My point is it doesn't take decades of bad decisions to imperil a large, well-established company. It can happen in just a few years even though the ultimate extent of the damage isn't realized until much later.
Exactly! This is what a lot of people are missing the point on. Just because Apple is sitting on so much cash doesn't mean it's immune to external and internal forces. Look at Tim Cook. The guy is literally almost 59 years old because sooner or later, he has to step down or retire within 5 years or less. In other words, Apple has between NOW and within 3-5 years to get a new CEO replacement. The same can be said for the rest of the executive team. Look at Angela Arendts. She just left Apple at the age of 58 and who knows what she plans on doing. I think she's pretty much retired now and might not return to the corporate industry.
The point I'm making is that once Schiller, Cook, Cue, Williams, Craig Federghi and Ive are gone, Apple is going to have major issues as a lot of them are close to retirement age. Most of the executives are nearly about the same age with each other except for Craig who is 49 now, apparently the youngest it seems. And he's literally two years older than me! Within 10 years from now, the old Apple Leadership will be already gone and whoever sits in those chairs are going to make decisions that may differ vastly from today's, either for better or for worse.
One poster here mentioned about how the Apple leadership might not be so 'hungry' anymore due to complacency and I think that's a very likely scenario. I grew up with the company in the 80s and have witnessed their missteps in the 1990s during my years at art school ( Majored in Illustration. I studied with Graphic Design students on the same floor. Industrial Design was in another building at the basement level ) prior to Jobs' return. When Jobs returned, Apple became laser focused with discipline and got products out on time ( for the most part ) compared to what we see now.
When Microsoft promoted Nadella to CEO, it was the smartest thing they've ever done while Cook still sat at his position. The moment Microsoft promoted him should have been when Apple made that change up right there. People don't seem to realize that it's almost impossible for Apple to put the 2007 lightning in the bottle again for 2019 and forward. You cannot simply replicate the 2007 iPhone revolution, or even the iPad from 2010.
The answer is no. Why? Apple has a lot more money in the bank and has lots of other things making money for the company. The environment has changed significantly and things are just way different from the 90's.
All this talk about money in the bank, high stocks, and large company size is an illusion. It's a distraction to what's really going on under the hood at Apple Park. Is the environment different? Yes but not for the better for Apple. Back then, they got lucky because of Jobs' vision, discipline, sense of timing, and balls of steel between 1998-2011.
Apple was so tiny back in 1990, as was the rest of the PC industry. It was kind of like the automobile industry prior to the model T.
Today Apple, and the industry, are all grown up. Apple and Microsoft today are kind of like GM and Ford in 1960 — big, powerful, and nearly invulnerable. It would take decades of consecutive bad decisions to place these companies in any real peril.
It may take decades after some bad decisions before the peril becomes obvious, but if you remember history you will know that Ford, GM, and Chrysler made major missteps in a very short period of time that ultimately doomed them. They completely missed the need for efficient, reliable vehicles and the competitiveness in the manufacturing labor market. In the space of less than a decade between 1970 and 1980 they became uncompetitive and had their tails handed to them by the Japanese imports. Yes, they had enough cash and the financial market willing to give them money to withstand the onslaught for a while, but the damage was done. They never recovered and ultimately GM and Chrysler both went bankrupt and Ford barely skated by.
My point is it doesn't take decades of bad decisions to imperil a large, well-established company. It can happen in just a few years even though the ultimate extent of the damage isn't realized until much later.
Agree to a degree, but I really think American automakers should have ignored the compact car market and focused on making the large sedan better. Which they eventually did, but by that time Toyota had the Avalon. Meanwhile, BMW & Mercedes (who USA should have been competing against instead of Japan) picked up the slack in the sedan department for a decade or so. Instead of attempting to become something they weren't, they should have just tried to become better versions of themselves. They wound up being late to the game twice. Made some nice trucks tho...
A more important question is, will mock turtlenecks make a comeback? Will Apple reveal it's logo is actually a secret icon for the a: illuminati. b: the deep web. c: the lost apple from the garden of eden which use to sit on the same shelf as the holy grail.
It is always worthwhile to point out hubris. However i question the "Golden Age" premise. During that time period Apple was an outlier, a niche player with good ideas and product plans but no marketshare to speak of.
In school (specifically the creative arts & design), the teachers (the good ones anyway) usually push the best students to do even better. The mediocre students generally don’t get driven as hard or minor details called out as being in need of correction.
it simply comes with being the best. If you regularly dish out so-so work it’s hard to know where to start critiquing, and student gets a b or b-. For the student that regularly cranks out amazing work, it becomes easier to call out specific flaws, and will get an a or even a b+, even though the work compared to the b student is obviously far superior. It’s tough being the best.
... But the real problem is macOS / OS X. Yes, the UNIX engine is kind of new, but the concepts are all 1984. It is the 737 Max of computing. It doesn't help us navigate knowledge.
As in “the 737 Max doesn't make us fly (not for long anyway)”?
Generally agree with the points the article makes... But, I think there are some things it missed.
One of the problem with '90s Apple, is that Apple was actually doing several of the things the industry pundits, experts, media, etc. and typical tech business minds would think to do. They were being run more like every other tech business. The media didn't jump all over them until that strategy started to fail.
Sure, Apple now has enough cash and success that such moves are much less likely to get them in trouble than in the past. But, I see some of those same trends happening today. The articles' argument seems to be... yeah, but this time Apple is making money with all the silly 'moonshots'. And, I suppose they are, but that doesn't mean they aren't equally silly and distracting from things that should be primary.
I was listening to an interview today of Guy Kawasaki on Jordan Harbinger's podcast. Guy wrapped up the interview with a few lessons we can learn from Steve's life. The one that caught my attention, was that Steve had taste. He was passionate about well-designed things.
I agree, and that's the big difference between technically advanced products, and truly great products. For example, take Samsung's recent folding phone fiasco. Having a screen that can fold is some incredible technology, for sure. It's also silly and fraught with problems. Or, there are a ton of Windows PCs out there that are technically pretty competent machines. But, no taste.
And, that also highlights part of the problem with Apple since Steve's death. They seem a bit more taste-challenged since then. They have great talent and technology, for sure, but products are starting to drift off into areas that IMO, Steve would have nixed or made them re-do.
When you combine a lack of taste, with typical tech business 'wisdom' I think that is a recipe for problems. However, having hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars in the bank can cover a heck of a lot of them. I've worked in side a Fortune 100 (nearly Fortune 50). I've seen how royally an operation of that magnitude can mess up and still chugging along. Apple is now at that point, kind of like a freight train. They could mess up a LOT and still keep chugging along (hence, why the 'doomed' prognosis is a bit nuts).
But, that doesn't mean Apple will be what they once were, just that they aren't going out of business any time soon. I hope they will be what they once were and more. In some ways they are. In other ways, I think they are worse than the '90s. What I'd rally like to see is Apple with their current resources AND the taste/vision they once had. Maybe that is now impossible, but I think they could be doing better than they are... and that makes me kind of sad.
A much more balanced and nuanced article than some in the more recent past. But why the constant obsession with how the media treats Apple? When it comes to making a statement about what they want, consumers have spoken. The rest - the media, Wall Street analysts etc are just noise. Enjoy the success Apple has (and will continue) to have - it is like my dog who always wants to go out for a walk but then is constantly looking back at the others dogs in the park and can’t relax and enjoy the time outside.
Reminds me of Donald Trump supporters (including my mother) who are constantly obsessed with how he’s being covered by the media. To me it shows a real insecurity. If DED thinks everything with Apple is great and the company is heads and shoulders above its competition why the constant obsession with how the company is covered by the press? If a product is good it’s good no matter what the media says about it.
As has been explained to you many times, it’s called a column. This is his beat for his editorial column. Newspapers everywhere have opinion columnists, and they often have a recurring topic.
A much more balanced and nuanced article than some in the more recent past. But why the constant obsession with how the media treats Apple? When it comes to making a statement about what they want, consumers have spoken. The rest - the media, Wall Street analysts etc are just noise. Enjoy the success Apple has (and will continue) to have - it is like my dog who always wants to go out for a walk but then is constantly looking back at the others dogs in the park and can’t relax and enjoy the time outside.
Reminds me of Donald Trump supporters (including my mother) who are constantly obsessed with how he’s being covered by the media. To me it shows a real insecurity. If DED thinks everything with Apple is great and the company is heads and shoulders above its competition why the constant obsession with how the company is covered by the press? If a product is good it’s good no matter what the media says about it.
As has been explained to you many times, it’s called a column. This is his beat for his editorial column. Newspapers everywhere have opinion columnists, and they often have a recurring topic.
Isn't that how obsessions begin?
rogifan_new has a point, however 'recurring' the topic, and independent of editorial opinion.
The 'narrative' doesn't even exist and this has been explained many times too. Apple coverage in tech media is a pot pourri of opinion - just as it should be. You can pick out certain individuals who have an 'anti' Apple slant but the same can be said of many with an anti Samsung, Google slant too. I will go one step further and point out that the general press has been favourable to Apple for years, often perpetuating false information.
Apple is a completely different company. As long as they religiously adhere to their excellent principles - across all products and services - they are going to continue to be a company to envy and mimic.
Different? Yes and that's because of the current leadership and Cook as CEO. As for being a company to envy and mimic, then explain the comparison between Disney + and Apple +. There's nothing envious about the new Apple TV and Disney has no reason to mimic them since they have a huge, HUGE library of IPs ( Intellectual Property ). And if you think Apple is going to overtake Disney within 5 years with Cook in charge, you're dreaming because that will not happen overnight as this would take at least 15 years or more, possibly 25-30 if they still have the money to carry the IPs. By then, the leadership will be completely different with new plans with Cook's agenda completely scratched out.
The difference between Disney and Apple in terms of media streaming is that the former knows what they're doing and the latter doesn't. And that's just ONE out of many flaws on the current Apple.
My point is it doesn't take decades of bad decisions to imperil a large, well-established company. It can happen in just a few years even though the ultimate extent of the damage isn't realized until much later.
Exactly! This is what a lot of people are missing the point on. Just because Apple is sitting on so much cash doesn't mean it's immune to external and internal forces. Look at Tim Cook. The guy is literally almost 59 years old because sooner or later, he has to step down or retire within 5 years or less. In other words, Apple has between NOW and within 3-5 years to get a new CEO replacement. The same can be said for the rest of the executive team. Look at Angela Arendts. She just left Apple at the age of 58 and who knows what she plans on doing. I think she's pretty much retired now and might not return to the corporate industry.
The point I'm making is that once Schiller, Cook, Cue, Williams, Craig Federghi and Ive are gone, Apple is going to have major issues as a lot of them are close to retirement age... You cannot simply replicate the 2007 iPhone revolution, or even the iPad from 2010.
I clicked Like on your post because you made some excellent points that I agree with. But at the same time, more than $100 billion in cash really does make Apple immune to all external and internal forces UNTIL most of that cash runs dry, and that may be a long time spanning many years. I also disagree that Apple would have major issues if Ive and team departed, seeing that Ive and team have been making stupid design decisions over the past few years, like the butterfly keyboard abomination and the choice to gut the MacBook Pro of pro features that Mac-loving pros rely on. Word has it that Ive and team are making a new Mac Pro which will be so expensive MOST PEOPLE WHO LOVE MACS could never afford it, which makes zero sense for a huge company like Apple who prefers to sell products in high volume. Powerful people at Apple making stupid decisions need to go, even if those very people are responsible for the success Apple enjoys today.
Some decry the Apple after Steve left as "failing," but that Apple created some amazing things like the SE/30 and the first Mac notebooks which, while insanely priced, were in many ways insanely great. The SE/30 especially would never have happened under Steve's "no expansion slot" philosophy, yet it is the ultimate compact Mac BECAUSE of that expandability. In other words, there is a risk that Apple could fail under new leadership (i.e., under well-groomed MBA's targeting Wall Street investors above all else), but there is an equal possibility it may thrive and "replicate the 2007 iPhone revolution" because new blood (especially "hippy non-conformist Apple-tech-loving creative types") tends to Think Different. That's serious food for though for The Rest of Us. It's only doom and gloom at a company when genuine creativity and innovation dies and/or the product line loses touch with the practical needs and demands of its most loyal consumers.
Apple is a completely different company. As long as they religiously adhere to their excellent principles - across all products and services - they are going to continue to be a company to envy and mimic.
With all the bugs and broken functionality I encounter on a daily basis in iOS, with the failure to maintain quality product (and a clear desire to gut features and increase pricing) since 2013, no; Apple are not a “different company” anymore.
That Apple has been replaced with a company that feigns excellence while caring only about shareholders and Wall Street performance. It rides on the coattails of its own prior excellence because image usually lags behind actuality. People mostly defend Apple on the “merits” of Apple’s money, not the merits of their products. Whatever made Apple unique is now only present in arrogant exceptionalism, not in practice.
The hands-on influence for product excellence is not present in the leadership and the skills and expertise seem to have left the company (or been driven out by monomaniacal department heads who’ve been advanced to their level of incompetence, or have lost interest and are skating along to maintain their income). The products show it.
Today’s Apple is not the Apple we had prior to 2013.
My point is it doesn't take decades of bad decisions to imperil a large, well-established company. It can happen in just a few years even though the ultimate extent of the damage isn't realized until much later.
Exactly! This is what a lot of people are missing the point on. Just because Apple is sitting on so much cash doesn't mean it's immune to external and internal forces. Look at Tim Cook. The guy is literally almost 59 years old because sooner or later, he has to step down or retire within 5 years or less. In other words, Apple has between NOW and within 3-5 years to get a new CEO replacement. The same can be said for the rest of the executive team. Look at Angela Arendts. She just left Apple at the age of 58 and who knows what she plans on doing. I think she's pretty much retired now and might not return to the corporate industry.
The point I'm making is that once Schiller, Cook, Cue, Williams, Craig Federghi and Ive are gone, Apple is going to have major issues as a lot of them are close to retirement age... You cannot simply replicate the 2007 iPhone revolution, or even the iPad from 2010.
I clicked Like on your post because you made some excellent points that I agree with. But at the same time, more than $100 billion in cash really does make Apple immune to all external and internal forces UNTIL most of that cash runs dry, and that may be a long time spanning many years. I also disagree that Apple would have major issues if Ive and team departed, seeing that Ive and team have been making stupid design decisions over the past few years, like the butterfly keyboard abomination and the choice to gut the MacBook Pro of pro features that Mac-loving pros rely on. Word has it that Ive and team are making a new Mac Pro which will be so expensive MOST PEOPLE WHO LOVE MACS could never afford it, which makes zero sense for a huge company like Apple who prefers to sell products in high volume. Powerful people at Apple making stupid decisions need to go, even if those very people are responsible for the success Apple enjoys today.
Some decry the Apple after Steve left as "failing," but that Apple created some amazing things like the SE/30 and the first Mac notebooks which, while insanely priced, were in many ways insanely great. The SE/30 especially would never have happened under Steve's "no expansion slot" philosophy, yet it is the ultimate compact Mac BECAUSE of that expandability. In other words, there is a risk that Apple could fail under new leadership (i.e., under well-groomed MBA's targeting Wall Street investors above all else), but there is an equal possibility it may thrive and "replicate the 2007 iPhone revolution" because new blood (especially "hippy non-conformist Apple-tech-loving creative types") tends to Think Different. That's serious food for though for The Rest of Us. It's only doom and gloom at a company when genuine creativity and innovation dies and/or the product line loses touch with the practical needs and demands of its most loyal consumers.
Surely it will take many years for the cash to bleed out completely, but on the other hand, I don't see how well it's being utilized these days as unless this is intended for emergency uses. I still think Apple isn't immune because the political landscape and change affects it greatly especially the economy from outside the United States. I believe that the larger the company is, the harder it is to maneuver it, and the more people you have on staff, the more likely quality control will slip. Jobs went to almost every department to inspect his products' development to ensure quality and I understand this is why many people feared him for that. It would be like having a drill sergeant come in to inspect your gear and if he sees a whiff of a mistake, you get smoked hard ( disclaimer: I've never served but my late parents and uncles did in the 1940s-50s, so I kind of understand that mentality ). Whereas, Cook is more of a lassez faire type with a " I trust you all so I'll go ahead and take a flight to Sweden for a conference talk " kind of attitude ( my impression ). I may be old school, but Cook's attitude is what rubs me off the wrong way.
Everything starts at the top and it all trickles down. And I think the sense of complacency or laziness began after Jobs' passing and Cook changed that culture of fear into something else akin to 'kumbaya'.
As far as the the new Mac Pro, I'm very leery about it. I'm a creative professional which I work independently as a digital artist/illustrator ( sometimes graphic design ) that rely on my old school 2010 iMac, Wacom tablet, Microsoft keyboard ( very comfy ), and Kensington trackball mouse along with the iPad Pro 12.9 original model. These two machines work together like a team so I can build out projects in between. On the Mac, I use Adobe CS5, Clip Studio Paint, Sketchbook Pro and a few other apps and because I prefer the desktop, the screen is easier on my eyes due to my astigmatism, and also I can see everything to actual 100% scale especially when creating page layouts. On iPad Pro, not quite even though it's close. Before all that, I used a 2002 Power Mac G4 tower ( mirror drive ) which kicked ass along with the 15 inch Titanium G4 PowerBook laptop. These two machines are still here with me as my legacy back ups along with the 19 inch LCD matte monitor, just in case even though they're stored away. I even have the original iPad stored away until then. I still prefer the Wacom device because the stylus does not need recharging at all and one can go all day using the tablet without worry via USB, plus it's got an eraser on top of it. I even have a Belkin Nostromo keypad which only works for the G4, not iMac unfortunately, which was a godsend for custom shortcuts while drawing on the tablet. This was before Razer bought it out and redesigned it into the new Chroma or Tartarus models which look sweet.
The thing is that Apple's desktop blunders these days really disturbs me because my G4 tower was SO easy to upgrade. EASY. All I had to do was pop open the side and add in any RAM I want. Nowadays? The iMac Pro is extortionately expensive along with the 'trashcan' Mac Pro which is ridiculous to the point that it's insulting. That's why the lack of practical industrial design is an issue and Apple needs to go back to that. And because Cook's lack of design taste contributed to that. Jobs had better taste, however, as one poster astutely pointed out. My concern is their new Mac Pro might end up being more expensive and they might even force users to use modular units as upgrade parts over time. And because I plan on upgrading to a new computer by the end of the year, I'm still unsure if getting another Mac is practical because I want to get away from the AIO ( all in one ) design and get a larger external monitor ( probably 27-32 inches ) for better screen estate to move palettes and images around, replace the old Nostromo with a Razer keypad for shortcuts and replace the Wacom with a screen model this time around, and so on.
There's a chance I might switch to a DELL tower (maybe HP) to save money and go for practicality, allowing me the ability to upgrade over time. Because of the advent of virtual reality, I'm very intriqued by the Tilt Paint app for Vive or Oculus and would like to experiment with this new medium as I'm hearing a lot of artists are getting into that. The only concern is the compatibility issue between the VR units and the Macs ( the PC has more flexibility I believe due to the wide variety of NVIDIA chips ).
Also the problem from Apple lies in, from what I heard, that the Industrial Design team has more power over the Engineering department. This, to me, is wrong. Jobs was able to keep Jony Ive in check but not Cook. And I think if Jony and a few others left, sure, Apple will have some challenges along the way in transition until it finds a 'voice' again.
In regards to the Mac SE/30, yes I remember it well and the high price tag it held especially with the other computers as well. An old friend of mine was lucky to own the Mac Classic ( revised 1984 version made in 1991, I think? ). A beautiful machine. The keyboards were a mechanical godsend to my fingers. My cousin had a Apple II at his old house back in the day and we used to play the games on it every Christmas. It was awesome. Although, in the mid to late 80s, I had a Commodore 128 ( Vic 20 before that ). I didn't get a Mac until the early 1990s because I had to use Adobe Illustrator at home while studying at art school. And then I started getting into PowerPC later on with Photoshop and a scanner. It got the job done. And then got the Power Mac G3 ( gone now which was a used machine and died out ) and then G4. Nowadays, I scan with my old school iPhone 7 ( any smartphone would do the trick regardless ) if I have to, even I still have the old SE here because I freaking love the flat edge design and comfortable size which is my back up and camera for reference purposes.
I think it's going to take Apple about a decade to get that '2007' lightning in the bottle sensation again but only with the new generation of new leadership. And if Apple wants to get there again, it needs some serious house cleaning starting at the top as soon as possible. The problem is that the current leadership is aging fast close to retirement and until they step the hell down soon or be flushed out, the company will likely be out of touch from reality for quite a while.
I absolutely loved your post. I gave you a Like. Thank you for sharing. Indeed, I always love to hear from veteran Mac users in this forum. We tend to add balance to those who blindly worship everything that comes out of Cupertino.
I myself got started with Apple when my father brought home a Macintosh 128k and ImageWriter I printer in 1984 when I was 13. He was offered either a cash bonus or "the new machine from Apple" as a bonus, and thankfully he took the latter. Despite having spent a lot on Apple hardware through the years, I never could have afforded $4500+ (in 1980's Dollars) for an SE/30. Thankfully we can buy them quite affordably today. I have two, actually.
You and I are on the same page when it comes to a personnel shakeup at Apple. It's really the only way to get Apple to Think Different once again.
I absolutely loved your post. I gave you a Like. Thank you for sharing. Indeed, I always love to hear from veteran Mac users in this forum. We tend to add balance to those who blindly worship everything that comes out of Cupertino.
I myself got started with Apple when my father brought home a Macintosh 128k and ImageWriter I printer in 1984 when I was 13. He was offered either a cash bonus or "the new machine from Apple" as a bonus, and thankfully he took the latter. Despite having spent a lot on Apple hardware through the years, I never could have afforded $4500+ (in 1980's Dollars) for an SE/30. Thankfully we can buy them quite affordably today. I have two, actually.
You and I are on the same page when it comes to a personnel shakeup at Apple. It's really the only way to get Apple to Think Different once again.
Oh the ImageWriter is a classic. I think I had that from the early 1990s which was black and white until I switched up to an HP inkjet. I came very close to getting a Mac Classic ( color version ) until I went with the Quadra with a CRT monitor. Right now, I'm holding onto my G4 tower, Powerbook G4 and the old iBook (yes I still have that) as backup legacies. I even have the original iPod with clickwheel which I think is a masterpiece in industrial design and got the job done. I played the hell out of it for years until I got the iPod Touch.
Again, I think Apple needs a massive shakeup sooner than later because if that doesn't happen, the company will get stale and possibly lose direction even further. Especially that's the case now because Apple just lost their fourth veteran industrial designer which just hit the news recently who is now going to work for AirBnB/Backyard. I think the guy wanted to move on to focus on his new venture that he helped launch, but I also suspect he must've seen some of the new future plans for Apple and probably didn't like what he saw, deciding to get the hell out.
Apple cash is impressive, but it still got danger hanging around if they are not careful during the platform change, such as 5G. Apple used to be late in the market but introduce something that far better than the early adoptor products. Hopefully, this time they can still pull off a rabbit (darker the better - color scheme, as long as not beige ;-).
The story is repeating. It's impossible and unaffordable for me to replace every Apple devices every 2-3 years. It's also a blind-faith to put premium prices buying lagged-behind technologies just because of "security", "safety" and "privacy". The turning point came a few days ago.
Unfortunately, that might be the choice... and I guess I'd pick the side of security, safety, and privacy, at least as long as that remains a valid marketing point from Apple (after that, heaven help us!). I just can't go with Google and get turned into their product, no matter how much more advanced their 'voice in the box' system is. I just don't need that kind of thing badly enough, I guess.
macxpress said: They're just whining because Apple isn't Apple Computer anymore and releasing a new Mac every other week with pointless specs just to have something to release...you know, like "back in the good ole days".
I don't mind if Apple does more things than just computers. I do mind if they let their computer business languish and think the future is getting Oprah on stage and new emoji stickers. And, I don't think anyone is arguing for what you say we were. We just wanted updates of the kind that were available and beneficial, and within a reasonable timeframe. Fortunately, Apple has updated most of their stuff now... so I guess we can all just pretend the past didn't happen?
dysamoria said: Apple executives clearly don’t use their own iOS much, because there are still, after more than six major revisions, major usability bugs ... Not using this stuff, not *knowing* it’s so broken, is the only explanation I can accept, because the other explanation (that developers are explicitly barred from fixing existing bugs unless some executive needs it done for PR reasons) is so much worse in terms of leadership.
Yeah, I don't get it either. Or, the people that are now there came from the PC world, and just think this is all normal? It doesn't make much sense. Tim supposedly uses an iPad to get his work done. Maybe they've created an Apple-oversight-web-app-panel-thingy that he just sits and looks at between meetings?
jeffythequick said: ... Apple simply is looking to its customers as a cash cow, and quite frankly, I'm tired of it. I can afford Apple Products, and they can afford losing me as a customer, individually, but as a group, when the die-hards leave, all you have left is the fickle masses.
And that's a bad place to be. Just ask the employees of Sears, Montgomery Ward, Kodak, Pan Am, Tower Records, Blockbuster, Pets.com, Polaroid, Lehman Brothers, and Radio Shack.
You're never too big to fail. I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does, I hope they go out of business and aren't saved, so they become a lesson to other companies.
Well said, and you covered my feelings and experience, too. Apple's service, though, is still better than many other companies. It just isn't nearly as good as it once was. But, if things keep sliding, it won't be better eventually. And, as much as I'd hate to see them go, I also agree that if they are going to become just another consumer blah brand, good riddance and it would make a great business lesson.
It's possible that AR glasses might be the next big thing, but I won't be part of it as I don't particularly want to walk around wearing glasses everywhere.
If AR is the next big thing, I might just try to move as far away from 'civilization' as possible (not that I'm not thinking about that already some days). Idiocracy was supposed to be a comedy, not prophecy!
knowitall said: Nicely put. Microsoft is chugging along and even the most valuable company but nothing it was before.
That's the thing... how far will Apple fall before it becomes 'nothing it was before' to the extent that people won't pay the premium prices anymore? I guess they have the privacy angle going right now, but I sure hope that isn't the whole differentiator. At least for now, I have my 2018 mini, iPad, and iPhone SE, and assuming the OSs don't degrade too much further, I'm set for a few years.
Comments
The point I'm making is that once Schiller, Cook, Cue, Williams, Craig Federghi and Ive are gone, Apple is going to have major issues as a lot of them are close to retirement age. Most of the executives are nearly about the same age with each other except for Craig who is 49 now, apparently the youngest it seems. And he's literally two years older than me! Within 10 years from now, the old Apple Leadership will be already gone and whoever sits in those chairs are going to make decisions that may differ vastly from today's, either for better or for worse.
One poster here mentioned about how the Apple leadership might not be so 'hungry' anymore due to complacency and I think that's a very likely scenario. I grew up with the company in the 80s and have witnessed their missteps in the 1990s during my years at art school ( Majored in Illustration. I studied with Graphic Design students on the same floor. Industrial Design was in another building at the basement level ) prior to Jobs' return. When Jobs returned, Apple became laser focused with discipline and got products out on time ( for the most part ) compared to what we see now.
When Microsoft promoted Nadella to CEO, it was the smartest thing they've ever done while Cook still sat at his position. The moment Microsoft promoted him should have been when Apple made that change up right there. People don't seem to realize that it's almost impossible for Apple to put the 2007 lightning in the bottle again for 2019 and forward. You cannot simply replicate the 2007 iPhone revolution, or even the iPad from 2010.
Now? Not so much from what I'm seeing.
Agree to a degree, but I really think American automakers should have ignored the compact car market and focused on making the large sedan better. Which they eventually did, but by that time Toyota had the Avalon. Meanwhile, BMW & Mercedes (who USA should have been competing against instead of Japan) picked up the slack in the sedan department for a decade or so. Instead of attempting to become something they weren't, they should have just tried to become better versions of themselves. They wound up being late to the game twice. Made some nice trucks tho...
rogifan_new has a point, however 'recurring' the topic, and independent of editorial opinion.
The 'narrative' doesn't even exist and this has been explained many times too. Apple coverage in tech media is a pot pourri of opinion - just as it should be. You can pick out certain individuals who have an 'anti' Apple slant but the same can be said of many with an anti Samsung, Google slant too. I will go one step further and point out that the general press has been favourable to Apple for years, often perpetuating false information.
The difference between Disney and Apple in terms of media streaming is that the former knows what they're doing and the latter doesn't. And that's just ONE out of many flaws on the current Apple.
Some decry the Apple after Steve left as "failing," but that Apple created some amazing things like the SE/30 and the first Mac notebooks which, while insanely priced, were in many ways insanely great. The SE/30 especially would never have happened under Steve's "no expansion slot" philosophy, yet it is the ultimate compact Mac BECAUSE of that expandability. In other words, there is a risk that Apple could fail under new leadership (i.e., under well-groomed MBA's targeting Wall Street investors above all else), but there is an equal possibility it may thrive and "replicate the 2007 iPhone revolution" because new blood (especially "hippy non-conformist Apple-tech-loving creative types") tends to Think Different. That's serious food for though for The Rest of Us. It's only doom and gloom at a company when genuine creativity and innovation dies and/or the product line loses touch with the practical needs and demands of its most loyal consumers.
That Apple has been replaced with a company that feigns excellence while caring only about shareholders and Wall Street performance. It rides on the coattails of its own prior excellence because image usually lags behind actuality. People mostly defend Apple on the “merits” of Apple’s money, not the merits of their products. Whatever made Apple unique is now only present in arrogant exceptionalism, not in practice.
The hands-on influence for product excellence is not present in the leadership and the skills and expertise seem to have left the company (or been driven out by monomaniacal department heads who’ve been advanced to their level of incompetence, or have lost interest and are skating along to maintain their income). The products show it.
Today’s Apple is not the Apple we had prior to 2013.
Everything starts at the top and it all trickles down. And I think the sense of complacency or laziness began after Jobs' passing and Cook changed that culture of fear into something else akin to 'kumbaya'.
As far as the the new Mac Pro, I'm very leery about it. I'm a creative professional which I work independently as a digital artist/illustrator ( sometimes graphic design ) that rely on my old school 2010 iMac, Wacom tablet, Microsoft keyboard ( very comfy ), and Kensington trackball mouse along with the iPad Pro 12.9 original model. These two machines work together like a team so I can build out projects in between. On the Mac, I use Adobe CS5, Clip Studio Paint, Sketchbook Pro and a few other apps and because I prefer the desktop, the screen is easier on my eyes due to my astigmatism, and also I can see everything to actual 100% scale especially when creating page layouts. On iPad Pro, not quite even though it's close. Before all that, I used a 2002 Power Mac G4 tower ( mirror drive ) which kicked ass along with the 15 inch Titanium G4 PowerBook laptop. These two machines are still here with me as my legacy back ups along with the 19 inch LCD matte monitor, just in case even though they're stored away. I even have the original iPad stored away until then. I still prefer the Wacom device because the stylus does not need recharging at all and one can go all day using the tablet without worry via USB, plus it's got an eraser on top of it. I even have a Belkin Nostromo keypad which only works for the G4, not iMac unfortunately, which was a godsend for custom shortcuts while drawing on the tablet. This was before Razer bought it out and redesigned it into the new Chroma or Tartarus models which look sweet.
The thing is that Apple's desktop blunders these days really disturbs me because my G4 tower was SO easy to upgrade. EASY. All I had to do was pop open the side and add in any RAM I want. Nowadays? The iMac Pro is extortionately expensive along with the 'trashcan' Mac Pro which is ridiculous to the point that it's insulting. That's why the lack of practical industrial design is an issue and Apple needs to go back to that. And because Cook's lack of design taste contributed to that. Jobs had better taste, however, as one poster astutely pointed out. My concern is their new Mac Pro might end up being more expensive and they might even force users to use modular units as upgrade parts over time. And because I plan on upgrading to a new computer by the end of the year, I'm still unsure if getting another Mac is practical because I want to get away from the AIO ( all in one ) design and get a larger external monitor ( probably 27-32 inches ) for better screen estate to move palettes and images around, replace the old Nostromo with a Razer keypad for shortcuts and replace the Wacom with a screen model this time around, and so on.
There's a chance I might switch to a DELL tower (maybe HP) to save money and go for practicality, allowing me the ability to upgrade over time. Because of the advent of virtual reality, I'm very intriqued by the Tilt Paint app for Vive or Oculus and would like to experiment with this new medium as I'm hearing a lot of artists are getting into that. The only concern is the compatibility issue between the VR units and the Macs ( the PC has more flexibility I believe due to the wide variety of NVIDIA chips ).
Also the problem from Apple lies in, from what I heard, that the Industrial Design team has more power over the Engineering department. This, to me, is wrong. Jobs was able to keep Jony Ive in check but not Cook. And I think if Jony and a few others left, sure, Apple will have some challenges along the way in transition until it finds a 'voice' again.
In regards to the Mac SE/30, yes I remember it well and the high price tag it held especially with the other computers as well. An old friend of mine was lucky to own the Mac Classic ( revised 1984 version made in 1991, I think? ). A beautiful machine. The keyboards were a mechanical godsend to my fingers. My cousin had a Apple II at his old house back in the day and we used to play the games on it every Christmas. It was awesome. Although, in the mid to late 80s, I had a Commodore 128 ( Vic 20 before that ). I didn't get a Mac until the early 1990s because I had to use Adobe Illustrator at home while studying at art school. And then I started getting into PowerPC later on with Photoshop and a scanner. It got the job done. And then got the Power Mac G3 ( gone now which was a used machine and died out ) and then G4. Nowadays, I scan with my old school iPhone 7 ( any smartphone would do the trick regardless ) if I have to, even I still have the old SE here because I freaking love the flat edge design and comfortable size which is my back up and camera for reference purposes.
I think it's going to take Apple about a decade to get that '2007' lightning in the bottle sensation again but only with the new generation of new leadership. And if Apple wants to get there again, it needs some serious house cleaning starting at the top as soon as possible. The problem is that the current leadership is aging fast close to retirement and until they step the hell down soon or be flushed out, the company will likely be out of touch from reality for quite a while.
I absolutely loved your post. I gave you a Like. Thank you for sharing. Indeed, I always love to hear from veteran Mac users in this forum. We tend to add balance to those who blindly worship everything that comes out of Cupertino.
I myself got started with Apple when my father brought home a Macintosh 128k and ImageWriter I printer in 1984 when I was 13. He was offered either a cash bonus or "the new machine from Apple" as a bonus, and thankfully he took the latter. Despite having spent a lot on Apple hardware through the years, I never could have afforded $4500+ (in 1980's Dollars) for an SE/30. Thankfully we can buy them quite affordably today. I have two, actually.
You and I are on the same page when it comes to a personnel shakeup at Apple. It's really the only way to get Apple to Think Different once again.
Again, I think Apple needs a massive shakeup sooner than later because if that doesn't happen, the company will get stale and possibly lose direction even further. Especially that's the case now because Apple just lost their fourth veteran industrial designer which just hit the news recently who is now going to work for AirBnB/Backyard. I think the guy wanted to move on to focus on his new venture that he helped launch, but I also suspect he must've seen some of the new future plans for Apple and probably didn't like what he saw, deciding to get the hell out.
I don't mind if Apple does more things than just computers. I do mind if they let their computer business languish and think the future is getting Oprah on stage and new emoji stickers.
And, I don't think anyone is arguing for what you say we were. We just wanted updates of the kind that were available and beneficial, and within a reasonable timeframe. Fortunately, Apple has updated most of their stuff now... so I guess we can all just pretend the past didn't happen?
Yeah, I don't get it either. Or, the people that are now there came from the PC world, and just think this is all normal? It doesn't make much sense. Tim supposedly uses an iPad to get his work done. Maybe they've created an Apple-oversight-web-app-panel-thingy that he just sits and looks at between meetings?
Well said, and you covered my feelings and experience, too. Apple's service, though, is still better than many other companies. It just isn't nearly as good as it once was. But, if things keep sliding, it won't be better eventually. And, as much as I'd hate to see them go, I also agree that if they are going to become just another consumer blah brand, good riddance and it would make a great business lesson.
If AR is the next big thing, I might just try to move as far away from 'civilization' as possible (not that I'm not thinking about that already some days). Idiocracy was supposed to be a comedy, not prophecy!
That's the thing... how far will Apple fall before it becomes 'nothing it was before' to the extent that people won't pay the premium prices anymore? I guess they have the privacy angle going right now, but I sure hope that isn't the whole differentiator. At least for now, I have my 2018 mini, iPad, and iPhone SE, and assuming the OSs don't degrade too much further, I'm set for a few years.