The days of Apple busting out hit new products every few years may be over. According to one of the best Apple analysts, Apple has been trying to de-emphasize the “home-run” mindset that made it the most enviable company in tech.
Speaking at the recent UBS Tech Conference, Horrace Dediu claimed Apple’s cultural identity is undergoing a dramatic shift.
[contextly_auto_sidebar] Instead of being in the “new hit product business”, Dediu told said that Apple is trying to become a “services and recurring-revenue business.” The remarks came during a panel discussion with other Apple experts at the conference.
“I think Apple management has been trying to de-emphasise the hit-driven business. That’s not to say they’re not going to have more hits, but they don’t want the company to be seen as a hits business.”
Improving morale
Other analysts have become increasingly vocal about Apple’s changing strategy. Investment firm Oppenheimer said today that it believes Apple lacks the courage to innovate in important areas like AI, cloud-based services, messaging.
Apple is reportedly looking into the new product ideas related to augmented reality, self-driving cars and health tech. The iPhone has been Apple’s biggest profit driver for years, but analysts think sales will peak after 2017.
Dediu argues that constantly trying for home runs has been demoralizing for employees, so Apple CEO Tim Cook move away from that attitude.
“One of the big audiences that Tim has is actually internal employee morale,” said Dediu. “I think the hit-driven mindset is demoralizing internally, and there is a concerted effort to tone down this ‘Let’s hit home runs’ mind-set.”
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
45 responses to “Apple stops swinging for the fences”
In other words . . . . Cook wants to snuff out the remaining Jobs ideology. Sad. Cook is entirely revenue driven and with Ive’s having one foot out the door, MS takes the design lead IMO
How? the only thing that’s decent about the Surface products are the displays because they don’t sell that many, so they can actually get enough product. but other than that, the specs and pricing of the Surface products is kind of weak. No new USB-C ports, no Thunderbolt 3 support, and expensive pricing. I will admit that for a touchscreen the Surface Dial looks cool for certain users. While Griffin has had their BlueTooth PowerMate Dial ($60 vs $99 for the Surface Dial) for almost 2 years now, it doesn’t have that cool demo because it’s not touch screen, etc., but it’s essentially the same thing, so Microsoft just took the PowerMate product and adapted it for a touch screen. I know some people get all hot and bothered by touchscreen laptops, desktops, but I honestly don’t think it’s a big of a deal, maybe for certain types of users, but the fact is that macOS isn’t designed for use as a touch screen and I really don’t think Windows 10 is all that better with it. I’ve used it and I thought it sucked. It makes for impressive demos/commercials, but I honestly am NOT impressed by what I’ve used. I didn’t find myself doing things faster because it was a touchscreen laptop.
Detachable laptops aren’t new. HP’s had those for a while, Microsoft just makes a more expensive version. The Surface Studio is pretty weak on the computer side. Great screen, nice hinge design, but having it permanently mounted to the “box” is a dumb idea. They should have just made the box a stand alone unit instead of doubling as the base. When you put the screen in 20 degree angle, it hides the computer and if you have to plug or unplug a device, it’s not that convenient.
I personally wish Apple would just make a MacMini Pro or a Mac Pro mini where they put the best i7’s, with maximum RAM, etc. etc. in a box that sits on the side rather than the iMac design, so they can get rid of that ugly bulge in the back and a redesign of the hinge would be a good idea.
I just think the media and analysts are easily manipulated by Microsoft’s nonsense.
No doubt the “media” would love to see Apple fail or at least fall from their perch. They’ve been predicting it for how many years now ?
You are criticizing Microsoft for exactly what Jobs made his career on. Apple has never been the first to a product. they looks at what’s on the market and try to do it better. Microsoft is taking the same approach. Without the original surface and its success, the pc industry would be churning out the same old, ugly, fat, stupid laptops. Microsoft is innovating and inspiring the rest of the pc industry. Heck even google is taking the same approach with the pixel. If the surface and google pixel never become the world’s top seller in their respective categories, they still win. Android phone makers and pc makers will take cues from their products and success making the overall market for computers and smartphones better. WE ALL WIN If microsoft and google start innovating and pushing out top products, then apple has to respond. WE WIN EVEN MORE.
As far as no thunderbolt 3 and usb-c being a negative aspect of the surface line, that seems a bit surprising. 3/4/5 years from now when usb-c and thunderbolt 3 are ubiquitous, it would be surprising to see a surface product without them. At present, who cares. In the pc world is no lack of products with usb A connections
Bill gates is the one who saw the futility of passwords and tried to get pc makers to realize fingerprints was the way to go. PCs had fingerprint readers long long ago, it was just never executed with a standard or properly. Apple did execute it well, but touchID is not their brain child.
Perhaps if microsoft was making pcs in the late 90s when Gates was at conferences hammering on the uselessness of passwords, we would have had a pc built well with an OS integrated fingerprint reader on every PC.
As far as touch screens apple is being stubborn, or trying too hard to ‘think different’. Touch screens are everywhere now. The ATM, printers, cars, GPS devices, phones, tablets, mobile kiosk, at the cash register. Touch is why iOS has succeeded.
Apple simply does not want to cannibalize iOS sales with macOS touch devices.
Far too much of Apple’s greed (remove the sd card as the only way easy (see AFFORDABLE) to expand storage on your macbooks , and now you need to take it to the Store for a new hard drive with more space) is mistaken for design or brilliance.
I am typing this on a macbook, but honestly I will never buy another one. Where naive fanboys see revolution, I see a company milking its users for every single cent, not just dollar.
Why should any one pay $2500-$3000 for a computer, and then NEED, not want, BUT NEED to buy anything extra? Let alone hundreds of dollars of dongles?
Can anyone truly say that apple is invested in giving any customer the best product of experience out of the box?
No apple product in their current lineup give you the best possible experience out of the box. You need a dongle, or a bluetooth keyboard, etc. etc.
“I am typing this on a macbook, but honestly I will never buy another one. Where naive fanboys see revolution, I see a company milking its users for every single cent, not just dollar.” I couldn’t agree with you more. While I love OS X, I think Apple has completely missed the boat in so many areas and stagnated in others. iOS for one. My 2 year old iPhone 6 just stopped cell connection dead. Taking it in to get fixed was mind-blowing with regards to the cost. Switched to a Samsung S7 edge phone, and what a shock at how much better all round the phone and the OS is. Frankly, in the 4 or 5 years I’ve had one iPhone or another, so much that is wrong with it has not been changed. Siri? I stopped using that ages ago.. just not up to the job. A whole host of other things make me think that Apple is quite content to let the status quo remain and forget about what got them where they are. “Think Different” has definitely changed to “Think Bottom Line.”
“Apple has completely missed the boat in so many areas and stagnated in others”
Fandroid BALONEY. While Microsoft goes barking up the broken hybrid path selling 1 million units per quarter, Apple is moving 10 million iPads and putting out amazing new technology like Apple Pencil.
“My 2 year old iPhone 6 just stopped cell connection dead. ”
My less than one year old Samsung S7 Edge stopped cell connection. I had nowhere to take it. I literally cannot stand how outdated android is. It feels like I’ve stepped into a time machine traveling back to 2005. I switched back to my iPhone and have been able to enjoy the superiority of the Apple ecosystem. Continuity, Hand Off, ubiquitous telephony and messaging. This is stuff that’s not even available on android. Android is so far behind it’s hilarious.
My new MacBook Pro works seamlessly and powerfully with my iPhone 7 and I couldn’t be happier.
I’m not sure if you meant that the comment I made was “fandroid” or if I was a “fandroid” for knocking Apple’s lack of caring when it comes to it’s software and hardware. I’ve had an Samsung Galaxy S7 edge for less than a week now and no, it’s not perfect but living for years with trying to create workarounds for my man iOS devices (iPhone 4s, 5, 5s, 6 / iPad mini, iPad 2, iPad Air, iPod touch) got me thinking about switching to see what life is like “on the other side.” I still have my iPad Air for some music and photo related stuff, but the basic everyday interactions with my phone have become much easier. These include such things as the dictation of notes, messages etc. Siri is a joke. A complete joke. Dictation was such a nightmare that I just haven’t used it in so long because it seems like no one ever bothered to update it in the last 4 years to actually be better. It’s great at witty comebacks for searches but after hearing each one for the thousandth time, it gets old. Real old. On top of that, I don’t have to go out and buy a whole new phone just to get hands-free voice search options. Really… Apple couldn’t have added that feature into the 6s? I have go go out and buy a whole new phone just to get what “Ok Google” does on older Android devices?
Stuff like hand-off and continuity are maybe nice to have but not really something that I myself would find useful. What I would find nice.. very nice… is opening an app, using that app, flip over to another app for awhile, and come back to the original app and have it not reset where I was each and EVERY time. That would be a nice “continuity” that Apple could implement if they wanted to, but they don’t. Every upgraded hardware I’ve had, no matter how much memory, does this. This is awful. So far on my Android I’ve yet to experience this. Fingers crossed
As for the new MacBook Pro.. don’t get me started. Having just lost a beautiful MacBook Pro 17″ which was at least upgradable, (when they were still servicing it – they cut that off a couple years ago, along with parts – I was kind of in the market for a new MacBook. I got the MacBook Air awhile ago and as a photographer it serves me well with everything I need when I’m away from my 27″ iMac. That includes an SD card reader. Why they took this away in a “pro” model is beyond me, and don’t get me started on the dongle hell that people are up in arms about. Upgradable? No. Touchbar? Maybe nice, but useless if you clamshell your laptop and use it with a monitor. Magsafe? They took away Magsafe? Wow.. that’s a deal killer for me. I’m already on on my way to building a hackintosh.
Bottom line, Apple knows who it’s customers are. I give Tim Cook that. He knows that most of the common people don’t care about much else other than the prestige that having an iProduct brings. He’s not a visionary. Steve Jobs’ passing signalled the end of Apple’s design prowess. Jony Ive has no one to inspire his creative genius and reign him in. Welcome back to the days of John Sculley and company.
Sigh….I always feel like I have to educate everyone because I’ve been using both platforms for so long.
I have an S7 Edge collecting dust. As far as I’m concerned Android is a failure and a joke.
Messages are easier? – LOL! Even android owners understand the superiority of iMessage. Not to mention integration of iMessage across iPad and Mac. FAIL
Siri depends on usage – Google Now is a joke. I use Siri to find movies (Google Now can’t), book tables for dinner (Google Now can’t), and call an Uber (Google Now can’t). If I want to enjoy trivial pursuit, Google Now is ok.
I have no problem dictating to Siri what either Notes should be or Messages. In fact, with rich notes and rich messaging, Android looks like garbage.
“On top of that, I don’t have to go out and buy a whole new phone just to get hands-free voice search options. Really… Apple couldn’t have added that feature into the 6s? I have go go out and buy a whole new phone just to get what “Ok Google” does on older Android devices?” Typical uninformed fandroid. ONLY certain models support Ok Google with the SCREEN OFF. Older models do not. This functionality only goes back to 4.4 and MOST of the devices before 5.0 DO NOT SUPPORT this. So yes, you are mistaken. Another reason it is not supported in the iPhone 6S is the motion coprocessor. Look it up. Educate yourself.
“Stuff like hand-off and continuity are maybe nice to have but not really something that I myself would find useful. ” Yes, it’s FANTASTIC. Something that Android is IMPOTENT at implementing.
“using that app, flip over to another app for awhile, and come back to the original app and have it not reset where I was each and EVERY time” WHAT are you talking about? How long since you’ve had an iPhone? I just switched through SIX different APPS without having ANYTHING reset.
“Every upgraded hardware I’ve had, no matter how much memory, does this.” My bet is that you haven’t used an iPhone since 5.
“As for the new MacBook Pro.. don’t get me started. Having just lost a beautiful MacBook Pro 17″ which was at least upgradable, (when they were still servicing it – they cut that off a couple years ago, along with parts – I was kind of in the market for a new MacBook.” Of course! Don’t tell me, it doesn’t have some phony baloney feature that you want.
“Why they took this away in a “pro” model is beyond me” – Not everyone needs this 20 year old technology.
“and don’t get me started on the dongle hell that people are up in arms about.” There is no dongle hell except the one you’re whining ab out. I own one and haven’t had to use a dongle yet.
Upgradable? No – Is you MacBook air upgradeable? Only SSD has been replaceable on Macs since 2012.
“Touchbar? Maybe nice, but useless if you clamshell your laptop and use it with a monitor.” If you’re clam shelling, why are you complaining about dongles?
“Magsafe? They took away Magsafe? ” Where are you going to find Magsafe now?
“Bottom line, Apple knows who it’s customers are. I give Tim Cook that. He knows that most of the common people don’t care about much else other than the prestige that having an iProduct brings.” Apple brings cutting edge performance and user experience coupled with the best and longest level of support. If you weren’t so busy losing your mind, you would see that.
“He’s not a visionary. Steve Jobs’ passing signalled the end of Apple’s design prowess. Jony Ive has no one to inspire his creative genius and reign him in. Welcome back to the days of John Sculley and company.” This is a common narrative by the uninformed. Do you think Jobs single handedly designed each and every product? Do you think Jony Ive, Phil Schiller, Craig Forstall and Tony Fadell were just waiting around their offices for something to happen?
Steve passed down a philosophy of creating truly great products that allow technology to be seamless. This fact is lost on you because you’re caught in your own narrative of insane ranting and rumbling. NO OTHER OEM comes even close to offering what Apple has NOR the breadth of those devices.
People like you have always been bellyaching. That’s not something new. Reminds me of when the first iPhone came out and everyone thought it would be a flop. LOL
Again, someone on here criticizing an ‘Apple competitor’ for something Apple did the exact same way.
Siri on the iPhone 4s, siri was not tolled out to the older iPhones. Is this not the same thing that you are smacking google around for?
Why is it, everyone has to take sides, why can’t we all just be honest. I love Apple. I use a macbook, and iPhone, even set up family members with iPads.
However, if I am being honest, Apple could easily try to put the users needs ahead of their bottom line.
And please, stop saying an ‘Apple competitor’ is guilty of X, when you refuse to acknowledge Apple having done something along the same lines.
Are you reading my comment in some kind of vacuum. Did you not see that he said that Hey Siri was not rolled out to previous versions.
Apple could easily try to put the users needs ahead of their bottom line – what am I missing? A $9 cable? The fact that my device gets updates for YEARS while Android devices are forgotten about? The fact that Apple has the highest satisfaction? Why don’t you be honest and admit that you’re whining just whine.
“And please, stop saying an ‘Apple competitor’ is guilty of X, when you refuse to acknowledge Apple having done something along the same lines.” Apple has done WHAT exactly? Do you even know what you’re referring to? I’ve actually attempted to understand the reasoning behind Apple’s decisions. Have you?
Would it not be nicer if the new macbook came with a very thin lightning port for your new iPhone7 headphones? Or if your iPhone7 came with a usb-c to lightning charging cable? That way you could change yourApple iPhone from your Apple macbook?
This is the type of foolish oversight I doubt Jobs would allow.
Between the macbook pro and iPhone 7 you have spent between $2500, and $3500 dollars no? If i had invested that much $, I would demand and expect that the two products play well together out of the box.
Would it not be nicer if the new macbook came with a very thin lightning port for your new iPhone7 headphones?
A VERY THIN LIGHTNING PORT????? It’s a USB C port. USB C to lightning cable costs 20 bucks.
“Or if your iPhone7 came with a usb-c to lightning charging cable?” –
No! That would not be great! There are THOUSANDS of accessories built for lightning.
“That way you could change yourApple iPhone from your Apple macbook? –
I haven’t charged my phone from my laptop in 5 years.
“This is the type of foolish oversight I doubt Jobs would allow.”
Yours is the type of foolish and idiotic comment that sickens me.
Between the macbook pro and iPhone 7 you have spent between $2500, and $3500 dollars no? If i had invested that much $, I would demand and expect that the two products play well together out of the box.
LMFAO!!! Do you even know what you’re talking about? iTunes Wifi Sync, iTunes Match, Photos, Continuity, Hand Off etc etc etc. Apple’s ecosystem WORKS BETTER THAN ANY OTHER. You want to take a 20 buck cable and make a federal case out of it? GTFOH.
“, I think Apple has completely missed the boat in so many areas and stagnated in others.”
Stagnated heck, when it comes to their basic software they’ve gone backwards – Pages to start has had bugs for *years* that have gone unfixed, they took out features that many used daily such as mail-merge …
So this story is what someone “thinks” is going in at Apple? Wow…
I believe that’s what ANY opinion article would be. Including if you wrote one.
Man I will never understand why Cook gets a pass. I mean he got time to cement his legacy and it hasn’t been good. He is a supply chain guy not a CEO. He is very good in his area but a CEO is a whole other ballgame. Following Jobs isn’t easy but he had 5 years so how much longer before Apple becomes even more irrelevant? Well they are not irrelevant profits still there but so was Microsoft under Ballmer and he was awful.
Broken lighting cables how long has there been a manufacturing defect? How about the Apple Pencil with no place to put it? The iPhone case charger that looks pregnant I can go on and on.
Tim doesn’t design anything, so your complaints should be directed more towards Jony Ive, he’s the final decision makers for product design and I’m coming to the conclusion that’s he getting complacent. I think the new Mouse with the charging cord on the bottom vs the back of the mouse is dumb. They should have completely redesigned the Mouse, made it wireless charging. I have the older Mouse with the Magic Feet from Mobee and I have a platform that charges my wireless keyboard, space for the mouse with wireless charging and enough room to put a wireless charging iPhone if they ever get off their ass and spit that out.
if you have warranty on the iPhone/IPad, then get them to swap out the broken cable. That’s covered under warranty, and. a lot of people don’t know this.
Yeah, the iPhone charging case does look a little on the fugly side. I haven’t used one. But I do think Jony Ive needs to either spend less time with Bono and the fashion industry and more time seeing what’s out of the market and figure out something sets them apart that’s a better design that’s rugged. I think they need to focus on making products more rugged and less on esthetics. I don’t like having to baby my devices in fear of getting broken. One day I hope they come out with phones where you can throw them as hard as you want against a concrete wall 100x and nothing will happen to them. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the next “glass” iPhone’s. I hope it turns out to be a big hit.
Apple isn’t unique in making phones that suffer catastrophic failure when abused
Someone read their Apple talking points and repeated them.
Good for Apple another person repeating the what Apple would like them to.
How about moving the output jack on the iPhone from the top to the bottom so that I can’t stand my phone on end and lean it against something when playing music (like when teaching my yoga class) so I can see the screen. That’s a good design snafu too.
Or better yet, just getting rid of the jack altogether so that I can’t use it with *every single stereo everywhere*?
Dude’s making money for shareholders and frankly that’s all he needs to do to keep his job.
The best thing for true fans of Apple to do right now is to stop buying their products that are sub par.
Ugly battery case? pass. Moronic placment of the charging port for the magic mouse 2? pass. A laptop that would be ideal in 3 years? pass.
Apple is fixated on cashing in now. Selling everything they can for as much as they can. If we want the old Apple, the one that innovated, and never iterated, then they need to see a dip in their sales. As long as people keep gobbling up sub par products, we are begging for more of the same.
Mac Pros years out of date.
Charging more for laptops with less and then charging for dongles to use ports they took away – genius for Cook.
Apple Watch and even WORSE – New Apple Watch
Apple TV 4 out of date when released
Project Titan
iPad Pros outsold by older iPads 4 to 1
Hiring Universal to sell ads on Apple News
Only company that can’t seem to put a streaming tv service together
2015 MacBook Pros in huge demand because of current MacBook Pros
China and India actually loosing what little. Market share Apple has.
World market share below 10% and STILL shrinking even with new iPhone and Samsung.
LMAO! How interesting.
Mac Pros years out of date. – No argument
Charging more for laptops with less and then charging for dongles to use ports they took away.
– Charging competitive prices for laptops with MORE and faster components. Not sure why everyone is belly aching over a $9 cable.
Apple Watch and even BETTER – New Apple Watch
-The Apple Watch is fantastic. The competition can’t provide anything close in terms of functionality and ecosystem.
Apple TV 4 out of date when released –
By What Standard? I find the Apple TV4 great. Games, Apps, News, and other media right at my finger tips. It’s a new platform that’s only a year old.
Project Titan –
– What about it? Where is Google’s self driving car? Where is Google Glass? Pixel Laptop discontinued. Nexus line gone.
iPad Pros outsold by older iPads 4 to 1
– LOL! Of course! Look at the price points! Where is android’s offering? The surface sells 1/10 of the iPad.
Hiring Universal to sell ads on Apple News
-WHo cares?
Only company that can’t seem to put a streaming tv service together
-Apple wants to put together a compelling package. What do you care as long as there are alternatives like Sling? Apple Music has been great!
2015 MacBook Pros in huge demand because of current MacBook Pro having HUGE prices, lack of ports, lack of specs in comparison and dongles dongles dongles
– Uninformed exaggeration.
China and India actually loosing what little market share Apple has.
– ALL OEMs are losing marketshare. Those two markets are being flooded with low cost chines junk. Samsung has lost massive marketshare in both.
World market share below 10% and STILL shrinking even with new iPhone and Samsung issues. Imagine how things will be after January when Ifans bought their fill.
-World marketshare AT 12% and holding. At the same time, Apple is realizing 104% of mobile profits. As a business, it’s doing fantastically well.
Jobs made big money by selling great innovative products people wanted at high prices. Cook makes big money by charging HUGE prices for less product, different sizes of same products and dongles you need for ports Apple saves money by taking away. HILARIOUS
– You’re being ignorant of Apple’s massive improvements in the past 5 years. It’s HILARIOUS that people like you are so blind to reality and are building a narrative based on your uninformed opinions.
Don’t forget removing the output jack entirely from the iPhone so that *millions* of people can no longer use it on their home stereo, at work, in the car …
Lightening port, bluetooth is your friend.
My old home stereo doesn’t have lightning port or bluetooth, it has a cord; my car doesn’t have a lightning port or bluetooth, it has a cord; the yoga studio where I teach doesn’t have lightning port or bluetooth, it has a cord; the other yoga studio where I teach doesn’t have a lightning port or bluetooth, it has a cord; the *third* yoga studio where I teach yoga doesn’t have lightning port or bluetooth, it has a cord; the gym where I teach yoga doesn’t have lightning port or bluetooth, it has a cord.
See my point?
yes i see your point – time to step out of the 70s.. all new iPhones come with a ‘cord’
Dude the 70’s *ruled*!
I don’t expect Apple to come up with ground breaking products on any regularity. But at least update the products with current HW. And quit taking features away while dramatically raising prices and charging for dongles, that’s really just plain fleecing your extremely loyal customers because you can’t maintain market share with dull, overpriced products.
If Apple does not want to make “Pro” MacBooks that’s fine, but quit calling and charging $$$$ like they are “Pro”. Or maybe charging $$$ for ONE like they are TWO PRO laptops.
“quit taking features away while dramatically raising prices and charging for dongles”
LOL…are you upset about a $9 cable? Really?
I remember when I used to buy a computer, I had to buy parallel cables or SCSI cables or USB cables etc etc etc.
What about MacBook Pro is not Pro exactly? The lack of 32GB RAM limited by Skylake? What exactly are you whining about?
If Apple wants to pay for their new office buildings and hopefully earn my loyalty back, they better wake the **** up. I’ll buy the last generation MacBook PRO that at least can be upgraded to entry level PRO standards and build a hackintosh before buying crippled lackluster machines that are missing PRO features. I use software TODAY (Logic Pro, Ableton Live & photoshop) that literally cripple today’s MacBook Pro.
Apple has TOTALLY forgotten that you MUST feed the PRO market & the consumer market will follow because PROfessionals are using the same hardware. THAT was what got Apple here in the first place.
WAKE UP APPLE.
This article has a negative twist, when it should be the other way around.
Dediu is saying that Apple is moving to more recurrent income – which is a good thing, more services – which is a good thing because of margins, and also reducing the emphasis on the homerun hit – which will reduce employee frustration and that is ALSO a good thing.
Of course, Apple will continue to look for homeruns, but reduce the reliance on them.
These are all good news that will make the income and profits more stable and more easy to obtain growth when all cilinders are firing. This should please any stockholder.
Exactly.
This is also the solution to what Wall Street has been whining about forever – that 65% of Apple’s income is made by the iPhone.
Of course, they completely give a pass to Google for ***92%*** of their income coming from advertising…
advertising is not a hardware product. and google is invested in several other markets. any hardware compnay that is reliant upon one major customer or one major product should be uneasy. Luckily apple is trying to push its other products
LOL. Google is even MORE dependent on “one major product” – search advertising – than just about any other major company in existence. And most of it’s other products not only DON’T help, they suck resources *away* from the larger company.
The other 35% of Apple that is not iPhone is VERY profitable. The so-called “flop” – Apple Watch – is more profitable than ALL of Amazon. And that’s just one or two percent of Apple.
To be fair amazon dumps most of its ‘income’ or would be profit, into R&D.
More capex than R&D.
inspirational!!
Meanwhile, consumer morale is at an all time low. Good call, Tim.
It’s amusing to read a thinker’s opinion. Do I have to accept it? No. Do I have the right for my own opinion? Yes. I think that Apple has certainly become a money-first company. But fandroids satanize Apple to the core but forget one thing: what do costumers really need. Apple certainly offers some heluva great products and people will always be buying iPhones, Macbook pro’s, iMacs etc. Why? Because they offer certain quality that lasts. My x-year old Macbook Air works like a pro, my iPhone 6 as well. Yes I did pay a lot, but I bought a lot of QUALITY, that (btw) looks good and every other OEM tries/tried to copy the key things.
The long lasting quality, the great service, etc. That’s something other companies won’t be able to compete with so easily.
Yes you need dongles from now. But we’re in a transition in technology and somebody has to start it. Others will certainly follow, you’ll find out soon. Apple removed the headphone jack, it is painful for some and Apple will get some extra money but others will also remove it, others implement force touch as well, others will also try to build an ecosystem, but Apple already rocks it. Tim Cook is a complete leader, both for the share owners and for the future of quality products.
Who is a professional?
Designer? Engineer? Archtitect?
What are their needs? What are they missing out when buying a Macbook Pro for example? Ports? Get an universal dongle and problem(s) solved.
It’s a transition period, others will soon have only usb-c ports as well.
The Mac Pro should have the ‘Pro’ removed.. just call it the The Mac..
Get rid of Tim Cook and we’ll might see some home run products.
How about re-focusing on their software that’s really going to crap the last few years, try making that the best it can be.
“Pages” I’m looking at you …!