Quick Takes: Apple Pencil 2 Wishlist, Apple's R&D Spending is Surging

[Bigsk8r]

It would depend on what they were purchased or built for. Apple can only classify real estate as R&D if there is uncertainty about the future commercial viability of whatever is being developed in them.

So the buildings they bought for Project Titan (their car program) would have been R&D expenses. And real estate purchased to develop new product categories with uncertain future commercial viability (like AR/VR glasses or an actual Apple OLED / LCD Television) could be classified as R&D.

You might have missed the point. It's not about real estate.

The people who sell these chambers (my company) do not deal in real estate. It's a technological edition to an existing building. Very much like adding an MRI room to a an existing (or newly built) hospital (which we also do).

Again... not real estate. Okay?

 

[travoose]

What are the odds we see an Apple Pencil/mini/pen of some sort become compatible with the an iPhone this upcoming September? Anyone want this ability?

 

[farewelwilliams]

Is anyone at Apple paying attention to the ROI on this? They may be spending twice as much as four years ago, but I'm certainly not feeling that in the products that I purchase. I wish that weren't the case...

probably a dedicated AR device that no one has seen yet.

 

[neutrino23]

Find my Pencil would be good.

I don’t know what iPad Serenity uses. I have the original iPad Pro. I’ve noticed that the most recent iPads in the stores provide much better feel for the Pencil. Clearly the surface coating is providing a little more friction. Maybe Apple will solve this from the iPad side, not by changing the Pencil.

Putting capacitive touch in the cap is a nice idea. Sounds like a Kickstarter project.

 

[deconstruct60]

....

2. An Apple R&D bonanza: Above Avalon's Neil Cybart notes that Apple is on track to spend $14 billion on research and development in its 2018 fiscal year, nearly double the amount it spent on R&D just four years ago. $14 billion would also be more than the amount Apple spent on R&D from 1998 to 2011 combined.Commentary: Apple's dramatic increase in R&D spending likely signals the company's interest in a number of new areas. Cybart believes that two new items on Apple's roadmap that are driving the recent surge in expenditures include augmented reality glasses and a Netflix-like streaming video service.

Between 1998 and 2011 did Apple have have multiple CPU and GPU chip development teams? No.
Apple has now dropped Imagination Tech completely for GPU design. They have 2-4 versions of the ARM based SoC in flight. ( watch, iphone (and iPad if count the x) , T-series in macs ). There bought and have a in-house SSD controller ( which also is likely also using semiconductor design and variants of ARM cores ).

When Apple does short run semiconductor fab runs to test out designs. Those don't go into any product so that "burned money" on hardware (i.e., R&D costs). As the process widths get smaller the design gets harder.

As more of Apple current products go to more vertical, in house component, Apple has to suck up more of the full R&D costs for those components that they were formerly only sharing a portion of when they bought the components from another designer/manufacturer. Going vertical typically increase R&D costs.



I think this also skips over the "Apple Car" money pit they threw hordes of cash at over last 2 years or so.

 

[PickUrPoison]

You might have missed the point. It's not about real estate.

The people who sell these chambers (my company) do not deal in real estate. It's a technological edition to an existing building. Very much like adding an MRI room to a an existing (or newly built) hospital (which we also do).

Again... not real estate. Okay?

The RF screen room (and the initial testing to certify it, i.e. put it into service) would probably be classified as a building construction cost and capitalized and depreciated over its useful life like any other tenant improvement. I don’t think it would be considered a fixture, more likely a leasehold improvement. (The rooms I built had electrical, plumbing, ceilings, lighting, raised floors and fire sprinklers.)

As the initial capitalized cost is expensed over the years, those amounts may be variously classified as R&D expenditures or applied to specific products as part of cost of goods sold, depending on the usage of the room. AFAIK.

 

[petsounds]

Is anyone at Apple paying attention to the ROI on this? They may be spending twice as much as four years ago, but I'm certainly not feeling that in the products that I purchase. I wish that weren't the case...

Based on their typical product timelines, R&D investment now won't be seen in a shipping product until 4-6 years from now.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

Apple Pencil 2 wishlist: The end/cap to act as an eraser.

And Wireless charging

 

[EdT]

Based on their typical product timelines, R&D investment now won't be seen in a shipping product until 4-6 years from now.

It seems some of the ‘development’ money is tv shows and probably streaming music shows or signing artists. Those won’t take 4 plus years. I personally wouldn’t include those in R&D but from my take on the article it is.

 

[Abazigal]

Is anyone at Apple paying attention to the ROI on this? They may be spending twice as much as four years ago, but I'm certainly not feeling that in the products that I purchase. I wish that weren't the case...

I am sure there will be no lack of people lining up to buy their products.

 

[Macaholic868]

Why would Apple spend billions in R&D funds on a Netflix like service if they have the cash to simply buy Netflix? Those R&D funds haven’t been well spent. So far their original content has been an epic failure. The iTunes movie store is already a Netflix like service in terms of deliving streaming video content. I stream purchased and rented movies from iTunes to my Apple TV and iPad all the time. What they don’t have is good original content to separate themselves from the competition. Why waste time and money trying to catch-up if you can buy Netflix instead?

 

[CWallace]

Why would Apple spend billions in R&D funds on a Netflix like service if they have the cash to simply buy Netflix?

Netflix has a market value of almost $140 billion and Apple would have to offer at least $200 billion to get the Netflix Board to even entertain such an offer. And of course as soon as Apple makes a public play for Netflix, the stock will skyrocket so the final purchase price could be $250 billion or more. Apple would need to take on a massive amount of debt to finance that which would be a huge drag on their own financials.

So far their original content has been an epic failure.

And they probably paid peanuts for that content. They're now spending over $1 billion on securing new shows (compared to $8 billion for Netflix), but Apple could spent a lot more - and likely will in the future. For one-tenth of what they would have to spend to buy Netflix they could match the total non-sports spend of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Viacom, CBS, Discovery Networks, AMC and Scripps (HGTV, Food Network, etc.) in 2017.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Is anyone at Apple paying attention to the ROI on this? They may be spending twice as much as four years ago, but I'm certainly not feeling that in the products that I purchase. I wish that weren't the case...

Obviously you are not going to feel it yet. The product that we can buy right now is borne out of the R&D from 3 or 4 years ago. The spending this year will take a while to show up in products.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Why would Apple spend billions in R&D funds on a Netflix like service if they have the cash to simply buy Netflix? Those R&D funds haven’t been well spent. So far their original content has been an epic failure. The iTunes movie store is already a Netflix like service in terms of deliving streaming video content. I stream purchased and rented movies from iTunes to my Apple TV and iPad all the time. What they don’t have is good original content to separate themselves from the competition. Why waste time and money trying to catch-up if you can buy Netflix instead?

Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Apple all source from pretty much the same content creators; Apple doesn’t have to buy Netflix’s catalog, they can build their own. (Acquisitions and content aren’t R&D expenses, but that’s beside the point.) Apple doesn’t want to be/compete with Netflix, otherwise they’d be spending a lot more than a billion dollars on original content this year. They do have a dozen or so shows in production.

I’m not sure what their plan is. Maybe they’re just going to use their original content as a freebie/bonus for Apple Music subscribers, at least initially. Maybe they’ll license additional content and have a standalone subscription (and bundled discounts for Apple Music subscribers).

Eddy Cue did say we’d find out more about their service “in a little bit if time”, I guess that means sometime later this year? Whatever the plan is, I assume the content will be delivered via some Apple Video app and not Apple Music, where carpool karaoke and that app reality show currently live.

 

[X38]

The one thing I really wish for Apple Pencil is that it work on all iOS devices.

 

[weup togo]

These R&D numbers are not what people think. They do not include the vast majority of the money actually spent on product development.

 

[LeeHamm]

I agree with some of her Apple Pencil wishlist items

She has some good ideas. I'd add:
Keep the round shape for holding but add a hex-shaped end to stop it rolling off your desk! Mine rolled a couple of times and dinged the stylus.
Add a pocket clip.
Make the charging connector female, so you can use a standard cable; add dual-ended [male] adaptor for charging with the iPad...they must have thought of this already...
The cap makes a great cat toy but yes, it could be swallowed by kids or cats.

 

[robbyx]

Apple Pencil 2 wishlist: The end/cap to act as an eraser.

This. The pencil is pretty awesome but the lack of an eraser is a glaring flaw.

 

[jhudgins]

Apple Pencil 2 wishlist: The end/cap to act as an eraser.

I don’t understand why people want this. It’s not intuitive or precise. A step back. Your fingertips are already at the glass. Better to erase using gestures, such as double tap, or simply use the tip which is more precise.

 

[robbyx]

Why would Apple spend billions in R&D funds on a Netflix like service if they have the cash to simply buy Netflix? Those R&D funds haven’t been well spent. So far their original content has been an epic failure. The iTunes movie store is already a Netflix like service in terms of deliving streaming video content. I stream purchased and rented movies from iTunes to my Apple TV and iPad all the time. What they don’t have is good original content to separate themselves from the competition. Why waste time and money trying to catch-up if you can buy Netflix instead?

Because it’s cost prohibitive. That ship sailed years ago. Netflix is simply too expensive now. It would be very foolish for them blow most of their cash on a single acquisition. They are much better off spending a few billion a year and buying their own content.

Or, better yet, not get into the content game at all and stay focused on being a hardware company. Their focus on Services revenue reeks of a company losing its edge.
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I don’t understand why people want this. It’s not intuitive or precise. A step back. Your fingertips are already at the glass. Better to erase using gestures, such as double tap, or simply use the tip which is more precise.

Because it’s how pencils have worked for ever. It feels natural. I’ve been using the Pencil for a while now rather extensively and I still find myself flipping it to erase. Gestures, etc. just complicate something that doesn’t need to be complicated. As for precision, that can surely be controlled by the eraser end.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I wonder if any of that R&D money is being spent on a new line-up of headless desktop computers?

To quote a recent Apple commercial: "What's a computer?"
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Based on their typical product timelines, R&D investment now won't be seen in a shipping product until 4-6 years from now.

Didn't we just read the report recently that HomePod took 6 years of R&D before it was ready to come to market?

 

[jhudgins]

I agree with some of her Apple Pencil wishlist items: different nib options (for more friction), capacitive cap (not necessarily for an eraser, just general touch because the normal pencil tip can’t do things like bring down Notification Center and when drawing I prefer not to touch the screen because the skin oils make the screen slippery for the pencil), and maybe W chip though I don’t find pairing to be a problem.

Where I disagree is I would like a side button on the pencil (not too low so as to be pressed accidentally) to toggle between pencil and eraser, or possibly for undo, or for immediate access to menus. The reason is it’s quicker than gestures and as I mentioned above I want to avoid touching the screen when I’m drawing as much as possible because of the oils.

The haptic engine is an interesting idea but seems too difficult to implement well. And I’m not sure how much value it would add if it’s not actually providing the drag that it’s simulating. I think a higher friction nib is the only way to actually help that on the pencil.

Some sort of wireless charging would be nice. I’d like be able to throw the pencil in a “pencil cup” and have it charge.

But for quick charging it needs to attach to the iPad via lightning. But I hate having it stick out so precariously. I’ve had the iPP for two years and I’m no less worried something is going to knock the pencil, damaging it and the iPad, as the first time I charged it. If a safer way to quick charge can’t be designed into the pencil, then I’ll settle for an adapter to let it attach parallel to the iPad edge. I prefer it doesn’t dangle by a cable.

The most aggravating issue of all though is that I can’t keep the pencil charged. I keep it in my bag which I carry around every day so I’m always losing power even though I’m not using it. This means almost every time I use it I have to charge it first. This is a horrible UX and a serious killer on work flow. It desperately needs some kind of simple on/off switch.

Pencil battery: If you unpair it that turns it “off” and the battery will not drain.
I like your suggestion for a capacitive cap that has gestures.
[doublepost=1521259551][/doublepost]Or, better yet, not get into the content game at all and stay focused on being a hardware company. Their focus on Services revenue reeks of a company losing its edge.
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Because it’s how pencils have worked for ever. It feels natural. I’ve been using the Pencil for a while now rather extensively and I still find myself flipping it to erase. Gestures, etc. just complicate something that doesn’t need to be complicated. As for precision, that can surely be controlled by the eraser end.[/QUOTE]

This reminds me of a Steve Jobs quote when people told him older consumers wouldn’t want to type on a keyboard: “Death will solve this.” It may not be what you’re used to, but’s it’s progress which means change. We all have to learn it IMO.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Why would Apple spend billions in R&D funds on a Netflix like service if they have the cash to simply buy Netflix? Those R&D funds haven’t been well spent. So far their original content has been an epic failure. The iTunes movie store is already a Netflix like service in terms of deliving streaming video content. I stream purchased and rented movies from iTunes to my Apple TV and iPad all the time. What they don’t have is good original content to separate themselves from the competition. Why waste time and money trying to catch-up if you can buy Netflix instead?

Would you expect Apple buying Netflix to leave pricing alone? Is Netflix Apple profit-target profitable? No it is not. So does "why doesn't Apple just buy Netflix?" seem as attractive when Apple then marks up the price to deliver the Apple margin?

To that, think about what happens every time Netflix tries to raise it's price as little as a single dollar/month. So what happens when Apple takes over and wants to put the Apple margin on that monthly fee?

Could Netflix original programming get through Apple's conservative censors? For example, if Apple buys Netflix, does Netflix R to (leaning toward) NC17-type content still get produced? Or does that get squeezed by Apple censors, probably driving away the creative people who make such programming?

And then there's Netflix Debt. Why does Apple want to buy a company that leans so hard on debt financing (though some might argue pot calling the kettle there- have you looked up Apple debt recently? It's not exactly a trivial amount, even if debt financing is considered "cheap").

What does Apple get by actually buying Netflix? Isn't the main attraction of Netflix that it delivers a lot of programming for the cheapest monthly fee? When does Apple like "cheapest"? Yes, there's some popular, original programming but see above. Yes, there's various content deals in place but can Apple not make similar deals themselves? And we don't even know if such deals transfer if Netflix is sold to someone else.

 

[Johnny907]

My wishlist? Forget the internals, those are fine. Fix the freakin’ topheavy design by moving the battery at or below the center of gravity. That is number one. Number two: make the body out of something that is more tactile than hard polycarbonate because good god that thing is just painful to hold for more than a few minutes. This thing has felt like a prototype since launch.

 

[CWallace]

Or, better yet, not get into the content game at all and stay focused on being a hardware company. Their focus on Services revenue reeks of a company losing its edge.

It reeks of a company accepting that the iPhone will reach a saturation point some day and they will need a new source of significant revenue to augment it.