When was the last time someone cared about Apple?
It seems like Jony Ive is on his way out. The Apple Watch is doing ok. AirPods sound promising, but where’s the Apple hype machine? And do headphones have game-changer potential, representing a step forward for humanity? Perhaps in the promise of a better ecosystem…but in and of themselves no. I also get the sense Apple wasn’t ready for the level of demand/interest we’ve seen for AirPods.
To have this low a level of anticipation for the Apple product pipeline is unusual.
Much of this is based on what I’m seeing in the media. Historically Apple has played the press like a fiddle, but right now there are so many other stories ahead of Apple.
Perhaps I’m speaking from personal experience, but have you been reading as much about what’s in the Apple product pipeline as you used to? Are you as jazzed about it as you once were?
This post on Above Avalon asks all right questions…and there are A LOT of them.
It feels like Apple isn’t leading the way anymore in how technology can be used to change the way we live.
Apple’s services business is strong, but Apple isn’t a services company — it’s a product company (“north star”). Services are “the only major segment of the company’s business that grew last quarter” (Recode).
They’ll never compete with the likes of Google and Amazon in services. It’s about the interaction between the hardware and the software and the experience that creates.
All the being said, I predict that 2017 brings big change to Apple. Perhaps even the end of Tim Cook’s reign.
I truly hope that Apple is not becoming just another company. But I fear that’s where we’re headed.
