slprescott

I generally fully support Apple, but this late delivery passed two important milestones:
  1. Not available when the iPhone 7 went on sale     (... and buyers were looking for Bluetooth earbuds)
  2. Not available for the vast majority of Christmas shopping season     (... which = much of the gift shopping for the full year)

That's bad.  Someone screwed up.  This product had significant financial potential, and much of that probably disappeared as customer bought alternate solutions.

"...and engineers re-assigned to other projects"

Reassign them to the AirPods division.  It needs help, apparently.

Overhaul the iOS News app.

After two years riding the AAPL rollercoaster, I liquidated my holdings this week.  Of course I still love and use Apple products every day, and I'm having fun developing iOS apps.  But I've decided -- for ME -- it's much more enjoyable to be an Apple customer (and follower) than an AAPL investor.  Just my opinion, of course.

This notion that Apple is being unfair by blocking the banks completely flies in the face of standard practice:

- Would McDonalds sell food from Burger King?
- Would Starbucks sell coffee from Dunkin' Donuts?

Providers are allowed to bundle unique services.  That's what "differentiation" is all about, and it's what separates winners from losers.

If consumers don't like the "limited" offering from Apple, that's totally fine.  They are welcome to spend their money on an alternate solution (Android, etc.).  It's the perfect example of Free Market: put your offering out there and let consumers vote with their pocketbooks.