Although the premise of this article is correct, it saddens me to have to point out that it is a puff piece plain and simple. I've come to expect better appleinsider!!
How long have you had this expectation? That you now, after how many years of reading AppleInsider, decide to create an account and post your first comment?
There is already plenty of great criticism out there and this piece could have added a lot to it. The problem is that it conveniently side steps anything but cursory criticism of the company and its products to support its long winded premise. As an editorial piece that's fine, as it is up to the author to give his opinion and then the reader to form his or her own opinion.
Things like:
"Whether intentionally or not, Apple's decision to release a larger smartphone format with iPhone 6 Plus in 2014 (above) resulted in a new business for Apple between the smartphone and tablet"
'Whether intentionally or not' really has no place here and it reads like an admission that Apple's line on big screens being unadvisable was perhaps incorrect. Of course openly accepting that misjudged line of thinking would crash head on with one of the article's key points.
Samsung took the phablet market by storm with the Note line. Others followed suit. Apple didn't, even though all the pundits - and its own users - said they needed such a phone.
We can be sure that the Plus line was intentional. Most of us have seen the slide from marketing that says 'we don't have what our customers want' (bigger screens).
Fortunately, that particular change in attitude paid off handsomely. The iPhone 7 Plus pretty much stole the show in the latest earnings. But what would have happened if Apple had not changed its idea on larger screens?
$1000+ iPhone is tolerable as resale of previous gen remains so high. For my main computer outside of the office, at a cost of about $500/year, I am a steady, happy customer.
Should be less than $500. After 2 years you should be able to sell it for at least $300-$400
I think that Apple fully understands the value of its products and thus the selling price. Could Apple sell iPhones at that price, unquestionably, should they - no. Unless you plan to go out of business, you do not sell at cost.
$1000+ iPhone is tolerable as resale of previous gen remains so high. For my main computer outside of the office, at a cost of about $500/year, I am a steady, happy customer.
Should be less than $500. After 2 years you should be able to sell it for at least $300-$400
Apple's strategy has worked well for premium market in several product categories like iphone, but hasn't work same way in Macbook pro market. In order to expand that market, Apple must offer around $1299 13" and $1499 15" Macbook pro with decent price performance to college/high-school student and casual users. This base is large and potentially contribute lot to future Apple echo system, revenue.
December Quarter - most Mac revenue EVER. EVER IN THE HISTORY.
This is all swell, but they need to update their core products like the MacPro, the Mac Mini, and do better with the Macbook. They are leaving money on the table.
Updating the MacPro and Mini is a fine sentiment - it would (maybe) make some of the Mac old guard (a little) less grumpy. However, majority of Apple's Mac sales are laptops and iMacs. A refreshed Pro and Mini would, from the business perspective, be a rounding error on a rounding error. They are not "core" products in the slightest.
The Macbook was updated last year. Hopefully they do so again this year. What is it that it needs to do better right now? I hope you are not thinking thicker, more ports, fan to handle a much more powerful CPU....
The unnecessary swipe at our current President would probably have more effective were the article not riddled with poor grammar.
Not sure there is any connection between those two things?
The connection is there and I thought the same as the original poster, but as this is an opinion piece I let it go. The article needs some polishing which it will no doubt get but the piece itself comes over as muddied or lacking focus. It sets out it's stall and attempts to defend it, but hits too many potholes along the way.
This is all swell, but they need to update their core products like the MacPro, the Mac Mini, and do better with the Macbook. They are leaving money on the table.
MacPro and Mac mini are a drop in the bucket for Apple's Mac revenues. They are far from being Apple's core products. Even if these were updated today, it wouldn't make a significant dent in Apple's Mac sales and revenue. You do know that Apple really didn't have much of a choice with the Mac Pro right?
The MacBook is fine and probably does better than you think it does. It serves its purpose very well. It is the replacement for the MacBook Air.
Apple needs and deserves plenty of criticism. The critics just need to step up their game and understand what's going on better. So far, much of their advice largely deserves plenty of criticism of its own.
I wonder when the last time was that the author of this piece substantively criticised Apple?
Yeah, its become more pronounced, I'm all for verbal slapping of idiots talking nonsense about Apple, but these one sided observations keep promoting the idea that all is hunky dory in Apple land when it isn't. I'm not really sure true Apple fans care about the nonsense outside the Apple kingdom, Apple is showing real problems, well "informed" and competent pundits who better understand what's going on are not addressing, if everyone is wrong about what the problems are, then what are the problems then ?
Although the premise of this article is correct, it saddens me to have to point out that it is a puff piece plain and simple. I've come to expect better appleinsider!!
One more idiot who doesn't understand the concept of an editorial opinion piece.
This is all swell, but they need to update their core products like the MacPro, the Mac Mini, and do better with the Macbook. They are leaving money on the table.
Updating the MacPro and Mini is a fine sentiment - it would (maybe) make some of the Mac old guard (a little) less grumpy. However, majority of Apple's Mac sales are laptops and iMacs. A refreshed Pro and Mini would, from the business perspective, be a rounding error on a rounding error. They are not "core" products in the slightest.
The Macbook was updated last year. Hopefully they do so again this year. What is it that it needs to do better right now? I hope you are not thinking thicker, more ports, fan to handle a much more powerful CPU....
I have trouble even seeing another Mac Mini iteration. There isn't any way that Apple will drive the cost low enough to be a big seller, and the need to encourage Windows users to come to the Mac Platform is over. In the meantime, I would expect iOS to pick up some of the low(er) end of the market with an ARM analog to the Mac Book, but lacking x86 support.
Your article reminded me of a study done in the late '80s or early '90s by the Harvard Business Review. The essence of the study was why Microsoft had a superior strategy because it focused on software and left commodity hardware production to others versus Apple which relied on hardware (commodity?) in order to succeed. This study occurred at a time when MS was doing well and Apple was faltering.
Your article does a good job of demonstrating the high value of knowing ones customers and having a clear, coherent strategy and being able to execute day in and day out.
" ... America has now waded so deep into this pattern of cynical anti-intellectualism that we now have a national chief executive that doesn't understand basic policy, can't spell, and can't even speak in coherent sentences ...". Not only very very funny but unfortunately very true. Same thing happens here in Europe. This is exactly why I admire Apple as a company: Technology - Intelligent Services - a Responsible Vision.
"When Microsoft was PowerPC processors for a new generation of Power Macs, after working with Acorn to codevelop fast, efficient ARM mobile chips for use by Newton."
I don't understand this sentence.
That and a couple of others :-). Mostly a good read though.
This is all swell, but they need to update their core products like the MacPro, the Mac Mini, and do better with the Macbook. They are leaving money on the table.
You don't read well do you? This is exactly the kind of uninformed criticism that embarrasses itself in front of people who better.
You call these core products. You obviously don't know what 'core product' means.
Don't you think, if there was any significant money to be made by expending the R&D to further the Mac Pro and Mac mini, it would be done?
Apple needs and deserves plenty of criticism. The critics just need to step up their game and understand what's going on better. So far, much of their advice largely deserves plenty of criticism of its own.
I wonder when the last time was that the author of this piece substantively criticised Apple?
Yeah, its become more pronounced, I'm all for verbal slapping of idiots talking nonsense about Apple, but these one sided observations keep promoting the idea that all is hunky dory in Apple land when it isn't. I'm not really sure true Apple fans care about the nonsense outside the Apple kingdom, Apple is showing real problems, well "informed" and competent pundits who better understand what's going on are not addressing, if everyone is wrong about what the problems are, then what are the problems then ?
Please list these 'real problems' that Apple has.
From where I'm standing Apple is doing better than EVER. Are they perfect? hell no. But look at the facts:
#1 smartphone #1 tablet #1 laptop #1 music sales (streaming plus downloads) #1 app store #1 customer satisfaction #1 smart watch #1 bluetooth headphones #1 in sales #1 in profits
I mean seriously. This is like saying the Micheal Jordan bulls for the 90's had 'real problems'. Yes they won 6 world titles but Jordan missed a few free throws. come on.
You need to rethink your analogy. Surely the Patriots of the 21st century is a better example. (hey, I'm a Pats fan.)
Your article reminded me of a study done in the late '80s or early '90s by the Harvard Business Review. The essence of the study was why Microsoft had a superior strategy because it focused on software and left commodity hardware production to others versus Apple which relied on hardware (commodity?) in order to succeed. This study occurred at a time when MS was doing well and Apple was faltering.
Your article does a good job of demonstrating the high value of knowing ones customers and having a clear, coherent strategy and being able to execute day in and day out.
Thank you for posting. This is exactly why I bought a lot of Apple stock in 2001. I knew that when Steve Jobs came back to Apple he was determined to redeem his and Apple's reputation. Nobody wants to go down in history as having made the worst business decision in the world and used in classes as the laughable case study. I truly saw Apple as a redemption story. I had no idea what they would do, I just knew they would succeed. I seldom feel so certain about anything, let alone such a big financial decision as that was. Yet I never doubted the company and I sure am glad I bought the stock!
It should be noted that Jobs personally made a pitch to buy Dropbox (rumored offer $800M), but they turned him down.
What's your point here? Apple acquires company's. $800 million may have been a good deal back then if they went for it. They didn't of course. Apple has iCloud Drive now. Apple paying 3 billion or something for Dropbox would have been foolish. It's one thing wanting to acquire a company, it's another to overpay and then lose a lot of money from it in the end. I thought the 3 billion for BEATS was a little high but that looks to be paying off.
There's very little to be made selling a commodity Smartphone. Which is why Apple is making around 95% of the Smartphone profits even though Apple only has about 20% of the global market. Samesung makes most of the rest and that's from their S and Note series phones. Not all the low to mid range phones they also sell and don't make much front. You're lucky to even turn a profit making a Android phone. Some are losing money.
Market Share in general means you're on TOP. So you have all these people saying Apple needs to sell CHEAP phones. Why, to get a higher Market Share? Isn't making a real Profit more important? You would think that would be the case. As they say work smarter not harder.
Although the premise of this article is correct, it saddens me to have to point out that it is a puff piece plain and simple. I've come to expect better appleinsider!!
DED has always been a diehard koolaide drinker. I have been reading his articles for a long time and he is never critical of Apple, especially when they need constructive feedback.
Although the premise of this article is correct, it saddens me to have to point out that it is a puff piece plain and simple. I've come to expect better appleinsider!!
Comments
There is already plenty of great criticism out there and this piece could have added a lot to it. The problem is that it conveniently side steps anything but cursory criticism of the company and its products to support its long winded premise. As an editorial piece that's fine, as it is up to the author to give his opinion and then the reader to form his or her own opinion.
Things like:
"Whether intentionally or not, Apple's decision to release a larger smartphone format with iPhone 6 Plus in 2014 (above) resulted in a new business for Apple between the smartphone and tablet"
'Whether intentionally or not' really has no place here and it reads like an admission that Apple's line on big screens being unadvisable was perhaps incorrect. Of course openly accepting that misjudged line of thinking would crash head on with one of the article's key points.
Samsung took the phablet market by storm with the Note line. Others followed suit. Apple didn't, even though all the pundits - and its own users - said they needed such a phone.
We can be sure that the Plus line was intentional. Most of us have seen the slide from marketing that says 'we don't have what our customers want' (bigger screens).
Fortunately, that particular change in attitude paid off handsomely. The iPhone 7 Plus pretty much stole the show in the latest earnings. But what would have happened if Apple had not changed its idea on larger screens?
I do not believe your two post align.
The Macbook was updated last year. Hopefully they do so again this year. What is it that it needs to do better right now? I hope you are not thinking thicker, more ports, fan to handle a much more powerful CPU....
The MacBook is fine and probably does better than you think it does. It serves its purpose very well. It is the replacement for the MacBook Air.
Your article does a good job of demonstrating the high value of knowing ones customers and having a clear, coherent strategy and being able to execute day in and day out.
That and a couple of others :-). Mostly a good read though.
Bill
You call these core products. You obviously don't know what 'core product' means.
Don't you think, if there was any significant money to be made by expending the R&D to further the Mac Pro and Mac mini, it would be done?