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Correct. People think that stuff like iPhone can just be created, if there is enough will and innovation. The iPhone is the most successful consumer electronics

Correct. People think that stuff like iPhone can just be created, if there is enough will and innovation. The iPhone is the most successful consumer electronics product of all time, and might also be the most profitable product on an yearly average basis. Failure to recreate that is not bad. Expecting any company to keep churning out things like the iPhone would be too harsh.

JKCalhoun 7y ago
It's more nuanced than that — things like smart phones require the serendipity of any number of both technological and even cultural events before they are born. The Newton is an interesting foil. Why wasn't the Newton the first smart phone? Early internet, barely a high-speed cellular infrastructure, silicon not quite small and efficient enough, no lithium batteries, cost.... Saying the Newton was "ahead of its time" is really a way of saying all the right bits and pieces weren't there yet. We'll know what the next "big thing" is after it happens. You can't force it though regardless of the dollars you have for R&D. Just MHO.
sneak 7y ago
Apple is Apple because every ten years or so they take an existing product category and make it worlds better than anyone has ever before. They’ve done this with workstations (iMac), laptops (iBook then PowerBook then unibody/retina), they’ve done this with phones, and they’ve done this with in-ear headphones. They almost did it with wireless speakers (the HomePod is an absolute engineering marvel, entirely unparalleled as a speaker), but they left out bluetooth in a platform play for AirPlay on their own phones/tablets, and it basically flopped. It would have been an airpods-level success if it were a record player that could play everybody’s records. People keep talking about how they might do it with cars, or televisions, or glasses, or whatever. But so far, as yet, that has failed to materialize. Edit: I left out the watch, despite it being the best selling watch. It isn’t as better than a normal watch as an iPhone was better than a blackberry; it is merely sufficient: great, but certainly not insanely so. If it could support Google Assistant instead of Siri, and had better bluetooth device support, and didn’t require an iphone, it might be. But the watch presently really just falls short of the Apple level expectation for a product. To be fair, that level is literally “insane”.
- mantap 7y ago
  HomePod flopped because few people want to spend hundreds of dollars on Siri when they could spend tens of dollars on Google home which is a better voice assistant. Having good audio quality doesn't explain the price tag when you can pair Google home with a dumb speaker if you find the audio quality is insufficient.
  - novok 7y ago
    An equivalent quality speaker + amp system, etc will cost you about the same or more, take up more space and create a wire mess.
01100011 7y ago
I dunno, but it seems like the iPhone was a product of many technological advances coming together at once, and Apple's key addition was to execute it in a way that made it appealing to the masses. So, I don't expect Apple to make a teleporter, or home fusion energy, or something that doesn't exist. I expect them to take something that is possible, like VR/AR, like videoconferencing, like IPTV.. even just computers and cellphones, and to execute them in a way that makes them the best designed product in the industry. Lately, it seems like they've been failing to do that. At this point, it seems like they're just a fashion brand whose products lack a compelling advantage over their competitors' products. Apple needs a guy like Steve Jobs to raise the standards and drive the company to meet them. Under Cook, it seems like they're sliding into mediocrity.
- enitihas 7y ago
  Curiously, what other products launched by any other company have had a similar effect as the iPhone.
- abalone 7y ago
  > I expect them to take something that is possible... and to execute them in a way that makes them the best designed product in the industry. I mean they just did that with smart watches and earbuds, under Cook. They are totally dominating those categories with uncontroversially the best designed products. Not good enough for you?
wbl 7y ago
How are you measuring success? I would say the digital quartz watch was far more disruptive and certainly moved more units. It's definitely consumer electronics.

JKCalhoun 7y ago

It's more nuanced than that — things like smart phones require the serendipity of any number of both technological and even cultural events before they are born. The Newton is an interesting foil. Why wasn't the Newton the first smart phone? Early internet, barely a high-speed cellular infrastructure, silicon not quite small and efficient enough, no lithium batteries, cost.... Saying the Newton was "ahead of its time" is really a way of saying all the right bits and pieces weren't there yet. We'll know what the next "big thing" is after it happens. You can't force it though regardless of the dollars you have for R&D. Just MHO.

sneak 7y ago

Apple is Apple because every ten years or so they take an existing product category and make it worlds better than anyone has ever before. They’ve done this with workstations (iMac), laptops (iBook then PowerBook then unibody/retina), they’ve done this with phones, and they’ve done this with in-ear headphones. They almost did it with wireless speakers (the HomePod is an absolute engineering marvel, entirely unparalleled as a speaker), but they left out bluetooth in a platform play for AirPlay on their own phones/tablets, and it basically flopped. It would have been an airpods-level success if it were a record player that could play everybody’s records. People keep talking about how they might do it with cars, or televisions, or glasses, or whatever. But so far, as yet, that has failed to materialize. Edit: I left out the watch, despite it being the best selling watch. It isn’t as better than a normal watch as an iPhone was better than a blackberry; it is merely sufficient: great, but certainly not insanely so. If it could support Google Assistant instead of Siri, and had better bluetooth device support, and didn’t require an iphone, it might be. But the watch presently really just falls short of the Apple level expectation for a product. To be fair, that level is literally “insane”.

mantap 7y ago
HomePod flopped because few people want to spend hundreds of dollars on Siri when they could spend tens of dollars on Google home which is a better voice assistant. Having good audio quality doesn't explain the price tag when you can pair Google home with a dumb speaker if you find the audio quality is insufficient.
- novok 7y ago
  An equivalent quality speaker + amp system, etc will cost you about the same or more, take up more space and create a wire mess.

01100011 7y ago

I dunno, but it seems like the iPhone was a product of many technological advances coming together at once, and Apple's key addition was to execute it in a way that made it appealing to the masses. So, I don't expect Apple to make a teleporter, or home fusion energy, or something that doesn't exist. I expect them to take something that is possible, like VR/AR, like videoconferencing, like IPTV.. even just computers and cellphones, and to execute them in a way that makes them the best designed product in the industry. Lately, it seems like they've been failing to do that. At this point, it seems like they're just a fashion brand whose products lack a compelling advantage over their competitors' products. Apple needs a guy like Steve Jobs to raise the standards and drive the company to meet them. Under Cook, it seems like they're sliding into mediocrity.

enitihas 7y ago
Curiously, what other products launched by any other company have had a similar effect as the iPhone.
abalone 7y ago
> I expect them to take something that is possible... and to execute them in a way that makes them the best designed product in the industry. I mean they just did that with smart watches and earbuds, under Cook. They are totally dominating those categories with uncontroversially the best designed products. Not good enough for you?

wbl 7y ago

How are you measuring success? I would say the digital quartz watch was far more disruptive and certainly moved more units. It's definitely consumer electronics.