to ask, why did they buy an iPhone?

It was because for years professional people talked Apple products up as the best in the business. And for years that was true or so close to true that it did not matter.

Now the professionals say "Apple, yuck", Apple doesn't care and are not innovative. Older people still believe the in the old view of Apple, but younger people that did not get indoctrinated into the old Apple world view, see what professionals are using now and its not Apple. In time Apple will suffer for their arrogance. I wish it was not true, but it is.

When the iPhone was introduced it was innovative, unlike any other Apple product. Apple has always been super good at execution, and with the iPhone they did innovation. But with the iPhone they forgot about execution and keeping ALL of their products a bit above average. They just focused on the money maker.

Apple is big enough to be a leader in phones, tablets, and computers. They just do not have the management breadth to pull it off. Apple today is only capable of focusing on one or two things. In the past (in a smaller Apple) that was enough, but now that they are one of the worlds largest companies it is not. Imagine if GE, Samsung, etc. only focused on one or two things.

 

[bopajuice]

I see a lack of excitement, a lack of coolness and lack of strategy coming from Apple. We get thinner products and emojis, but Amazon created Alexis. I mean Apple used to be the one that created products that people didn't know they needed, now Google, Amazon and the reviled and hated Samsung are doing that.

I see at times, Apple protecting its lead more then taking chances. To use Steve Job's quote they're not staying hungry staying foolish.

How many years have we heard Tim Cook say that they have some pretty exciting products in the pipeline, 4 years? 5 years?

Lately we see less true innovation and more following the crowd. I mean they're copying the popularity of snapchat with those emojis/balloons and other affects in Messages.

I completely agree with your comment.

Some of the responses to your comment are interesting. Someone going so far as to say the book Job's biographer wrote was not very good was surprising but predictable. Attack the accuser.

Or that removing the headphone jack was a bold move. Stupid move in my book. I can say that after having my iPhone 7 for a couple of months now. I miss the headphone jack. Carrying extra dongles or adapters is not practical. I have four pairs of high quality and expensive headphones with a headphone jack that were state of the art until Apple decided otherwise.

Apple has tweaked and tweaked some products, but what about the rest of the line? I just purchased a new Mac Mini with a "4th Generation processor"!!! Outdated hard drive and graphics. Seriously, the line has not been updated in THREE YEARS!!!

I feel my complaints have merit because I am still buying their products, use them everyday, and have formed opinions based on my use. Apple is falling behind.

Funny, some would say I am stuck in the past for not liking the fact they removed the headphone jack, yet if I want to continue to support and buy their other offerings I am forced to buy outdated products and essentially "live in the past"...

 

[modemthug]

I have a hard time taking this guy at all seriously.
Not only did he write that appalling Jobs biography which just rehashed old stories even though he had uber-access to Steve, doing the man -- and the world -- a complete disservice,
But isaacsson also sits with Google's Eric Schmidt on the Defence Technology Committee, meaning both men see surveillance capitalism as the way forward. This is nothing to do with innovation and everything to do with Apple's stance on privacy.
My response? Don't buy this guy's books.

We can still pirate them though, right?