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Tim Cook discussion thread [merged]

There are already so much press about Apple, why yet *another* unnecessary post.
 
[MOD NOTE]

We now have a merged thread to discuss Tim Cook and all the things he's done right and wrong.


Is it just me, or do others also need to check comparison tables to actually know/understand the difference between all Apple's products? What happened to the inherit simplicity when making buying decisions at Apple?

It feels like Apple is trying to hit too many price points and in the process are creating a convoluted and confusing product lineup that is best explained through Excel.

So, with that in mind, if Tim was sacked - and you were hired - what would your Dec 2016 line up look like?

Mine:
MacBook 12", MacBook 14"
MacBook Pro 14", MacBook Pro 16"
(tiny bezels)

Mac mini (= 14" MBP)
Mac mini (= base 16" MBP)
(no gimped 'entry' model, all SSD or Fusion as standard, dual SSD option)

iMac 24"
iMac 30"
(no gimped 'entry model', tiny bezels, 16:10 ratio, all retina, all SSD or Fusion as standard)

Mac Pro 2 x CPU model
Mac Pro 2 x GPU model

iPad Pro 12"
iPad Air 9.7"
iPad mini 7.9"
(no old models hanging around, names based on year made)

iPhone 7+
iPhone 7
iPhone 6s
iPhone SE

Apple Watch 2.0

Apple TV 4(k edition)

Thoughts?
 
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Apple Watch would be updated with same external hardware design.

Macbook Air discontinued. Macbook 12" improved internals and rose gold option.

Desktop Macs 7200rpm 3.5" minimum.

New iPad Mini with Pencil support. Mini 4 continues as is. Mini 2 gone.

iOS mouse/trackpad support.

All iPads truetone display.

Fusion drives more SSD space.

Matte screens.

17" screen options for Macbook Pro.

Mac Mini quad core and server options resumed.

Updated Mac Pro.

Redesigned iMacs and Cinema Displays.

Apple TV 4K software update if possible. Remote for games no longer required.

iPhone 7 to look like thin and broad SE.

I could go on.
 
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appleguy123 said:
I want a 16:10 4k display so bad I'd even buy an iMac to have it.
Click to expand...
Agreed. That'd be sweet (3840x2400)
[doublepost=1459835382][/doublepost]
boast said:
I would bring Apple to it's highest revenue year ever with the release of the xeon 8-core mac mini with 32GB ram and GTX 980M. Bloggers and tech sites would hail me a hero.
Click to expand...
Until it melted on your desk...:D
[doublepost=1459835537][/doublepost]
LiveM said:
Apple Watch would be updated with same external hardware design.

Macbook Air discontinued. Macbook 12" improved internals and rose gold option.

Desktop Macs 7200rpm 3.5" minimum.

New iPad Mini with Pencil support. Mini 4 continues as is. Mini 2 gone.

iOS mouse/trackpad support.

All iPads truetone display.

Fusion drives more SSD space.

Matte screens.

17" screen options for Macbook Pro.

Mac Mini quad core and server options resumed.

Updated Mac Pro.

Redesigned iMacs and Cinema Displays.

Apple TV 4K software update if possible. Remote for games no longer required.

iPhone 7 to look like thin and broad SE.

I could go on.
Click to expand...

Stand alone spinners should NEVER be allowed in a Mac again.

Quad in the mini is my sentimental favourite.;)
 
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Let's see...

Mac Mini: Starting model should be as powerful as the entry rMBP, should be upgradable, have 8GB RAM standard, have Intel Iris, and since it's a low-end computer, maybe we could forgive the hard drive, as long as it's a 7200RPM. Higher-entry should offer i7 Quad-Core as base, but with SSD or at least a Fusion drive.
iMac: 27" should have NVIDIA graphics, 21.5" needs to be slightly less powerful than the 27", but should still have high-end specs (that includes an SSD/Fusion Drive and discrete graphics!) and 4K standard (and please, 2160p, not DCI 4K)
Mac Pro: NVIDIA graphics, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM standard, and all that other stuff that needs upgrades.
MacBook: Second USB-C port, very small (adapter, not wire) USB-C to USB-A included in the box, and 14" model available as well. Also, nerf the MacBook Air.
MacBook Pro: Redesign with upgradable RAM, USB-C, all that good stuff. Make the border of the device thicker, in favour of making the "base" thinner (which will result in the same total thickness, but with more place for ports, because I WANT THAT ETHERNET). Bring back the 17" model as well.
iPad: Only one model of each size, iPad Mini stays the same, iPad Pro 9.7" should be called iPad Air 3, iPad Pro 12" should be called iPad Plus. No protruding camera, rotation switch back. Prices more consistent.
iPhone: Explaining everything I want with the iPhone would take me an hour.

These are super-unrealistic, I know, but hey, a man can only dream.
 
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Not at all. Granted new users get confused as to why they kept the Macbook Air, but other than that I find their line pretty solid. Apart from screen size differences, you just get more powerfull machines as prices increase, and unless you are after something specific, most users don't need to think about that.

Their naming scheme for things though is totally ****ed up though.

Mac Pro - Not so Pro after all, since it is 3 years old and slower than several other of their machines on several parameters.
Macbook Air - Not so air, since there's the Macbook.
iPad Air - Not so air, as you can get a Pro that is just as Air. And a smaller iPad that is more air but less Air.
iPhone SE - Nothing SE about it, a better name would have been iPhone 6 Mini to keep with the iPad/Mac naming.
OSX - Being renamed to macOS I hope. Or Mac OS, which is even better.. :p
 
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Santabean2000 said:
[Sorry mods, not sure where to post this thread; please move if necessary]

Is it just me, or do others also need to check comparison tables to actually know/understand the difference between all Apple's products? What happened to the inherit simplicity when making buying decisions at Apple?

It feels like Apple is trying to hit too many price points and in the process are creating a convoluted and confusing product lineup that is best explained through Excel.

So, with that in mind, if Tim was sacked - and you were hired - what would your Dec 2016 line up look like?

Mine:
MacBook 12", MacBook 14"
MacBook Pro 14", MacBook Pro 16"
(tiny bezels)

Mac mini (= 14" MBP)
Mac mini (= base 16" MBP)
(no gimped 'entry' model, all SSD or Fusion as standard, dual SSD option)

iMac 24"
iMac 30"
(no gimped 'entry model', tiny bezels, 16:10 ratio, all retina, all SSD or Fusion as standard)

Mac Pro 2 x CPU model
Mac Pro 2 x GPU model

iPad Pro 12"
iPad Air 9.7"
iPad mini 7.9"
(no old models hanging around, names based on year made)

iPhone 7+
iPhone 7
iPhone 6s
iPhone SE

Apple Watch 2.0

Apple TV 4(k edition)

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I'm so glad my shares are in tims hands ;)
 
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I'd sit back let the company carry on making crap loads of money and take my big pay packet, as CEO my main obligation is to keep the shareholders happy and the money rolling in. At the moment that means not changing anything.
 
There are a couple of things that I can think of when it comes to the lineup.

NO MORE spinning hard drives anymore. SSDs only everywhere, the only exception would be Time Machine.

Oh, also, the Mac Pro should be an upgradeable Mac Pro again. And make Professional Software for the Mac Pro again.

I do agree with earlier posters about the rest of the Mac Line. A 24" and a 30" Retina iMac would be fantastic.

One more thing: Use the Intel NUC as the Mac Mini. The Mac Mini should be easier to upgrade than it has been lately. Leave the tough to upgrade stuff to iPad/iPhone/Apple Watch.
 
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I'd hale in the collapse of Apple. There is no way I could manage a major international corporation. I'm sure I could make good hardware choices and approvals on UI. Not manage everything else involved.

As far as products go. I'd keep the lines up to date with current technology to justify the premium price. So the Macs would all be using Skylake and the fastest GeForce GTX mobile series would be installed. The SM951 SSD would be updated to the 950 Pro.

Mac Pro: Would go to a full tower form factor with a Single CPU and Dual CPU option. With options for Xeon or Core i7 socket 2011v3. 6 PCI-e x16 3.0 slots with 4 way SLI/Crossfire support. With several GeForce GTX and Quadro options. Updated to standard UEFI to allow for use of any video card on the market as long as their are drivers. The single CPU option would use an X99 chipset and allow overclocking. That way it can attract high end gamers and pro users. Time to take back control of the media market.

iMac: Wouldn't change much. Just allowing for a proprietary removable mobile GPU so upgrades could be sold later. The 27" model would have an SLI option with the 970m/980m. It would also have a mobile Quadro option. Probably just license the aftermarket upgrade to not waste engineering resources on making a bunch of different mobile cards.

Macbook Pro: Would be updated to better match the Dell XPS 15 and 13 which are direct competitor models. So 4K displays and GTX 960m in the 15" and 4K with Integrated Graphics in the 13. Updated to Skylake and thin bezels of course. To justify the higher price it would have the Samsung 950 Pro which is basically a generational improvement over the SM951 but far faster than the PM951 in the Dell XPS line.

Macbook Air: Update everything to current gen. Replace the screens with the current Retina standard as 4K is too power hungry.

Macbook: Probably just junk it I doubt it is selling well. If it is I'd just do the standard generational improvement.

Mac Mini: Generational hardware improvements to keep pace. Perhaps a slightly larger gamers edition using the mobile Core i7 HQ models and GeForce GTX 970m/980m.

Apple TV: HDMI 2.0 support for 4K streaming. Continue working on improving content and media partners. Most notably streaming live HD content. As that is a real deal killer for a lot of people.

Pro Software: Make it Pro again and give it tools to take on Avid and other major competitors.

Mac OS X & iOS: Continue on progress towards a more seamless unification and iCloud sync. Put more focus into ease of use and strengthening security. Reduce release cycles for new versions. Hackers will be hired to attack both OSes to help the dev team harden security and encryption.

Security: Encryption will be default with ten attempts before the key is deleted. If someone doesn't want encryption they can manually disable it or refuse to create a password when making a new account. This will increase protection for people whom don't understand or think to turn it on. Keychain will be improved to provide passwords to websites more seamlessly and can auto-generate strong passwords like a real password manager. An intro video will play explaining the need for one good password for the device to protect your other passwords. Safari will no longer automatically open "safe" files and will require user authorization before installing an add-on.

Siri: Continue language recognition improvements and integration. Bring it to Mac OS X.

iPad and iPhone: Continue generational improvements. They sell like hotcakes so why screw up the golden goose.

iCloud: Increase backup/sync capacity to cover the storage requirements of the customers idevices. Extra storage space is paid for. Make it easier to understand what files are on iCloud. Add Time Machine support for full OS X backup if someone wants to pay the iCloud storage premium.
 
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"Psst...Tim. What do you think I should do?"

I'd probably try and figure out the landscape for VR (perhaps gaming falls in line with this), consider options competing/cooperating with Tesla. Automate more of the production line for products and consider media production and distribution as related to Apple TV (part of this is taken care of with Disney). In addition, a streaming service (no additional cost/menial add-on fee if you subscribe to Apple Music) to compete with Netflix.

Emotionally, I like the idea of selling iPods again but it would take away retail space and customer attention from more relevant products that would actually sell.

Part of me feels dirty too because it feels like I want to destroy everyone in Silicon Valley. I wouldn't take that approach. I'm a fan of what Zuckerberg is doing, I'd value partnerships more than competition.

Aren't you guys glad Tim's there?
 
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reza87 said:
"Psst...Tim. What do you think I should do?"

I'd probably try and figure out the landscape for VR (perhaps gaming falls in line with this), consider options competing/cooperating with Tesla. Automate more of the production line for products and consider media production and distribution as related to Apple TV (part of this is taken care of with Disney). In addition, a streaming service (no additional cost/menial add-on fee if you subscribe to Apple Music) to compete with Netflix.

Emotionally, I like the idea of selling iPods again but it would take away retail space and customer attention from more relevant products that would actually sell.

Part of me feels dirty too because it feels like I want to destroy everyone in Silicon Valley. I wouldn't take that approach. I'm a fan of what Zuckerberg is doing, I'd value partnerships more than competition.

Aren't you guys glad Tim's there?
Click to expand...
I'm glad here's there, but perhaps not as the one steering the overall product vision. Jony needs a strong voice to challenge his anorexic designs.
 
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