I'm concerned about Apple

[Aaron]

Most of you know I'm a very big fan of the way Apple generally does business... I think they do it with a bigger set of balls than all the rest of the tech companies combined.

But they are going a direction now with the release of the 5s that I consider to be very murky territory. They've essentially stopped innovating until next year, and are attempting to carry themselves a full 4 quarters simply on attitude and principle as a business model. The iPhone 5, by every indication is a quality of product that could carry them that long, if any could in this day and age, but not many companies in the last 2 decades have decided "Well, our product is so solid it can skate for a while", infact the only company really that comes to mind that had such an incredible product that they literally skated for years on it was Volvo when they made the 240 series cars. Infact they stopped building them because they themselves became paranoid that if they stayed utilitarian and didn't go sexy, they would fail. Of course that brought in 2 decades of total fail trying to compete directly with BMW and Mercedes in the luxury car market. The iphone is also seemingly a bullet-proof product, but the sheer weight of impatience in the western tech market could sink a reference-quality product of any kind.

Just thought some people with an objective viewpoint on the business side of this might like to talk about it... cuz a fingerprint sensor =/= a product refresh.

[Stratego]

[Aaron]

[exploited]

If it were any other company in that market, I'd say they were nuts. Apple, however, has probably the best brand in the world, and so they should be able to get away with it on customer loyalty grounds alone.

[Medius]

I wouldn't expect much innovation from Apple for a while. Most of it was driven or at least focused from the top. It will be a while before they find someone that can not only take that kind of lead, but do so in a way that doesn't Windows 8 them into the toilet.

My guess is that they will shell-up and focus on refining what they have and keeping it technologically relevant. More storage, faster connection, clearer screen, the general expected changes as they become available.

Honestly, the smart move right now for them would be to go down the "collector" route and start building limited release "gotta have 'ems" for their overly dedicated community. Then funnel that money into bringing forward-thinking talent into their R&D group. In the end, they need to find the next Jobs to grow. Finding a way to bring Apple products to non-Apple users was nothing short of a miracle. One that isn't likely to repeat until they find another market they can grab and own for a few years while competition catches up.

[Spider]

The 5c is actually more troubling to me, at least re the integrity of their brand. Cheapening something is not a way to drive interest. People keep talking like consumer electronics can be "status symbols" these days, which amazes me, but much like any other product that seeks to create a veneer of quality, diluting it with price reductions....ehhh.

As for innovation...there hasn't been anything significant that I'd actually call innovation since the original iPad a few years ago. And yes, I know Apple didn't invent the tablet. But they did convince people to start buying them, and thats at least as important. What I'd like to see is a truly new product, as opposed to an evolution of something already extant. I remember when they first showed off the iphone, which lacked buttons and did this pinch to zoom thing that made people cream their jeans. It was lightyears ahead of anything else.

They need another jump like that one. Not just an evolution on a theme. They need to actually set direction for the industry again. These days they follow, with derivative and inferior crap like the 5C and the iPad mini...rather than lead.

[Spider]

And they should do something with that giant pile of cash. Maybe buy something like Intel. Or Qualcomm. Or Netflix. Or something.

[Aaron]

While reading you guys' responses I realized something else... it would be supremely jobsian to stab the iphone in the neck while it's at the top, and move into TV production or custom cable packages... maybe apple has decided to pre-empt the iphone's demise....

[The Dude]

They've always done this with the off-year upgrade. The 4S was just the 4 with Siri, which no one f**k uses.

Everyone knew the 5S would have a minor upgrade over the 5 and the 6 has the bigger one.

IOS7 is the bigger upgrade.


As for the 5c, I think it's kind of smart; it looks like they are targeting younger people, high school aged, here. And it might work well.


regardless, I'm starting to think the smartphone is approaching printer status soon. I mean, what else can they really do to them that they haven't, particularly hardware wise? Do they need to be a lot faster? The only real issues are battery life, cellular network speed, and constantly improving the camera, more HD space. Everything else has been mostly maxed out other than picking the right phone size. Other stuff is software related.

[Kane]

The smartwatch beckons...