If Steve was still around....

[Flow39]

There would be no Apple Watch. It is a product without a reason.

There would be no Apple Music. People want to own music.

Siri would be relegated to Accessibility and downgraded in importance. It would never be mentioned as a feature.

Beats would never have been bought.

The iPhone line would have been expanded to all markets like the iPod. Market share would be over 60% as opposed to the 15% it has today.

The iPad line would also have been expanded to all markets, and at the same time, the line would be much more focused.

The App Store and iTunes would both have been completely overhauled. Prices would have been cut to compete with Amazon. Games enticing children into gambling addicts with in-app purchases would have been banned. Discoverability of apps would have been transformed. Developers would be much happier and more successful than they are today.

There would be 13" and 15" Retina MacBook Air models.

The iPhone would come in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB sizes. The iPad would offer a 1TB version.

iPad would gain its own branch of iOS called iPadOS. It would feature a flexible file system like the Mac. All iCloud services would be free and offer 1TB of storage.

iTunes Match would come to films and tv. All DVDs ripped would be accessible via streaming and downloadable from all devices. iBooks would be overhauled, syncing would happen properly, prices reduced, and audiobooks would be similarly synced via iCloud.

The iPad Pro would have still come in 13", but the bezels would be much reduced.

Battery life in all iOS devices would be at least 13 hours compared to 10 hours today.

There would have been no political or social activism by Apple or Jobs whatsoever.

The share price would be around $200.

I agree with nearly everything you said! Spot on!

I do think one more thing needs to be added to the list: Apple would not be trying to become a luxury brand with even more absurd prices than they have right now, nor would they be trying to transition to becoming a fashion-oriented brand.

 

[Rogifan]

I get the feeling most people just project their feelings on to Steve. If they don't like something Apple is doing they say Steve wouldn't have done that and would be doing X instead. Steve can be whatever anyone wants him to be.

 

[navaira]

What @Rogifan said.

The only two things I believe would not happen under Jobs:
– iPad Mini
– Apple Music being what it is right now (somebody needed to stand up in a room, ask Cue what the f* is Apple Music supposed to do, then yell "why isn't it doing it then???", and that somebody is not Cook)

Edit: oh yes, and shares would definitely be $200 because of irrational faith that Jobs is always on the brink of starting another revolution and Cook is a number-cruncher who wouldn't know a good idea if it bit him in the bum.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

I get the feeling most people just project their feelings on to Steve. If they don't like something Apple is doing they say Steve wouldn't have done that and would be doing X instead. Steve can be whatever anyone wants him to be.

People can do that, but for those who studied the man and his philosophy deeply, we try to imagine how he would have approached the future.

For me, one of the most important aspects of Steve's leadership was his thoughtfulness. That, above all, reflected his devotion to Apple and his intent. Once can admire his passion, but that alone didn't create Apple's success. It was his intense, almost meditative state of thought that was the fount for his vision. I think Buddhism may have been an inspiration for him.

 

[JaySoul]

Apple would be more daring, I feel.

It's become way too conservative under Tim Cook.

 

[thekeyring]

At least MobileMe was a service, not a whole operating system.
There has been an obvious decline in Apple's software quality lately. Read here more opinions on this subject.
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Do you remember that keynote when Steve Jobs pulled out the first Macbook Air from an envelope? Everybody liked it because it was so thin and light. The first iPad was absolutely awesome, I bought it on day one. The first iPhone? Back then I could only think about this: real Internet and email in my pocket = super cool. Now they all seem like crap because there is better tech available.

I would argue that they "seem crap" because Steve is not the ones presenting them.

For example: When Steve introduced FaceTime, we thought "Wow, they'v invented video calling!" - ignoring Skype on PCs, and the fact FaceTime needed WiFi (it wouldn't work on 3G/Cellular).

When Tim Cook says "You can make a call on your watch, i've been wanting to do this since I was five years old!" we ignore the magic and think "Ah yeah but it needs an iPhone.... boring."

 

[maflynn]

Apple would be more daring, I feel.

It's become way too conservative under Tim Cook.

They've been playing it safe for years.

People call this playing not to lose instead of playing to win, and invariably when you play not to lose, you usually do. I'm not saying Apple is doomed, but they didn't get where they were playing it safe.

 

[navaira]

Oh yes.

The antenna bands and the protruding camera would NEVER happen with Steve around. We're talking about a man who halted iPhone production because white plastic of the home button wasn't EXACTLY the same white as the rest of the phone's front.

 

[Blujelly]

If Steve was still around....there would be no beats 1 during the press conference... or a free U2 album.....

 

[postpc]

Forstall would still be with Apple, Cue wouldn't.

 

[throAU]

I agree with nearly everything you said! Spot on!

I do think one more thing needs to be added to the list: Apple would not be trying to become a luxury brand with even more absurd prices than they have right now, nor would they be trying to transition to becoming a fashion-oriented brand.

Do you know your Apple/NEXT history?

Apple computers are as cheap as they've ever been right now. Back when the mac was being designed, Steve made the developers re-do the circuitboard because it "looked ugly". He had the case re-designed to make it look "more like a porsche". The NEXT cube was his idea. As was the G4 cube - despite it having heat problems because of it.

Then there was the iMac when he came back to Apple? The candy coloured iBooks? Aqua? Before Steve came back Apple was shipping generic looking beige boxes - pretty much like PCs with an Apple logo on them.

Steve Jobs is probably more responsible for the released look of apple's hardware style than anyone. Sure, Ive designed a lot of it, but Steve had the final sign off.

To claim it would be less trendy or less fashionable is kinda ignoring the history of steve's influence on the Apple lineup.
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They've been playing it safe for years.

People call this playing not to lose instead of playing to win, and invariably when you play not to lose, you usually do. I'm not saying Apple is doomed, but they didn't get where they were playing it safe.

Hmm. I think they've made some risky moves.

The current Mac Pro, the new Macbook. The Apple Watch.

They're all products that a lot of people have poo-pooed, and they're drastically different from anything else currently shipping by anyone else.

Ditching everything other than a single USB3 port? I'd call that daring. It's classic apple too, ditching floppies, ditching legacy ports for USB (back in the day) - Apple was first with that too.

The new Macbook would have been a much better machine if it had a regular USB port. Or a magsafe port. But it doesn't. Because apple are using it to prove a point and FORCE people (and the rest of the industry) to adopt USB-C (and bluetooth, faster wifi standards, etc.). If it wasn't USB-C only, far less people would bother buying or making USB-C peripherals and the standard would take far longer to get off the ground.

The cost of that is that the Macbook has one port. No reason it couldn't have a regular USB on the other side or a magsafe port. It's just apple throwing their weight around to force change. Which is risky, but someone has to do it.

 

[maflynn]

Hmm. I think they've made some risky moves.

The current Mac Pro, the new Macbook. The Apple Watch.

Yes, you're right, I concede my point, you correctly pointed out that the nMP and the Apple Watch were risky moves. Even the new MacBook is a risky move with a single USB-C.

I did not fully think through my point and you correctly refuted it

 

[JaySoul]

The problem with blindly defending Apple is when you don't notice what the rest of the market is doing.

Case in point - I just tried using iTunes. It is APPALLING now. It took 20 minutes to update. And I can't even download an audiobook I BOUGHT onto another device because Apple don't allow that with audiobooks for some reason.

In the meantime, laptops for your average consumer (not a pro) have caught up - or simplified things (e.g. Chromebook). And for a lot less money.

Tablets - I mean wow, I bought an LG 8" tablet to lend to a family member for a month. I didn't tell her how much it cost - she was an "Apple only girl". She needed something as her MacBook and iPad both died at the same time. So she uses this LG tablet for 4 weeks, and love it, only complaining about a couple of really small things. When I took it back, she asked me how much it cost... £80. She was absolutely shocked, and since then only kept her iPhone. She still talks about it over a year later, how it made her wake up to just how expensive Apple products can be relative to the market.

There are plenty of Android phones that outperform the iPhone in many categories. Especially when you factor in what vast swathes of consumers use them for, then iPhones just aren't that unique or great value for money. People are also learning that a phone isn't really a status symbol anymore

Apple does a lot of things really well and has some excellent reliant products, but if you're going to charge a premium, it had better be worth it.

A lot of people still buy Apple products and they still make tonnes of money. But that excitement/reliability has gone for me.

 

[throAU]

The thing you are paying for with Apple is not just the device.

You are paying for the integration with other apple devices, the warranty support (more often than not, apple will replace no questions asked), the software update support (years, vs. months) the battery life, the higher quality fit/finish, etc.

Yes, it costs more, and it's a better value proposition the more apple gear you have (to get the benefit of the tight integration between products).

If all you have is a tablet, it's a bit different to say, my situation where most of my household stuff is apple - i can open tabs in Safari on my tablet that i have open on my phone, mac, etc. I can flick video across from device to device with airplay. I can seamlessly back up my tablets/phones over wifi to my Mac. I can find something in maps on my mac, and flick the directions to my phone, etc.

It's not just the DEVICE you are paying for, but the integration... the above sort of stuff just doesn't work if you have a bunch of cheap android/chromebook/windows devices from different vendors.

Is the additional cost worth it? It depends. I think it is, in general.

 

[navaira]

Hmm. I think they've made some risky moves.

The current Mac Pro

Definitely, not updating it since 2013 is a risky move, but I am not sure it is one Steve would be proud of.

 

[LiveM]

There would be no Apple Music. People want to own music.

All music is licensed - you don't own it. The closest you will get to owning someone else's music is buying a CD, in which case you own the disc and can sell it to someone else, but you still don't own the music. If you sell that CD then you sell the license too and you are in the same position as if someone cancels his subscription. The only difference is that the music on the CD is under a perpetual, transerable license for private, personal use. You still can't play it in public, copy it, or use it for your business except where permitted.
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I can't even download an audiobook I BOUGHT onto another device because Apple don't allow that with audiobooks for some reason.

You didn't buy it. Sounds like you only licensed it for one device at a time or something like that.

 

[vvswarup]

Do you know your Apple/NEXT history?

Apple computers are as cheap as they've ever been right now. Back when the mac was being designed, Steve made the developers re-do the circuitboard because it "looked ugly". He had the case re-designed to make it look "more like a porsche". The NEXT cube was his idea. As was the G4 cube - despite it having heat problems because of it.

Then there was the iMac when he came back to Apple? The candy coloured iBooks? Aqua? Before Steve came back Apple was shipping generic looking beige boxes - pretty much like PCs with an Apple logo on them.

Steve Jobs is probably more responsible for the released look of apple's hardware style than anyone. Sure, Ive designed a lot of it, but Steve had the final sign off.

To claim it would be less trendy or less fashionable is kinda ignoring the history of steve's influence on the Apple lineup.
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Let me add to that the look of the old "Find My Friends" app. Remember the old "leather stitching" pattern? Want to take a guess where it came from. Steve Jobs. He wanted to the "Find My Friends" app to look like the leather stitching in his private jet. That's just utter stupidity. He made Apple engineers adopt that tacky interface out of personal ego.

 

[Deane2000]

iTunes would not have gone from an excellent, simple, Apple interface for playing your music to a horrendous, poorly designed and executed interface that I now dread using.

 

[navaira]

I like to think Steve would have a huge screaming fit when finding out what iCloud does with iTunes libraries.

 

[OllyW]

iTunes would not have gone from an excellent, simple, Apple interface for playing your music to a horrendous, poorly designed and executed interface that I now dread using.

People were complaining about iTunes while Steve was still around...

itunes 7, most pathetic peice of software ever released by apple...
Who doesn't like iTunes 8?
Why iTunes 9 Sucks...
Itunes 9 is a slow -and horrid- mess..

 

[maflynn]

I like to think Steve would have a huge screaming fit when finding out what iCloud does with iTunes libraries.

Dude, he was around when they released "iTools" and that started Apple's illustrious history of issues with cloud based services. iDisk as it was called back then was horrible.

 

[howiest]

Silly thread, but I'd love to know his opinion about the controversial 2013 Mac Pro, and now, it's successor.

But there's a lot of things we'll never know.

 

[navaira]

Dude, he was around when they released "iTools" and that started Apple's illustrious history of issues with cloud based services. iDisk as it was called back then was horrible.

He did have a fit over MobileMe though. Oh well. Instead we have Eddy "we so awesome" Cue.

 

[Tech198]

Well, if Steve was still here, i don't think it would affect this FBI vs Apple thing in any way.....

Tim is showing to be just as ruthless as Jobs was.... (perhaps even more so)

 

[throAU]

If Steve Jobs was around there wouldn't be so many bugs in iOS, OS X and watchOS.

Dunno about that.

There were bugs while Steve was around, in fact there were entire products that totally sucked while he was still around. He was even largely involved in putting them out.

I'm looking at you:
- mobile me
- apple maps
- hockey puck mouse
- mighty mouse