New Products

[Dr James Beam]

1) Apple needs to focus on new products with price points accessible to most people. Current products are old and stodgy.

2) Apple needs to keep ALL products Top Secret until unavailing at the Apple Events (1 -2 times/year). This was one of Steve Jobs great marketing gifts.

3) Lower costs of services to be more competitive.

Thank you.

 

[ejb190]

Concerning 1 and 3, Apple has always been a premium product at a higher price point. And it's worked out pretty well for them so far. They always go through cycles where the competition catches up with them, the pundits say Apple is finished, then the next product comes out. On these two points, I disagree with you.

Now, bringing in your point 2 - I agree. Apple seems to have told us the exact road map they are going down. But there also seems to be a lack of ground breaking products. Since Jobs is gone, Apple seems to have become more evolutionary than revolutionary.

 

[drrich2]

Historically Apple enters a pre-existing market and brings an evolutionary advance in a premium product form (e.g.: personal computers, smart phones, watches, music via iTunes/iPods/iPhones). Entering the transforming a technology sector is no easy thing. They've tried to break into the t.v. and car markets; Car Play is very much a thing, but not driving down the road in an Apple branded car.

I disagree on the top secret till release. While that might please those with a need for drama, it can create ill will. Decades ago I bought an Apple Mac Centris 650, a nice (albeit expensive) Mac of its time. Yay for me. But that was back when new releases could indeed be surprises, and people who'd bought to Mac IIvx at half the performance for about the same money were...ticked off. Lower price points have historically not been Apple's focus, though occasionally they veer that way (e.g.: Mac Mini, some iMacs).

Apple doesn't tend to drop product prices much over their life cycle. It helps people avoid buyers' rage when they at least have some inkling what might be coming down the pike, and when. Yeah, we don't consistently know exact specifics, but often some idea.

Lower cost of services - you mean the paid tiers of storage, etc...?