5 ms·

I think this is mainly a question of momentum. Microsoft is benefiting from some good strategic decisions in recent past, and has a large number of legacy busin

I think this is mainly a question of momentum. Microsoft is benefiting from some good strategic decisions in recent past, and has a large number of legacy businesses that are quite profitable. Apple in the short term is too dependent on the iPhone, and it will take a few quarters to build a more robust product pipeline.

nkkollaw 8y ago
I think the more they build, the more they'll screw up. I've yet to see anything good coming out of Apple in the last few years. - force-touch touchpads are so useless than not even them use the technology to any meaningful extent - the Touchbar is completely useless, and anecdotally people stop using it after a few days - their new butterfly keyboards are a nightmare to type on (albeit that's definitely subjective), and stop functioning with dust particles, and they haven't even acknowledged the problem before being hit with 2 class actions - they've removed all useful ports from their laptops, and headphone jacks from their phones. What a shit show.
- konschubert 8y ago
  It's weird. It really looks like Steve Jobs kept the vision clear and what we're seeing now are his people cargo-culting what they saw him do. I don't know much about Steve Jobs, but I imagine he cared more about making a great product than optimizing earnings. I also think he cared more about making a great product than about forced innovation And I think that's different now, and ironically that's one of the things holding the share price back.
  - nkkollaw 8y ago
    I'm very much against the myth of Steve Jobs--e.g. I'm completely aware that he wasn't him inventing everything like the media (and himself) often claim, but I think you're completely right. We would need an Apple insider to confirm, but it just seems like some changed that took away whatever it was that they could do when he was there. Apple with Steve Jobs was great, then it sucked when he was gone, then great again while he was there, and now it sucks again. It did so well in the past that it won't go bankrupt anytime soon, but the magic is definitely gone.
  - clubm8 8y ago
    >what we're seeing now are his people cargo-culting what they saw him do. I agree 100%. Ex: Steve Jobs loved minimalism, cargo cult now insists on eliminating all ports
    - nkkollaw 8y ago
      This sums it up perfectly.
- danielor 8y ago
  Apple will continue on the trajectory that it is on, until people stop buying things on their platform. The share price will reflect this as net income is the name of the game. If and when they miss, I would expect significant changes in leadership and the direction of the company. Until then, they will keep hammering these incremental i* "improvements". The mediocre features you highlighted will not necessarily impact them if they can convince people that they are worth it.
- matthewmacleod 8y ago
  I'm sure you appreciate that this is all a little subjective though. force-touch touchpads are so useless than not even them use the technology to any meaningful extent I love this technology. Use it literally every day! the Touchbar is completely useless, and anecdotally people stop using it after a few days See above :) I quite enjoy the UX of this, especially for things like trimming video, brushed in Photoshop, stuff like that… basically gauges and pallets work quite well! - their new butterfly keyboards are a nightmare to type on (albeit that's definitely subjective), and stop functioning with dust particles, and they haven't even acknowledged the problem before being hit with 2 class actions First point is subjective as you say (and personally I now find the old keyboards weird and mushy!) Breakdown does appear to be an issue, though. they've removed all useful ports from their laptops Could have retained the HDMI I guess, but I reckon most people probably didn't use much other than that! Bit of a downgrade though, agreed. Basically, I think the "shitshow" of recent Apple devices has been a tad overstated by some people. I get that not everybody's going to be happy with those design decisions… but I don't think it's quite as "sky is falling" as we often hear.
  - nkkollaw 8y ago
    Absolutely. Besides the keyboard incident which is hardly debatable since keyboards should be able to be used to type, everything is subjective. Like it always happen, although power users (developers, graphic designers) have historically saved or at least kept Apple afloat they're now getting completely ignored. For this reason, critics from power users will be a lot more negative then critics from other types of users. The sky isn't falling, sure. We can even say that Apple is now a different company without debating whether it's for better or for worse. Definitely a lot worse for power users, though.

nkkollaw 8y ago

I think the more they build, the more they'll screw up. I've yet to see anything good coming out of Apple in the last few years. - force-touch touchpads are so useless than not even them use the technology to any meaningful extent - the Touchbar is completely useless, and anecdotally people stop using it after a few days - their new butterfly keyboards are a nightmare to type on (albeit that's definitely subjective), and stop functioning with dust particles, and they haven't even acknowledged the problem before being hit with 2 class actions - they've removed all useful ports from their laptops, and headphone jacks from their phones. What a shit show.

konschubert 8y ago
It's weird. It really looks like Steve Jobs kept the vision clear and what we're seeing now are his people cargo-culting what they saw him do. I don't know much about Steve Jobs, but I imagine he cared more about making a great product than optimizing earnings. I also think he cared more about making a great product than about forced innovation And I think that's different now, and ironically that's one of the things holding the share price back.
- nkkollaw 8y ago
  I'm very much against the myth of Steve Jobs--e.g. I'm completely aware that he wasn't him inventing everything like the media (and himself) often claim, but I think you're completely right. We would need an Apple insider to confirm, but it just seems like some changed that took away whatever it was that they could do when he was there. Apple with Steve Jobs was great, then it sucked when he was gone, then great again while he was there, and now it sucks again. It did so well in the past that it won't go bankrupt anytime soon, but the magic is definitely gone.
- clubm8 8y ago
  >what we're seeing now are his people cargo-culting what they saw him do. I agree 100%. Ex: Steve Jobs loved minimalism, cargo cult now insists on eliminating all ports
  - nkkollaw 8y ago
    This sums it up perfectly.
danielor 8y ago
Apple will continue on the trajectory that it is on, until people stop buying things on their platform. The share price will reflect this as net income is the name of the game. If and when they miss, I would expect significant changes in leadership and the direction of the company. Until then, they will keep hammering these incremental i* "improvements". The mediocre features you highlighted will not necessarily impact them if they can convince people that they are worth it.
matthewmacleod 8y ago
I'm sure you appreciate that this is all a little subjective though. force-touch touchpads are so useless than not even them use the technology to any meaningful extent I love this technology. Use it literally every day! the Touchbar is completely useless, and anecdotally people stop using it after a few days See above :) I quite enjoy the UX of this, especially for things like trimming video, brushed in Photoshop, stuff like that… basically gauges and pallets work quite well! - their new butterfly keyboards are a nightmare to type on (albeit that's definitely subjective), and stop functioning with dust particles, and they haven't even acknowledged the problem before being hit with 2 class actions First point is subjective as you say (and personally I now find the old keyboards weird and mushy!) Breakdown does appear to be an issue, though. they've removed all useful ports from their laptops Could have retained the HDMI I guess, but I reckon most people probably didn't use much other than that! Bit of a downgrade though, agreed. Basically, I think the "shitshow" of recent Apple devices has been a tad overstated by some people. I get that not everybody's going to be happy with those design decisions… but I don't think it's quite as "sky is falling" as we often hear.
- nkkollaw 8y ago
  Absolutely. Besides the keyboard incident which is hardly debatable since keyboards should be able to be used to type, everything is subjective. Like it always happen, although power users (developers, graphic designers) have historically saved or at least kept Apple afloat they're now getting completely ignored. For this reason, critics from power users will be a lot more negative then critics from other types of users. The sky isn't falling, sure. We can even say that Apple is now a different company without debating whether it's for better or for worse. Definitely a lot worse for power users, though.