Extremely Disappointed at Tim Cook’s leadership

[kazmac]

Not really. They are still innovating, some of it is good. Some of it, not so much.

I wish they would address ongoing QC. After almost four years, Apple should be addressing the touch irresponsiveness issues in iPads. They aren’t though, which boggles my mind given the roads they are going down now (Mini-LED), etc.

 

[SuperMatt]

Not really. They are still innovating, some of it is good. Some of it, not so much.

I wish they would address ongoing QC. After almost four years, Apple should be addressing the touch irresponsiveness issues in iPads. They aren’t though, which boggles my mind given the roads they are going down now (Mini-LED), etc.

I’ve been a daily iPad user for a couple years now. I haven’t noticed any touch responsiveness issues. Is this affecting a certain percentage of iPads only?

 

[Gasu E.]

The mess in any product lineup (iPhone, Mac, iPad) and even branding (X, XR, XS, SE, SE2, 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 12 mini, mini max uber pro whatever) is typical HP or Dell (but oPtIoNs...), not Apple.

Do Apple's product lines confuse you, personally? Do you have trouble making a purchase decision because there are too many offerings?

 

[Gasu E.]

If you think about it, basically every kinda new product under Tim failed. The only exception is the Apple Watch, which is sadly not a standalone product and could or should be radically better.

Airpods have been a failure? I can only think of four new classes of products Apple has introduced under Tim Cook; HomePod has been a disappointment, but Airpods and Apple Watch have been wins, and AirTags are too new. I suppose you could count the trashcan Mac Pro as a bomb, but pretty clearly those key design decisions were made under Tim's predecessor.

 

[KennyJr]

19 days before this this comment was published (4/20/21) I'd have gone along with the joke. But this is absurd.

 

[Bodhitree]

I’ve been a daily iPad user for a couple years now. I haven’t noticed any touch responsiveness issues. Is this affecting a certain percentage of iPads only?

It seems that with a percentage of iPad Pro’s there is an issue with parts of the screen becoming desensitised. I’ve heard it rumoured that it is common enough that they screen and discard incoming units for it from the refurb pile. Haven’t come across it personally though, so who knows how many cases there truly are.

I think with innovation and product leadership there are only a few cases where you can make products that truly lead the industry. Apple is doing great at the moment in wearables, and the transition to ARM is a significant technical effort that leads the industry. I don’t think you can say that Tim Cook is doing badly.

 

[Allyance]

As a stock holder I am not disappointed!

I am amazed by all pundits that think they know more about running a large corporation than Tim Cook. 2.207 Market Cap!

 

[I7guy]

Airpods have been a failure? I can only think of four new classes of products Apple has introduced under Tim Cook; HomePod has been a disappointment, but Airpods and Apple Watch have been wins, and AirTags are too new. I suppose you could count the trashcan Mac Pro as a bomb, but pretty clearly those key design decisions were made under Tim's predecessor.

In that vein, Steve Jobs only introduced two new classes or products. But I think Apple pay and Apple card are missing from the above.

 

[BKDad]

I guess my big complaint with Apple's direction has to do with their apparent need to regularly throw out new products of every kind and new versions of the software on a routine basis. You can predict pretty much when new iPhones will come out. Some for everything else, including the software.

This does a couple negative things in my view as a customer.

One is that there is the constant churn of features, often back and forth as previous posters have described. That kinda sucks.

Another is that products, and I'm thinking software here mostly, get released based on some arbitrary date that's driven by seasonal sales, rather then by when it's truly, really ready. So, we get bugs. And, worse at times. Yeah, I get that Apple feels they need new software and software features to keep people's attention. They also need new versions to accommodate new hardware. But, there must be a better way for this to work. It could also be that 99% of the customers plain don't care about this, and they have ways to work around the rest. Dunno.

For everybody who wants disruptive products and innovations, this continual creep kills that pretty much. Real innovation takes more than a year. If the product cycle is a year, well, there you are.

But, the thing is, Apple obviously knows their market. The numbers prove that. People are fine with new tail fins, I mean new package shapes and colors, every year or so. More emoji, too. At this point, a lot of what Apple does is centered around fashion and cosmetics. Of the products, I mean.

Certainly, there's actual innovation in there, too, but it's hard to have a revolution every year. At some point, you hit a technology wall.

Besides, some people hate disruption. See previous comments.

Some people live for disruption. See previous comments.

Apple seems to want to provide a hybrid.

One more thing...

From what I've read and from people who knew the man, Steve Jobs may not have been as technically innovative as people give him credit for. He certainly was very good at knowing what was good and what was bad when it was presented to him. I think having a decider in that sense may be missing now. He also was very good at pushing people. Whether that was good or bad is a matter of perspective.

 

[I7guy]

I guess my big complaint with Apple's direction has to do with their apparent need to regularly throw out new products of every kind and new versions of the software on a routine basis. You can predict pretty much when new iPhones will come out. Some for everything else, including the software.

This does a couple negative things in my view as a customer.

One is that there is the constant churn of features, often back and forth as previous posters have described. That kinda sucks.

Another is that products, and I'm thinking software here mostly, get released based on some arbitrary date that's driven by seasonal sales, rather then by when it's truly, really ready. So, we get bugs. And, worse at times. Yeah, I get that Apple feels they need new software and software features to keep people's attention. They also need new versions to accommodate new hardware. But, there must be a better way for this to work. It could also be that 99% of the customers plain don't care about this, and they have ways to work around the rest. Dunno.

For everybody who wants disruptive products and innovations, this continual creep kills that pretty much. Real innovation takes more than a year. If the product cycle is a year, well, there you are.

But, the thing is, Apple obviously knows their market. The numbers prove that. People are fine with new tail fins, I mean new package shapes and colors, every year or so. More emoji, too. At this point, a lot of what Apple does is centered around fashion and cosmetics. Of the products, I mean.

Certainly, there's actual innovation in there, too, but it's hard to have a revolution every year. At some point, you hit a technology wall.

Besides, some people hate disruption. See previous comments.

Some people live for disruption. See previous comments.

Apple seems to want to provide a hybrid.

One more thing...

From what I've read and from people who knew the man, Steve Jobs may not have been as technically innovative as people give him credit for. He certainly was very good at knowing what was good and what was bad when it was presented to him. I think having a decider in that sense may be missing now. He also was very good at pushing people. Whether that was good or bad is a matter of perspective.

As a general statement, no matter what Apple does, there will be a pro and a con attached to it. Apple will never please all 100% of it's customers, 100% of time. What Apple doesn't want to do is anger 100% of it's customers 100% of the time.

 

[kazmac]

I’ve been a daily iPad user for a couple years now. I haven’t noticed any touch responsiveness issues. Is this affecting a certain percentage of iPads only?

That’s good. As far as percentages, I do not know the numbers, but there is at least one thread here that goes back years about screens freezing, touch irresponsiveness and crashes. Our 7th gen iPads are a mess and my 2020 Air exhibits it too. This is the main reason why I cancelled my iPad Pro order (along with mom not wanting my 2020 Air.)

 

[Bustermd]

If you don't like Apple products or the direction that Apple is taking with their products... don't buy them.

Its really as simple as that. You have no special relationship with the Apple brand, nor any brand like Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, etc. other than in your own mind. Your only "power" is to vote with your dollars and frankly, just because you voted doesn't mean you win the election either.

The idea of being personally disappointed in an executive of a massive corporation is patently absurd.

 

[philosopherdog]

I think cook was a stroke of parting genius Jobs left us with. He's proven to be a great choice to date.

 

[MBAir2010]

if anyone cares the good ol macbook late 2010 air is getting a fresh install of Unbuntu since Mojave is sluggish all of the sudden, Mountain lion is de-progressing by the month and iCloud is very fickle on these devices.
if apple does not accept the downgrade in stores space, that account is getting deleted.
2021 is not taking kindly to my apple products!

 

[Andrea Filippini]

So were you happy with the Intel based Macs of the past ? where we got NON STOP posts about "but I can build the exact same machine for much less !!".

Apple are now competing vs the biggest silicon companies in the world , that's amazing , breaking up the duoply of Intel& AMD is great for consumers.

You also don't understand what is the difference between LPDDR and DDR , the soldered memory has nothing to do with Apple , its just the way LPDDR memory is being sold , but I wouldn't expect you to have any technical understanding , as you call the CPU weak , while it replaced the I3 and I5 quad core of the world , beating them to a pulp.

You need to go read Anandtech in-depth review of the M1 , if you come back and say its "weak" , then nothing we can do will help you.

I have never called the CPU weak.
I called the machine weak because isn't future-proof.
You need to go read my previously replies.

You think 150 TBW is going to be used by your general consumer in 5 years? This iMac is not made for professionals. Just like the 21.5" before it, this iMac is for everyone BUT the professionals. The 27" has always been for the professionals. So before you continue about "TBW, MTBF, etc" understand that the normal user will never write that much to the drive.

An estimated SSD with 150 TBW is poor even for general consumer.
This is my activity monitor on macOS Catalina after a 15-hour session using Chrome with multiple taps, Spotify, WhatsApp Desktop, Telegram, Mail, VLC and Office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook).
According to my apps I have basically a general consumer use.
With this rhythm your 150 TBW storage will be ****ed in a couple of years and maybe less due to high swap usage on M1 Mac with macOS Big Sur.
Even my suppliers sell renewed M1 Mac mini 8GB/256GB with 15-27% discount because they aren't long lasting and their previous owners want to get rid of them.

 

[ed.]

you should really return that piece of crap!

 

[Andrea Filippini]

lol don't buy it! VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET! the complaining is unbearable.

Absolutely. I won't buy that crap.

Steve's iMac was also intended to be non upgradable. The new iMac is the closest we've came yet to the original vision. In the bubble of a forum, people do talk about upgrading RAM and the like but that isn't what the average computer buyer even considers, most people buy a whole new PC when their computer is slow from a "virus".

The new iMac will serve any consumer for the next 3-5 years as indented and they'll never care how much or how little RAM it has. The original iMac was the same, a nice colourful machine that just plugs in like a toaster and works.

I'm highly doubtful that the new iMac 8GB/256GB will serve any consumer for the next 3-5 years.
Memory pressure for 8 GB is already a reality and 256 GB with 150 TBW I'm sorry but it can't last more than a couple of year, even for a basic user without professional apps. Its literally the demand from the OS that is huge regardless the high data demanded from the user (movie, music, photo, torrent etc.)
Surely the 16GB/512GB, the 16GB/1TB and the 16GB/2TB can last very long and can satisfied general consumer but not the entry-level version.

 

[Andrea Filippini]

you should really return that piece of crap!

What piece of crap? Your M1 Mac?

* Make record profits year over year
* Move the desktop to ARM and shake up the industry so much that Microsoft accelerates Windows ARM development
* Dominate US market share for years with the #1 selling smartphone
* "APPLE DOESN'T INNOVATE I MISS STEVE WAHHHH"

The MacRumors forums folks

Innovation isn't the same as invention. I'm sorry.
And yes, I miss Steve.

 

[ruka.snow]

Absolutely. I won't buy that crap.

I'm highly doubtful that the new iMac 8GB/256GB will serve any consumer for the next 3-5 years.
Memory pressure for 8 GB is already a reality and 256 GB with 150 TBW I'm sorry but it can't last more than a couple of year, even for a basic user without professional apps. Its literally the demand from the OS that is huge regardless the high data demanded from the user (movie, music, photo, torrent etc.)
Surely the 16GB/512GB, the 16GB/1TB and the 16GB/2TB can last very long and can satisfied general consumer but not the entry-level version.

You vastly over estimate the machine most consumers need and even use. 4GB RAM is still quite common and able to do everything the user wants. 8GB has been working find for consumer machines for years with no signs that more is needed. Time will tell if the drives have a issue, but if you seriously think 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage isn't enough for a consumer machine you are projecting your own use cases onto people that rarely even have more than a few tabs open in the browser and maybe Word or Excel.

 

[SuperMatt]

Absolutely. I won't buy that crap.

I'm highly doubtful that the new iMac 8GB/256GB will serve any consumer for the next 3-5 years.
Memory pressure for 8 GB is already a reality and 256 GB with 150 TBW I'm sorry but it can't last more than a couple of year, even for a basic user without professional apps. Its literally the demand from the OS that is huge regardless the high data demanded from the user (movie, music, photo, torrent etc.)
Surely the 16GB/512GB, the 16GB/1TB and the 16GB/2TB can last very long and can satisfied general consumer but not the entry-level version.

This sounds like a 20-year old echo of the (proven wrong) criticisms about the original iMac. It also completely misses the boat on the new processor. Most people that get the entry-level model of this will be well served by it for many years to come. Well past 5 years from now, people will be happily using the entry-level iMac for the common tasks used by most consumers. Let’s just say this post will not age well.

 

[Andrea Filippini]

You vastly over estimate the machine most consumers need and even use. 4GB RAM is still quite common and able to do everything the user wants. 8GB has been working find for consumer machines for years with no signs that more is needed. Time will tell if the drives have a issue, but if you seriously think 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage isn't enough for a consumer machine you are projecting your own use cases onto people that rarely even have more than a few tabs open in the browser and maybe Word or Excel.

I have no idea how you can use a computer with only 4 GB of RAM.
With two tabs of Chrome opened, Word and Spotify I'm already over 4 GB.
Here the screen of my activity monitor with 9 tabs of Chrome opened, WhatsApp Desktop and Spotify.
Nowadays web browser especially Chrome consume a lot of RAM.

This sounds like a 20-year old echo of the (proven wrong) criticisms about the original iMac. It also completely misses the boat on the new processor. Most people that get the entry-level model of this will be well served by it for many years to come. Well past 5 years from now, people will be happily using the entry-level iMac for the common tasks used by most consumers. Let’s just say this post will not age well.

You're right but in these iMac the storage is soldered so bye bye storage bye bye machine.
I'm not discussing about performance of M1 chip but the longevity of these machine.

 

[SuperMatt]

I have no idea how you can use a computer with only 4 GB of RAM.
With two tabs of Chrome opened, Word and Spotify I'm already over 4 GB.
Here the screen of my activity monitor with 9 tabs of Chrome opened, WhatsApp Desktop and Spotify.
Nowadays web browser especially Chrome consume a lot of RAM.

View attachment 1772027

You're right but in these iMac the storage is soldered so bye bye storage bye bye machine.
I'm not discussing about performance of M1 chip but the longevity of these machine.

And your evidence that SSDs in Macs die within 3-5 years is? None that I’m aware of. Plenty of Intel macs with SSD and 8GB of RAM or less sold in the past 10 years… many still going strong on the original SSD. This is FUD. At this point, if you don’t want storage soldered to the motherboard, Macs are not even a choice for you. Singling out this particular iMac doesn’t really make sense from that perspective.

 

[Andrea Filippini]

You vastly over estimate the machine most consumers need and even use. 4GB RAM is still quite common and able to do everything the user wants. 8GB has been working find for consumer machines for years with no signs that more is needed. Time will tell if the drives have a issue, but if you seriously think 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage isn't enough for a consumer machine you are projecting your own use cases onto people that rarely even have more than a few tabs open in the browser and maybe Word or Excel.

I have used the apps you listened: few Chrome tabs opened (4 tabs), Word (business organization notes), Excel (business finance plan), Outlook (for mail), WhatsApp Desktop and Spotify.
Basically an office usage for an average consumer.
Want to know about memory usage? See above.

8,80 GB of memory usage.
I have absolutely no idea how you can run these apps on a computer with only 4 GB of RAM.

 

[ruka.snow]

I have no idea how you can use a computer with only 4 GB of RAM.

I don’t ether. But 4GB is one of the most common configurations of computer with something daft like a Pentium or i3 at best. Any mac sold today is vastly more powerful than your average computer intended at the same home and student market and won’t even hold these users back in the typical games like the Sims 4 and World of Warcraft.
Also typically people don’t install a third party browser so removing Chrome already drops the RAM usage way down. If anything will be RAM intense here it’s Teams.

But saying that, my fiancé is doing all that and more and using the more memory intensive Firefox and even some art programs and he has never hit a issue with 8GB on his i3 Mac mini. The only complaint I ever got from him was that it didn’t run Minecraft well, a easy problem to fix with a M1 machine that run Minecraft well.

 

[ruka.snow]

I have used the apps you listened: few Chrome tabs opened (4 tabs), Word (business organization notes), Excel (business finance plan), Outlook (for mail), WhatsApp Desktop and Spotify.
Basically an office usage for an average consumer.
Want to know about memory usage? See above.

View attachment 1772051

8,80 GB of memory usage.
I have absolutely no idea how you can run these apps on a computer with only 4 GB of RAM.

So you can imagine how much of a upgrade it is for people that are going from a 4GB to 8GB machine is then?