macarena

Apple has already indicated that they want to move everything on iCloud in house. And knowing Apple, they will not be buying servers by the millions from anyone else. It makes sense for them to make their own servers. And obviously offer them to customers as well, to lower costs even more. Apple will launch micro-servers - with A9x based processors with many CPU and GPU cores, lots of RAM, and huge flash. All in a very small package, even smaller than the Apple TV. With a small built in battery for power backup for an hour. And obviously, with a "Server Store", so you can download any server software you want. Either from Apple, or from third parties. All software that will be easily integrated with a new "Server Control Centre" - that can even be accessed and configured remotely. Obviously consuming seriously low power - below 10 watts, powered over USB, and with the USB slot doubling up as the wired Network interface. For sale at $199. Available for pre-order immediately after the announcement. That will be the "big" idea.

It is one thing to hack the 5c. And a totally different problem to hack the 5s and later.

If you remember the announcement of TouchID, Apple clearly mentioned in the Keynote - that the Fingerprint was stored in a special place in the A7 processor. Not just the Fingerprint, even the decryption keys are stored in the processor.

Forget Cellebrite, forget the FBI - even Apple cannot unlock a phone that is protected with the approach Apple uses. Even if entire OS is cloned and replaced, even if the entire flash memory is cloned, still the phone cannot be unlocked. If you try 10 times, the processor simply deletes the key from its internal store - and that's it. All data is lost forever.

So this exploit that the FBI used, is only going to work for 5c and older phones - not for anything that was sold in the last couple of years.

Guys, just get yourself a decent sense of humour.

you actually believe Apple's video production included a shot from the side, to clearly show the absence of a bump as just a coincidence? When that angle has zero relevance to the topic of the video?

This is not an accident. This is Apple *intentionally* showing something like this, knowing fully well that it would generate this sort of hysteria on the Internet! This is their way of having a laugh at us :-)

We are less than a week from Easter - so you could call this an egg!

Apple's ecosystem is gradually becoming a big contributor to its profits. Apple Pay is just getting started off, and in 3 years could be contributing $10B to  Apple profits. Same with Apple music, Apple TV, App Store, etc.

These will only get bigger with time.

At some point, Apple will be happier making less money from hardware, if it means making more money from the ecosystem. And more importantly, broadbasing the ecosystem.

Don't write off this possibility - it is just a question of time. And this ecosystem will be the ultimate guarantor of Apple's continued success.

I am happy that the market is "punishing" Apple. Apple got too successful, and didn't have any competition. They need this rap on the knuckles, and probably need a lot more pain before they are forced to change their ways.

- Doing customer unfriendly measures like Soldering RAM into Mac Mini, and intentionally crippling that product are a sign of arrogance. They had a good design that worked well in the previous version - but they couldnt rip off the customer on upgrades - so they decide to solder the RAM in!!
- Not launching TouchID on Mac OS even 2 years after it was launched on iPhone, sign of complacence.
- Pricing strategies that charge $100 more for additional flash, etc., that too when Apple gets the cheapest prices on the market, are a sign of greed.
- Policies where they operate as "Apple knows best, Apple will decide what you can or cannot do", are not the sign of a long term sustainable company.
- ridiculous pricing for accessories like cables, coupled with poor quality of iPhone Lightning cables, and insistence on Certified Accessories will only result in people hating the company more!
- Things like "you are holding it wrong" don't work forever. Things like compromising battery life for thin-ness and lower weight beyond a point don't work. The damn device has to last through an entire day! 

In general, I wonder if people have wondered why Apple generates so much hatred in the general population. Even people who buy Apple products feel hatred to a large extent - especially when you feel ripped off about things like $19 Lightning cables, etc. In fact, I have heard many a time, people wishing that Apple has a massive product recall or some such disaster, so that they get into serious losses.

This is a company that *intentionally* operates on a model saying f**k you to its customers. Or to put it differently, if you don't want to hand over huge chunks of money to us, then f**k you. The polar opposite of a company like Amazon, where Customer Satisfaction is the beginning and end of the story. Apple has even higher customer satisfaction ratings than Amazon - but paradoxically generates even more hatred.

And mind you - I am not even referring to the hatred of people who dont buy Apple products. I am referring only to the hatred and ill will that Apple supporters and customers feel to the company.

Unless Apple dramatically alters its ways to be a more customer centric company, it will continue to face this issue. Irrespective of product successes and sales, people will always bet that Apple wont be able to sustain its game, and it is just one failure away from doom. This is the biggest issue with the Steve Jobs' legacy, and the sooner Apple can get over this, the better for it.

Don't kid yourself that this is about Services, or about China. The market is not stupid. The market knows Apple Pay, Apple Music, iTunes, etc, are massive Content and Services plays, with potential to create huge businesses around them in the future. Maybe the Apple Ecosystem was limited 5 years back, and just getting into shape 2 years back. But Apple is definitely on the upswing in terms of Ecosystem now. For all the hiccups in China, Apple is still going strong there, and is such a small part of the market that they can grow. This is about something else altogether.

This is about the DNA of the company.