Is Apple loosing their touch?

[Stuntman06]

As cliche as this sounds, ever since Steve died, I feel like the innovation of both new iPhones and iOS has stopped.

Jobs was a great marketer. Perhaps if Jobs were alive and his only involvement were to present at WWDC and talked about the exact same features, you'll feel like these features were magical and innovative. No offense to Tim Cook and the rest of the executives. No one currently at Apple could sell a product like Jobs could.

 

[Dmaynard83]

Sometimes I buy an Android phone to play around with. In principle, every year I do it and every time I realize how good iOS is. iOS just flows with my life.

I agree it just feels like a smoother experience on iOS. I don't need to fiddle around with the settings for hours to get it how I want. I never worry about closing apps to conserve battery.

The only thing I'll say it apple seems to wait on releasing some innovative features like NFC, LTE, haptic feedback. It's almost as if their waiting for android to beta test it before putting it on iPhones.

 

[maflynn]

Losing its touch, no, but then Apple is also dealing with much more competition then it had when Jobs was actively running the company.

I'm liking what's coming out of Apple these days but they definitely need to up their game.

 

[1Zach1]

Do I wish Apple was using cutting edge technology/design for all their products and making something that fits my desires perfectly? Yes, but I know that isn't going to happen and it definitely isn't how a for profit company works. It's frustrating at times but I don't think Apple has lost their way, it's just a different way than some, and even from how they operated in the past at times.

 

[shawndc1]

I watched the last WWDC with a friend who is a big Android guy, and every new "revolutionary" feature of the new iOS were features stolen from Android .

i feel this way also, my gf has the galaxy s5 and they have plenty of features that the iphone still doesnt have in ios8 from the keynote presentation. but i will say apple isnt as big on customization as is android and thats the problem, i still think apple needs to step up in that department, it is basically the same home screen layout since 2007, getting kinda bland now..the build quality of apple phones are perfect and actually worth something during trade in via phone company or mall 3rd party which ever. i will also state that alot of features android has taken from the iphone...the drop down menu i thought wouldve been done by apple, i believe i had that on my G1 lol, but i have a love/hate relationship for apple, more so love although they are behind on the simple things

 

[Rogifan]

Jobs was a great marketer. Perhaps if Jobs were alive and his only involvement were to present at WWDC and talked about the exact same features, you'll feel like these features were magical and innovative. No offense to Tim Cook and the rest of the executives. No one currently at Apple could sell a product like Jobs could.

This. I remember when Steve announced the iPhone 4 raved about the design comparing it to a Leica camera. Imagine if he was around to announce the iPhone 5. Everyone would have been drooling over polished chamfered edges. Nobody could sell a product like Steve Jobs. Apple's products are better than ever but they don't have anyone like Steve to sell them to you (sorry Phil).

 

[gnasher729]

Well then apparently I am not alone, and correct about my feelings.

Actually, MacDawg did tell you that you are not alone. Whether you are in touch with your feelings and correct about them, well, that's your business. However, from MacDawg's slightly sarcastic tone it should be obvious that your feelings about Apple are totally off the mark, and I agree with him 100%.

 

[Woochifer]

As cliche as this sounds, ever since Steve died, I feel like the innovation of both new iPhones and iOS has stopped. Seriously, the iPhone 5 was a joke with just a .5 inch bigger screen and the the big push for the iPhone 5s was a stupid finger scanner?
I watched the last WWDC with a friend who is a big Android guy, and every new "revolutionary" feature of the new iOS were features stolen from Android or the most popular apps. He showed me every working feature on his phone as they showed it in iOS 8. It's pathetic. And the new biggest feature is a bigger screen again?
I'm just curious at how people feel? What are the upsides of owning an iPhone still, because I feel like I'm ready to switch.

Seriously, if you're going to rate phones and OSes based on feature checklists and specs, stick with Android.

With each annual revision, Apple tends to alternate the focus between visible and under-the-hood changes with both the iPhone and iOS.

The iPhone 5s was a major change under the hood with the transition to 64-bit architecture, Touch ID (which BTW is notable because it's the first mobile fingerprint scanner that actually works well) and a big bump up in performance. The iPhone 6 will focus on the form factor and user-accessible hardware.

iOS 7 was a major change to the UI. iOS 8 concentrates on less visible changes, such as 4,000 new APIs, add-ons, and third party data sharing.

You might not be excited about iOS 8, but developers certainly are. And while these functions might already be part of Android, the big difference is in the level of security that iOS builds into things like data sharing and third party add-ons.

The iPhone 5s going 64-bit might seem boring to you, but it's the front end of an architectural transition that Apple will complete well before anybody else in the ARM world. Short-term performance improvements and building a long-term foundation for future devices that will more fully benefit from a 64-bit architecture. Touch ID might seem "stupid" to you. But, because of Touch ID, more than 80% of 5s owners now secure their phones, compared to less than half of all smartphone users.

What you regard as losing touch is nothing more than business as usual, since much of what Apple does is foundational work that pays off later on. Boring to the jaded tech bloggers who just want to see new shiny objects and long feature lists, but crucial to Apple's long-term strategy. For example, if/when Apple introduces wearables, those devices will most certainly have a logical and seamless tie-in with all of the other home, health, continuity, and/or cloud functionality they're building into OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. These are iterative steps, but also building blocks for supporting future innovations. What Apple does in the future will not happen in isolation, it will tie into what they're doing right now.

It's a different approach than Samsung throwing everything at the wall and trying to fill every conceivable market niche without any larger strategic goal other than making the quarterly numbers.

 

[chabig]

Oh. I must have skipped this bit.

"A stupid finger scanner". Again, wow. Have you used Touch ID, let me guess, it never works?

Touch ID is very good and since in iOS 8 it's open to developers it will become 100x better.

Use Samsung's "fingerprint scanner" and come back to me.

He may have used TouchID, but according to the thread title, his is loose so it's probably not working quite right.

 

[Woochifer]

The only thing I'll say it apple seems to wait on releasing some innovative features like NFC, LTE, haptic feedback. It's almost as if their waiting for android to beta test it before putting it on iPhones.

Yep, and for good reason - those "innovative" features had significant drawbacks in their early form. Early implementations of LTE would drain the battery, so Apple waited until more efficient chips became available. NFC remains non-essential given current usage levels.

If Android OEMs seem like they're beta testing new hardware with their end users, it's because they are. But, as a customer, I'd rather that somebody get a new feature right than first. With Apple, it's not the feature itself, it's the implementation.