Is Apple losing it’s edge or has the media gone over it?

Has Apple’s pace slowed?

• I did some research and I’m not sure it has
  • Apple I and Apple II (1976 & 1977)
  • Macintosh (1984)
  • Newton (1987) ??
  • Power PC (1994)
  • iMac (1998)
  • iPod (2001)
  • iPhone (2007)
  • iPad (2010)
• By my accounts that shows that Apple release a innovative/disruptive product about every 3 to 7 years.
• They seem to still be on pace if they release an iWatch or Apple Television (or both) in the next 3 years.
• I think to innovate it takes time
  • Apple has products in development and testing for years. they seem to be thinking ahead while most others have been content to “see what Apple’s does” and then follow.
  • I could be wrong, but it seems like competitors started rushing out “smart TV” once Apple had announced the Apple TV and rumors began about an Apple television.
  • The iWatch, with the exception of the Pebble, seem like a similar thing.
  • Now it feels like someone is announcing their new smart watch every week.
• The trouble is most of these rushed products feel half baked and that really isn’t surprising.
• Cook says, “The only thing we’ll never do is make a crappy product.”

Apple losing it’s “edge”

• Woz said in a Bloomberg interview that he feels Apple might be losing it’s “cool guy” image.
  • Also, said Apple has so far been able to keep it’s power to determine the course of consumer electronics even while facing growing competition
  • Also said he thinks Apple should open up the iTunes ecosystem and let Android and Windows phone owners use the iTunes media-management software.
• Cries for Apple to compete on price
  • This seems to be an old and log standing argument.
  • Why doesn’t Apple sell a sub $500 PC? Why isn’t there a cheaper iPod, iPhone, iPad?
  • Cook addressed this at the Goldman Conference
    • On the lower cost Mac, he said they looked into making a product at that price point that met Apple’s standards and couldn’t so they didn’t do it. So they made an iPad.
    • The driving force is not price point and never will be.
• The marketshare debate rages on
  • This idea that Apple has “limited” their opportunities by ignoring low priced market segments
  • Cook seems to not see the limits since the markets we are mostly talking about, smartphones and tablets, are segments with massive customer growth.
  • The smaller percentage that Apple targets has the same exponential growth
  • Plus, Apple has extended to the more price conscious segments by offering prior models at lower prices and that seems to be working
    • The iPhone 4S was the 2nd best selling smartphone handset worldwide last quarter. Apple shipped 17.4 million units, about 8% of total global smartphone shipments for the quarter. (Strategy Analytics)

Who are these companies that are out innovating Apple?

• Google Glass and Android
• Microsoft Surface
  • I think the idea of a single tablet/desktop OS is interesting
  • At the same time Microsoft seems to have failed to prove the concept in it’s first execution
• I personally feel with the very rare exception, and I actually have a hard time naming a recent one, that most competitors are releasing “me too” products.

Why it all doesn’t matter

• Not all customers are equal
• There is a good reason why Apple’s marketshare doesn’t correlate to it’s profit share. It’s culture, employees, products, and customers are “different” from it’s competitors.
• And not “different” elitist, just a different market and different customer.
• Apple knows that it can stay with it’s core competencies and always be successful.
• They don’t need to crush the competitors in the lower end space and as a matter of fact are better off letting them thrive there. Apple knows there is enough market, and more importantly, profit to go around.
• On innovation, when in the past 37 years has Apple failed to innovate?
  • OK, that time in the 90’s but we all know why that happened and I see no part of Apple’s current executive dream team that would give rise to a repeat of those dark days.

Where I think Apple IS behind

• I think the place to be critical of Apple is not where they are perceived by outsiders of failing to take advantage of some missed market opportunity, but to be critical and concerned about where they may be failing their core customers or core ideals.
• Cloud Services
  • As Dave Sparks pointed out in his piece, iCloud has yet to realize most, if any, of it’s potential.
  • Document integration is arguably it’s weakest link
• Languishing Apple Apps
  • iLife, iWork, Pro Apps
  • All seem to be on really slow cycles
  • Is Apple just spread too thin.
• Pro Market
  • The fact that the Mac Pro hasn’t been really upgraded since 2010 is egregious
  • I feel either get on with it or cut bait. I think Cook see the consumer market as the future so why string Pros along?
• Developer support
  • App Store pricing that is unsustainable
  • Draconian restrictions caused by Sandboxing

References

• Apple Must Keep Setting Standards or Lose Its Cool, Wozniak Says, Bloomberg

• Don’t worry about Apple’s business, worry about its products, Macworld

• This is Tim: Cook at the 2013 Goldman Sachs conference, Macworld

• Does The Rise Of Android’s Market Share Mean The End of Apple’s Profits?, Tech.pinions

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