"Unfailingly, Apple is always either late or incredibly late to the party. In every single case, though, Apple is better."
That is an old paradigm. Things have changed. Apple isn't the disruptor it used to be. They were late to music streaming and after 4yrs Spotify is still #1. Their big hope is to try and bleed Spotify out of cash, as opposed to having a better service that everyone wants. 4 yrs into the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, they were the dominate player. They were late the smart speaker market and got crushed by Amazon and Google. They're late to the video streaming space and that looks like a major uphill fight. They completely missed out on web services that turned Microsoft and Amazon into behemoths.
Even on the products that they were early on, they're struggling. Siri is way behind the other assistants and Apple TV became a high priced streaming box with minimal market share.
I don't know if folding phones are the future. I do know that Apple isn't competing against the likes of RIM,Nokia, and FitBit anymore. They need to get faster at getting new products to market as well as faster at updating already existing products. The game has changed, they need to evolve with it.
Ehem, when you say crushed in speakers, you mean market share or $ income??
The difficulty Apple has to navigate IMO is services and hardware often have goals contradictory to each other. Hardware you want premium prices and max profit per device. Apple has been great at that. Services wants the most users possible. Since Apple really only supplies services to it's own ecosystem you need max number of devices and maximum possible users. That means cheaper hardware and lower margins. Apple doesn't seem to be very successful at services (excluding app store and iTunes) because they go with the hardware model. How they navigate both I'm not sure.
I disagree and so does the market. Android already has by far the most users, yet the money they spend on apps and media and music, combined, is less than what Apple’s much smaller set of users spend.
No one actually knows how significantly do they Radar? All the comparisons I see have been between Google Play and the App Store. Obviously there's many more viable Android app stores such as Amazon, GetJar, Apptoide and including VERY large ones servicing China. Apple includes those Chinese app sales, 2nd only to the US, while the app revenue comparisons with Google Play do not.
Besides, who really cares whether Apple is successful in comparison to Google? FWIW I doubt Google is singing the blues with them making "only" a few $Billions in pure profit from app sales on Google Play because Apple makes more. LOL.
The difficulty Apple has to navigate IMO is services and hardware often have goals contradictory to each other. Hardware you want premium prices and max profit per device. Apple has been great at that. Services wants the most users possible. Since Apple really only supplies services to it's own ecosystem you need max number of devices and maximum possible users. That means cheaper hardware and lower margins. Apple doesn't seem to be very successful at services (excluding app store and iTunes) because they go with the hardware model. How they navigate both I'm not sure.
I disagree and so does the market. Android already has by far the most users, yet the money they spend on apps and media and music, combined, is less than what Apple’s much smaller set of users spend. When selling products or services, you want the most high-value customers, as measured over their lifetime as your customers (lifetime value of a customer is a thing).
I'm not sure about that today. In 2017 Android App Store revenues were forecast to overtake Apple and were very close in even 2017. China alone was breaking records on revenues.
Fordable phone is lame; the aspect ratio is messed up; am I do you only one seeing this wrong?
I think aspect ratio means less here as you have different ratios on the same device.
Huawei laptops moved away from wide-screen back to 3:2 and was praised for the seemingly unusual move.
The Mate X folded main screen looks like a good screen for video playback and the unfolded a screen will be fine for everything else (split screen included, of course).
When you open a 21:9/10 folded screen into tablet mode, it’ll be 1:1 ratio aka sqare screen. I don’t think that aspect ratio is great for anything but gimmick!
Fordable phone is lame; the aspect ratio is messed up; am I do you only one seeing this wrong?
I think aspect ratio means less here as you have different ratios on the same device.
Huawei laptops moved away from wide-screen back to 3:2 and was praised for the seemingly unusual move.
The Mate X folded main screen looks like a good screen for video playback and the unfolded a screen will be fine for everything else (split screen included, of course).
When you open a 21:9/10 folded screen into tablet mode, it’ll be 1:1 ratio aka sqare screen. I don’t think that aspect ratio is great for anything but gimmick!
Did you watch the demo?
Did you see anything gimmicky?
First off: split screen. What would you prefer, dividing your iPhone screen into two small panels or having two 'full' iPhone screens sitting side by side?
Second: Is a squarish screen a problem for reading or viewing just about any non video content?
Third: watching video content is entirely possible full screen. The black bars would simply be bigger. Of course, you could simply fold the phone for that use and still have a large screen.
Four: In this design you start out with a regular screen aspect ratio and then double it via the fold. If you started out the other way around, with your preferred aspect ratio at its largest size and it then folded it down the middle, the resulting folded screen would be too narrow.
The host OS and apps will have to be adapted but that has always been the case anyway.
A lot of sturm and drang here over 1st gen foldable devices that cost $2000 or more. This will move a lot slower than people are thinking here, like years slower, as people are generally really happy with current phones, and these foldables are adding a marginal feature at a pretty big penalty in size, weight and cost, with the big issues of screen durability, hinge durability, software, and overall usability still left to be figured out.
If it is an actual category, Apple has at least 5 years to enter the fray. With small tablets essentially stagnant over the last 3 to 4 years, that should give us some pause on how much a feature a ~7” of display space in these foldables are going to be.
I’m kind of curious how well an 8” 2.5:1 slate phone (display would be about 7.5 x 3 inches) would compete against these foldables. Text input would be better (software thumb board in portrait) while videos will get bigger on the slate. Photos will be better on foldables. Handling qualities will be better on the skinny slate. One will have scratch issues, the other will have cracking issues. Etc.
The reason Apple may not have done a folding iPhone yet could be because prototypes and use cases showed that it was neither a good phone or a good tablet. It was lousy at both. Too thick, too clumsy, too expensive (at Apple’s margins), etc.
The difficulty Apple has to navigate IMO is services and hardware often have goals contradictory to each other. Hardware you want premium prices and max profit per device. Apple has been great at that. Services wants the most users possible. Since Apple really only supplies services to it's own ecosystem you need max number of devices and maximum possible users. That means cheaper hardware and lower margins. Apple doesn't seem to be very successful at services (excluding app store and iTunes) because they go with the hardware model. How they navigate both I'm not sure.
I disagree and so does the market. Android already has by far the most users, yet the money they spend on apps and media and music, combined, is less than what Apple’s much smaller set of users spend.
No one actually knows how significantly do they Radar? All the comparisons I see have been between Google Play and the App Store. Obviously there's many more viable Android app stores such as Amazon, GetJar, Apptoide and including VERY large ones servicing China. Apple includes those Chinese app sales, 2nd only to the US, while the app revenue comparisons with Google Play do not.
Besides, who really cares whether Apple is successful in comparison to Google? FWIW I doubt Google is singing the blues with them making "only" a few $Billions in pure profit from app sales on Google Play because Apple makes more. LOL.
But my point is valid; lifetime value of a customer, high value customers are what drive profits and cash flow to reinvest. But it would be interesting to see exactly how much is earned from the 85% market share controlled by Android. Even if it matched the revenue of iOS’ 15%, it still would argue in favor of higher value customers versus the masses.
Who cares about a foldable phone. If like the ones announce they are ~twice as thick (and heavy?) If like the Huawei's foldable phone I'd imagine using the camera while open will be awkward at best.
I’m sure people would be more likely to use the camera when folded than out unless it’s an impulse shot.
"Focusing is about saying no", one of Apple's philosophy is that if we can't make a good enough product that satisfy our quality standards, aesthetic standards, practicability etc., given it's been a super cool technology, it is too early to be transformed into consumer products. Canceling Newton project and replacing with iPhone, as mentioned here, was a great example. Yet another good example is the autonomous driving project, this project has been going on and off for over 8 years and still in its testing phase, meaning keeping investing a little bit of money just to keep being updated and being informed of future directions, but because the result was far from satisfaction, they won't push too hard on this project. See how many cool technologies has come and pass? Microsoft's touch screen pads, Google Glass, even VR, they did not become a fashion due to their own limitations. Whereas one of the most successful example that Apple wait and innovate and blow away the public is the iPod, and currently Apple watch and AirPods, and in the future, iPads and most likely AR products like glasses. Back to our foldable phones, too many flaws in this technology, high failure rates in production, fragile nature and low pixel density of the plastic display who is also sensitive to scratches, and a fatal problem is its very limited practical use with extremely high cost, I actually think it will soon fade away until technologies mature and Apple integrate it into foldable iPads, which could be more useful.
Yes, Apple will survive. After all, they are primarily a software company and the hardware is merely the vehicle used to deliver that software and its functionality.
But, if predictions are correct and Apple has neither a foldable phone nor a 5G phone much less both, that hardware is going to look pretty dated this this September.
Yes, Apple will survive. But expect another sales hit as some opt for a competitor and some opt to wait for more modern hardware.
There's no odds being first;
"One way to evaluate Apple: as creators of a category’s final form."
Yes, I agree that "There's no odds being first" -- actually I believe it far more strongly than most people: I cut my IT teeth working for a company that succeeded using only 2nd generation technology -- and I continue that myself on a personal level.
But, there are two additional factors at play here: -- Usually that '2nd gen' pertains to evolutionary technology. But both foldable phones and 5G are closer to revolutionary than evolutionary. And, in the tech world, you can't fall too far behind or you get left behind quickly. -- Apple has been positioned through expectations and media hype (not their own rhetoric) as industry leaders. Putting out "old tech" could dissapoint their customer base and do serious harm to their reputation. That is: Who would want to shell out $1,000 for the latest and greatest if it isn't perceived as the latest and greatest?
Yes, Apple will survive. After all, they are primarily a software company and the hardware is merely the vehicle used to deliver that software and its functionality.
But, if predictions are correct and Apple has neither a foldable phone nor a 5G phone much less both, that hardware is going to look pretty dated this this September.
Yes, Apple will survive. But expect another sales hit as some opt for a competitor and some opt to wait for more modern hardware.
There's no odds being first;
"One way to evaluate Apple: as creators of a category’s final form."
The only reason for the piece was to ease the frustration of Apple users who may feel the grass may be starting to look greener on the other side.
I truly don't understand the people who insistently dump the word 'doomed' all over the place. No one cares.
Why are Mac users even listening to writers who supposedly say Apple is doomed? And I can't even remember when I heard it from a non Apple user anyway.
Writers are saying Apple has fallen behind in many areas of late. That innovation hasn't really led to anything substantial recently. Etc.
That is basically correct because Apple is still working to an S cycle but that is solely Apple's decision and they must live with the consequences if things don't go to plan.
If the other major players don't follow that cycle and pump out better technologies every six months it easy to see how Apple could fall behind quickly.
So if your premium iPhone ships with a 5W charger, doesn't have tri or quad cameras, has a less than stellar modem and if things like FaceID see no advances year on year etc AND prices increase, the only people responsible for that are Apple management.
The insistence of Apple on shipping a 5W charger with a premium phone allowed Huawei to flaunt its 55W Supercharge charger (which can even charge laptops) and top off its presentation with a slide saying the Mate X could charge 600% faster than an iPhone XS Max.
We don't need to look outside, point to supposed doomsayers and tell them Apple knows what it is doing and that is the right way and everyone else is wrong or making a fool of themselves.
We need to look in the other direction and start openly questioning Apple because there have been a lot of errors in the company (here I'm referencing the company as a whole and not just the iPhone).
Going on the defensive with poor counter arguments doesn't do oneself any favours.
Folding phones may be a passing trend or perhaps they won't. However, if it were likely to be a passing trend I doubt Apple would even go there. The fact that we know Apple is also interested in folding phones indicates that they might think the idea has legs.
If it does have legs then let's watch the industry hit that nut until it cracks because we might actually see it cracked sooner than we think.
"Unfailingly, Apple is always either late or incredibly late to the party. In every single case, though, Apple is better."
That is an old paradigm. Things have changed. Apple isn't the disruptor it used to be. They were late to music streaming and after 4yrs Spotify is still #1. Their big hope is to try and bleed Spotify out of cash, as opposed to having a better service that everyone wants. 4 yrs into the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, they were the dominate player. They were late the smart speaker market and got crushed by Amazon and Google. They're late to the video streaming space and that looks like a major uphill fight. They completely missed out on web services that turned Microsoft and Amazon into behemoths.
Even on the products that they were early on, they're struggling. Siri is way behind the other assistants and Apple TV became a high priced streaming box with minimal market share.
I don't know if folding phones are the future. I do know that Apple isn't competing against the likes of RIM,Nokia, and FitBit anymore. They need to get faster at getting new products to market as well as faster at updating already existing products. The game has changed, they need to evolve with it.
Ehem, when you say crushed in speakers, you mean market share or $ income??
Income on the speaker isn't important. A speaker isn't an item that people will be purchasing every couple of years because of new features. A speaker is nothing more than a delivery system for services. In the speaker world, market share is the only thing that matters. Apple realizes this which is why they put Apple Music on Amazon and Google speakers.
Yes, Apple will survive. After all, they are primarily a software company and the hardware is merely the vehicle used to deliver that software and its functionality.
But, if predictions are correct and Apple has neither a foldable phone nor a 5G phone much less both, that hardware is going to look pretty dated this this September.
Yes, Apple will survive. But expect another sales hit as some opt for a competitor and some opt to wait for more modern hardware.
There's no odds being first;
"One way to evaluate Apple: as creators of a category’s final form."
The only reason for the piece was to ease the frustration of Apple users who may feel the grass may be starting to look greener on the other side.
I truly don't understand the people who insistently dump the word 'doomed' all over the place. No one cares.
Why are Mac users even listening to writers who supposedly say Apple is doomed? And I can't even remember when I heard it from a non Apple user anyway.
Writers are saying Apple has fallen behind in many areas of late. That innovation hasn't really led to anything substantial recently. Etc.
That is basically correct because Apple is still working to an S cycle but that is solely Apple's decision and they must live with the consequences if things don't go to plan.
If the other major players don't follow that cycle and pump out better technologies every six months it easy to see how Apple could fall behind quickly.
So if your premium iPhone ships with a 5W charger, doesn't have tri or quad cameras, has a less than stellar modem and if things like FaceID see no advances year on year etc AND prices increase, the only people responsible for that are Apple management.
The insistence of Apple on shipping a 5W charger with a premium phone allowed Huawei to flaunt its 55W Supercharge charger (which can even charge laptops) and top off its presentation with a slide saying the Mate X could charge 600% faster than an iPhone XS Max.
We don't need to look outside, point to supposed doomsayers and tell them Apple knows what it is doing and that is the right way and everyone else is wrong or making a fool of themselves.
We need to look in the other direction and start openly questioning Apple because there have been a lot of errors in the company (here I'm referencing the company as a whole and not just the iPhone).
Going on the defensive with poor counter arguments doesn't do oneself any favours.
Folding phones may be a passing trend or perhaps they won't. However, if it were likely to be a passing trend I doubt Apple would even go there. The fact that we know Apple is also interested in folding phones indicates that they might think the idea has legs.
If it does have legs then let's watch the industry hit that nut until it cracks because we might actually see it cracked sooner than we think.
You will automatically label that piece as by a 'doomsayer' but it isn't. It highlights some potential underlying problems.
While I cannot disagree with a single word of that, I also have to shrug -- because what makes Apple products great (although it isn't hyped) is the software and the ecosystem. All the hardware has to do is be good enough. (But this cycle of innovations could seriously challenge them there -- as you have pointed out).
But, conversely, this may actually be a blessing in disguise to knock them off of the pedestal of always being the latest and greatest and simply let them do what they do best (make great products that make people's live better) -- rather than chasing the technological rabbit every year.
Comments
Besides, who really cares whether Apple is successful in comparison to Google? FWIW I doubt Google is singing the blues with them making "only" a few $Billions in pure profit from app sales on Google Play because Apple makes more. LOL.
I haven't seen the latest numbers, though.
Did you see anything gimmicky?
First off: split screen. What would you prefer, dividing your iPhone screen into two small panels or having two 'full' iPhone screens sitting side by side?
Second: Is a squarish screen a problem for reading or viewing just about any non video content?
Third: watching video content is entirely possible full screen. The black bars would simply be bigger. Of course, you could simply fold the phone for that use and still have a large screen.
Four: In this design you start out with a regular screen aspect ratio and then double it via the fold. If you started out the other way around, with your preferred aspect ratio at its largest size and it then folded it down the middle, the resulting folded screen would be too narrow.
The host OS and apps will have to be adapted but that has always been the case anyway.
If it is an actual category, Apple has at least 5 years to enter the fray. With small tablets essentially stagnant over the last 3 to 4 years, that should give us some pause on how much a feature a ~7” of display space in these foldables are going to be.
I’m kind of curious how well an 8” 2.5:1 slate phone (display would be about 7.5 x 3 inches) would compete against these foldables. Text input would be better (software thumb board in portrait) while videos will get bigger on the slate. Photos will be better on foldables. Handling qualities will be better on the skinny slate. One will have scratch issues, the other will have cracking issues. Etc.
Apple have expensive products out there, but they're not shitty expensive products.
The Huawei phone literally has a bunch of crinkles in the screen when folded open.
Richard Yu has stated that the phone could ship tomorrow if it weren't for external factors that are being finalised now.
People who have actually held the phone have not made any negative comments on a 'bunch of crinkles'.
https://bgr.com/2019/02/27/huawei-mate-x-hands-on-foldable-phone-mwc-2019/
I have yet to see ANY comment from anyone who has actually seen or held the phone claiming it to be 'shitty'.
For that, we will have to wait for a final review unit.
It’s just a guess.
I cut my IT teeth working for a company that succeeded using only 2nd generation technology -- and I continue that myself on a personal level.
But, there are two additional factors at play here:
-- Usually that '2nd gen' pertains to evolutionary technology. But both foldable phones and 5G are closer to revolutionary than evolutionary. And, in the tech world, you can't fall too far behind or you get left behind quickly.
-- Apple has been positioned through expectations and media hype (not their own rhetoric) as industry leaders. Putting out "old tech" could dissapoint their customer base and do serious harm to their reputation. That is: Who would want to shell out $1,000 for the latest and greatest if it isn't perceived as the latest and greatest?
Final Form? Noooooo!
How would you even define 'final form'
Things evolve.
The only reason for the piece was to ease the frustration of Apple users who may feel the grass may be starting to look greener on the other side.
I truly don't understand the people who insistently dump the word 'doomed' all over the place. No one cares.
Why are Mac users even listening to writers who supposedly say Apple is doomed? And I can't even remember when I heard it from a non Apple user anyway.
Writers are saying Apple has fallen behind in many areas of late. That innovation hasn't really led to anything substantial recently. Etc.
That is basically correct because Apple is still working to an S cycle but that is solely Apple's decision and they must live with the consequences if things don't go to plan.
If the other major players don't follow that cycle and pump out better technologies every six months it easy to see how Apple could fall behind quickly.
So if your premium iPhone ships with a 5W charger, doesn't have tri or quad cameras, has a less than stellar modem and if things like FaceID see no advances year on year etc AND prices increase, the only people responsible for that are Apple management.
The insistence of Apple on shipping a 5W charger with a premium phone allowed Huawei to flaunt its 55W Supercharge charger (which can even charge laptops) and top off its presentation with a slide saying the Mate X could charge 600% faster than an iPhone XS Max.
We don't need to look outside, point to supposed doomsayers and tell them Apple knows what it is doing and that is the right way and everyone else is wrong or making a fool of themselves.
We need to look in the other direction and start openly questioning Apple because there have been a lot of errors in the company (here I'm referencing the company as a whole and not just the iPhone).
Going on the defensive with poor counter arguments doesn't do oneself any favours.
Folding phones may be a passing trend or perhaps they won't. However, if it were likely to be a passing trend I doubt Apple would even go there. The fact that we know Apple is also interested in folding phones indicates that they might think the idea has legs.
If it does have legs then let's watch the industry hit that nut until it cracks because we might actually see it cracked sooner than we think.
In the meantime there are other considerations:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2019/02/28/how-huaweis-foldable-matex-can-be-apples-nightmare-in-china/#1cefa1d9415b
You will automatically label that piece as by a 'doomsayer' but it isn't. It highlights some potential underlying problems.
But, conversely, this may actually be a blessing in disguise to knock them off of the pedestal of always being the latest and greatest and simply let them do what they do best (make great products that make people's live better) -- rather than chasing the technological rabbit every year.