photography guy

bluefire1 said:

So Apple isn't doomed after all? 

Oh no. They're still doomed, just as they have been every day for the past 40 years.

Back in the 90s, when Apple embarked on their licensing scheme, they were floundering, desperate to do anything to save the company that was, at its worst, $1 billion in the red. Licensing the OS, so they could expand their presence seemed like one way, but it backfired as they were then competing with other companies who could build cheaper machines and just slap a MacOS on to run them. In the meantime, they were also competing with Microsoft, BeOS, Linux, and other OSes. It was a mess. But, now that they have money to burn, it might be worth looking into a tightly-controlled licensing scheme again. One that binds the MacOS to the guts, and let others build the shell and put their own label on it.
License the Apple brand to the enterprise and STEM markets, so that they have to buy the processor, and board as well as the MacOS. Then companies could build blades, towers, etc. that run, and could even be supported by Apple, with Apple not having to deal with a million different configurations or "hackintoshes" that never quite work as promised. And anyone who wants to go the "hackintosh" route can do so, but they void the licensing agreement and subsequent support resources from Apple.
At the same time, Apple would still have their "walled garden" with regard to their consumer products (iOS, iMac, Mini, etc.)
This way, Apple could expand their presence in the high-end computing/enterprise market (i.e., stealing Intel's tagline, and changing it to "Apple Inside"), while still sustaining and continuing to grow their brand in the consumer market, where they're most profitable.

My personal opinion is that Apple needs to resurrect their pro-oriented culture: bring back 1U rack servers and RAID systems, but price them competitively with others. By which I don't mean see what the other guys are doing and then do that, but don't give them ridiculously high price schemes. Start servers out at $999 for a base model and work the configurations up from there.

Bring back and take seriously, apps like Aperture and Final Cut Pro. Make FCP robust enough to handle feature film level editing.

Let businesses create their own secure, corporate clouds, using Apple technology (software and hardware).

I know that these won't be profitable for Apple, but with hundreds of billions in cash, they can afford to do it. And the technologies they develop for enterprise and pro industries can trickle down to their consumer products, which they make their money on.

jSnively said:

photography guy said:

I'd like to suggest that you have a "Sign In/Register" button on the home page, and that when a user signs in, their badge appears at the top of every page, not just in forums or discussions. It's a minor thing from a technical standpoint, but it's a useful feature. And it's better for AI from a branding/profile perspective, because, if a user is not signed in or has not registered, they have a gentle, unobtrusive reminder on every page.

It's not a bad suggestion, it overlaps with some "plans" we have for 2017. Stay tuned : )

Cool!

I almost feel bad for Samsung.

Almost.