How Apple lost its way: Steve Jobs’ love of simplicity is gone

[ssong]

@ssong after seeing those three points I was briefly tempted to listen to, and watch the event but then http://www.apple.com/apple-events/ "9.7-inch iPad Pro … bands for Apple Watch … iPhone SE" – nothing of interest to me.

Instead, http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2016/ and a glance at March reminds me that I did read the release about ResearchKit. It's good to see open source.

Fair point, as a consumer who's been waiting for the rMBP for a while I may have been harsh but I do agree that a lot of the social responsibility focuses were good, regardless of whether or not it was just for show.

And I really liked their ad series with Dillan as I'm personally interested in seeing more use-cases like that become a reality.

 

[grahamperrin]

ad series with Dillan

With the article (How Apple lost its way …) written by someone in advertising, my first guess was that Dillan was an advertising agency. Oops, Google corrected me: Apple shares new video ‘Dillan’s Voice’ highlighting technology’s effect on those with special needs | 9to5Mac

 

[theluggage]

Many expected/wanted a Mac refresh (take a look at the MacRumors buyers guide and you'll see why)

Yeah - this is getting critical, at least for the MacBook Pros. Other manufacturers have Skylake/TB3/USB-C products out or announced. Apple may have an excuse if they're waiting for Intel to release the correct CPU/GPU combination (they're still trickling out) but its getting to the point where they need to break with tradition and pre-announce what they're planning: it might lose them orders short-term as customers delay upgrading, but customers are already delaying upgrading - and if they get fed up waiting and jump ship to Windows, Chromebooks or Linux they won't be coming back. If no new Macs are announced at WWDC, patience is going to run out. (Windows 10 is sounding quite solid once you get past the upgrade nagware and install a telemetry blocker - and the forthcoming ability to run Linux binaries could make it a great platform for web development, using something like Docker).

About 30min boasting about how socially responsible they are (green initiatives, LIAM recycling robot, health benefits)

To be fair, that's partly a response to past hostile media flak on their environmental record. Consumers aren't the only audience for these things: shareholders, investors, big corporate/government buyers do like to be reassured that their investments/suppliers are adequately green.

iPad Pro 9.7 inch launch - added a few nice features to it but it's not a replacement to the iPad Air 2, its an additional product line.

I think this may be part of a ratcheting up of price points to compensate for "peak tablet" - with last year's model kept around at a lower price for a while to soften the shock (I'm guessing Air 2 is the sweet spot for educational sales). I have to say, though, that the 9.7" pro was a good upgrade from my iPad 3.

And the features added in the Pro 9.7 should have been included in the Pro 12.9

Never quite understood what the complaint was there. Newer model has slightly better features: shock, horror! Anyway, the main difference is the camera and who's going to use a 12.9" iPad as a camera?

Watch Bands! =D /s

Yeah. That's one thing I'm sure really wouldn't have happened under Steve Jobs. The Watch - maybe - announcing new straps as if they were a big thing when you knew people were impatient for new Macs? Nah.

 

[ssong]

Yeah - this is getting critical, at least for the MacBook Pros. Other manufacturers have Skylake/TB3/USB-C products out or announced. Apple may have an excuse if they're waiting for Intel to release the correct CPU/GPU combination (they're still trickling out) but its getting to the point where they need to break with tradition and pre-announce what they're planning: it might lose them orders short-term as customers delay upgrading, but customers are already delaying upgrading - and if they get fed up waiting and jump ship to Windows, Chromebooks or Linux they won't be coming back. If no new Macs are announced at WWDC, patience is going to run out. (Windows 10 is sounding quite solid once you get past the upgrade nagware and install a telemetry blocker - and the forthcoming ability to run Linux binaries could make it a great platform for web development, using something like Docker).



To be fair, that's partly a response to past hostile media flak on their environmental record. Consumers aren't the only audience for these things: shareholders, investors, big corporate/government buyers do like to be reassured that their investments/suppliers are adequately green.



I think this may be part of a ratcheting up of price points to compensate for "peak tablet" - with last year's model kept around at a lower price for a while to soften the shock (I'm guessing Air 2 is the sweet spot for educational sales). I have to say, though, that the 9.7" pro was a good upgrade from my iPad 3.



Never quite understood what the complaint was there. Newer model has slightly better features: shock, horror! Anyway, the main difference is the camera and who's going to use a 12.9" iPad as a camera?



Yeah. That's one thing I'm sure really wouldn't have happened under Steve Jobs. The Watch - maybe - announcing new straps as if they were a big thing when you knew people were impatient for new Macs? Nah.

I agree with all except the features but... Would be nice to have all the display advancements on the 12.9 too haha

 

[grahamperrin]

… wouldn't have happened under Steve Jobs. The Watch - maybe - announcing new straps as if they were a big thing when you knew people were impatient for new Macs? Nah.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/19620162 recalls what Tim Cook said after Apple Watch was announced. If the linked video does not play, try http://web.archive.org/web/20140910...clusive-tim-cook-moments-apple-makes-25388665

I think it odd, vaguely amusing, that watchstraps can feature in an Apple event. Might it be more exciting if an athlete threw a sledgehammer at an on-screen image of watchstraps that were enslaving the minds and bodies of the public? Do I feel enslaved by my pre-Apple watchstrap? Nah.

 

[theluggage]

Do I feel enslaved by my pre-Apple watchstrap?

Obligatory xkcd reference:

 

[Benjamin Frost]

It makes me angry how comprehensively Tim Cook has betrayed Steve Jobs and his philosophy. How dare he.

Power is a dangerous thing, and has a tendency to corrupt those who wield it. Jobs was able to control it, and not let it corrupt him completely. Cook has let it get the better of him, as it did James Comey in relation to the iPhone hacking case.

The Apple of today is a different company to the Apple of Jobs. That Apple is dead. The one of today is a bastard relation that spits in the face of all those Apple employees who worked so hard to nurture the wonderful, thoughtful culture of the original Apple. That is why I, like many others, I should imagine, am in a perpetual state of sorrow, despair, frustration and rage at the rape of that precious culture by Cook.

 

[617aircav]

Apple has not lost its way. The competition has caught up in terms of build quality as surpassed Apple in terms of features.

 

[maflynn]

Apple has not lost its way. The competition has caught up in terms of build quality as surpassed Apple in terms of features.

I wouldn't say lost it way, as well but the competition has looked to emulate the success of Apple, so that makes it harder for Apple.

I will also say that Apple's maniacal attention to details has been lost with the passing of Steve. Sure the people who were working on the products are still there, i.e., Jonny Ive, but everything pass through Steve and he felt it wasn't quite ready, he'd demand it to be reworked.

 

[617aircav]

I wouldn't say lost it way, as well but the competition has looked to emulate the success of Apple, so that makes it harder for Apple.

I will also say that Apple's maniacal attention to details has been lost with the passing of Steve. Sure the people who were working on the products are still there, i.e., Jonny Ive, but everything pass through Steve and he felt it wasn't quite ready, he'd demand it to be reworked.

Apple holding back features as it used to in the past won't fly with current competition. Their thing was always build quality and they have lost the monopoly on that.

 

[maflynn]

Apple holding back features as it used to in the past won't fly with current competition.

You its funny, but that's exactly how I feel about the apple watch. Its like they purposely left out features in the OS and/or the hardware so they can roll them out in the future.

 

[grahamperrin]

Apple holding back features …

The first thing that comes to mind: App Store on OS X, gaining the ability to open what's installed. It's neat, but such a basic requirement; I can't imagine that it took years to make that feature release quality.

 

[Tech198]

Apple was always around simplicity..... but that has not always held true as time goes on....

 

[I7guy]

I wouldn't say lost it way, as well but the competition has looked to emulate the success of Apple, so that makes it harder for Apple.

I will also say that Apple's maniacal attention to details has been lost with the passing of Steve. Sure the people who were working on the products are still there, i.e., Jonny Ive, but everything pass through Steve and he felt it wasn't quite ready, he'd demand it to be reworked.

I think a company that operates in the same mode as it grows, sets itself up for failure. Companies must change and adapt with the times.

 

[Tech198]

Good article..

 

[617aircav]

You its funny, but that's exactly how I feel about the apple watch. Its like they purposely left out features in the OS and/or the hardware so they can roll them out in the future.

They actually did. Just like how they left NFC of the 5s when NFC was already on every android flagship phone for years.

 

[roksraka]

Hardware is still going strong IMO. MacBook is awesome, Watch hardware is cool, new iPad Pro 9.7" has some very neat technology... But the software is just getting worse with every update.

I have this great article bookmarked that says it all: https://www.fastcodesign.com/3053406/how-apple-is-giving-design-a-bad-name

I disagree. They haven't updated any of their MacBook Pros or Airs in over a year, same goes for the iMac, and the Mac Mini and Mac Pro are just sad, waiting 2 and 3 years for an update! Such old hardware hasn't been competitive on the market for quite some time. I don't own or really even care about the watch, so I can't comment on that one...

 

[617aircav]

If they had made the iPad Pro a real computer replacement (file system, ability to plug peripherals etc) it would have been a better sell. Such an expensive device should not be so limited. I was ready to make the pro my computing device but iOS is not it.

 

[I7guy]

They actually did. Just like how they left NFC of the 5s when NFC was already on every android flagship phone for years.

Apple doesn't throw hardware in to fill a space in the spec sheet. What they do is thought out and will be there forever in future flagships, unlike other android manufacturers. Can you name a flagship feature that stopped being supported by Apple?

 

[Tech198]

Simplicity is still there (kind of). I do agree with one thing.

Us Apple users will like just about anything as long as it has an Apple logo on it

 

[maflynn]

it would have been a better sell.

It would no question, but at what expense - I'd postulate that it would hamper Apple's laptop line. Apple's in a touch spot, they have a laptop line which makes more money their their iPod line, why risk cannibalizing the laptop sales

 

[Zirel]

Apple doesn't throw hardware in to fill a space in the spec sheet. What they do is thought out and will be there forever in future flagships, unlike other android manufacturers. Can you name a flagship feature that stopped being supported by Apple?

This.

This is the difference between bloat and features.

 

[roksraka]

It would no question, but at what expense - I'd postulate that it would hamper Apple's laptop line. Apple's in a touch spot, they have a laptop line which makes more money their their iPod line, why risk cannibalizing the laptop sales

So you're saying that they're purposefully making a product less useful? That's unforgivable... Microsoft and some other companies have successfully (more of less) blurred the lines between a tablet and a laptop, and Apple will have to follow, if it wants to stay competitive. Their MacBook sales are already quite sad, so perhaps it might be a smart move to merge these two markets - laptops and high-end tablets - into one. Apple seems to have things under control for now, but their stubbornness and their purposeful avoidance of innovation and progress might prove quite harmful in the long run (in let's say 5 years). That's just my opinion...

 

[maflynn]

So you're saying that they're purposefully making a product less useful?

No, I'm saying apple is making tough decisions. There is a convergence occurring with tablets and laptops in the PC world. If apple were make the iPad/iOS more robust like a desktop system, then that would definitely impact their laptop line. As it stands we are seeing Macs losing ground, but they still outsell iPads. No company wants to roll out a product that will cannibalize an existing product line. I wouldn't say they were purposely making it less useful.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

No, I'm saying apple is making tough decisions. There is a convergence occurring with tablets and laptops in the PC world. If apple were make the iPad/iOS more robust like a desktop system, then that would definitely impact their laptop line. As it stands we are seeing Macs losing ground, but they still outsell iPads. No company wants to roll out a product that will cannibalize an existing product line. I wouldn't say they were purposely making it less useful.

What?

iPads far outsell Macs.