I miss the old Apple.

[newtonapp]

I remember getting off work early to get in line for the first iPhone. Someone offered to pay me $330 for my spot in line. I said no. I wanted that iPhone. It was so happy to have it. Compared to my Motorola Razor it was like trading in a moped for a spaceship.

Fast forward to today, nothing really hits that mark. I feel like Apple is slowly moving away from the era of where the "crazy ones" rethought technology to a company that re-packages technology into a store that sells it next to the Gucci store. I can't remember the last time I felt excitement over an Apple product and still felt the same excitement after purchase. I got an Apple Watch but it doesn't really do that much. I got the iPhone 6, but at the end of the day it's really just a larger version of the predecessor.

The new MacBooks are just a pretty version of a crappy computer (720 camera, really?!), the Music service seems like just a distraction, and the iPads desperately need more functionality in my opinion.

Here's the kicker. Microsoft is a on a roll. If you asked me 5 years ago if I was thinking of buying a computer I'd say "hell no". Have you seen the Surface? It's calling my name. Google also has something going on with the Android. Several years ago any app out there was more often than not on Apple only, but today I am seeing a lot more Android apps and their App Store isn't just filled with a bunch of garbage anymore. By the way, have you seen Google Project Fi? So tempting.

Amiright?!

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Your timeline is really compressed...to me the "old Apple" was the company that made the ][ series I used as my daily computer.

Also, I've got some news for you - Microsoft has been on a roll since Jimmy Carter was president. Have you looked at their profit numbers across the last 40 years?

Jeez, this thread makes me feel old.

 

[jbachandouris]

I miss the old MacRumors forum...

 

[newtonapp]

Your timeline is really compressed...to me the "old Apple" was the company that made the ][ series I used as my daily computer.

Also, I've got some news for you - Microsoft has been on a roll since Jimmy Carter was president. Have you looked at their profit numbers across the last 40 years?

Jeez, this thread makes me feel old.

Time is relative. I wasn't really referring to profits, although that helps. I was just speaking about their projects. As a normal consumer (not Enterprise focused), I wasn't really drawn to Microsoft's products until recently.

 

[maflynn]

I agree with Lord Blackadder, I miss the old apple, the company that rolled out the ][, and Macintosh 128k, etc.

 

[MacNut]

To me "the old Apple" was getting laughed at by others at school for using a Mac. Wondering if the company would survive another 6 months. The very non existent computer games section for Macs. Clawing my eyes out every time System 8 would crash.

 

[IllusionEntity]

I remember getting off work early to get in line for the first iPhone. Someone offered to pay me $330 for my spot in line. I said no. I wanted that iPhone. It was so happy to have it. Compared to my Motorola Razor it was like trading in a moped for a spaceship.

Fast forward to today, nothing really hits that mark. I feel like Apple is slowly moving away from the era of where the "crazy ones" rethought technology to a company that re-packages technology into a store that sells it next to the Gucci store. I can't remember the last time I felt excitement over an Apple product and still felt the same excitement after purchase. I got an Apple Watch but it doesn't really do that much. I got the iPhone 6, but at the end of the day it's really just a larger version of the predecessor.

The new MacBooks are just a pretty version of a crappy computer (720 camera, really?!), the Music service seems like just a distraction, and the iPads desperately need more functionality in my opinion.

Here's the kicker. Microsoft is a on a roll. If you asked me 5 years ago if I was thinking of buying a computer I'd say "hell no". Have you seen the Surface? It's calling my name. Google also has something going on with the Android. Several years ago any app out there was more often than not on Apple only, but today I am seeing a lot more Android apps and their App Store isn't just filled with a bunch of garbage anymore. By the way, have you seen Google Project Fi? So tempting.

Amiright?!

Correction. The new MacBook has a 480p camera.

 

[Denmac1]

To me "the old Apple" was getting laughed at by others at school for using a Mac. Wondering if the company would survive another 6 months. The very non existent computer games section for Macs. Clawing my eyes out every time System 8 would crash.

Started with IIe and went to a Performa 475 and thought that was just about it.
And then System 8, trying to figure out what preferences was causing the problem and finally getting some relief with System 9.
Apple was the underdog company and felt there was some effort to root for it, but now......sigh...

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Apple was the underdog company and felt there was some effort to root for it, but now......sigh...

It's hard to root for any organization run by Gil Amelio...

The advent of the iPhone was the watershed moment. (with the iMac, iPod and OS X being important though lesser predecessor events). The Apple user crowd that existed before that moment was much different than today's user base.

True Apple cred =

Being criticized because your floppy ejects without the use of a physical button.
Using PICT files or System 7 Sound formats.
Having bought a new Mac with just one mouse button (extra points for the hockey puck)
Explaining how your 25Mhz 68040 is just as fast as a 66Mhz 486DX2

...and so forth.

 

[AustinIllini]

I remember getting off work early to get in line for the first iPhone. Someone offered to pay me $330 for my spot in line. I said no. I wanted that iPhone. It was so happy to have it. Compared to my Motorola Razor it was like trading in a moped for a spaceship.

Fast forward to today, nothing really hits that mark. I feel like Apple is slowly moving away from the era of where the "crazy ones" rethought technology to a company that re-packages technology into a store that sells it next to the Gucci store. I can't remember the last time I felt excitement over an Apple product and still felt the same excitement after purchase. I got an Apple Watch but it doesn't really do that much. I got the iPhone 6, but at the end of the day it's really just a larger version of the predecessor.

The new MacBooks are just a pretty version of a crappy computer (720 camera, really?!), the Music service seems like just a distraction, and the iPads desperately need more functionality in my opinion.

Here's the kicker. Microsoft is a on a roll. If you asked me 5 years ago if I was thinking of buying a computer I'd say "hell no". Have you seen the Surface? It's calling my name. Google also has something going on with the Android. Several years ago any app out there was more often than not on Apple only, but today I am seeing a lot more Android apps and their App Store isn't just filled with a bunch of garbage anymore. By the way, have you seen Google Project Fi? So tempting.

Amiright?!

 

[Plutonius]

Here's the kicker. Microsoft is a on a roll. If you asked me 5 years ago if I was thinking of buying a computer I'd say "hell no". Have you seen the Surface? It's calling my name. Google also has something going on with the Android. Several years ago any app out there was more often than not on Apple only, but today I am seeing a lot more Android apps and their App Store isn't just filled with a bunch of garbage anymore. By the way, have you seen Google Project Fi? So tempting.

They are just businesses. Buy what you want.

 

[AFEPPL]

Here's the kicker. Microsoft is a on a roll. If you asked me 5 years ago if I was thinking of buying a computer I'd say "hell no". Have you seen the Surface? It's calling my name. Google also has something going on with the Android. Several years ago any app out there was more often than not on Apple only, but today I am seeing a lot more Android apps and their App Store isn't just filled with a bunch of garbage anymore. By the way, have you seen Google Project Fi? So tempting.

Amiright?!

You are not alone...

 

[Agent-J]

My SE/30 still has a place in my heart...

Apple could be entering interesting times. iPhone growth is tapering off (as it must), and this is a big problem for a company that makes the lion's share of its profits from phones. iTunes music sales are going down, and if Apple's streaming music service doesn't work, there goes music profits. Apps... The last really killer app I saw was 2 years ago. I love my Mac Mini, but with the lack of upgradability of the new Minis, it'll be my last Apple desktop. I need to use a MacBook and iPad at work, but only need to upgrade every 4-5 years, really.

To the extent that Apple has a direction, it's integrated services via cloud. Microsoft, on the other hand, is designing an OS that can run on phones, tablets, and computers, and the service integration will be a side effect. After the catastrophe that was Win 8, I'm impressed by Win 10.

Apple expected the watch to be The Next Big Thing. I never did, and it's an expensive, one-device-fits-all option that a lot of us just won't adopt. Apple needs a new must-have product to continue growing in revenue. Their last one was the iPad; my guess is the Watch is going to make a big "thud" sound--it'll sell some millions to the faithful, but won't be a mass-adoption product like the phone. It will be very telling how Cook handles an Apple Watch that never becomes more than a niche product. A year or two of stagnant profits or big fall off in stock price will have the big shareholders out for his head.

 

[Khalanad75]

So this is yet another "Apple is doomed" thread veiled in a different light?

Sorry, I just don't see it. You can say that iPhone Growth has gone stagnant, yet they have a new version coming out soon that will once again, break records in sales. It's easy to say growth has stopped when it's in between cycles.

The day I can see the downslide of Apple, is when they start discounting phones to make sales. That happening yet? Nope, didn't think so.

 

[newtonapp]

So this is yet another "Apple is doomed" thread veiled in a different light?

Sorry, I just don't see it. You can say that iPhone Growth has gone stagnant, yet they have a new version coming out soon that will once again, break records in sales. It's easy to say growth has stopped when it's in between cycles.

The day I can see the downslide of Apple, is when they start discounting phones to make sales. That happening yet? Nope, didn't think so.

I didn't say it's doomed necessarily, I am just saying that it isn't the same company that I fell in love with. That's my opinion. Maybe they will become a music company, crush Spotify, and make more money off of that than they do with iPhones today. It isn't as exciting to me as the new revolutionary products that they used to create.

 

[Khalanad75]

I didn't say it's doomed necessarily, I am just saying that it isn't the same company that I fell in love with. That's my opinion. Maybe they will become a music company, crush Spotify, and make more money off of that than they do with iPhones today. It isn't as exciting to me as the new revolutionary products that they used to create.

Okay, but what would you consider revolutionary at this point. It seems for everything they do come out with, everyone points to it being just much of the same with specs shuffled.

The big ideas take time. Who knows, perhaps the "car" they are working on will be a hover car that uses magnets and batteries.

I think things like this thread are more on us in the information world. We expect everything now in this digital age. Hell, bring up an SSD vs HD discussion here and you can see it. "You have to be some kind of moron to wait 45 seconds to boot your machine, I can do it in 7." We argue over seconds not being fast enough. The minute something new comes out we run to see the "specs" rather than what it does.

I guess as I am getting older I am finding I am having more patience and can wait for things.

I also like to look back at the "good ole times", but have learned to temper them with the understanding that the exuberance I feel looking back generally ignores the frustrations I had at the time.

 

[MacNut]

I didn't say it's doomed necessarily, I am just saying that it isn't the same company that I fell in love with. That's my opinion. Maybe they will become a music company, crush Spotify, and make more money off of that than they do with iPhones today. It isn't as exciting to me as the new revolutionary products that they used to create.

Apple is not crushing Spotify until they fix or kill off iTunes first.

 

[McGiord]

I really appreciate if you can better describe or define what do you mean by:
1- something really hitting the mark
2- rethought technology
3- more functionality of iPad
4- what kind of app is what you find in Android that iOS doesn't have?

I haven't played with a Surface recently, I will the next time I get to BestBuy.

What is Google Project Fi?

 

[McGiord]

Good old times are plenty:
Playing and learning to program with an Apple ][+, Choplifter and Lode Runner were the treat.
MacPlus: drawing with MacPaint, then SuperPaint, then Canvas and Illustrator.
Playing Lode Runner, Dark Castle, Beyond Dark Castle, Shufflepuck Cafe, Crystal Quest, Tetris, all Sierra online games, etc.
Easily doing homework and reports in a few minutes MacWrite or Word were there, when all my school friends were still trying to figure out how to type on wordstar.
Scanning with a Thunderscan in the ImageWriter II. Playing with color printing too. The LaserWriter was too expensive, toner was even more.
Those were the days when anything was possible, and using the Mac was fun and productive, while almost everybody had no clue how to use a computer.
Mac IIsi was the next great Mac we had.
The Incredible Machine was the game, and then the even More Incredible Machine came out.
The a PowerMac with audio/video editing capabilities.
Running windows games in VirtualPC.
eMac with classic and OS X: SWGB.

Nowadays thanks to virtualization and emulation all that past glory is still enjoyable.

The iPad is a big iPod touch, some crippled iPhone with a big screen.

With the competition we may see a future OS from Apple that will bridge them and enable running everything in any device, we need mobility with iPhone size and big screens like iMac and >50".

 

[newtonapp]

I really appreciate if you can better describe or define what do you mean by:
1- something really hitting the mark

There hasn't been any major improves to existing products line and what new new product lines have been released don't really capture the mass market (e.g. the watch).

2- rethought technology

I thought the multi-touch was a major breakthrough in technology. If it wasn't for that, we'd still be using up/down keys. Nothing of the caliber has been seen since. Not even close. Maybe the Mac Pro?

3- more functionality of iPad

Can't really use an iPad in the business setting or in a productivity mode. Yes, it has spreadsheets and email, but with the multi-touch it's clunky. Secondly, any stylus doesn't really work well. I'd like to see something like the Surface has. You can actually take notes with it, for example.

4- what kind of app is what you find in Android that iOS doesn't have?

Actually I mean the other way around. Pick any app. In the past most of them were iPhone first and possibly only iPhone compatibility. Now, it seems that developers release Apple and Android. Basically any decent app that you want will be on Android also.

What is Google Project Fi?

It is Google's beta for cellular service. It SEEMS like it's everything you want a cellular service to be. Transparent pricing, device tethering, Wi-Fi calling to save on data, etc. I haven't tried it so this isn't my first-hand experience.

 

[McGiord]

Technology wise they had done well with the Retina displays for both Macs and iDevices, Fusion drives, fingerprint sensors and recently Force Touch.

What specifically you need?
I guess we tend to give things for granted and expect something new every couple of months.

Ask yourself:
Can I do all that I need to do with my Mac? My iPhone?
What else would I like to do, that I can't?

 

[McGiord]

Instead of using a stylus why not paint with real stuff and then scan it?

 

[SuperMatt]

To the OP: it seems to me that you're simply impatient. Apple's big breakthroughs take a long time: Apple ][, Macintosh, iMac/OS X, iPod, iPhone, iPad. Apple's been around since the 70s. Things don't change overnight. The iPhone is less than 10 years old. The iPad is only 5 yrs old... and the Watch is only a sprout. Wait until it grows and blossoms.

 

[Agent-J]

So this is yet another "Apple is doomed" thread veiled in a different light?

Sorry, I just don't see it. You can say that iPhone Growth has gone stagnant, yet they have a new version coming out soon that will once again, break records in sales. It's easy to say growth has stopped when it's in between cycles.

The day I can see the downslide of Apple, is when they start discounting phones to make sales. That happening yet? Nope, didn't think so.

I didn't say it's doomed. But you can't actually think more people than live on Earth are going to buy iPhones, I'm sure. Apple will continue to have good profits, but the growth is going to slow and/or stop. And the company is basically a one-trick pony now. If anything happens to drop phone sales, rather than slow them, then we can bring out the D-word.

 

[Agent-J]

Ask yourself:
Can I do all that I need to do with my Mac? My iPhone?
What else would I like to do, that I can't?

Personally, and I know most here would disagree with me, I am disappointed with the design trade of performance for thinness. I'd rather have a phone with 2-day battery life and a little heft to it than one I could use to cut pizza. (To me, the iPhone 4 had the most beautiful design of any phone I'd ever seen.). I'd rather see faster clock speeds and upgradeable RAM than thinner laptops.

I am disappointed with the lack of availability of an upgradeable Mac and lack of discrete graphics shy of the Pro (Mac Mini, RIP). The mid-2011 Mac Mini was my "gateway drug" into Apple, because it had decent graphics with the discrete graphics chip and I could upgrade the RAM and HD myself as I could afford to.

On an unrelated level, the emphasis on the new music service completely turns me off, since I'm not a fan of rap and current pop. Music this, music that, oh look Apple Music has a new rap exclusive... it makes me wonder about the company's commitment to computing. And, shockingly, I'm not a fan of the whole "Apple as fashion" marketing push. I need my stuff to work more than I need it to look good. But it seems Apple's priorities are reversed.