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 dont 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 The product was soon withdrawn from sale, at a significant loss.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 cant have everything. Thats 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!
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