I've said people can discuss changes and what people want to see as improvements to them. I personally don't care about the lines. If you do or anyone else, so be it. I don't think anyone is wrong. Improvements typically come with any refresh of a device. If you like to see certain improvements, great. But that doesn't mean that if Apple isn't doing it to your liking, or at the speed you'd like to see, that suddenly the company itself is hurting and NEEDS to do anything. It looks like Apple is competing well by what I think matters in the end. If you disagree, cool.
Who said the company is hurting? This is not an "Apple is doomed" forecast. In fact, I say the complete opposite. That the Apple branding is still incredibly strong, that they continue to have successful sales and profits, that I still wouldn't bet against Apple at this point, etc.
No one is necessarily saying Apple needs to do anything. The issue is, some people feel Apple is resting on their laurels and on the strength of their brand. Think about it. What other company can get away with what Apple does? Nobody. The pace at which they compete is worth analyzing especially now in the face of increased competition. There's no question that Apple is losing ground on a number of different fronts. For sure hardware wise (which doesn't mean their hardware suddenly stinks, so please don't ignite that straw man) and in my opinion, also on the software side (others are reaching desktop like capabilities).
Don't we want to continue calling Apple the leader in the actual technology, instead of just the leader in sales/profits?
And this isn't just a few people here in forums. Various publications are beginning to say the same thing, some of which I've already linked to here in this thread. Do you disagree with them, too?
Does Apple have to listen to any of us? No, of course not. Will they continue to be successful if they continue doing what they're doing? Yeah, probably; who really knows. Didn't they just have a quarter that showed the first YOY loss or something? I don't remember the details, but wasn't it the first time it's ever happened? Does that concern you? And more importantly, is that really what it takes? For them to start seeing slowdown in sales and profits before we can have an honest discussion about where and how they can improve?
Please review my wishlist I posted a few pages back. Are those wishes really
that contentious or outrageous that we have to keep doing this dance? Do people really have to keep responding to such discussions with "But millions of iOS users are just fine" or "Apple's sales clearly don't indicate these improvements are needed" or with straw mans like, "these changes will alienate current iPhone users" and on and on and on? Millions of Android users are fine, too, but that doesn't stop any of us from discussing where/how Google and Android can grow.
Wouldn't those improvements benefit everyone? Whether they actually need or want to use these features is up to them. That's the beauty of being able to make a phone your own. Apple just needs to give us the power to do so.
