Making an out of topic retrospective of my previous posts is a silly distraction. Indeed, generally I'm not favourable of Cook's "updates" and I'm rather vocal about it. I also give praise when due and I've voted with my wallet to remain with Apple. That's about as much praise as I can give.
Now, you're giving things quite a twist here: if you ask people what they WANT, they wouldn't have wanted the same device regurgitated 5 times. But since what they want is an iPhone, they'll buy whatever they're given. Hence the numbers. Your opinion as to whether the numbers were prompted by willpower, preference or sheer habit is subjective too.
LOL who are you again? And who am I to theorise what Jobs would have done, very specifically even? I don't know what he would have done. No-one did. Which is exactly why he consistently revolutionised consumer tech. What I know is that he managed to leapfrog his own work within a shorter cadence (think iMac G4, iPhone 4) at a fraction of Tim's budget and talent pool. Jobs turned the then-available technology on its head and shipped it with tighter OS's. His team released a Retina display in 2010 with more PPI than 2019's iPhone 11, and he'd never go "well if you can't see it what does it matter" like Phil Schiller did in public. So no, I don't know what miracles he would have accomplished with post-iPhone 6 tech, but I'm damned curious to find out.
[automerge]1585764434[/automerge]
Two things can be true at the same time
Dude you have some of the lamest arguments here. What’s your big problem with iPhones having the same form factor for 4 (so far) iterations? Two major issues with this argument (especially when trying to use it to suggest Tim isn’t innovating when Steve did):
1. Ranting about four (maybe five if SE2/9 rumors are true) iterations of the same form factor completely misses the absolutely REVolutionary design and functionality of the full screen Face ID X-series (and now 11) iPhones that were released the same year as the 8, and we’re almost certain being worked on for at least two years meaning that started at or before the 6S came out, very likely longer.
Maybe they were planning it for alongside the 7 but it wasn’t ready because of just how major a change it was.
At worst, it means there were three iterations of that (6) form factor instead of the usual two prior to then.
It could be argued the 5 was as “lazy” as you’re saying the 7 effectively was. You can hardly say the difference between the 4-series and the 5 series was exactly revolutionary. They made it half an inch taller and slightly thinner. Wow huge innovation there. And you can’t argue that this was after Steve: The 5 was released at around the time Steve passed. That was most certainly his work and not Tim’s. The X was most certainly Tim’s work and not Steve’s.
Ok. So it was “lazy” releasing the 8 alongside the X instead of something else entirely, or nothing at all (so just the X)? Umm... ok. No. Apple’s More recent strategy - and it’s a good one - of releasing updated existing tech ALONGSIDE new innovations has been a big part of increasing Apple’s market- and mind-share, by offering more affordable options (relatively). If the last three years had seen 8, 8S, and 9 iPhones, say, with no X-series at all, then you’d have a point. But to suggest the 7 and 8 were lazy because they were so similar to the 6/6S while they were working towards and then releasing the X series AS WELL, is ridiculous.
2. But Ok. Tim is lazy and Steve wasn’t, because Steve released revolutionary designs every two iterations at most while Tim’s “revolution” cycle is clearly longer...
Hmmm....
Original iMac released August 1998. Went through 6 iterations with virtually the exact same design and shape over almost five years before being discontinued in 2003.
And around the same time: PowerMac G3/G4 - no less than TEN iterations with almost exactly the same shape and design over the course of four years (1999-2003).
And that, followed by the PowerMac G5 / original Mac Pro design that was almost completely unchanged from 2003 until the trash can Mac Pro TEN years later in 2013.
Not to mention the iPod (what became “iPod Classic”). From the first click-wheel model in 2004 until the iPod Classic’s discontinuation in 2014 the design was virtually unchanged (slight change in screen size midway). Ten years.
All or almost all, under Steve’s watch.
And you’re up in arms that they used the same design for the last home button iPhone for three years instead of two before releasing something new.
All this is to counter one of your louder arguments with some facts. Almost all your other complaints are equally reaching and lame.
As to your “what people want” argument - Steve famously said something to the effect that people don’t know what they want till after you give it to them. Needless to say, you argue people buy the “regurgitated” 8 because they don’t have any other choice if they want an iPhone. Except they’ve had the choice for the X, XR and now 11, in that time as well (at the more affordable end) and plenty of people are still buying the “regurgitated” 8.
And then there’s the SE. Tim brought out the NEW (at the time) 6 design followed by the 6S, 7, etc. and what did a lot of people want back? The older 4-inch design - a regurgitation of the 5S if you ever saw one. And that was loved!
So yeah. Your “Tim isn’t innovative like Steve because he’s keeping some designs for more than 2 years/iterations” argument is weak at best, if not just plain ludicrous.
