thadgarrison

I’m curious how you’re fitting four 6900’s in the Mac Pro. I was only able to get two. Any examples?

I think Apple has once again drawn a line in the sand
making it clear they are OK with true power users having to use PC’s. Apple is just bored by and unserious about truly high end computing. I’m guessing they are OK with folks with extreme use cases moving to commodity Windows machines. 

I can’t believe Apple hasn’t made a state of the art home theater sound bar with Apple TV built in. It seems to perfectly align with their love of high quality sound and their movie/tv ambitions. And it could be a premium priced smart product sitting at the center of the living room. Someone is asleep at the wheel.

Regardless of how the technologies affect the bottom lines of each company, Apple does have catching up to do with the quality of the Siri experience compared to both Google and Amazon. Siri feels very restrictive compared to competitors, requiring more precise phrasing to get an adequate answer. The other two feel more freeform and conversational, particularly Google Now.

One reason behind this is that Google/Amazon are not afraid to use customer data to bolster AI learning, which will potentially allow them to stay ahead of Apple. Apple has painted themselves into a corner a bit by being so loud and proud about customer privacy. While their stance on privacy is obviously highly respectable, the reality is that AI software needs real world input to improve and Google/Amazon (particularly Google) are in a position that may offer exponential rather than incremental improvements.

I'd also like to point out this bad assumption in your article:
"In contrast, moving from iOS devices and the rest of Apple's platform to new hardware running a different ecosystem, just to access another voice assistant, is a much more difficult transition for users to make."

At least in the case of Alexa, nothing is further from the truth. I was given an Echo Dot as an unexpected Xmas present and found it delightfully easy to use. It has quickly replaced "Hey Siri" as my go-to for voice control of lights and common questions like weather. The fight here might not be about which technology makes the most money, but which voice service gets the most mind share first, becoming the "Google" or "Kleenex" of voice assistance.

Then they should prepare to lose the streaming wars. People that want squeaky-clean will have Disney’s streaming service. Nobody else is going to pay for bleached content. 

“If you can only differentiate from your competitors by pointing out very specific features of other companys’ software to avoid general comparisons to your own outclassed hardware, you aren’t Apple.”

I wish Apple would make better software products with Ive gone. It was insane that someone like Ive was ever given control over software design. He is an industrial designer, a completely different field. He managed in a short time to seriously damage Apple’s legacy of human-centered design, leading the firm down a path of precious prettiness over function. It really saddens me to see that nobody has been #brave enough to set it back on course. The grotesque redesign of macOS alone is filled with many little pockets of shameful UX. The wrongheaded Safari tab redesign shows a company without a strong editorial eye overseeing software design. The graphic designers now have the keys to the kingdom and this does not bode well for the usability of Apple’s products. 

Apple should not be in the content creation space. It’s not their forte, it’s not their brand and they aren’t cut out for the loose messiness required. Micromanaging content guarantees awful, anodyne output. They should stick to licensing and curating. 

Photoshop doesn’t have thumbnails to flip through. Do they mean Lightroom? Duh.

The Mac is a superior device for most of what you mentioned. The biggest mistake Apple could make with the iPad is to focus its energies on making it more like a laptop. There’s still so much they can to do to perfect the touch experience (multitasking is also high on my list) the iPad was made for. 

lkrupp said:

You start out by saying you’ll miss “mac os,” something that doesn’t even exist (it’s OS X). 

Actually, it is branded macOS now, not OS X.