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

[Siliconguy]

This is a fun thought experiment.

Software.
1) Bug Hunting! Including going back to Monterey and fixing the SD card slots on ostensibly supported Macs. And this 14.4 update was unacceptable. Apple broke more than they fixed.

2) Either kill off Pages and Numbers and make Libreoffice the standard install, or at the least add ODF support to Pages and Numbers. (Never used keynote, so have no opinion on that.)

3) A formal support policy with at least two more years of security updates. You did notice that Ubuntu LTS was ten years and is now extended to 12, right?

3a) As an alternative, if Apple is going to abandon perfectly good hardware after seven years, then donate support to the Linux community so that they can have a fully functional Linux on Mx hardware by the time it drops off the supported list. No more advertising yourself as Green until you have a plan for the old machines other than dumping them in the third world for scrapping.

4) Better update management. A routine Linux update takes three or four minutes. Why does Apple's take 20 minutes?

5) Quit turning my Bluetooth back on with every update. Bluetooth is off on the iPad because I don't use it. Bluetooth is off on this MacBook Air because I use it very rarely for a mouse. If I want it on I'll turn it on.

6) Sidecar should work when an iPad is connected to a laptop (or desktop) with a cable without any need for either machine to be logged into an Apple Account, or to have bluetooth or for wifi to be turned on. (If Sidecar is supposed to always work with a direct cable connection then that is another bug to fix.)

7) Deletable useless (for me) apps. Facetime (especially on a mini) News, Home, Photobooth, Mission Control, Messages, Siri, Stickies... If I need them I'll download them again. Others undoubtedly have other apps they could toss without missing them.

Hardware.
1) Lack of ports has been a weak spot in the line up for some time. The Mac mini Pro has the minimum. The Mac Studio does have enough. This is mainly an issue with desktop machines which live to connect to things. Laptops are meant to be portable so it's not as big an issue for them, but even there having to dig for a dongle to connect something is a nuisance.

2) Add an NVME slot to the mini as a place for the Time Machine backup and infrequently used files.

3) 16 GB base RAM on any machine labeled "Pro". It should be on all of them, but I can see 8 GB on the low end laptops where battery life is the most important thing. (I'm only using 6 GB, and Libreoffice is open as well as Safari.)

4) Headphone jacks need to be on the iPads, at least on the non-Pro ones.


As for Phones and watches, I have no opinion. I have no use case for either. People who do use them do have opinions, so I would listen to them.

Similarly I haven't used iCloud since it made a mess of the tablet and two Macs at the same time. It's in the "This is wrong tool, never use this, very bad" group. Is it fixed? Can it be fixed? I don't know, it lost my trust.

 

[aj_niner]

3) A formal support policy with at least two more years of security updates. You did notice that Ubuntu LTS was ten years and is now extended to 12, right?

macOS has had ~10 years of support for >10 years.

Have you seen the stats of Macs being used for 11 years or more?

Only 5% of all Macs worldwide are on anything older than macOS Catalina.

Is it worth the time of Apple, Microsoft or even Google to support such a small user base?

How many users among that 5% would willingly pay for extended support?

Would it be sufficient to pay a $100k engineer to support them?

If anyone's stuck on hardware that's a decade or older then they're likely not in the position to pay for that support subscription.

I'm on an 11.5yo Mac because I want a 27" or larger iMac. I dont want a Mac mini + Display or Mac Studio + Display. Upgrading withing a decade is not important to me.

If a 32" 6K iMac came out in 2021 with the 24" 4.5K then that I would have bought that in a heart beat.

3a) As an alternative, if Apple is going to abandon perfectly good hardware after seven years, then donate support to the Linux community so that they can have a fully functional Linux on Mx hardware by the time it drops off the supported list. No more advertising yourself as Green until you have a plan for the old machines other than dumping them in the third world for scrapping.

macOS Intel version	Latest update	Final update	iMac	Macbook Pro	Macbook Air	Mac Pro	Mac mini	iMac Pro	Macbook
2025 macOS 16	To Be Released	2028	2020	2020	2020	2019	-	?	-
2024 macOS 15	To Be Released	2027	2019	2019	2019	2019	-	2017	-
2023 Sonoma	Mar 2024	2026	2019	2018	2018	2019	2018	2017	-
2022 Ventura	Mar 2024	2025	2017	2017	2018	2019	2018	2017	2017
2021 Monterey	Mar 2024	2024	2015	2015	2015	2013	2014	2017	2016
2020 Big Sur	Sep 2023	2023	2014	2013	2013	2013	2014	2017	2015
2019 Catalina	Jul 2022	2022	2012	2012	2012	2013	2012	2017	2015
2018 Mojave	Jul 2021	2021	2012	2012	2012	2013	2012	2017	2015
2017 High Sierra	Nov 2020	2020	2009	2010	2010	2010	2010	2017	2009
2016 Sierra	Sep 2019	2019	2009	2010	2010	2010	2010	-	2009
2015 El Capitan	Jul 2018	2018	2007	2007	2008	2008	2009	-	2008

Be aware that poor countries do buy and use 7+yo hardware because they can only afford $100 computers.

4) Better update management. A routine Linux update takes three or four minutes. Why does Apple's take 20 minutes?

It likely has more software to support? The updates are larger on macOS than Linux?

5) Quit turning my Bluetooth back on with every update. Bluetooth is off on the iPad because I don't use it. Bluetooth is off on this MacBook Air because I use it very rarely for a mouse. If I want it on I'll turn it on.

Macs are not designed for Linux users and vice versa. Apple turn it back ON on the next day to avoid support issues among personality types who do not fall into Linux users.

In other words... people buy Macs as is they're a toaster oven rather than... Linux.

6) Sidecar should work when an iPad is connected to a laptop (or desktop) with a cable without any need for either machine to be logged into an Apple Account, or to have bluetooth or for wifi to be turned on. (If Sidecar is supposed to always work with a direct cable connection then that is another bug to fix.)

Likely a process flow consistency.

7) Deletable useless (for me) apps. Facetime (especially on a mini) News, Home, Photobooth, Mission Control, Messages, Siri, Stickies... If I need them I'll download them again. Others undoubtedly have other apps they could toss without missing them.

Likely has code in the app that is used/shared by other parts of the Mac.

Hardware.
1) Lack of ports has been a weak spot in the line up for some time. The Mac mini Pro has the minimum. The Mac Studio does have enough. This is mainly an issue with desktop machines which live to connect to things. Laptops are meant to be portable so it's not as big an issue for them, but even there having to dig for a dongle to connect something is a nuisance.

Likely a product segmentation thing. Persons who need more ports likely are power users who likely should be using a Mac Studio.

Same reason why more than 2 external displays on a Macbook is for the Pro models.

2) Add an NVME slot to the mini as a place for the Time Machine backup and infrequently used files.

Would be nice to have but how many end users would actually use this? <5%?

3) 16 GB base RAM on any machine labeled "Pro". It should be on all of them, but I can see 8 GB on the low end laptops where battery life is the most important thing. (I'm only using 6 GB, and Libreoffice is open as well as Safari.)

2x RAM & 2x SSD on all SKUs at the same MSRP would be ideal.

4) Headphone jacks need to be on the iPads, at least on the non-Pro ones.

Many are making the transition to USB-C earphones.

 

[JtheLemur]

CUSTOM NOTIFICATION SOUNDS ON MACOS

THIS IS PRIORITY ONE, ALL OTHER PROJECTS ON PAUSE UNTIL SHIP

 

[john123]

CUSTOM NOTIFICATION SOUNDS ON MACOS

THIS IS PRIORITY ONE, ALL OTHER PROJECTS ON PAUSE UNTIL SHIP

The fact that this still doesn't exist boggles my mind. Related is the inability to silence FaceTime rings but keep the notifications. You have to use a custom no sound ring tone. It's insaaaaaane.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Laugh at them because they just hired a Web Developer to run a Hardware/Software company. Web Apps will come back to power with a vengeance!

 

[za9ra22]

STOP with the silly names!

I mean, Sonoma? Catalina? Monterey? This tells the user absolutely ZERO about where it is in the progression. When are we going to get to Zzyzx, and will that mean we can at last move on? And Sidecar? Stage Manager? Mission Control? Are we all children?!!

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

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

This is what nearly killed Apple in the late 90's.

Apple literally had a hundred products, and wasn't doing a lot of them to a good enough standard. When Steve Jobs returned, he obliterated the product line. Things like PowerCD (CD player), QuickTake (digital camera), PowerSpeakers, Newton (PDA), and the printers were all gone by 1998, and the company was focused on its core products - basically the Mac, Mac accessories and displays. In the background R&D went into the digital music player (iPod), then the tablet (iPad), then when they figured the tablet could be shrunk down, it turned into the iPhone and the iPad was shelved for a few years.

If I was CEO right now, to be honest I'd probably not look to change much about the current company. As a CEO, my primary job is to satisfy shareholders, so whatever achieved that to the highest degree possible would be my focus. It's a cowardly answer I know, but it's the reality - Apple is a money-making enterprise focused on luxury products.

If I could run Apple how I wanted without any accountability... I'd be focusing on trying to figure out where the puck is going to be, not where it's at. The Apple Vision Pro is a glimpse of future Apple, so how current products could naturally evolve into, or integrate with, the AVP would be important.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

STOP with the silly names!

I mean, Sonoma? Catalina? Monterey? This tells the user absolutely ZERO about where it is in the progression. When are we going to get to Zzyzx, and will that mean we can at last move on? And Sidecar? Stage Manager? Mission Control? Are we all children?!!

Serious question: what would you name all of these things, without naming what they actually are?

 

[za9ra22]

Serious question: what would you name all of these things, without naming what they actually are?

They aren't named what they are, that's the point. For example, last I heard 'sidecar', it was something bolted on the side of a motorbike. Mission Control? Yeah, can't see any mission, and there's nothing to tell me what this is. Also, there's no stage, and why does whatever it actually is need managing.

 

[Bug-Creator]

What they need, if Cook isn't the right guy, is to find another Steve Jobs. The whole industry is crying out for vision that is not about just moving pieces around on a board, but about thinking where to move the board to in the future.

If you try to hire a "visionary" you will end up with someone who has "visions", so no, no and no again.

 

[HouseLannister]

Changing my answer again: Spend big on acquisitions. Buy AOL, ATT, and Warner Bros Discovery. Then make Steve Case my VP. Mwahahaha!

 

[Jonathan.T.Harpur]

if i was made ceo i would make the following chnages

1 i would remove the minme amount of main os updates a desktop or laptops get

2 i would stop bring out new os every year and bring in like what Microsoft did a new os every 3 or 4 years to allow time to make each upgrade worth it to the customers plush i bring back buying the new os instead of free and inculced iwork imovie garageband as preinstalled on all machines instead of having to download them and make it easyer to use app for any softwear maker thats dosent use the mac app store

3 bring back having 2 product lines home and pro user and smile dowen the number of versions of the products in each device .

4 bring back self ssd ram ect upgrades on machines

5 the last thing i chnage is i would bring the ablety the clear out ur app Library in stead of just hiding them and let people use there old email address to make new apple ids instead of deleting them for ever

cant wait to her what use think of my ideas

 

[MacProFCP]

This is what nearly killed Apple in the late 90's.

Apple literally had a hundred products, and wasn't doing a lot of them to a good enough standard. When Steve Jobs returned, he obliterated the product line. Things like PowerCD (CD player), QuickTake (digital camera), PowerSpeakers, Newton (PDA), and the printers were all gone by 1998, and the company was focused on its core products - basically the Mac, Mac accessories and displays. In the background R&D went into the digital music player (iPod), then the tablet (iPad), then when they figured the tablet could be shrunk down, it turned into the iPhone and the iPad was shelved for a few years.

If I was CEO right now, to be honest I'd probably not look to change much about the current company. As a CEO, my primary job is to satisfy shareholders, so whatever achieved that to the highest degree possible would be my focus. It's a cowardly answer I know, but it's the reality - Apple is a money-making enterprise focused on luxury products.

If I could run Apple how I wanted without any accountability... I'd be focusing on trying to figure out where the puck is going to be, not where it's at. The Apple Vision Pro is a glimpse of future Apple, so how current products could naturally evolve into, or integrate with, the AVP would be important.

You misunderstand what a “bullet” is. I suggest reading up on Jim Collins.

A bullet is a relatively small investment that is meant to learn from. The original iPod was a small investment as was Apple TV and even iTunes. They just turned in large cannonballs once proven to be a successful endeavor. Then, once you have a cannonball, or more like a cannonball series of products, you launch a BHAG based on imperial evidence.

I’m suggesting that Apple deviate from only investing in large products like the Vision Pro. That was a cannonball without any bullets fired. If the Vision Pro fails, it will be billions lost, much like the Apple Car was. I’m suggesting firing more bullets because there is a lot of tech that Apple isn’t doing that the world could benefit from. Think Apple toaster oven or Apple refrigerator or… Apple aircraft avionics.

 

[Alex_nowhere]

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 fired the entire board who made me CEO then embark on a mission to find replacements who would fired myself from the CEO post….

 

[VampyricGentleman]

For me I’d like the below to happen

A. Across all devices make it easier to have custom alert sounds. Also make custom alert sounds use MP3 not the current format.

B. Better use of the raw power of the Apple M series iPad Pros, soup up the OS or make it so it is switchable with MacOS.

C. Better storage management for photos and video.

1. On iPad and iPhone, let’s at least be able to rename the files natively. Also can we do away with the two types of files that you can export from photos so that however you export you get the unmodified original.
2. Make it so that photos in your iCloud account can easily be uploaded through Safari on a Mac
3. Have a choice of ways you can synchronise photos across devices, Google Drive, OneDrive etc.

D. Update the free iCloud offering so that it at least competes with Google’s 15gb

E. Have better storage management on iPhone and iPads. Be able to clear all apps combined cache and system cache just by the press of a button in storage. Also enforce better cache storage rules for apps. I seriously don’t need the last 5gb of cache from Instagram viewing, I can‘t go back to it in many cases so what purpose does it serve?

F. In Apple TV app, where things are clearly a season ensure that they can be bought as a season as well as individually. I’m not paying £41.58 for a season when other seasons are £12.99

G. Update the iPhone/iPad mail app to accept Push from Google Workspace/Gmail accounts.

**Further thoughts**

H. Have more autocorrect languages available

I. Have a couple more sizes of monitor available including something portable


I may think of more but that is what comes to mind right now.

 

[xxr]

fire a bunch of people and start making great products again

 

[svenmany]

Fail

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

You misunderstand what a “bullet” is. I suggest reading up on Jim Collins.

A bullet is a relatively small investment that is meant to learn from. The original iPod was a small investment as was Apple TV and even iTunes. They just turned in large cannonballs once proven to be a successful endeavor. Then, once you have a cannonball, or more like a cannonball series of products, you launch a BHAG based on imperial evidence.

I’m suggesting that Apple deviate from only investing in large products like the Vision Pro. That was a cannonball without any bullets fired. If the Vision Pro fails, it will be billions lost, much like the Apple Car was. I’m suggesting firing more bullets because there is a lot of tech that Apple isn’t doing that the world could benefit from. Think Apple toaster oven or Apple refrigerator or… Apple aircraft avionics.

Oh no I totally get it, you're right - a relatively small investment. What I mean is, if $10b figure "wasted" on the Apple car is to believed, that's still a relatively small investment to Apple. They're a multi-trillion dollar company, with revenue in the hundreds of billions. Maybe that's an Apple-style bullet.

Apple is a consumer electronics company, and to an extent also becoming a service company (so Apple TV+, Apple One, etc). I'm sure they have the ability to go in the direction of a company like Samsung, Bosch, LG, or Braun, but I can't see what would motivate Apple to do so?

I'm sure an Apple toaster would look nice, and function well, but what can they reasonably innovate on that would give you the "wow" factor that almost all Apple products have? Otherwise it's just a fancy, upmarket toaster.

While I'm sure a lot of people on here will shoot me down in flames, but almost every single product Apple has introduced in the last 20 years has been absolutely cutting edge. iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods - all of them have redefined the product category they sit in.

 

[Shasterball]

I would ask them how they got my name. And then I would unsubscribe and continue on with my day.

 

[mac38728]

- Simplify the iPad Lineup; iPad Pro (11” and 12.9”), iPad Air (Two sizes also), a single standard iPad model at $399 and iPad mini.

- Rework the discontinued accessories like the MagSafe battery pack with USB-C and Find My integration.

- Get rid of FineWoven and burn all inventory

 

[throAU]

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.

As someone who's had both a 2020 model SE and a 13 mini - where apple screwed up is selling both of those phones instead of ditching the iPhone 6 era design and getting better economy of scale out of the mini to lower its cost somewhat.

There's a small phone market out there, just that right now that market is taken by the SE. If they got rid of SE production and put out a baseline iPhone 12/13 Mini based SE for $30-50 more they would sell heaps of them.

Oh the other thing I'd do as CEO is fire the Apple mouse design team and steal some people from Logitech.

I've used various Apple mice (under duress) since the 1990s and Apple has yet to build a mouse that is not total and utter trash.

Sorry but its true. Their trackpads are great, but they can't build a mouse to save their life.

 

[aj_niner]

As someone who's had both a 2020 model SE and a 13 mini - where apple screwed up is selling both of those phones instead of ditching the iPhone 6 era design and getting better economy of scale out of the mini to lower its cost somewhat.

There's a small phone market out there, just that right now that market is taken by the SE. If they got rid of SE production and put out a baseline iPhone 12/13 Mini based SE for $30-50 more they would sell heaps of them.

Oh the other thing I'd do as CEO is fire the Apple mouse design team and steal some people from Logitech.

I've used various Apple mice (under duress) since the 1990s and Apple has yet to build a mouse that is not total and utter trash.

Sorry but its true. Their trackpads are great, but they can't build a mouse to save their life.

Point to a small Android phone in the form factor of a iPhone 5s.

 

[maxoakland]

Totally agree on the videos. They're really not good

 

[GrindBoxNotGears]

Make stuff thinner

 

[Matsamoto]

Put more resources into bug fixing on all their products and software. "It just works" hasn't been true for years.

This.
I was so feed up with bugs on iOS so I bought an Android instead, Galaxy S23.

The iPhone I have to restart 2-3 times a week, and the S23 is restarted when a new update is coming, once a month.
Best decision ever.

However, i would like to give the iphone a new chance in the future🙂