Did Apple die with Steve Jobs?

[Coaxialgamer]

They kind of died when jobs did. I mean the last major innovation they brought to the table was the original iphone (some could argue the ipad, but they basically ripped off Microsoft at the right moment)

[Coaxialgamer]

I don't think so. It's not like they stopped innovating when he died. Just because they haven't revolutionized anything yet since he died doesn't mean anything. You look at the big 3 things apple did recently

- reinvent smartphones

- reinvent tablets

- digital music revolution

They got lucky with tablets because its pretty much an extension of their smartphone/iOS business. It's hard to make a big bang, you can't expect one every 3 years.

They havent reinvented the smartphone and tablet, both were ideas by steve jobs and they only added upgrades

[Coaxialgamer]

Can we please stop talking about Jobs as if he personally designed every well made product apple ever released and had nothing to do with the bad stuff? Apple has released very well designed products in the past, but they also released some utter garbage, even in the Jobs days.

Recently the mess-ups seem to be more frequent, but frankly I believe it's just a result of their market analysis. What WE consider terrible design may still appeal to the average non-techie Joe. Aside from the battery cover, which I can't see the appeal of for anyone at all, the rest can sound very nice to people who don't know anything about tech. Seeing laptops that are thinner than a (paper) notebook that "only need one port!" can truly impress these people, even if we know it's a bad idea. The apple watch looks cool, and to someone who doesn't know any OTHER smartwatches exist appears to be a miracle. Remember that apple invests tons of money into advertisements.

Well the asus zenbook 2 is actually thinner than it, and its probably not the only one. Apple isnjust pushing their marketing tactics tonmake people think the mackbook is the thinnest laptop.

[nekomata]

I think I know how apple is really making their money this year! Selling dongles. Think about it, the mackbook now has 1 port and thr dongles are expensive as hell. They're gpnna make a dongle for the ipad pro and the "pencil" so it "becomes more flexible and allows you to ccharge both at the same time" cause that's just innovatin!

You forgot turnip

[Prysin]

i think the fact that jobs was the asshole we have now come to know really drove innovation...

if even half the rumors of him sacking people spontaneously or sacking them for not performing as well as he wanted is true... then yes... people would innovate, if only to keep their jobs (huehuehue).

However, the current leadership seems a bit complacent. They are not hungry enough. They make more money then any competitor, mostly because the competitors cannot fight on brand name alone. They must fight with hardware and software. Something that is A LOT more expensive to do....

Jobs created a cult. He laid the groundwork for todays complacency. If he hadnt elevated apple to what it is today, then todays complacency and mediocre products would have sunk the company by now.

[ShadowCaptain]

Not at all, Apple is not dead or dying, they are just going through a rather strange patch

 

I think the market is all over the place at the moment, I dont even think consumers know what they want right now, 

 

I mean, its not just Apple that are guilty or releasing poorly thought out products lately, so is almost everyone else, everything just seems a bit off lately

 

And as far as "re using old ideas" goes, so is every flipping company

 

Heck we had convertible computers, and windows tablets, like 10 years ago, the concept is nothing new, heck I had a windows touch screen PDA and folding keyboard when I was in high school - literally nothing has changed

 

I also think the geeky tech people are 100% out of touch with the average joe, who expect a completely different experience to us, they care about the lovely shopping experience, pretty stores and website,  nice packaging, support desks, sexy products, easy to use

 

Some average person wanting a laptop isnt like "omg but how many ghz does it have" he just wants to facebook his mates and watch netflix, and for it to look really nice etc

 

I feel like Apple are just experimenting, and are a little lost, at the moment the tech industry is kind of shotgunning ideas around, some stick, some dont, apple used to have a laser like focus with their products, but with the market becoming over saturated, and consumers feeling lost, its hard for Apple NOT to get lost too

 

I mean really, I am not sure even what I want them to make

 

And SO many flawed products are being released these days, I can pick flaws with almost every product on the flipping market, even ones people say are superior to whatever apple are making, they are not exactly perfect either

 

ALSO - price to performance, and cost ratios are not important to many consumers - prices are dictated by the market, not processing performance

[Sauron]

Well the asus zenbook 2 is actually thinner than it, and its probably not the only one. Apple isnjust pushing their marketing tactics tonmake people think the mackbook is the thinnest laptop.

 

I know that, and you know that too, but the average Joe barely even knows asus makes laptops. Marketing, as you said, is key.

[DebatED Nothing]

Honestly I think they're pretty much going on as they always have been, we're just over analysing some dumb shit in the last few years. Apple have always been for the average user (excluding the first few PCs they made) with a gradual trend towards less expand-ability, and more simple, closed in systems.

[Fgtfv567]

Apple used to take working products, and make them look nice while still functional. Now they take working products, make them look premium, and lower their functionality by quite a bit.

THIS.^^^

[Fgtfv567]

 

 

 

Whats changed since he died?

A crappy 99 dollar battery case (basically Apple agreeing that the battery's not good enough)

Making the iphone even more slim (rumours of taking out the 3.5mm jack just to do so) and sacrificing battery (see above)

A huge ipad meant to replace a laptop but fails due to ios' limitations (how do you charge the pencil when it sticks out? That's not very easy to stick in your bag except at an angle)

The dreadful Macbook that NCIX recently did a video on

 

Do you need more, I hope 2016 won't be as bad as this

[DebatED Nothing]

A crappy 99 dollar battery case (basically Apple agreeing that the battery's not good enough)

Most of the "stupid" design decisions about that case are specifically to avoid breaching any of mophies' many patents. Do some research before criticizing decisions. No, I'm not saying they needed to make one, that they should have made one, or that it's a good product, but the decisions made were made for a specific reason, not just because they decided to make an ugly case.

[Fgtfv567]

 

 

- reinvent smartphones

- reinvent tablets

- digital music revolution

 

Reinvent and revolution HOW? Specifically how?

 

Make a bigger phone? For apple they're reinventing THEIR OWN phones, other phones have big screens too. Force touch? My mom owns a 6S plus, and neither of us use it. (there's not much functionality on the iphone or on the macbook)

 

Make a bigger ipad? That's all it is, just a bigger ipad. Besides the ramped up processor, can't you run all the other creation apps and the "pencil" on an air 2? Damn thing's still limited by the mobile versions of photoshop, etc, and doesn't offer a full experience like on a surface (which I'd much rather use)

 

Apple music? A new streaming service? So what, what's the difference between it and something like spotify?

[Fgtfv567]

Most of the "stupid" design decisions about that case are specifically to avoid breaching any of mophies' many patents. Do some research before criticizing decisions. No, I'm not saying they needed to make one, that they should have made one, or that it's a good product, but the decisions made were made for a specific reason, not just because they decided to make an ugly case.

I say it's crappy as the battery only gets doesn't get you up to a full charge compared to a mophie air, and it grabs tons of lint after you put it in your pocket

Regardless or not if it crosses patents (apple's been in plenty of lawsuits), a bad decision is still a bad decision, and first impressions still matter for something

[TechStyle]

Watch a Tim Cook commercial, and watch him explain a technology that's existed for decades. Then, watch him tell you how it's a revolutionary breakthrough for technology.

 

Repeat. 

 

There, you have every new Apple commercial.

 

These are the same critiques made when Jobs introduced the first iPhone.

 

Apple is far from dead. They continue to experience growth where others face decline (smartphone market). While Apple has made some interesting design choices this year (their battery case comes to mind) Apple has always made odd and downright unpractical products every so often. Mighty mouse anyone?

[Bajantechnician]

after watching some old Apple tech launches it seems like Apple under Steve Jobs was the most innovative company at the time, seeing what he compared the original Air to it seems to me like every product he brought out was a game changer and well worth the price.

 

Now Apples turned to shit, I just hate to have seen Tim Cook run the company into the ground even if they still do make a hefty profit.

 

What do you think?

their ideas died

[Kobathor]

These are the same critiques made when Jobs introduced the first iPhone.

 

Apple is far from dead. They continue to experience growth where others face decline (smartphone market). While Apple has made some interesting design choices this year (their battery case comes to mind) Apple has always made odd and downright unpractical products every so often. Mighty mouse anyone?

They've almost stopped innovating- the battery case debacle was probably to avoid patents (there's a post here somewhere.) So, it's not really a "interesting design choice," it's a downright stupid one that had to happen without licensing patents.

 

They continue to grow because they are a fad- can you walk into a Starbucks without a hipster on a Macbook? Moms buying their kids the new iPhone every year, everybody buying the new iPhone every year, people buying new Macbooks because the one they bought in 2012 for $1500 sucks now.. They keep growing because they force growth by forcing obsolescence. Oh yeah, again, they're a fad.

 

I can't say their products suck, though. I can't stand to use an iPhone for more than 5 minutes, and Mac OSX makes me feel like I want to puke- but a whole lot of people like em.

[spwath]

I think they stopped being innovative after the g4 erra. Thoes were innovative.

[EmeraldKiwi]

For those of you that voted no, have you seen the dumbass products they are now selling? Apple Pencil? The new Apple battery case? How can you say that those products are something Jobs wanted? Really stupid moves.

[LAwLz]

I don't think I agree with you OP.

In terms of profits Apple is doing better now than ever. On top of that, all the ridiculous lawsuits stopped once Jobs died (seriously, Apple was out of control for a while, even suing small local coffee shops) so the company is doing less harm to progress than before as well.

Apple is also pretty awesome when it comes to privacy and has taken a pro-consumer stance on a lot of smaller issues.

Their products are better now than ever as well, although that is probably just because of the natural progression of technology. Lots of stupid design decisions coming out as well (charger at the bottom of the mouse, pencil sticking out like an erect penis from the iPad Pro, camera bump, the battery case etc) but it's not like Steve jobs had a flawless track record either (scuffgate and antennagate comes to mind).

 

Personally I think the current Apple is far better than the old, evil Apple that Steve Jobs ruled.

[Overkilled]

Jobs would roll in his grave if he saw the shit show IOS 7+ and Yosemite are

[byalexandr]

IMO everything was so consistent when he was around, now they have all these different buttons across products, stupid things that actually came from listening to people (and still not delivering what they asked for) and a bunch of shitty advertising, but I guess that was with him as well.

[potoooooooo]

Apple went from innovating (which was good) to "copying" and rebaking things, which was ok. But now they're trying to be creative and innovative again and are just failing.

[The_Stig]

I don't think so. It's not like they stopped innovating when he died. Just because they haven't revolutionized anything yet since he died doesn't mean anything. You look at the big 3 things apple did recently

 

- reinvent smartphones

- reinvent tablets

- digital music revolution

 

They got lucky with tablets because its pretty much an extension of their smartphone/iOS business. It's hard to make a big bang, you can't expect one every 3 years.

Says "Its not like they stopped innovating when he died" then continues to list the things that Steve Jobs did. The most recent thing they "reinvented" on your list was the iPad, and that came out in 2010, almost 6 years ago.

[Yongtjunkit]

Steve Jobs died then other android and Windows phone manufacturer started copying apple

[TechStyle]

They've almost stopped innovating- the battery case debacle was probably to avoid patents (there's a post here somewhere.) So, it's not really a "interesting design choice," it's a downright stupid one that had to happen without licensing patents.

 

They continue to grow because they are a fad- can you walk into a Starbucks without a hipster on a Macbook? Moms buying their kids the new iPhone every year, everybody buying the new iPhone every year, people buying new Macbooks because the one they bought in 2012 for $1500 sucks now.. They keep growing because they force growth by forcing obsolescence. Oh yeah, again, they're a fad.

 

I can't say their products suck, though. I can't stand to use an iPhone for more than 5 minutes, and Mac OSX makes me feel like I want to puke- but a whole lot of people like em.

 

1) you choose to label a company based on stereotypes?

2) NOBODY, is forcing ANYONE to purchase Apple products.

3) hm.. a fad? Guess not all of us are trendy market researchers.