If this is actually Apple prepping for crowds rushing to buy new Macs tonight then I'm afraid that is a great example of what I think is Apple's current problem. They expect people will line up for every product no matter what they announce and they genuinely think shaving 1/8th of a millimeter off a case or re-engineering the speaker grill are features anyone outside the design lab wants.
Either there is something entirely unexpected coming today, which I doubt, or the Apple senior executives need to start going for long walks outside the campus where they can meet ordinary people who dont work for Apple and arent singing the new Apple theme song "Everything is awesome".
(I wish there was something new in the stores but no way something brand new is in the stores today that wouldnt have been leaked on the rumour sites, unless Apple has a robotic factory on Mars)
Here's what I would love to see Tim Cook do. Announce he's hired an SVP reporting directly to him to oversee all of Apple's cloud, AI and ML efforts across the company. Say that Eddy Cue will now be 100% focused on Pay and Apple's content businesses. Eddy's org is way too big as it is now. Just overseeing Pay. Music,TV. iTunes, iBooks etc. would be more than a full time job.
I've been disappointed so many times the last 3 years at Apple events. So many disappointments the last few events:
1. releasing the iPhone 6ss 2. Apple Watch crappy interface, nothing really innovative 3. AppleTV. Nothing new. Just a roku 4. No home hub 5. No touch screen Mac's 6. No Apple brand TV display
Its going to be the same old crap. Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, and some other random Apple executive spouting about how 'amazing' something is.
Apple is getting stale, boring, no excitement.
Don't get me wrong. They still make the best quality product and very reliable. Just like a Toyota.
But Apple use to be Ferrari. They use to be sexy, cutting edge, and make your blood boil. Now its the same crap with a tiny bit of improvement.
IMO, its a reflection of how lazy and self satisified the executives have become. Cook, Cue, Shiller, and Ive are all established. All are worth more than $100 million and are fat and happy. They are not willing or motivated to take risks because they got it made.
Apple needs a serious shake up. The old guard is just..........old. We need new blood that is excited, innovated, and willing to fail miserably. We need younger execs who are hungry, have vision, and want to make a mark in the world.
I can't be alone in this. Can I?
You want proof of how far Apple has fallen?
Do you think 5 years ago Microsoft or Google would even dare release a product to compete with Apple's premier products? Hell no.
But Google bringing out the Pixel at the same price as the iPhone is a sign. Google sees how weak Apple is now. In the past Google always had to compete on price. Same with Microsoft and the Surface book and Surface Studio. That's how weak and feable Apple looks to its competition now. 5 years ago that was UNTHINKABLE.
You are not alone.
you mean in being delusional and likely suffering from mental health problems?
Purchase a clue. Steve Jobs passed. Henry Ford passed. Henry Morrison Flagler passed. Commodore Vanderbilt passed. John Rockefeller passed. Andre Carnegie passed. John Ringling passed. The list is long. When the visionary dies, the essence that made the true greatness almost always goes. Steve ain't coming back so deal with what you've got, which are still some pretty great products if not as great as those of old. Of course you could always start your own path of greatness. Barring that, sit down in the back of the class, your head is too big for many to see around.
and yet, the Fords of today are far more innovative than those when Henry Ford lived. so it is and will be with apple gear.
I've been disappointed so many times the last 3 years at Apple events. So many disappointments the last few events:
1. releasing the iPhone 6ss 2. Apple Watch crappy interface, nothing really innovative 3. AppleTV. Nothing new. Just a roku 4. No home hub 5. No touch screen Mac's 6. No Apple brand TV display
Its going to be the same old crap. Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, and some other random Apple executive spouting about how 'amazing' something is.
Apple is getting stale, boring, no excitement.
Don't get me wrong. They still make the best quality product and very reliable. Just like a Toyota.
But Apple use to be Ferrari. They use to be sexy, cutting edge, and make your blood boil. Now its the same crap with a tiny bit of improvement.
IMO, its a reflection of how lazy and self satisified the executives have become. Cook, Cue, Shiller, and Ive are all established. All are worth more than $100 million and are fat and happy. They are not willing or motivated to take risks because they got it made.
Apple needs a serious shake up. The old guard is just..........old. We need new blood that is excited, innovated, and willing to fail miserably. We need younger execs who are hungry, have vision, and want to make a mark in the world.
I can't be alone in this. Can I?
You want proof of how far Apple has fallen?
Do you think 5 years ago Microsoft or Google would even dare release a product to compete with Apple's premier products? Hell no.
But Google bringing out the Pixel at the same price as the iPhone is a sign. Google sees how weak Apple is now. In the past Google always had to compete on price. Same with Microsoft and the Surface book and Surface Studio. That's how weak and feable Apple looks to its competition now. 5 years ago that was UNTHINKABLE.
So lets look at your post
1. releasing the iPhone 6ss (I assume you mean iPhone 7 because they did not change the form factor, still going to buy 7 of them earlier next week for my company) 2. Apple Watch crappy interface, nothing really innovative (Agreed, just compare it to a superior interface like Microsoft's offering oh wait, discontinued, maybe get the flat tire instead?) 3. AppleTV. Nothing new. Just a roku (My household consumes all our media via Apple TV, what exactly needs to change it does what it was designed to do) 4. No home hub (Apple TV 4 does that with my August lock) 5. No touch screen Mac's (Look how well that's reinvigorated the PC market) 6. No Apple brand TV display (OK maybe a point here, LG got my dollars when I would have bough an Apple branded TV no questions)
Should Apple aggressively take risk with their cash horde, you know maybe the Google approach. I mean Alphabet, or aka "Google separated from all it's losing divisions", all of it's Moonshots and acquisitions. Boston Dynamics, Motorola, Nest, Google Fiber, etc all of these big bets were basically throw crap at a wall cash burns. Pixel is the latest addition to the bonfire, though it's demise might be slightly delayed due to the overwhelming, some might say explosive, success of another company that was taking aggressive risk to beat out the competition. After all it is unrealistic to assume Apple will pickup all of their lost business.
Microsoft and Google have hubris in spades, that's why they are trying to go toe to toe with Apple on price. They also have both watched most of their "partners" dwindle into obscurity in a race to the bottom. The only winner in that race is China, not because it's a race worth winning but because of no copyright laws, a favorable domestic government agenda and rock bottom wages. Even Samsung's starting to be out Samsung'ed by Chinese companies and that's quite a feat. I'm not even going to address the new Microsoft offerings that no one will buy, though I'm quite sure they will ship a lot for IDC to report.
Yes you are, for the most part, alone in your line of thinking. It really sounds like your stock bets haven't been working out. Your pretty much always pro Apple until the stock doesn't go to $150, then it's Cook's incompetent, Apple can't innovate, not investing enough ... Benghazi. Come on man, your flip flopping more than politicians supporting Trump.
Facts are Facts.
iPhone sales - down iPad sales - down Mac sales - down Watch sales - down AppleTV sales - probably not great
What does that tell you?
iPhone sales - down, a lot could explain that including the hype for the very bestest every iPhone next year that started even before the 7 was released. Apple acknowledged stating first weekend numbers are no longer accurate as the amount sold is more indicative of supply constraints versus demand. A lot of non tech enthusiast people will simply wait till the phone they want is in stock versus ordering weeks in advance. Apple has never fudged numbers to assuage investors in the past, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they know what they are talking about.
iPad sales - down, have been going down for a while now. No one else makes any profit on tablets. Other companies can't even sell a meaningful amount of $59 units. I personally found no use for my iPad between my iPhone 6 and iMac so I gave it away and likely will not buy another one. You would have to pry my parents iPads from their cold dead hands. They will continue to only buy iPads at whatever price they happen to cost, but they don't upgrade them frequently.
Mac sales - down, Intel's chipset was delayed. New Macs today. Apple attempts to only do releases when it can make a tangible difference to the end user.
Watch sales - new watch hasn't even been out for one holiday quarter yet. Most people I know who have Apple Watches asked for them for holiday or birthday gifts.
AppleTV sales - because roku and the rest of the competition are so featured advanced? 90% of the population doesn't even have 4k. You can only expect so much from a device who purpose is to play media on a TV.
Tells me your thinking very short term. Wasn't it you who posted right after the earnings call that Apple's return to growth forecast for next quarter was the only thing that mattered. Your post above is the exact opposite of this line of thinking, what am I missing here?
As much crap as everyone seems to be giving Sog today, the fact is he's not really wrong. Every year the Apple execs tout what they have in the pipeline...and every year we get squat. "This is our best (minimum GB iphone, slightly better ipad with no place to attach the great new Pencil!, translucent menu bar, bokeh effect, San Francisco font, Apple logo made from 100% pure virgin unobtainium...) ever. We're so proud of it."
<snort> Huh! What? Must have dozed off during the keynote again.
As much crap as everyone seems to be giving Sog today, the fact is he's not really wrong. Every year the Apple execs tout what they have in the pipeline...and every year we get squat. "This is our best (minimum GB iphone, slightly better ipad with no place to attach the great new Pencil!, translucent menu bar, bokeh effect, San Francisco font, Apple logo made from 100% pure virgin unobtainium...) ever. We're so proud of it."
<snort> Huh! What? Must have dozed off during the keynote again.
Maybe today will be different.
The only reason these events are ho hum is because--thanks to leaks and Web sites like AI--we know 99% of what they are going to announce well in advance. If the original Mac or iMac or iPhone had been discussed in detail for weeks and months before their formal announcement, those rollouts wouldn't have been very dramatic either.
All I want is what is best for Apple, its customers, its employee, its owners.
Apple being stale, fat, and lazy is a slow death.
Can you not see how the excitement in Apple has slowly died the last 4 years?
Tell me the last time you were truly excited about an Apple release? For me it was the iPad. Which seems like forever ago, seems like a totally different era, and company.
The releases by Cook have all been Blah disappointments: iPhone 6ss, iPad Pro, skinnier Macs, AppleTV, and Watch.
Cook, Ive, Cue, and Shiller don't even seem excited about the products. Half the time Cook is spending time at social events. Seems Cook is more excited and passionate about human rights than new products. Ive seems bored and is more into fashion and decorating Christmas Trees. Cue has been a total worthless, not being able to close the deal for a live TV package while crappy brands like Sling have. Shiller just seems to want to upsell you more and more.
Its friken ridiculous.
Wheres the passion? Wheres the excitement?
Looks like all they care about is making $$$ and keeping their $30 million a year jobs.
Comments
Either there is something entirely unexpected coming today, which I doubt, or the Apple senior executives need to start going for long walks outside the campus where they can meet ordinary people who dont work for Apple and arent singing the new Apple theme song "Everything is awesome".
(I wish there was something new in the stores but no way something brand new is in the stores today that wouldnt have been leaked on the rumour sites, unless Apple has a robotic factory on Mars)
iPad sales - down, have been going down for a while now. No one else makes any profit on tablets. Other companies can't even sell a meaningful amount of $59 units. I personally found no use for my iPad between my iPhone 6 and iMac so I gave it away and likely will not buy another one. You would have to pry my parents iPads from their cold dead hands. They will continue to only buy iPads at whatever price they happen to cost, but they don't upgrade them frequently.
Mac sales - down, Intel's chipset was delayed. New Macs today. Apple attempts to only do releases when it can make a tangible difference to the end user.
Watch sales - new watch hasn't even been out for one holiday quarter yet. Most people I know who have Apple Watches asked for them for holiday or birthday gifts.
AppleTV sales - because roku and the rest of the competition are so featured advanced? 90% of the population doesn't even have 4k. You can only expect so much from a device who purpose is to play media on a TV.
Tells me your thinking very short term. Wasn't it you who posted right after the earnings call that Apple's return to growth forecast for next quarter was the only thing that mattered. Your post above is the exact opposite of this line of thinking, what am I missing here?
<snort> Huh! What? Must have dozed off during the keynote again.
Maybe today will be different.
The only reason these events are ho hum is because--thanks to leaks and Web sites like AI--we know 99% of what they are going to announce well in advance. If the original Mac or iMac or iPhone had been discussed in detail for weeks and months before their formal announcement, those rollouts wouldn't have been very dramatic either.
Come on Apple release Mac's that live up to some of the previous amazing machines!