10 ms·

I think I am starting to get worried about the future of Apple. 2016 was a bad year. New iPhone has been the worst selling one in relative numbers since the iP

• Thane 10y ago
  The volume button placement opposite of the power button...
  • etatoby 10y ago
    My Android phone has that and it's infuriating!
  • rjtobin 10y ago
    I've ranted about this to friends but they didn't get it. Glad to know I'm not alone on this! Also the audio jack on the bottom: can no longer use headphones and prop the phone up on a desk when using FaceTime (which is surely a common use-case)
    • deong 10y ago
      See, I'm the opposite. I always wanted the headphone jack on the bottom because that's where it needs to be for the phone to go properly in my pocket.
      • pricechild 10y ago
        If screen rotation were free, surely you could both have what you want?
        • rjtobin 10y ago
          Problem is that the camera is on top so if you rotate the phone and stand the phone on a surface, the camera is pointing in the wrong place.
        • deong 10y ago
          It's not just the screen. The actual physical phone has to come out of my pocket upside down if the headphone jack is on the top. The volume keys are on the wrong side; if you have a home button or fingerprint reader, it's flipped upside down. I wasn't trying to make a massive deal about it, for what it's worth. Every phone I've had for probably 8 years has had the jack on the top instead of the bottom where I'd want it. It's fine. I was just chiming in to say there are legitimate reasons why it's not necessarily obvious that there's a correct answer.
• econnors 10y ago
  Anecdotally, among my (20 something year old) friends, the iPhone used to be a must-have for many reasons; now, it's only a must-have for imessage. If android phones could send "blue texts" than I'm sure many would switch over.
  • dopamean 10y ago
    Blackberries were a must have among my friends because we all wanted BBM. Some of us were pretty late getting off of Blackberry because of it.
  • etatoby 10y ago
    Isn't WhatsApp widespread enough in your circles, as a IM replacement? I thought it was quite universal. Or is it a particular feature of iMessage that WhatsApp is missing?
    • mikestew 10y ago
      Or is it a particular feature of iMessage that WhatsApp is missing? The feature called "Built into the ROM of every iPhone".
      • swolchok 10y ago
        It's not built into the ROM. iMessage got a huge update with iOS 10. If it was built into the ROM, that wouldn't be possible, because the old version would be, well, read-only.
        • artmageddon 10y ago
          Either way, iMessage comes by default, and every iPhone is guaranteed to have it. Using iMessage instead of say, Whatsapp means I don't have to download yet another app and sign up for yet another service and search for yet another user(not to mention possibly giving away personal information to Facebook) when I can already use what's already on my phone.
        • 10y ago
• mi100hael 10y ago
  Yeah it really feels like they're in full Ballmer mode and just capitalizing off of their own popularity right now rather than continuing to innovate (and doing it badly, at that). I was through-and-through a fanboy for the past 15+ years, but I've finally started moving away from the Apple ecosystem. Both their hardware & software QC has clearly been going downhill, and their design decisions are increasingly frustrating to the end user.
• beachstartup 10y ago
  they also seem to have abandoned the mac pro, and have dropped os x (mac os, ehh) support for older mac pros that are still very productive and useful (2008+) models which still have 8 xeon cores. i fear they are going into a mid-late 1990s period of stagnation and product confusion, but this time there's no steve jobs.
• joshklein 10y ago
  I'm also worried. At first, I rationalized weakness on the Mac front as a side-effect of a strategic prioritization of the mobile & cloud ecosystem. But then I got the new iPhone, and I've been surprised by my emotional reaction to it feeling buggy. It's all relatively minor in isolation; voicemail consistently fails to load messages multiple times before it succeeds, voicemail occasionally crashes, apps get stuck halfway down the screen after I swipe to check the notification screen, texts and iMessages sometimes show up hours or days late, notifications appear on the lock screen but are missing when I unlock the phone, the weather app sometimes displays a blank temperature, web sites have broken behavior with auto-playing, the state of the device when using volume controls changes unpredictably, and so on. Most of these are undoubtedly caused by my service provider, or a 3rd party app, or me fat-thumbing an interface, or my complete misperception of a UI paradigm, or are otherwise not Apple's fault. But that's entirely besides the point, because we're talking about my emotional reaction, not reality, and we're talking about something Apple used to bend over backwards to control. If the common narrative about Apple's modern successes being rooted in design sensibilities is correct, I don't see them being able to sustain leadership in the areas where they've been leading. The good news for Apple is that there still aren't better alternatives for customers who are heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem. The bad news is that there eventually will be, and also that there is material economic harm in keeping customers but losing their enthusiasm.
  • cicloid 10y ago
    Do you feel those are issues with the hardware or iOS? For me the hardware feels solid. But I see the rough edges on iOS.
    • joshklein 10y ago
      I think you're right that it's iOS rather than hardware, but Apple already has no competitive advantage in the mobile space when it comes to industrial design. Others caught up on the hardware and physical product design in the last couple years; it's now the software and service ecosystem which keep Apple customers buying iPhones.
  • cptskippy 10y ago
• k-mcgrady 10y ago
  >> "New iPhone has been the worst selling one in relative numbers since the iPhone. 1. What do you mean relative numbers? 2. Any stats to back this up, as I've seen conflicting data? Regardless, of course it's not going to be a big seller. It's the 10th(?) generation of a device everybody already owns. It's also the third year running the design hasn't changed at all (presumably as they want to make a big splash on next years 10th anniversary). As for the MacBook's, in my experience ordinary people don't really put all that much decision making into buying a computer. They want something that looks nice and almost any computer on the market has the power they need for Word, Facebook, and email. The touch bar is something all my non-tech friends think is really cool and makes them want a new MacBook. The Watch update may not have amounted to much but you're completely ignoring watchOS 3 - that was huge. They managed to make a pretty crappy device really good with only a software update. Early adopters don't need to splash out another load of cash on a piece of hardware, they can get most of the benefit through a free software update. While I agree there has been nothing mind blowing I also haven't seen anything mind blowing on an Android device or software update, a PC, or any wearable device. Also, I really struggle to find things that my iPhone/Mac don't do that I need them to do. What substantial new features did you seek from the new MacBook?
  • deong 10y ago
    While I think that its Gen-1 form is too expensive to do much to the market, the Surface Studio is as mind blowing as I can remember any PC or Mac being since maybe the first iMac.
    • fhood 10y ago
      Right, so if only it ran macOS the world would be a happy place, and I wouldn't be panicking over what I am going to replace my MBP with. I am not mentally prepared for usb-c yet Apple. I need more time to gird my loins.
    • k-mcgrady 10y ago
      The Surface Studio looks amazing but it's a niche device. Expensive and the cool features are mostly for creative work. When I said there's no innovation or missing features I was mainly referring to general use laptop computers and the parent was referencing the MacBook.
• deleted 10y ago
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• swah 10y ago
  Just look at Android phones and tablets and non-Apple notebooks: Apple will be fine. (I'm an Android user).
  • mi100hael 10y ago
    I ditched my rMBP in favor of a Dell M5510 Developer Edition because I was sick of my MBP pretty consistently freezing especially waking from sleep, or the sound drivers crashing, or my time machine backups becoming corrupted every other week. The build quality is 90% of the way there, as are a lot of smartphones like the One Plus 3 for half the price of an iPhone.
    • pfranz 10y ago
      What do you use for local backup?
      • mi100hael 10y ago
        I just have an rsync cronjob that makes an incremental backup to a network drive on my home LAN. There are some GUIs for rsync like BackInTime for those who are less inclined to deal with the command line.
• neal_jones 10y ago
  This may be a little dark, but this year is the first time I've watched an Apple conference and thought, "Man...it's like Steve Jobs is dead or something..." It is like Apple has no idea what it's doing anymore, if you went back in time and showed me the latest Apple and Microsoft products side by side I don't know that I'd be able to connect the right name to the right products. I think we're entering a new era.
• etatoby 10y ago
  I think Apple's problem is the very fact that they are trying to improve on their products, which are already considered top of the line. In doing so, they are putting out bad hardware / software choices that alienate existing users, while not attracting any substantial amount of new users. If they just kept making the same stuff with minor hardware updates, you would hear much less criticism, if any at all. As a proof, look at the complaints about their newest products, here or elsewhere. They all focus on the new features. Nobody is complaining that Apple is not trying to bring new stuff to the table. On the contrary, the problem is that they are trying hard to innovate on something that should stay in "maintenance mode." It may be a cultural American thing, because I really don't understand why they are doing it. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot.
  • TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
    They're doing it because Tim Cook isn't an innovator - so in fact there are very justified complaints that Apple isn't bring new stuff to the table, in the true meaning of new stuff. Currently I don't see anyone at Apple who's an innovator. They're all talented execution guys, but they're not inventors. There's a difference between invention and refinement. Apple has been doing a lot of refinement, but very little invention. And increasingly even the refinement is kind of sketchy. There were definitely missed opportunities. Apple could have turned Apple TV into Alexa - which would not only have been very cool, but would also have given everyone a reason to buy Apple TV. Apple could have owned the domestic IoT space and added a layer of security and reassurance that's missing from current products. Apple could have taken podcasting and created the video and audio creator's market now owned by YouTube. Don't like these? There were others. Instead we got bigger, smaller, thinner, shinier... Plus a payment system which is kind of limping along, a failed car project, a not very attractive watch, and increasingly un-special hardware and software that's actively frustrating influential professional users.
• appletoss12 10y ago
  I actually was planning on buying the next iteration of the Macbook Air after having used one at a job about a couple years ago. The specs were great and the price was great at the time. As it stands now I'm probably going to end up getting a Windows laptop. This also would have been my first foray into Mac (I use an iPhone though.)
• deleted 10y ago
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• notadoc 10y ago
  I am very worried about Apple, they seem to be focusing on the wrong things and damaging their brand goodwill in the process. The general attitude shift towards Apple and Apple products over the last year in particular has been dramatic and is overwhelmingly negative, while the company appears to be oblivious or unconcerned.
• spongeb00b 10y ago
  It's not like they had to drop an entire product line because they kept exploding.