So many "weird" business decisions in such a short time

[supervelous]

Releasing the Ipad on a 6 month cycle, but not being different enough to the casual consumer from the last one, AND not letting the 1 year hype build to the point it will create a frenzy like new Apple Products usually do. Potentially pissing off the people who purchased iPad in the last 6 months. The Holiday season will help though with sales.

Ipad Mini being a bit too close in size to the Ipad IMO (should have been 7 inches which increases portability and ppi at same res), yet being priced too high relative to the 7 inch competition and not being Retina. Mini at $249 might not have brought them the big margins, but would have DESTROYED the competition. At $329 Retina would likely do it too. And Ipod Touch at $300 and Ipad Mini $329? Where does the ipod nano even fit, it's too weak in comparison to the Touch and not super cheap.

Too many product announcements in a short time. They just announced the new Iphone, new Ipod touch, new Ipad and ipad mini, along with the other more minor announcements today in a 1 month time period. Spreading the announcements over the year helps keep the momentum/hype machine strong. It used to be highly anticipated announcements about 1 "magical" product that commanded a whole event.

If anything needed an accelerated upgrade cycle, it is the iphone, NOT the iPad. The iPad is still regarded as the undisputed, unchallenged king of the tablet world, and the only viable choice on the premium end. The iphone has many strong challengers and they "fall behind" spec wise faster on smartphones by the time the next one comes out.

Their products are leaking like crazy now, to the point that we know most of the details before the announcement. this has been blamed on China, etc...but don't recall it happening under Jobs with the exception of someone losing the iphone 4 at the bar, not really a "leak"

I have been the BIGGEST Apple fanboy over the years, to the point people were shocked to see me trying an S3 (I later returned it and stayed with Iphone 5).

Apple is at a crossroads. The next year will be huge for them. I may sell my 5 for the next great Android phone, Windows Pro tabs appeal to me bc I can do actual work on it and double as a tablet, and their laptops are expensive to the average consumer but I admit quite nice.

I hope they innovate and stay hungry, but I fear I may not own any Apple Products in 6 months, and I love the company. Their stores, their customer service, their story and brand. But I'm starting to be drawn away from their products.

Flame away.

 

[Che Castro]

You got a lot to say there buddy

 

[Rodster]

I can't disagree with anything you said. Steve is no longer around so Tim Cook thinks his business strategy will pay off in the long term. I have my concerns.

 

[supervelous]

You got a lot to say there buddy

I do, but I used paragraphs

I don't expect it to be popular around these parts, but just my ranting opinion. I still think their products are great, sometimes even amazing. But I think they've made some confusing decisions in the past couple of months that I'm not sure would have happened under Jobs.

So many products introduced in such a short time period. Their lineup seems to be getting a bit cluttered.

I have the new Ipad and love it, but wish it was more suited to productivity as well. Hope they get Office in 2013 which has been rumored.

 

[haruhiko]

Steve Jobs although personally didn't care about a customer like me so far away in the planet, but his business practices made me feel that I was respected. Now? I feel that Apple is afraid of the competitions and is trying to bomb the market with a hell lot of products to see which one succeed. I'm sure many iPad 3 owners are feeling betrayed.

 

[LizKat]

I wouldn't get too crazed. Tim Cook is no John Sculley.

 

[drew0020]

I've always been an Apple fanboy but I can also criticize them. I have no issue with the iPad 4. I felt the 3 was a little slow especially when surfing the Internet.

The mini could have been a home run (with a competitive price and the a6). For $329 it should have the a6. The resolution is also disappointing. And now that Apple has broken the yearly upgrade I think the mini is due for an upgrade much sooner.

The 13" Pro is nice except the crazy price with small SSD and intel graphics.

I wish Apple spent more time on quality control but that's me. Oh and the Apple tax is back with the $329 Mini. Everything about it is small except the price ha.

 

[xraydoc]

Here's my take.

1) Apple wanted to get as many products on to the Lightning connector as fast as possible so people we no longer buying 30-pin accessories for their newly purchased iPads yet having to buy something else for their new iPhones. This is key, I think, for giving the new connector needed momentum. Clean break from old to new across product lines (old 4th gen. iPod touch and iPad 2 notwithstanding, which I suspect are being made still to target enterprise demographics mainly. These products are barely advertised on Apple's website).

2) Make use of their expensive new A6 architecture as quickly as possible in the iPad to keep it competitive with all the quad-core processors coming out in Android devices (and while Apple tends not to play the out-spec game, the A6 is a very fast chip, faster than many of the quad-core Android devices).

3) Similar to above, they can keep the iPod touch, iPad mini and AppleTV on the low-power 32nm A5 and the top tier devices on the A6.

4) Tim Cook runs a tight ship. If they moved the iPad line to the A6, you can bet there's a manufacturing cost benefit to it.


Just my armchair quarterbacking...

 

[spork183]

I do, but I used paragraphs

I don't expect it to be popular around these parts, but just my ranting opinion. I still think their products are great, sometimes even amazing. But I think they've made some confusing decisions in the past couple of months that I'm not sure would have happened under Jobs.

So many products introduced in such a short time period. Their lineup seems to be getting a bit cluttered.

I have the new Ipad and love it, but wish it was more suited to productivity as well. Hope they get Office in 2013 which has been rumored.

Because Steve was SO good when he was right, we forget some of his failures. (Lisa, NEXT, Cube, to name a few) What this feels like more than anything is the kind of product refresh lineup we use to get a MacWorld Expo SF in January, before Apple pulled out. Same sensory overload...

 

[Dwalls90]

I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying.

They should have held back on the iPad "4" release for the Spring.

The 13" rMPB should have released alongside the 15".

The iPad Mini should have been 7"

iPhone should be on 8 month release cycle.

 

[PlutoniusX]

Apple Stocks Dropped because of the price.

 

[nuckinfutz]

People are still lining out outside of Apple Store to get iPhone 5.

Apple's making a strong push into improving the quality of display technology not only in mobile devices but now their laptops.

I'm not sure exactly what you see in Android that is so special. The platform still languishes with only the top 20% getting the latest OS as opposed to over 60% already running iOS 6.

Eric Schmidt said Android would take over as the first target for developers and that they'd be in most of the HDTV and they have done neither.

The only thing Android has done is delivered big phones. Apple's business decisions make sense when you consider that they aren't trying to data mine you (Google) or inserting advertising in their products to make them cheaper (Amazon)

You get a great experience with Apple products. Consistent, stable and evolving.

----------

Apple Stocks Dropped because of the price.

Yeah that's clearly it

</sarcasm>

 

[gadget123]

They are already rich but seem to want to be richer.

Problem is Ipad 4 has no hype it's not really that much better than the last model.

But most of the post above is true.

 

[blueroom]

Apple pretty much had to get rid of the 30pin connector ASAP to keep uniformity amongst the iOS device line.

Introducing an iPad 3 with no other changes than the dock connector would have been a bad idea.

As for the iMacs, Optical media is on life support.

 

[Outdoorsben]

Apple Stocks Dropped because of the price.

market was in the tank all day, it's just the casual aapl stock holders gave up because they weren't floored by anything. It'll be back up in a few days. I've been an aapl stock holder since the $250 price range and it's pretty easy to time.

 

[hkfan24]

They are already rich but seem to want to be richer.

Problem is Ipad 4 has no hype it's not really that much better than the last model.

But most of the post above is true.

LOL, it's not much better than the last model? Clearly you've missed the ranting threads on page 1 alone. Heck even you've created a few here. Specs wise, the new ipad 4 is clearly better. Way better. As far as it being better for everyone is definitely subjective but to say this revised version isn't that much better is silly. It's what the ipad 3 should have been. I think if given the option, we'd all trade in for the ipad 4 from a 3 if given the opportunity.

 

[supervelous]

People are still lining out outside of Apple Store to get iPhone 5.

Apple's making a strong push into improving the quality of display technology not only in mobile devices but now their laptops.

I'm not sure exactly what you see in Android that is so special. The platform still languishes with only the top 20% getting the latest OS as opposed to over 60% already running iOS 6.

Eric Schmidt said Android would take over as the first target for developers and that they'd be in most of the HDTV and they have done neither.

The only thing Android has done is delivered big phones. Apple's business decisions make sense when you consider that they aren't trying to data mine you (Google) or inserting advertising in their products to make them cheaper (Amazon)

You get a great experience with Apple products. Consistent, stable and evolving.

I am not debating much of what you said. I still went back to the Iphone 5 after I tried the S3, but having tried the S2 a year before you can tell Android is "catching up", if not passing on the software side. The gap has only gotten smaller over time, and there were many things I liked better about the S3. The bigger screen has advantages and the customization is nice, and the OS is making huge gains on smoothness/reliability.

I say I may leave iphone in 6 months bc I am imagining what Android "could be" in the next 6-12 months, which may not materialize. I still hate the carrier bloatware, slow software updates on non-nexus devices, and sub-standard design (in comparison).

My beef is more with their pricing/business decisions, and some product decisions which don't seem to make sense competitively (slightly too high of a price, 1 missing feature that could make it killer, introducing too many products at once)....

 

[nuckinfutz]

They are already rich but seem to want to be richer.

Problem is Ipad 4 has no hype it's not really that much better than the last model.

But most of the post above is true.

That's true if you have a 3rd generation. But now if you've got a second generation the pot has sweetened a bit. It didn't sit well with me that the iPad 3 had retina graphics but it was no faster than my iPad 2.

Now if I decide I want to upgrade my iPad i'm getting Retina, 2x faster CPU and lightning. A much better proposition

 

[gadget123]

That's true if you have a 3rd generation. But now if you've got a second generation the pot has sweetened a bit. It didn't sit well with me that the iPad 3 had retina graphics but it was no faster than my iPad 2.

Now if I decide I want to upgrade my iPad i'm getting Retina, 2x faster CPU and lightning. A much better proposition

Only a bit though.

You are going to be more tempted by a cheaper Ipad 3 than an Ipad 4 if you held off (e.g you don't need the latest release).

A5X will be faster still, 5mp camera and retina will all be as good on the Ipad 3 but cheaper maybe in the second hand market, old stock being sold cheaper? Plus you get Siri.

I'm sorry but A6X, 720p Facetime and Lightning just don't make much of an upgrade. Your basically buying knowing a redesign will come (in that I think it will be thinner and have the same back as Ipad mini)..if you have Ipad 2 enjoy the Ipad 3 cheaper for a year as the next gen Ipad will probably look alot nicer and be alot thinner.

 

[Outdoorsben]

Only a bit though.

You are going to be more tempted by a cheaper Ipad 3 than an Ipad 4 if you held off (e.g you don't need the latest release).

A5X will be faster still, 5mp camera and retina will all be as good on the Ipad 3 but cheaper maybe in the second hand market, old stock being sold cheaper? Plus you get Siri.

I'm sorry but A6X, 720p Facetime and Lightning just don't make much of an upgrade. Your basically buying knowing a redesign will come (in that I think it will be thinner and have the same back as Ipad mini)..if you have Ipad 2 enjoy the Ipad 3 cheaper for a year as the next gen Ipad will probably look alot nicer and be alot thinner.

The difference between an A5 iPad 2 and an A5 iPad 3 isn't that much, the retina display really sucks up the extra juice.

 

[AoS]

Can't disagree with the complaints about Apple's business strategy since Tim Cook took over. Seems to me like a short-term profit plan as opposed to long term goals. Cook, however, is a really brilliant business man, so I do trust the direction he is trying to take Apple. It just seems that the hype of Apple events has probably faded from its peak years, which is kind of disappointing.

 

[Outdoorsben]

Can't disagree with the complaints about Apple's business strategy since Tim Cook took over. Seems to me like a short-term profit plan as opposed to long term goals. Cook, however, is a really brilliant business man, so I do trust the direction he is trying to take Apple. It just seems that the hype of Apple events has probably faded from its peak years, which is kind of disappointing.

You think there is less hype?? With all the "leaks" the internet is always got an apple topic in it's headline.

 

[gadget123]

Can't disagree with the complaints about Apple's business strategy since Tim Cook took over. Seems to me like a short-term profit plan as opposed to long term goals. Cook, however, is a really brilliant business man, so I do trust the direction he is trying to take Apple. It just seems that the hype of Apple events has probably faded from its peak years, which is kind of disappointing.

The long term profit will be out the window unless they start surprising us with decent products.

 

[Outdoorsben]

The long term profit will be out the window unless they start surprising us with decent products.

LOL cuz Apple just keeps putting out junk LOLOL. Just because it doesn't meet your standards HARDLY makes it junk.

 

[dwl017]

In my humble opinion the technology in this arena has started to peak and should hold off on any more updates. I am also a huge amateur photography nut and the digital camera industry is also starting to peak in the same fashion.

Many of today's products seem to be released just for the sake of releasing them. These products are not new technology, these are repackaged current models with speed bumps and new sizes.