If the Apple Board elected you CEO, what would you do?

[grammatica]

I guess the same thing if I were elected president of the USA—show me all the secrets, ha, ha.

 

[Jacquesass]

Fun question.

1) Make all Pro Macs upgradable in RAM and storage (MBP, Mac Pro, iMac Pro).
2) New iPod with scroll wheel, 1TB SSD, WiFi, cellular, BT, good DAC for wired headphones, Siri to navigate music search.
3) Buy Sonos, Ecobee (because they missed Nest), and resurrect AirPort w/ mesh basestations (because they missed Eero). Fold all of those into one giant, interoperable Apple Home division.
4) Make a mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera that has an iPhone’s computational backend. Make it look like a Leica without the Leica price tag.
5) ATV Pro w/ M chip and game controller.

6) Most importantly, sell Macs at cost. They aren’t a big profit source for the company, so go for market share and feeding the ecosystem. That includes RAM/SSD at cost, monitors at cost, accessories at cost. Sell to .edu below cost.

 

[neuropsychguy]

12. "Pro" product needs to be genuinely designed and built for professional use. Not just a branding we stick on things.

Who is a “pro”?

 

[0339327]

As a working creative professional for 25+ years, it's not about making it "fun." It's about making money. Producing content that meets or exceeds the needs of my clients and their audience(s). To spec, on time, on budget, using tools that are industry standard for seamless collaboration with other agencies and creatives. Apple can take their twee performative "magical and amazing" platform exclusive vision and ram it.

The less that Apple is involved in or influencing the tools of my trade, the better. Make the hardware and OS, build rock-solid, open, baseline platforms, and get out of the business of everything else—because others are doing those parts than Apple ever could hope to.

For content creators, the more fun the process is, the more time they are willing to invest. There is a huge market with YouTubers and TicToc creators that do this because it’s fun. If Apple can make the process seamless and fun, more people would move to FCP instead the current trend of moving AWAY from it

 

[newceoofapple]

CEO Deep Thoughts:

Truth hurts I know.

This government Anti Trust suit in the US and EU is Tim Cook's fault. He is the CEO. He should have opened their App Store but instead they got greedy and arrogant.

Apple has an arrogance that brings down a company fast. Imagine going from a 2 Trillion company to 1 Trillion or less. That is not the trajectory it should have.

Microsoft was arrogant. Ignoring Mobile Devices. Thanks Steve Ballmer. Google is arrogant. What happens when their search gets chewed up by another? The list goes on and on. They need a reset and it is going to happen soon. I use Apple products along with others and the mistakes and successes are clear. The long timers don't give a crap anymore because they are in Office Space land. Collect their Stocks and sit in on another meeting giving in to Tim Cook. Apple Vision Pro is a clear indicator of that.

Notice how the quality of the products has diminished? I definitely have- This whole presentation that they are secure is an illusion. The Mother Earth garbage with products. They are really good now at Advertising and NOT at vision now. If anyone thinks for one second that Tim Cook doesn't know he is on his way out they must be in La La Land. He might even want to leave. They lie to consumers about being secure. They gave up information to the government but act like they don't.

Last two quarters numbers are showing the symptoms of what happens when you barely have a new feature in planned obsolescence of each "new" Iphone/Ipad. The Vision Pro is seriously an overpriced paper weight. They need help and fast.

 

[Yrmmont]

I would bring back routers AND make computers upgradeable.

 

[sarcasticgamer]

Hire back Jony Ive, he worked so closely with Steve Jobs through the golden years…

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

But I can say that looking at the 15-inch MBA in midnight, they do still make things Steve would be astonished and absolutely proud of... it is simply a thing of beauty.

Even the Apple Vision Pro, even if you’re not a fan of it as a product, you have to admit that the thing is built incredibly.
I got a chance to demo one at the Apple Store the other day, and picking one of those up, the thing just *feels* incredible to the touch.
In terms of design, that, the M1 iMac, the 15 inch MacBook Air are absolutely up there with the iPhone 4 in terms of design.

 

[za9ra22]

CEO Deep Thoughts:

Truth hurts I know.

This government Anti Trust suit in the US and EU is Tim Cook's fault. He is the CEO. He should have opened their App Store but instead they got greedy and arrogant.

Apple has an arrogance that brings down a company fast. Imagine going from a 2 Trillion company to 1 Trillion or less. That is not the trajectory it should have.

Microsoft was arrogant. Ignoring Mobile Devices. Thanks Steve Ballmer. Google is arrogant. What happens when their search gets chewed up by another? The list goes on and on. They need a reset and it is going to happen soon. I use Apple products along with others and the mistakes and successes are clear. The long timers don't give a crap anymore because they are in Office Space land. Collect their Stocks and sit in on another meeting giving in to Tim Cook. Apple Vision Pro is a clear indicator of that.

Notice how the quality of the products has diminished? I definitely have- This whole presentation that they are secure is an illusion. The Mother Earth garbage with products. They are really good now at Advertising and NOT at vision now. If anyone thinks for one second that Tim Cook doesn't know he is on his way out they must be in La La Land. He might even want to leave. They lie to consumers about being secure. They gave up information to the government but act like they don't.

Last two quarters numbers are showing the symptoms of what happens when you barely have a new feature in planned obsolescence of each "new" Iphone/Ipad. The Vision Pro is seriously an overpriced paper weight. They need help and fast.

Curious, you name two highly profitable businesses to show how Apple isn't? Microsoft didn't 'ignore' mobile, they messed their mobiles up in a very big way. And oh yes, talking about anti-trust suits, MS were there first... meaning at least well before.

Google on the other hand scrape your data all day long, profit from selling who you are what you do online. They're not arrogant, they don't need to be, they ARE the big name in search. And email. And Android. And a few other markets too.

As to Apple's 'quality of products'? Oh my. The M1, M2 and M3 class systems are the fastest, most capable Macs ever invented. Some are even extraordinarily cool and Steve-Jobs-magical.

They've become a grown up company, and sad to say then what they need is a grown up CEO. Personally, I think they have one even though he's as charismatic as a barnacle.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Well I'm an ID, and a product guy, so my ideas are product-based. My companies have operated on the idea that products (includes services) need to be strong enough to sell themselves. If they aren't, you have an uphill battle climbing a mountain made out of crap. If they are, then the hard work is done, and they afford the rest of the company the time and money to get creative playing and experimenting with everything else. Same thing Jobs did when he recognized the value in Ive's designs.

Macbook: The current MBA becomes this, budget Mac.
Macbook Air: Tapered Design, liquid cool, use the display back panel as the radiator idk lol
Macbook Pro: Build a refrigerator into that beast, add a CTO Intel chipset model for AEC nerds who still want a Mac.
Mac Mini: Fit it in an enclosure the size of the AppleTV.
Mac Sususudio: Is the Mac Pro. Relocate copper block below chipset, liquid cooler running heat through sculptural vented top.
iMac 24: Clean up that crude, clunky design for the love of all that is
iMac 36: Big damn display with a Mac Studio spread out all over it and a snorting bison to stand behind it & cool it off
iPad Pencils: Quit cheaping out and make them all as nice as the Pencil 1.
iPad: Round edges for comfort, home button/fingerprint returns, available in 8", 10" & 12"
iPad Pro: Mx Chip, Runs OSX, available in 7"*, 10" & 16", also can be used as WIRED ext display for a Mac.
...Two iPad Pro's can be clicked together at their sides to make a clamshell device, w both halves sharing resources, either in a pocketbook or magazine layout or rotated in a laptop config where the lower unit contains haptic keyboard & control surfaces & display is on top.

iPhones: Doing great I guess. Just put a headphone jack back in so we can use it everywhere & not just in our own apple ecosystem bubbles.

Airpods: Removable batteries or go to jail. Airpod 2's were the only ones that fit in a LOT of peoples ears. Fix it.

Apple Watch: Make it shoot lasers.

Ok so I stopped being a sensible product guy and started ranting about what I want pretty quick there.

 

[throAU]

I'd return the iPhone 13 mini as the next iPhone SE, put a second CPU socket on the Mac Pro and put out a slightly larger AppleTV with an M3 processor and m.2 slot in it to act as a gaming console to give the Apple gaming market a kick in the pants towards something other than dinky little mobile games.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Obviously, we aren't presumptuous enough to think that your typical Apple user could run a trillion dollar company, however, nonetheless, what changes would you make or what would you keep the same?

Of course, I'd probably spend a good few months learning the business, but, in general, I'd do the following:

1. Alter stock options and level the field so mid-level managers and senior executives are performance based; executives only win if the company, and your average stock holder, wins.

2. Return focus to make the Mac the computer for everyone. Rethink the MacPro and iMac lineup for business. In general, return to the four quadrant system of thinking.

3. Put more effort into developing FCP as a real competitor for Premier and DeVinci and bring back the much-loved Aperture. In general, reward those in the creative world with truly Apple Class apps to help realize their visions and make creative work more fun.

4. Kill the basic iPad and reduce the price on the iPad Air. iPad Pro for the high end and iPad Air for the low end.

5. Bring back WWDC and even Mac World for in-person events. The video's are just hour-long+ advertisements. Bring back the enthusiasm of a live audience with real, in-person demos.

6. Rethink AirPort Express, Apple TV, HomePod, etc. How can Apple take small "bullets" and turn them into successful "cannonballs".

7. Reconfigure the Apple Watch to remove all the various, confusing, options; reduce the pricing, and get this to be the watch for the common person, much like the iPhone was, and still is.

8. Return the Apple Store website to be more about selling and less about showcasing. The old store was great. I still can't understand why they changed it.

9. Shoot more "bullets" by going head to head with other basic personal electronics like TVs, GPS units and dash cams, etc.

10. Instead of playing wack-a-mole with various governments, recognize that there is a huge opportunity to recreate the services devision by offering world-class competition. I'm not suggesting one option versus another, rather, I'm suggesting to rethink how the services division monetizes other creators property so as to encourage competition rather than stifle it.

Lastly, I'd try to shuffle up the board with less business and more creative executives. The current board seems so focused on quick profits for the share flipper and less on sustained excursions needed to create great products that they themselves would want that benefit the long-term shareholder.

I would hire Tim Cook to keep doing what he has been doing so well.

 

[boss.king]

1) Clean up the iPad line. One pencil that works across the line, simplify the options.
2) Make better peripherals.
3) Bring back AirPort/Time Machine.
4) Raise storage on all iCloud tiers (free and paid).
5) Drop the Mac Pro or make a real Mac Pro. The Studio in a big empty case is a waste of time.
6) Fix the overzealous post-processing on iPhone photos.
7) Make a proper activity-focused version of AirPods (in the spirit of Beats Fit Pro).
8) Make a non-compromised Mini phone, even if it's a little thicker.
9) Make a better user-repair option all devices.
10) Bring back expandable storage, even just as a single slot to accept a large SSD, on all Macs.

The obvious thing to note here is that I don't care about shareholders. I care about the products. I'd obviously be a very bad CEO because most of my moves would probably decrease profits to make the user-experience better, and companies generally don't like that.

 

[Ctrlos]

1m in sales? To whom?

Honestly, judging by most of the suggestions in this thread, I think most of you haven't thought this through beyond "I want more of the things I buy to have Apple logos on them because that's super duper important to me."

Which... I mean.

I reckon there’s enough collectors alone that would buy one.

 

[jchap]

Cut back on pushing product for the sake of product (i.e., incremental changes such as a minor processor bump).

Reduce the company’s burden on global ecology by more strongly limiting and drastically reducing iPhone production.

Enhance software QA and QC—extend hardware release cycles, shrink minor software update cycles.

Maximize the strengths of what Apple has always done best, and leave the rest to the bottom-feeder competitors.

Be laser-focused on improving the quality and usefulness of interactive and intelligent technologies like Siri and the upcoming AI offerings.

Haha, all easier said than done. 😅 This kind of high-level corporate speak can be intoxicating…

 

[Ctrlos]

Who is a “pro”?

Indeed. It’s quite superfluous branding really.

 

[Ctrlos]

Oh, and I’d bring out an Apple e-reader with a colour e-ink display that reused the old iBook branding.

 

[JoeDezibel]

Bring back the iPod!

 

[Lift Bar]

I'd double the price of storage upgrades.

 

[jchap]

Make the physical keyboards more like the old Thinkpad ones. […]

Yeah, the keyboards are the one thing I think that IBM/Lenovo is doing better on with their offerings than Apple has in recent memory. Whenever I go back to type on the Thinkpad X1 Carbon, I wonder, “why the heck can’t Apple’s keyboard be so comfortable and satisfying to type on?”

To each his/her own, I suppose. Sometimes I do like the feel of the Magic Keyboard… but I also really miss what Apple did way back when with their desktop keyboards, before they were dubbed as “Magic.”

 

[nmart1214]

There’s only a few things I can think of that wouldn’t immediately be considered terrible decisions.

My first order of business would be to restore the airport lineup and integrate the HomePods as Wi-Fi extenders. Those who buy Time Capsules will get the option of backing up their devices to their home network as an alternative to iCloud.

Regular iPhones will have a 90 Hz display, I get the financial benefit to only allow 120 Hz on the higher end devices so that can stay as a distinction between devices.

I would also throw ridiculous amounts of money at Nintendo to allow Mac exclusive ports of their console games. Nintendo is a fan of making people by their games multiple times. Piracy would also have much less of an effect compared to a PC port just based off of marketshare alone

 

[Warped9]

My first order of business would be to restore the airport lineup…

I shudder to think about someday having to replace my current Airport Extreme.

 

[jchap]

2) New iPod with scroll wheel, 1TB SSD, WiFi, cellular, BT, good DAC for wired headphones, Siri to navigate music search.

That's kind of what the iPhone is now, except without the scroll wheel, maybe not as much storage, and, ah... no more headphone jack... 😅

It seems unlikely that Apple will ever come out with another iPod-type dedicated music player again. If they do, it would have to excel at being that, a music player.

Now that people have music streaming apps on their smartphones and tablets and computers, there really isn't much of a need for a dedicated hardware music player anymore, it would seem, except for the die-hard audio hi-fi enthusiasts, who probably would rather listen to music at home anyway on a much better audio system than a pair of headphones.

 

[MacDaddyPanda]

Having worked for large Tech corporations. I can't imagine being in charge of such a juggernaut. And I am at the bottom of that totem pole. lol. The business groups within Apple must be enormous.
- Apple Watch
- Iphone
- Ipad
- Mac(computers)
- Audio devices
- peripherals
- AVP
- MacOS
- IOS
- IpadOS
- Apple Apps
- FW Engineers
- Driver Engineers
- UI/UX engineers
- Apple Silicon Engineers
- Storage group
- Wireless (wifi, modems, LTE, etc)
- accessories (cables, adapters)
- Business logistics ( HR, Accounting, Supply chain, Manufacturing, marketing) and there's these roles within each of those divisions
- Fab groups
- Design
- Building management
- Contractors Support roles for labs
- legal division and subdivision, patents, marketing, customer service, gov't. Global legal.
- ANything else I can't think of at the moment.
So from the top down direction. I wouldn't even know where to start lol. Change design philosophy and bring those to market? That'd be a lot of power points to sit through.

 

[aj_niner]

Merit, yes, (and there is nothing to suggest that merit is the sole criteria at present), but different people have different needs.

A design that works well for affluent adult males works less well for others.

Personally, - and I'm a middle aged-woman - I find all of the current iPhones far too large, too unwieldy and far too uncomfortable in my hand; I will never buy one, and shall hold onto my (almost antique) - yet very portable - iPhone SE until it dies and can no longer be repaired.

Likewise, I'd kill for an excellent 12" computer; now, I cannot abide iPads, (I need to write, a lot, for my work), but most of the current range of Apple Mac computers are - again too large, heavy, and unwieldy.

An extra pound or two in weight makes an enormous difference to someone such as me, and, while I value power, I also value reliability and portability.

Apple tried with the iPhone 12 & 13, a small phone.

It did not sell enough units as well as they liked.

It wasnt as profitable as the bigger models.

Android, that sells ~1 billion units annually worldwide compared to ~1/4th billion of iPhone, do not sell small phones either as they also do not sell well.

Only public proponent for small phones was Steve Jobs.

Apple's price range is $429-1599.

Android's are as low as $42.90 to as high as $2,599.

iPhones and Androids are used persons with multiple hand sizes and persons of multiple physical/mental genders.