The past 12 months really hasn’t been kind to Apple. The lawsuits, the steps back in their products and ecosystem as a result, one negative headline after another, struggling stocks. But on top of all that, Apple isn’t feeling exciting anymore.
Now before you start keyboard mashing to say how many times you’ve heard “can’t innovate anymore my ass” jokes and “Apple is doomed” nonsense, this isn’t about any of that. I’m not talking about boring upgrades or Apple ceasing to exist because that’s not happening. But Apple is indeed heading for a DECLINE. Steps back in its reputation. Steps back in consumer trust and satisfaction. Steps back in excitement over their announcements and news. And we’ve already been experiencing the beginning of it over the past year now. We’re seeing an Apple that’s constantly losing.
First, and most obviously, it’s losing its pull on its ecosystem. Whether you agree with the EU laws or not, Apple is heading towards an era where they won’t be an easy one stop shop for your digital lifestyle. All the arguments they make, the arguments fans made, once upon a time rang true for an Apple that had its business model iron clad. Everything was owned by them right? iOS and the App Store/Apple Pay way is just the way it should be for Apple right? If you want a more open experience just go to android right? Wrong. The EU, and soon to be other countries including the US, are dead set on making sure the closed Apple ecosystem essentially becomes another Android. Again, agree or disagree - this is the inevitable. So for the fans of the ecosystem, this is kind of sucks. Even losses such as Apple being forced to remove their blood oxygen feature from their watches was both shocking and embarrassing. And Apple’s blatant uncooperative manner in addressing these new legal mandates have in essence put them under a bad light. They’re only looking like they’re in the wrong the more they maliciously comply with everything.
Second, Apple’s…*ahem*…vision has also been lacking. Walk backs on plans like Apple Car and the lukewarm reception of Apple Vision Pro that they were banking on being their next big platforms all fell flat. The AI boom very clearly catching them off guard and making them shift focus away from AVP almost completely in favor of Apple Intelligence, whose features are nice but nothing that’s really exciting or groundbreaking compared to the competition, has also been off putting to watch. We’re just hoping it makes Siri work as Apple promised it would in 2011. Other losses such as the push back from companies against using CarPlay 2 and just CarPlay in general have been frustrating and almost sad to see when so many of us have been loving the feature. And I’m not even going to get into how Apple has been dropping the ball in their TV business… I’m sure everyone here knows where they’re stumbling in that arena….
I can keep going. But it all adds up to an atmosphere surrounding Apple that isn’t exciting. An Apple that loses regularly in the public eye. If anything, I check news Apple these days more worried about what unprecedented event for the company will be happening next rather than hopeful excitement for a new product or service announcement. It makes Apple look like it’s stumbling hard and losing the ground it worked hard to gain the past decade. But more so it seems to be losing trust, not just with its (potential) business partners and developers, but in essence consumers as well. It’s been a frustrating year to be an Apple fan to say the least.
Now before you start keyboard mashing to say how many times you’ve heard “can’t innovate anymore my ass” jokes and “Apple is doomed” nonsense, this isn’t about any of that. I’m not talking about boring upgrades or Apple ceasing to exist because that’s not happening. But Apple is indeed heading for a DECLINE. Steps back in its reputation. Steps back in consumer trust and satisfaction. Steps back in excitement over their announcements and news. And we’ve already been experiencing the beginning of it over the past year now. We’re seeing an Apple that’s constantly losing.
First, and most obviously, it’s losing its pull on its ecosystem. Whether you agree with the EU laws or not, Apple is heading towards an era where they won’t be an easy one stop shop for your digital lifestyle. All the arguments they make, the arguments fans made, once upon a time rang true for an Apple that had its business model iron clad. Everything was owned by them right? iOS and the App Store/Apple Pay way is just the way it should be for Apple right? If you want a more open experience just go to android right? Wrong. The EU, and soon to be other countries including the US, are dead set on making sure the closed Apple ecosystem essentially becomes another Android. Again, agree or disagree - this is the inevitable. So for the fans of the ecosystem, this is kind of sucks. Even losses such as Apple being forced to remove their blood oxygen feature from their watches was both shocking and embarrassing. And Apple’s blatant uncooperative manner in addressing these new legal mandates have in essence put them under a bad light. They’re only looking like they’re in the wrong the more they maliciously comply with everything.
Second, Apple’s…*ahem*…vision has also been lacking. Walk backs on plans like Apple Car and the lukewarm reception of Apple Vision Pro that they were banking on being their next big platforms all fell flat. The AI boom very clearly catching them off guard and making them shift focus away from AVP almost completely in favor of Apple Intelligence, whose features are nice but nothing that’s really exciting or groundbreaking compared to the competition, has also been off putting to watch. We’re just hoping it makes Siri work as Apple promised it would in 2011. Other losses such as the push back from companies against using CarPlay 2 and just CarPlay in general have been frustrating and almost sad to see when so many of us have been loving the feature. And I’m not even going to get into how Apple has been dropping the ball in their TV business… I’m sure everyone here knows where they’re stumbling in that arena….
I can keep going. But it all adds up to an atmosphere surrounding Apple that isn’t exciting. An Apple that loses regularly in the public eye. If anything, I check news Apple these days more worried about what unprecedented event for the company will be happening next rather than hopeful excitement for a new product or service announcement. It makes Apple look like it’s stumbling hard and losing the ground it worked hard to gain the past decade. But more so it seems to be losing trust, not just with its (potential) business partners and developers, but in essence consumers as well. It’s been a frustrating year to be an Apple fan to say the least.
