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I didn't say anything about "innovative", but since you brought it up, had Apple brought out things like the AppleTV app store and PCI GPU support over TB when they (Apple) first started talking about such things themselves, they would have been regarded as extremely innovative. Now they are just long over due. (Just as a few examples.)
All of which still proves the point being made by many on this thread that current Apple management is starting to look strategically unfocused. No doubt Cook is great at managing day to day operations, but in terms of strategic innovation leadership he is starting to look very Ballmer like. Some people can see that coming now. A few folks (I was NOT one of them) saw it coming some time ago. From the comments here, it's obvious that some of you won't be able to see what is happening until it's history.

You said "What a lot of people would like to see is Apple at least follow through on some basic innovations that they should be able to handle with ease.

Like:"

IMO the changes to iOS and OS X have been moving forward well. More usability. I agree on the App Store going to the ATV, I am surprised that the still treat that product as a toy, maybe this year

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Can they just promise to fix the stuff that's out there first? I never had an iPhone crash like it has till this year. My macbook pro just crashes and restarts out of the blue sometimes. I used to have everything mac and now I'm finding myself looking elsewhere for products cause apple's stuff doesn't really stand out as much as it used to. Five years ago, most things worked really well right out of the box and updates were pretty solid. Now they have to pull updates cause of problems, iCloud is ok, but not great. Just make what you have now great again please!!!

Fair points, but if your issues are an Apple bug, then wont everyone have the same issues? I have an rMBP, 6+, iPad Air, they all operate well, I cannot recall the last crash and reboot. I have the odd app that played up, the dev fixed that. Im not cancelling your post but occurrences that you have are due to some issue, but I'd say not a default Apple bug.
 
you're assuming my question was 'defense' of solely apple... i like many different companies for what they do well.

conveniently, those who bray about innovation never say what innovation is or who's doing it. so i ask again: what companies making phones and tablets are 'innovating'? that modular phone google makes comes to mind... maybe the surface pro... but that's just waiting to be surpassed. hmmm... i'm racking my brain here.

so does every company worry that they're not 'innovating'?

to me, it just sounds like people have become bored with the most ridiculous outpouring of tech innovation in recent decades. and all it took was about 7 years.... dismissing moore's law with the roll of their eyes

That sounds like a talking point that may have been circulating in Redmond a decade ago.
 
Radical redesign? Good lord, hyperbole much.

Sometimes the way Apple products get described on here is really embarrassing.

And I'm saying this owning only Apple products, still shake my head when coming across aforementioned exaggerations.

I agree. Fanboys go over the top with the wonderfulness. Haters exaggerate the negatives. The remainder contribute

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Thanks! One of the main issues of this forum currently is that there is a vast majority of people here that do not use the forum to discuss, but as a place to dump a single opinion and then disappear again without any intention to ever respond or explain.

There are also quite a few people here with insight and experience (and some that have even worked at Apple) that they would like to share, but many of the people I mentioned above are scared by any post that has upwards of 5 words.

So, you could say something really smart, but inevitably your post will be followed by an "Apple is doomed" or "Apple is not innovating" post.

edit: case in point: post #314 diipii

Yep. An honest opinion gets responded to with a putdown as if the poster is stupid, naive, etc. Opinions are told as fact. A lot of filtering required here
 
Really wish they would implement a new file system like ZFS in 2015.
Yeah, and a new version of Shake... :D
Enjoy your Android and Windows life.
Of course it's not Apple's fault that there's not enough competition and therefore Apple can do whatever it likes. Ie. dumbing down products in sake of "simplicity" and thinnes...
New Displays backward comparable...not a chance. Thunderbolt displays currently are not so older systems have to purchase a Cinema Display which still sells.

Any 4K Displays that come out cannot be backward comparable due to older hardware not able to handle it.
Come again? 4k display can't show smaller resolutions, can't have a scaler inside like most of displays on this planet? Why? Because of :apple:-logo?
All my monitors (including 30" Eizo) have been able to connect to 486 machine from 1993 via vga and show 640x480 picture. And that doesn't make them any worse than Apple's displays. Unused vga socket on the back is really no hindrance at all...
 
Rumors talk about MacBook Air retina 12" and iPad pro 12"... Got it?

How about a MacBook air with detachable screen acting as tablet?
This makes more sense to me than a standalone iPad pro 12" and would explain the leaked parts.

Happy 2015 everyone!

I also think the 12" MBAr and 12" iPad Pro are the same thing, a new hybrid with iOS/OSX (maybe just called OS 11 with mobile/desktop modes) which will be Apple's answer to the Surface. Apple didn't do it first, but they'll do it right because they're Apple.:D
 
"iPad Air Plus" would be a terrible name. Apple product names used to be so simple.

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I also think the 12" MBAr and 12" iPad Pro are the same thing, a new hybrid with iOS/OSX (maybe just called OS 11 with mobile/desktop modes) which will be Apple's answer to the Surface. Apple didn't do it first, but they'll do it right because they're Apple.:D

I'm hoping for that to. I don't see the point of the MBA any more. It's the same price and nearly the same size as the 13" MBP.

There are probably millions of iPhone/iPad users who don't have or want a Mac. They would have to learn a new OS and buy all their favourite apps over again, assuming they were even available for OSX. Makes more sense to migrate them on to a 12" iPad Pro so they can keep their iOS apps on a more functional and ergonomic device.
 
they don't have to call it "Air plus" or anything like that.Actually, it would be a huge mistake if they did.

The best solution is to call it the same thing, "iPad Air" but two different sizes 9.7'' and the new 12''.Same as the Macbook Pro line up.
 
er... just because something excites you doesn't make it innovative. Introducing the iPhone was innovative. Introducing a spec bump is not.

We're not talking about a spec bump. That is not interesting to me. We're talking about all products Apple released in 2014. Innovations come in the form of both new and existing products. It also takes years between each new product category is introduced. 2015 will deliver new product categories like Apple Watch and also revamped products like Apple TV. 2014 brought us Mac Pro, iMac 5k, iphone 6 & 6+ and iPad Air. All products are innovative compared with both previous models and competition. Some could be better but some are the best they can be for now.
 
Customer ratings for Yosemite is two and a half stars in the app store. Is this not embarrassing to the employees at Apple?
Thanks for reminding me to rate the app. Yosemite: ★★★★★

Might you mind answering what constitutes ‘such a leap’?
Sure, but first we must understand, what the A7 is, why Apple calls it "desktop class performance" and why the big iPad was renamed the "iPad Air". With 64-bit ARM SoC we are entering an era in which tablets are no longer held back by their mediocre computing power and become true PC rivals. The A7 was the first step in this field, but the A8X on top of that doubles the memory, adds a third CPU core and increases the GPU performance by 250%. Incredible!

Geekbench iPad 3 vs iPad Air 2 (just two years of technological progress)

Current apps couldn't show what the A7 was capable of and they can't show what the A8X can do. Apple demoed it with 720p 120 fps slow-motion video and professional photo-editing software Pixelmator. But some people can't be impressed with smooth and silent, they need explosions. The A8X isn't only faster than the A7, its also more efficient. So much more that the battery capacity could be reduced by 15% while maintaining a fantastic 10 hour battery life. And instead of a 12W charger the iPad Air 2 comes with a 10W charger, delivering the same load times while staying a lot cooler.

Thinness doesn't just happen, it is the result from leaps of progress in performance per watt. The metric in which mobile computers ought to be judged. The switch from PowerPC to Intel, from Intel to ARM, from ARM to Apple-designed ARM and ultimately 64-bit tripple-core A8X. It's always been about performance per watt. Thinness is not how it looks, thinness is how it works. Looking good is just a byproduct of being fit.
 
At least some Apple Watch details would be nice. I'm sure they're tweaking the software/hardware to maximize battery life, but how about some more pricing info? I still think $500+ will be the price for the models most people want, which would be a tough pill to swallow, although they may be working on carrier subsidies.
 
I also think the 12" MBAr and 12" iPad Pro are the same thing, a new hybrid with iOS/OSX (maybe just called OS 11 with mobile/desktop modes) which will be Apple's answer to the Surface. Apple didn't do it first, but they'll do it right because they're Apple.:D
We've seen hints of that in the works for the last few years...

  • Add iOS-like features to OSX (notification center, launchpad, etc.)
  • Get OSX and iOS to look visually similar
  • Dumb-down OSX apps to attain feature parity with iOS versions (iWork in particular)
  • Swift programming language
Continuity/handoff is the final software piece of the puzzle.

All of the software pieces are in place to create a true hybrid device that operates as a notebook when attached to a real keyboard/trackpad and continues on in tablet mode when detached. Not by mashing elements of a desktop and mobile OS together, but a synergy between 2 OSes that are specialized for their respective tasks.

I've always believed that Microsoft saw this coming and rushed the Surface out to market in an attempt to establish a foothold before Apple unleashed this beast of a device.

To a lesser degree, the very minor (IMO) update of the iPad Air and iPad mini might be the calm before the storm as Apple focuses resources on this hypothetical iPad Pro. :)

I love my 11" MBA, and iPad 4 (though much less after upgrading to iOS 8). If Apple were to produce a device that combined those two into a seamless experience, I'd be all over it. Though I might be in a very small minority.
 
I think you're confusing innovation and profit. There are countless examples of products that are not in any way innovative, but are massively profitable. I don't believe that a thinner iPad, a larger iPhone (begrudgingly made in response to consumer demand), an embarrassingly obsolete iPad mini, an OS update, etc, are signs of some incredible run of innovation by Apple. However, that doesn't mean that they're not good products (in some cases), or that they're not massively profitable.

Make sense?

Well, it does make sense, but in a business situation you cannot divorce the design aspect from the economic aspect. I don’t confuse the two, but am compelled to consider both in balance.

Years ago I was fortunate to study under the late, great Professor Martin V. (“Marty”) Marshall who early in the course presented us with a case study that addressed this issue. An American firm decided to offer the most advanced portable radio in the marketplace, back in the days when these were a significant product segment. The engineers designed it and it was produced and introduced to the market.

The radio was enthusiastically received by radio aficionados, but failed to achieve profitable sales. It was too expensive for the mass market and did not look like radios the general public was used to buying. In addition, even at its high price, it had very little margin because it would have been prohibitively expensive at normal radio margins. The product was soon withdrawn from sale, at a significant loss.

This issue arises with every product offered. Apple is in business to make money by offering products that will appeal to the marketplace and generate profits. I think it is hard to deny that the firm has been successful in this regard. Some segments of the marketplace may not be satisfied by the judgments made in designing and producing the products, but you can’t have everything. That’s why there is competition.

I would argue that Apple is making more correct decisions in this area than incorrect ones.

As an aside, someone at Apple must have taken some Marty Marshall courses, since they are using his expansion model almost “by the book” - Product line expansion (watches, phones, iPads, Beats headphones), coupled with channel of distribution expansion (Apple stores, telecom carriers, major retailers, mail order firms) followed by geographic expansion (China, India, etc.).

Can they keep it up? Who knows. I would bet on more acquisitions to supplement internal product expansion. There is only so much revolutionary innovation around!
 
Ha, Ha, Ha some things never change. I remember how pissed off everyone was when Steve Jobs introduced the iPod. It wasn't a Newton. There were better products on the market. Blah, blah, blah.

Oh yeah, Snow Leopard was waaaaay better than Yosemite. And Mobile Me was more seemless than iCloud. Remember when you had to pay $99 a year to use that. Now you can get more storage than you got than that for the same price and Syncing that actually works.

Yep the past was way better. RIP SJ
 
An accurate assessment.

When (and not if) the AppleWatch fails ..it will either be the wake up call or the break up for Apple as it is now. They HAVE to realise that shoving out resized iPhones is NOT innovation any more. Their only "new"product will be the doomed AppleWatch that was a solution to something nobody had a problem with.

But. Sometimes historically speaking ... Even the mighty need a reality check to realise finally ... that even they are fallible. Let Apple take the hit in 2015. Scrap the concept. Admit they have to take stock and let's be the market leaders again.

Lose the doom and gloom. It's one of the best times ever to be an Apple fan. iPhones are bigger and better, with ridiculously good photography, super fast processors, and brilliant screens. OS X got the design overhaul that people have been clamoring for for 7 years. iOS received a ton of features with extensions, customizable keyboards, widgets, actionable notifications, and iCloud Drive. The ecosystem continues to mature with updates like ApplePay, Family Sharing, Continuity, CarPlay, HomeKit, and HealthKit. Beats has the best music curation of any service and will soon integrate with iTunes. Apple Watch is possibly the biggest leap since the iPhone, and arguably has more reason for existence than the iPad.

OK, there were some bugs. Apple TV is languishing and iTunes is a pain. The Mac Mini and iPad Mini 3 were disappointing. The Apple Watch keynote itself was not the most compelling narrative. But in the grand scheme, 2014 was a hugely ambitious year for Apple.
 
Since making the switch from PC to Mac 6 years ago, I've followed the evolution of both desktop and mobile here with much interest. For me, things have seemed to plateau with iOS 7 (the latest version of which is reasonably smooth on my 4S) and Mavericks (works quite well, even on my 6yr old MBP).

IMO, things seemed to have plateaued in the larger ecosystem as well. I'm looking at upgrading to a 6 or 6+ (still researching) in the next 1-2 months and might upgrade to Yosemite on my desktop at least, but the QA issues are keeping me cautious still. The biggest wish I have in 2015 is for more/closer attention to be paid to QA. I understand there will always be bugs and what not, but if minimizing them/their severity means stretching out the time between OS releases, then so be it.

*(Since I'm thinking of moving from a 4S to a 6 or 6+, I'd also like to see Target and Kroger adopt Apple Pay, but as with other retailers, I know that's on them)

I'd also like to see proper attention paid to the Mac Mini (i.e. restoring the user servicability) - though this seems more and more like a pipe dream. Other all that, if Apple can continue to maintain the status quo at the bare minimum, then I'll be satisfied.
 
Was this reporter being sarcastic?

The only thing of any relevance Apple released this year was the iPhone 6 and maaaaybe Yosemite if you want to be very generous.

2014 was a very, very, very poor year from an innovation standpoint.

Maybe because the best things take time...

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Ha, Ha, Ha some things never change. I remember how pissed off everyone was when Steve Jobs introduced the iPod. It wasn't a Newton. There were better products on the market. Blah, blah, blah.

Oh yeah, Snow Leopard was waaaaay better than Yosemite. And Mobile Me was more seemless than iCloud. Remember when you had to pay $99 a year to use that. Now you can get more storage than you got than that for the same price and Syncing that actually works.

Yep the past was way better. RIP SJ

Hah, OK. Nice joke.

MobileMe was absolute ****. iCloud is SO much better.
 
You’re joking of course. They made it thinner and……………?

Might you mind answering what constitutes ‘such a leap’?

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Well the iPad air (1) was a piece of junk, with tabs in safari reloading all the time and even ibooks jumping back to previous pages (1GB Ram being the culprit), so for me the air 2 is a fantastic jump indeed, I really like the air 2 and I hope they come out with a iPad pro soon, even if it is just for the bigger screen. I buy one immediately (and yes I have a macbook pro as well)
 
Ipad pro sounds cool, customers seem to be heading that way (or so the manufacturers think) the iPad has always been for me a larger iPhone with no killer features, but this could be different, like an air without a keyboard??
 
You’re joking of course. They made it thinner and……………?

Might you mind answering what constitutes ‘such a leap’?

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Well the iPad air (1) was a piece of junk, with tabs in safari reloading all the time and even ibooks jumping back to previous pages (1GB Ram being the culprit), so for me the air 2 is a fantastic jump indeed, I really like the air 2 and I hope they come out with a iPad pro soon, even if it is just for the bigger screen. I buy one immediately (and yes I have a macbook pro as well)


Hmm, Ok. Well we see things differently. Personally I think that iOS is great for a phone but I think it’s pretty crap for anything else. There is one in the family but it is not mine, the only reason I’d buy one is if I could use it as a dumb terminal, (using native software - not Log Me In however good it is).
For me, it should be the kind of device I can take to bed and use. For example, I’m learning AppleScript, would be nice to be able to take it upstairs an hour early and write and test them on it before bed with some biscuits and tea, but I can’t.

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iPad Air 2 was not only thinner but has a powerful A8X chip, better camera than previous model, Touch ID, Apple Pay support (somewhat), 2 GB of Ram.
What were you expecting? Holographic projection?

Oh please. Thinner is not a leap. A8X might deserve some praise but Touch ID isn’t and neither is Apple Pay or an extra gig of RAM.
 
really looking forward seeing what the new iPhone is going to look like - hopefully it will be more than a 'S' treatment as I hate the current design (protruding camera and ugly back bands). By the time I am ready for a new phone, I am also hoping that Microsoft will have WP10 or whatever they will call it.
 
I agree. Fanboys go over the top with the wonderfulness. Haters exaggerate the negatives. The remainder contribute

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Yep. An honest opinion gets responded to with a putdown as if the poster is stupid, naive, etc. Opinions are told as fact. A lot of filtering required here

it just seems like Apple's not really pushing hard in any area. Even offering 20 GB of cloud storage to at least outdo Google Drive would be awesome.



sony xperia e3 hülle
 
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I have a feeling the iPad Pro is going to be a laughable flop. I get the "bigger is better" motto, I love my 6 Plus, but a 12" tablet is so big I rather just bring a MacBook Air. The beauty of the iPad Air is how easily portable it is and easy to carry and hold. But slugging around a 12" tablet? LOL

It would likely be more of a pro user thing, kind of like the old 17-inch notebooks or the Mac Pro. I like my iPad Air, but with some of the textbooks I buy through Kindle I get how people could use a larger display. I think a 12-inch display would be about 1:1 with most textbooks, so these could sell well to college freshmen. Even with it maybe weighing two pounds, it's still lighter than any textbook.
 
Lose the doom and gloom. It's one of the best times ever to be an Apple fan. iPhones are bigger and better, with ridiculously good photography, super fast processors, and brilliant screens. OS X got the design overhaul that people have been clamoring for for 7 years. iOS received a ton of features with extensions, customizable keyboards, widgets, actionable notifications, and iCloud Drive. The ecosystem continues to mature with updates like ApplePay, Family Sharing, Continuity, CarPlay, HomeKit, and HealthKit. Beats has the best music curation of any service and will soon integrate with iTunes. Apple Watch is possibly the biggest leap since the iPhone, and arguably has more reason for existence than the iPad.

OK, there were some bugs. Apple TV is languishing and iTunes is a pain. The Mac Mini and iPad Mini 3 were disappointing. The Apple Watch keynote itself was not the most compelling narrative. But in the grand scheme, 2014 was a hugely ambitious year for Apple.

In fact most of what you say whilst it may be true it's what is making me slowly uncouple from Apple. Apple is turning into a cult and I don't do cults - sorry.
 
Here's what :apple: should release this year:

Apple Watch
An updated Mac Mini (actual upgrade)
Updated Apple TV
New iPods
iPhones that stand out
iPhone mini (for budget customers)
Mac/iPad hybrid to compete with the Surface Pro 3
New Macs

What :apple: will release this year:
A bigger iPad (literally the only change)
Minimally upgraded iPhones
iOS 9 (still buggy)
iPhone 6c!... for £500

:rolleyes:
 
Apple Pay is doing what others haven't done. Make it mainstream.
Car Play doesn't do it for you? Are you the standard? Others use devices too.
Android has had NFC for ages? Yep. Hows that been going? Poor.

Posters who whine that it doesnt fit their bill waste space on these threads. Does that mean its the same for everyone else? Solution is don't buy.


It's a matter of being honest.

Apple didn't innovate in 2014. I know that might anger some people who hold a lot of Apple stock, but anyone who looks objectively knows it's true.
 
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