APPLE: The Eulogy :(

[hawkeye_a]

Another one of my observations regarding Apple2016...

I think one of Steve Jobs' (And Eddie Cue's) talents was his ability to make deals. I refer specifically to his negotiating prowess when it came to getting the music industry to offer their products digitally with the debut iTunes Music Store, then with Movies and TV Shows and eventually with books.

One of the biggest (and possibly most important) deals is how he changed the telecom/carrier dynamic in the US market with the introduction of the iPhone. (Not many people realize how much that changed...over night for the benefit of consumers).

He wanted to transform the TV industry, but sadly wasn't able to. I don't think its any coincidence that, 5 years after his passing, no breakthrough has been reached.

 

[Cineplex]

I'm going to respond paragraph by paragraph...

1) do you want them to not apologize and try to fix the defects? Where's the iPad failure?

2) each product is "one good product" and a touch BAR is new - incorporating touch without grimey grease stains across the screen.

3) none of these products have been a "flop," just they weren't what you and the .05% of Apple users who happen to be on this website (and yes some products have issues).

4) False. Crowd at the store is for the new devices.

5) it's your OPINION "ko" headphone jack is bad. For me, I've had one instance in two months with the 7 where I with I had the normal jack. One. Instance. For water resistance, I'll take the loss of the jack. On top of that, are you seriously waiting on the Apple-tax Airpods with hundreds of quality Bluetooth headphone sets already on the market...?

6) doesn't matter that they are out of warranty. The program luanched is free replacement regardless of warranty... did you even read it?

7) "they" aren't responsible for battery technology advancements. Apple isn't the sole driver in battery technology, and even if they were, science hasn't discovered or innovated much in terms of energy storage for half a decade. That's Apple' fault? Also... find a better display than retina and I'll find you a liar.

8) Apple has worked on Siri, and she is much improved over the original... there's just market saturation right now with AI assistants. And they sell Beats products and have improved the sound quality and Bluetooth connections since takeover.....

9) "poorly received" Apple Music is actually one of the most popular music streaming services.

10) the App Store has grown in quality offerings, while removing thousands upon thousands of outdated, broke or scam apps.

11) iTunes is a mess.

12) the iPad Pro, for what it was designed to do, has been well-received. People trying to use it for other things, and realizing they can't, is where it fails.

13) Again, beats has been a success...

14) this always your opinion, which is actually wrong... but nice try. Over emotional, contrary to facts, and dripping in also hyperbole.

Number 14 could also apply to your post....just sayin.

 

[macTW]

Number 14 could also apply to your post....just sayin.

For some of it. Other parts are fact, like Apple isn't responsible for battery advancements or Apple Music being one of the most popular music streaming services.

 

[TMRJIJ]

This thread lost any small percentage of credibility when the OP was suspended. Why are you guys still posting here.

 

[phrehdd]

I'm trying to warn yall: if the iPhone 8 fails, it's done, it's over!

That's it!

NO HOPE, NO CHANGE, NO MAGIC FROM APPLE.

Your comment may or may not come true BUT it does present something Apple needs to take seriously. Apple has been busy in two fronts - making everything "THIN" because form over function makes for a 'well-COOKed' device and pissing off devoted customers left and right. Of the latter, quite a few Mac owners are beginning to consider or have already been looking elsewhere (PC counterparts).

Given that Apple is focused now on iPad, iPhone, ATV/iTunes Store and pet projects it would only take one really good and well selling product from another company to start to bring Apple down. Of all the things to bank on the iPhone and watch are the most targeted by competitors and thus a fickle market. MacOS Sierra and IOS 10 are underwhelming where reviews come in as they are not spectacular at any level.

While some will disagree - one of the red flags appeared long ago in the "thin" effort and that was the removal of the optical disc from Apple products. No matter what Apple says - I firmly believe it was a two fold benefit to Apple and not the consumer to do away with it: first, it allowed the use of the space for other internals and absolutely allowed for a thinner device and second, Apple wants us to get all our media from them via streaming/download. My point was also made clear not only by Apple itself becoming thinner (and thus no optical drive could fit) but that both a BB store and Apple store had employees shortly after told me back then that there were plenty of customers asking for Mac compatible external drives.

I have no hate for Apple but I certainly have no 'love' either. They are to me, just another company and as such, they don't deserve my loyalty.

RIP Aperture
RIP XServe
RIP Airport Extreme
RIP MAC PRO
RIP Mac Mini

Welcome
Photos
Mac (mini) Pro for those that like all added items on the OUTSIDE
Mac Mini castrated for those that don't mind anemic non quad small footprint email computers
IOS 10 a less than stellar performer
MacOS Sierra another excellent addition of dull and might as well been skipped until version 11.x

So Apple thank you for beating the excited kid out of me and bringing me back to reality that Apple is just another hack company making their hack dollars off of us and still exploiting those that remained devoted in spite of continually slapping them in the face and poking their eyes.

 

[ardchoille50]

This thread lost any small percentage of credibility when the OP was suspended. Why are you guys still posting here.

It can serve to allow the venting of frustrations of some who are either unwilling to change with the times or unaccustomed to proper issue resolution techniques.

 

[freepomme]

[doublepost=1481434276][/doublepost]

Your comment may or may not come true BUT it does present something Apple needs to take seriously. Apple has been busy in two fronts - making everything "THIN" because form over function makes for a 'well-COOKed' device and pissing off devoted customers left and right. Of the latter, quite a few Mac owners are beginning to consider or have already been looking elsewhere (PC counterparts).

Given that Apple is focused now on iPad, iPhone, ATV/iTunes Store and pet projects it would only take one really good and well selling product from another company to start to bring Apple down. Of all the things to bank on the iPhone and watch are the most targeted by competitors and thus a fickle market. MacOS Sierra and IOS 10 are underwhelming where reviews come in as they are not spectacular at any level.

While some will disagree - one of the red flags appeared long ago in the "thin" effort and that was the removal of the optical disc from Apple products. No matter what Apple says - I firmly believe it was a two fold benefit to Apple and not the consumer to do away with it: first, it allowed the use of the space for other internals and absolutely allowed for a thinner device and second, Apple wants us to get all our media from them via streaming/download. My point was also made clear not only by Apple itself becoming thinner (and thus no optical drive could fit) but that both a BB store and Apple store had employees shortly after told me back then that there were plenty of customers asking for Mac compatible external drives.

I have no hate for Apple but I certainly have no 'love' either. They are to me, just another company and as such, they don't deserve my loyalty.

RIP Aperture
RIP XServe
RIP Airport Extreme
RIP MAC PRO
RIP Mac Mini

Welcome
Photos for Retards
Mac (mini) Pro for those that like all added items on the OUTSIDE
Mac Mini castrated for those that don't mind anemic non quad small footprint email computers
IOS 10 a less than stellar performer
MacOS Sierra another excellent addition of dull and might as well been skipped until version 11.x

So Apple thank you for beating the excited kid out of me and bringing me back to reality that Apple is just another hack company making their hack dollars off of us and still exploiting those that remained devoted in spite of continually slapping them in the face and poking their eyes.

That's true, they have been slapped in the face time, after time, after time. I can't even defend them now. I knew they were done. I bought both the iPad and the Apple Watch and returned both of them. And I really don't like anything that Apple has released in the last part of 2016. This is not only the funeral but I'm doing the Eulogy.

 

[dogslobber]

Apple is not what it used to be. We all know that. But constant failures with follow-up apologies just can't sustain this company any longer. With the last releases of Apple products, I've just gotten tired. It's just fail after fail after fail. The iPad. The iPhone. The Macbook. All declining.

I think Tim Cook has done the best he could possibly do but he's no Steve Jobs. By that, I mean he is fine as a COO for day-to-day running of the company but there is no visionary with 10% of Steve's genius at Apple anymore. That is a tough act to follow. Indeed, you could argue that's what happened to Microsoft when Bill Gates stepped down in January 2000. It's taken Microsoft 15 years to recover from that as Bill Gates was the only other computer visionary who was equal (or better in Gates' case) to Steve. Now it's design by committee at Apple so you have lower level guys like Eddy Cue getting his opinion heard. That's bad news and why you have this Beats disaster. Beats is Apple's Nokia/LinkedIn disaster.

The problem for Apple is where do they go post-Cook? He's a safe pair of hands insofar as he won't do mega damage but he's just sailing the existing ship and not expanding the portfolio of products Apple has. Apart from rubbish like the iWatch, there's nothing he's done to improve shareholder value.

I think the biggest capitulation for Apple was when Cook announced that Apple would return a dividend. That was the point where Cook said the existing product lines was the best he could do and innovation was dead.

 

[Phoenixx]

Apple is not what it used to be. We all know that. But constant failures with follow-up apologies just can't sustain this company any longer. With the last releases of Apple products, I've just gotten tired. It's just fail after fail after fail. The iPad. The iPhone. The Macbook. All declining.

It's to the point now where we don't have one good product in their lineup. A touch bar. Wow. That's nothing new. Incorporating touch into your Macs is nothing new. Did they really expect anyone to buy it up as if it was?

I'm not even saying that Apple needs to innovate, I'm not even focusing on that right now. They just need to iron out all these bugs. That's all I'm focusing on, that's it! I've stood by and watched too many flops as it is. And I'm asking for a new CEO. I'm asking for you!

iOS 10 was a disaster!

Every single product in Apple's lineup has a fault. So when you see a crowd at Apple Stores across the globe, they're not in there buying nothing, they're in there trying to fix their devices!

Apple sat idle while their Macbook line burned. They released an iPhone with no headphone jack and can't manage to release the Airpods that were originally supposed to come out with the iPhone 7.

A chunk of their customers who own iPhone 6s's are now out of warranty and they're waiting for battery replacements on devices they TOLD Apple were faulty.

They failed to advance battery tech back since 2012. They've been holding onto retina displays for far too long.

Apple Maps never recovered.

They malingered as every other company in the game improved their AI tech while Siri squandered. They bought Beats and did nothing with it.

They released the poorly received Apple Music. And it still hasn't caught on.

The App Store has dwindled in it's offerings.

iTunes is still a mess.

The iPad Pro never got off the ground.

Beats doesn't give them any type of revenue. Beats didn't even give them a box of Captain Crunch. The Beats purchase didn't even give Apple a single crouton. It didn't give them a little crumb of cookie! Even if it's already been in their mouth!

Apple TV is irrelevant.

And last but not least, they let the iPod fall to the wayside.

This is the end of the road.

I know yall don't want to hear this but it's a fact! I just don't know where else we can go with this. They're done in 2016. They're done!

This is The Eulogy. Apple: The Company of Yesteryear.

I honestly haven't been impressed with anything Apple has released in the last 5 years. Apple is not indestructible. Wait! Look at the numbers! Everything they built is going to fade.

My suggestion here is to WRITE TO APPLE!!
If they get enough complaint letters from disgruntled users, they might actually listen. My own letter, which touches on ALL the products that I consider they have problems with (which similar to what your have said here is almost the ENTIRE PRODUCT RANGE at the moment) is over 5,000 words long, and it isn't finished yet.

 

[Mlrollin91]

[doublepost=1481434276][/doublepost]
That's true, they have been slapped in the face time, after time, after time. I can't even defend them now. I knew they were done. I bought both the iPad and the Apple Watch and returned both of them. And I really don't like anything that Apple has released in the last part of 2016. This is not only the funeral but I'm doing the Eulogy.

Wow you were unsuspended? Shocking! Hopefully you learned your lesson! Just be polite and respect other people's opinion and back up facts.

Welcome back

 

[toph2toast]

If you were never planning on buying Airpods, we can leave you out of the discussion...

These Airpods most certainly do affect Apple's bottom line. This is what the iPhone 7 was based around.

And I'm going to cite the Airpods as one of the major products that contributed to Apple's downfall.

Guess what was released today... Airpods!!! So much for getting to say "I told you so"... nice try know it all /s

 

[3N16MA]

Oops. Wrong thread.

 

[44267547]

[doublepost=1481434276][/doublepost]
That's true, they have been slapped in the face time, after time, after time. I can't even defend them now. I knew they were done. I bought both the iPad and the Apple Watch and returned both of them. And I really don't like anything that Apple has released in the last part of 2016. This is not only the funeral but I'm doing the Eulogy.

Uh oh. The Airpods released. What was it you said before "I told y'all they won't release this year." Misconception=Misdirection=False prophesied rants.

 

[macbookhair]

**** shareholders. The primary objective should be to surprise and delight customers, as doing so will result in them buying your products which in turn, will result in increased value to shareholders. This is what Apple got right in spectacular fashion when Jobs was in charge.

As soon as the bean counters get hold of any company, the products are raped to extract maximum profit in an effort to increase shareholder value. This attitude always slowly rots companies from the inside and is particularly obvious in the case of beloved brands such as Apple.

A notable example from the UK at the moment is Cadbury: A beloved chocolate maker, originally set up by a Quacker family, noted for its quality and ethical treatment of its workforce. Bought out by Kraft, the plastic cheese maker, and completely ruined through relentless cost cutting, changing of the ingredients, reduction of the size of the products and increasing of the price, excessive variations, diluted advertising and withdrawal of worker benefits.

Now finally, after about 5 years of brand destruction, sales are starting to fall and the company's loyal fan base are no longer loyal, choosing to look elsewhere for great tasting chocolate.

This is certainly all happening to Apple. The difference is that Apple have a massive cash pile and years of establishing brand equity. However, with their increasing reliance on the iPhone, their decline could be suprisingly fast, particularly as the technology world moves quickly.

 

[phrehdd]

**** shareholders. The primary objective should be to surprise and delight customers, as doing so will result in them buying your products which in turn, will result in increased value to shareholders. This is what Apple got right in spectacular fashion when Jobs was in charge.

As soon as the bean counters get hold of any company, the products are raped to extract maximum profit in an effort to increase shareholder value. This attitude always slowly rots companies from the inside and is particularly obvious in the case of beloved brands such as Apple.

A notable example from the UK at the moment is Cadbury: A beloved chocolate maker, originally set up by a Quacker family, noted for its quality and ethical treatment of its workforce. Bought out by Kraft, the plastic cheese maker, and completely ruined through relentless cost cutting, changing of the ingredients, reduction of the size of the products and increasing of the price, excessive variations, diluted advertising and withdrawal of worker benefits.

Now finally, after about 5 years of brand destruction, sales are starting to fall and the company's loyal fan base are no longer loyal, choosing to look elsewhere for great tasting chocolate.

This is certainly all happening to Apple. The difference is that Apple have a massive cash pile and years of establishing brand equity. However, with their increasing reliance on the iPhone, their decline could be suprisingly fast, particularly as the technology world moves quickly.

Some of us remember the days when cars made in the USA were the only cars to get and if you bought elsewhere, (other than a sports car) you were buying because chances are you could not afford a decent car. Sadly, Japan kept moving forward and American cars not only didn't match the later quality but actually started to really lag far far behind and yet, people remained devoted for several years more even after the proof was there that the typical American car was inferior. People felt betrayed when the likes of the major auto makers promised all sorts of things and prostituted the loyal fan base. - And here we are today and the space of history up the present in the car industry speaks for itself. - A lesson perhaps Apple might consider. Then again, perhaps Apple simply wants to get away entirely from the "computer" venue and gear its profits elsewhere.

 

[s15119]

Apple is not what it used to be. We all know that. But constant failures with follow-up apologies just can't sustain this company any longer. With the last releases of Apple products, I've just gotten tired. It's just fail after fail after fail. The iPad. The iPhone. The Macbook. All declining.

It's to the point now where we don't have one good product in their lineup. A touch bar. Wow. That's nothing new. Incorporating touch into your Macs is nothing new. Did they really expect anyone to buy it up as if it was?

I'm not even saying that Apple needs to innovate, I'm not even focusing on that right now. They just need to iron out all these bugs. That's all I'm focusing on, that's it! I've stood by and watched too many flops as it is. And I'm asking for a new CEO. I'm asking for you!

iOS 10 was a disaster!

Every single product in Apple's lineup has a fault. So when you see a crowd at Apple Stores across the globe, they're not in there buying nothing, they're in there trying to fix their devices!

Apple sat idle while their Macbook line burned. They released an iPhone with no headphone jack and can't manage to release the Airpods that were originally supposed to come out with the iPhone 7.

A chunk of their customers who own iPhone 6s's are now out of warranty and they're waiting for battery replacements on devices they TOLD Apple were faulty.

They failed to advance battery tech back since 2012. They've been holding onto retina displays for far too long.

Apple Maps never recovered.

They malingered as every other company in the game improved their AI tech while Siri squandered. They bought Beats and did nothing with it.

They released the poorly received Apple Music. And it still hasn't caught on.

The App Store has dwindled in it's offerings.

iTunes is still a mess.

The iPad Pro never got off the ground.

Beats doesn't give them any type of revenue. Beats didn't even give them a box of Captain Crunch. The Beats purchase didn't even give Apple a single crouton. It didn't give them a little crumb of cookie! Even if it's already been in their mouth!

Apple TV is irrelevant.

And last but not least, they let the iPod fall to the wayside.

This is the end of the road.

I know yall don't want to hear this but it's a fact! I just don't know where else we can go with this. They're done in 2016. They're done!

This is The Eulogy. Apple: The Company of Yesteryear.

I honestly haven't been impressed with anything Apple has released in the last 5 years. Apple is not indestructible. Wait! Look at the numbers! Everything they built is going to fade.

So much for being able to say "told you so". hahahaha

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Tim Cook has to go. Apple has not been on a prosperous path under his leadership. It is evident that Cook does not have what we want. That's been proven year after year after year.

If Scott Forstall had to go because of the Apple Maps debacle, then Tim Cook should go over the Airpods debacle! They're one and the same!

And get rid of Jony Ive for iOS 10's repeating bugs! And get rid of Phil Schiller for these new MacBooks!

We're in shambles. This is IT! WE WANT NEW LEADERSHIP!

 

[Shark5150]

Obviously this didn't age well

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Tim Cook has to go. Apple has not been on a prosperous path under his leadership. It is evident that Cook does not have what we want. That's been proven year after year after year.

You do realize, that today, Apple was designated a 900 Billion Company,Next stop, 1 Trillion dollar company.
Not on a prosperous path? WTF

 

[freepomme]

People still buy the MacBooks but has it advanced? No. People don't flock to those Macs thinking they're getting the strongest performance. They know it's underpowered.

 

[willmtaylor]

Obviously this didn't age well

Quite a polite way of saying the OP was completely and utterly wrong.

 

[LizKat]

This is one of the silliest threads I've ever popped into out of curiosity. But I can never resist having a look at another "apple death knell counter" by whatever other name it masquerades. There must be hundreds of Apple Death Knell Counter inventors by now who are distressed that their invented gadget still seems short of perfection.

That darn Apple, it just don't seem to lay down to die right, can't figure out how to fix it.

Duh, when you're counting death knells, you're never going to fix anything except maybe the bottom line of whoever makes your hearing aid after you count the tolling of the bell long enough.​

Meanwhile lovin' my SE, my recently upgraded iPad (and the pencil), not loving iTunes 12.7 enough to stop resisting the upgrade since I like having the app store under its roof... still holding onto my mid-2012 MBP "tanks" with their many ports and optical drive... love the iBooks Store... love Apple Music's array of offerings if not the app quite yet, although it continues to improve... so I'm a mixed message to Apple but my bucks are still registering into their coffers which is fine by them and by me too.

Tim Cook is doing a great job. Anyone who wants his chair, go for it. I wouldn't have any CEO's job for love or money. I feel free to criticize any product I buy but when I do that, I don't have enough hubris to figure if I'd been the CEO I would never have let that product out of my shop. Maybe that's because after decades in a workforce one does realize that nothing and no one is perfect, and that includes even.... gasp... customers, taken one at a time.

We all have opinions. Apple, as other corporations, values them for what they're worth, which is not always a lot lol. On balance Apple must be weighting those opinions properly since they're not only still in business but closing on becoming a trillion dollar enterprise. Of course we could criticize them for that too, why not. Only way to redeem the thread at all, really, since as a death knell counter it's just one more in a long line of flops.

 

[C DM]

Quite a polite way of saying the OP was completely and utterly wrong.

Yet the "I told you so" keeps on going and going nonetheless.

 

[willmtaylor]

Yet the "I told you so" keeps on going and going nonetheless.

Is there another purpose for online forums?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

People still buy the MacBooks but has it advanced? No. People don't flock to those Macs thinking they're getting the strongest performance. They know it's underpowered.

People have almost *NEVER* "flocked to those Macs thinking they're getting the strongest performance."

The introduction of the PowerPC G5 is about the only time in the past 20 years that has been true. And Intel caught up within two years of the G5's release.

Obviously once Apple moved to Intel, it became all about the software (and the software+hardware integration.)