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As time goes on, Apple, the de-facto emperor of tech, will lose more of its clothes. They haven't had anything new in 10 years and each year their keynotes get

As time goes on, Apple, the de-facto emperor of tech, will lose more of its clothes. They haven't had anything new in 10 years and each year their keynotes get more typical and lacklustre. Yet, Cook is up there using all sorts of superlatives, doing cargo cult innovation.

Bud 5y ago
I guess you missed Apple Watch (which basically invented its category and leads it by a wide margin), and AirPods (also leads its category by a wide margin), and the M1 (instantly made a joke out of Intel) and most of the history of the iPhone. Kinda makes one wonder what else you've missed. Such as, basically everything. "De facto" is not hyphenated, btw, nor did you use it correctly.
- reustle 5y ago
  * Pebble: Shipped January 2013 * Android Wear OS: Released June 2014 * Pebble Time (color): February 24, 2015 * Apple Watch 1: April 24, 2015 I wouldn't say they "invented" the category.
  - Bud 5y ago
    That's because you can't assess how much better an Apple Watch is than any of those defunct joke-competitors. Others can, though, like those who actually buy smartwatches.
    - nfw2 5y ago
      Wear OS is not defunct. If Wear OS is not in the category the Apple Watch is leading, what is?
  - eknkc 5y ago
    I used the alternatives. They are not in the same category so I guess Apple invented the category.
- jimsimmons 5y ago
  Apple Watch, like iPad, is a segment that only exists because Apple is involved in it. The fact that neither of them have serious competition is enough to show how niche the segments are. If another company made the same products, they wouldn't enjoy the similar success because they lack Apple's "status" effect. Also, AirPods leadership isn't nearly as strong as you imply and is trending downwards [1]. > AirPods market share fell from 41% to 29% in the course of nine months, according to the latest Counterpoint data, but Apple remains well ahead of its nearest competitor, and most other big names remain in the 2-5% range. M1 is cool, I'll admit, but it is something that has more to do with Apple's scale. Google is coming out with Tensor cores, they've had TPUs for several years now and Samsung has had custom silicon for years as well. Large companies can afford to go into chip development and they do when they get a chance. M1 at the moment is not a standout feature. Sure, it can destroy Intel CPUs in the near future and I am looking forward to it. But I see it more of as an inevitability than Apple doing something "revolutionary" as the cool kids used to say a while back. If you are a 2 trillion company, it makes sense to move chip development in house rather than paying lofty premiums to a much smaller company. Vertical integration 101. This is what Google did with TPUs because they didn't want to pay Nvidia a lot of money. Also, why is my de facto usage incorrect (hyphenation aside)? [1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/14/airpods-market-share/ https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/14/airpods-market-share/
- mikelevins 5y ago
  While we're picking nits, whether a pair of words used as a single lexeme should be hyphenated depends on context and style standards. For example, Apple's style standards for technical publications in the 1980s and 1990s dictated that two words treated together as a modifier (an adjective or adverb) of some other lexeme should be hyphenated. That's how "de facto" is used in the OP's text. "De facto" is Latin for "in fact", or "as a matter of fact", and it retains that meaning as an English phrase. That works perfectly well modifying "emperor of tech". Of course you might not agree that Apple is the de-facto (or "de facto") emperor of tech, but that's a separate question from whether the usage is allowable.
  - Bud 5y ago
    I didn't say "allowable". I said "correctly"; it doesn't mean what GP appears to think it means. As for whether de facto specifically is hyphenated, go look it up yourself. Latin phrases are not hyphenated; that's generally agreed. This is because they are easily seen to hang together as a single unit without the added help of a hyphen, so the hyphen is redundant in this case. But yes, I am aware that most pairs of words used as a modifier, as in this case, would be hyphenated. I own about eight style guides, so I wasn't just going off randomly about that.
    - mikelevins 5y ago
      I looked it up for myself and found that different editors take different positions. To quote from one: "In some scholarly articles, you’ll find hyphenated Latin expressions (such as ex-post-facto research design or status-quo bias). Does that mean those journals’ editors or proofreaders did slapdash work? No. It’s not incorrect to hyphenate Latin phrases, but it’s unnecessary. However, some style guides may recommend hyphenating all Latin phrases used as adjectives (I’m yet to find a major one that does, though)." You've made it clear what the standard is when you're the editor, which is fine with me.
      - Bud 5y ago
        Even that editor admits that no real style guide takes that position. And of course not, because it would make no sense. The hyphen accomplishes nothing in such a case. However, although you didn't cite your source, let's call it a tie. :)
russelldjimmy 5y ago
> Cook is up there using all sorts of superlatives > keynotes get more typical and lacklustre Surely huge irony is not lost here
- jimsimmons 5y ago
  Each keynote is filled with superlatives. The product updates are lacklustre.
  - russelldjimmy 5y ago
    Ah I see the irony is still, indeed, lost.
bschwindHN 5y ago
> They haven't had anything new in 10 years I dunno, their new M1 silicon is pretty dope. Airpod Pros are the most recent thing I bought from them and they're a pleasure to use every day. They're not at the same level of innovation that they were 10 years ago, but they're also not at zero.
- jimsimmons 5y ago
  I guess I am more disappointed by their lack of self-awareness and tendency to hype up really small things. Removing headphone jack, choosing lightning cable instead of usb-c, removal of fingerprint sensor in favor of much inferior face ID and largely incremental updates to iPhones over the past few years, I am not sure they are the same company they once were. I feel quite uncomfortable watching their keynotes loaded with hyperbole.
  - op00to 5y ago
    Now you’re jumping from Apple not doing anything new in 10 years to a huge number of changes and developments Apple made over the last 10 years. Which is it?
  - MattRix 5y ago
    They keynotes are giant ads for their products, so of course they’re loaded with marketing hyperbole. Every company says those kinds of things about their products!

Bud 5y ago

I guess you missed Apple Watch (which basically invented its category and leads it by a wide margin), and AirPods (also leads its category by a wide margin), and the M1 (instantly made a joke out of Intel) and most of the history of the iPhone. Kinda makes one wonder what else you've missed. Such as, basically everything. "De facto" is not hyphenated, btw, nor did you use it correctly.

reustle 5y ago
* Pebble: Shipped January 2013 * Android Wear OS: Released June 2014 * Pebble Time (color): February 24, 2015 * Apple Watch 1: April 24, 2015 I wouldn't say they "invented" the category.
- Bud 5y ago
  That's because you can't assess how much better an Apple Watch is than any of those defunct joke-competitors. Others can, though, like those who actually buy smartwatches.
  - nfw2 5y ago
    Wear OS is not defunct. If Wear OS is not in the category the Apple Watch is leading, what is?
- eknkc 5y ago
  I used the alternatives. They are not in the same category so I guess Apple invented the category.
jimsimmons 5y ago
Apple Watch, like iPad, is a segment that only exists because Apple is involved in it. The fact that neither of them have serious competition is enough to show how niche the segments are. If another company made the same products, they wouldn't enjoy the similar success because they lack Apple's "status" effect. Also, AirPods leadership isn't nearly as strong as you imply and is trending downwards [1]. > AirPods market share fell from 41% to 29% in the course of nine months, according to the latest Counterpoint data, but Apple remains well ahead of its nearest competitor, and most other big names remain in the 2-5% range. M1 is cool, I'll admit, but it is something that has more to do with Apple's scale. Google is coming out with Tensor cores, they've had TPUs for several years now and Samsung has had custom silicon for years as well. Large companies can afford to go into chip development and they do when they get a chance. M1 at the moment is not a standout feature. Sure, it can destroy Intel CPUs in the near future and I am looking forward to it. But I see it more of as an inevitability than Apple doing something "revolutionary" as the cool kids used to say a while back. If you are a 2 trillion company, it makes sense to move chip development in house rather than paying lofty premiums to a much smaller company. Vertical integration 101. This is what Google did with TPUs because they didn't want to pay Nvidia a lot of money. Also, why is my de facto usage incorrect (hyphenation aside)? [1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/14/airpods-market-share/ https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/14/airpods-market-share/
mikelevins 5y ago
While we're picking nits, whether a pair of words used as a single lexeme should be hyphenated depends on context and style standards. For example, Apple's style standards for technical publications in the 1980s and 1990s dictated that two words treated together as a modifier (an adjective or adverb) of some other lexeme should be hyphenated. That's how "de facto" is used in the OP's text. "De facto" is Latin for "in fact", or "as a matter of fact", and it retains that meaning as an English phrase. That works perfectly well modifying "emperor of tech". Of course you might not agree that Apple is the de-facto (or "de facto") emperor of tech, but that's a separate question from whether the usage is allowable.
- Bud 5y ago
  I didn't say "allowable". I said "correctly"; it doesn't mean what GP appears to think it means. As for whether de facto specifically is hyphenated, go look it up yourself. Latin phrases are not hyphenated; that's generally agreed. This is because they are easily seen to hang together as a single unit without the added help of a hyphen, so the hyphen is redundant in this case. But yes, I am aware that most pairs of words used as a modifier, as in this case, would be hyphenated. I own about eight style guides, so I wasn't just going off randomly about that.
  - mikelevins 5y ago
    I looked it up for myself and found that different editors take different positions. To quote from one: "In some scholarly articles, you’ll find hyphenated Latin expressions (such as ex-post-facto research design or status-quo bias). Does that mean those journals’ editors or proofreaders did slapdash work? No. It’s not incorrect to hyphenate Latin phrases, but it’s unnecessary. However, some style guides may recommend hyphenating all Latin phrases used as adjectives (I’m yet to find a major one that does, though)." You've made it clear what the standard is when you're the editor, which is fine with me.
    - Bud 5y ago
      Even that editor admits that no real style guide takes that position. And of course not, because it would make no sense. The hyphen accomplishes nothing in such a case. However, although you didn't cite your source, let's call it a tie. :)

russelldjimmy 5y ago

> Cook is up there using all sorts of superlatives > keynotes get more typical and lacklustre Surely huge irony is not lost here

jimsimmons 5y ago
Each keynote is filled with superlatives. The product updates are lacklustre.
- russelldjimmy 5y ago
  Ah I see the irony is still, indeed, lost.

bschwindHN 5y ago

> They haven't had anything new in 10 years I dunno, their new M1 silicon is pretty dope. Airpod Pros are the most recent thing I bought from them and they're a pleasure to use every day. They're not at the same level of innovation that they were 10 years ago, but they're also not at zero.

jimsimmons 5y ago
I guess I am more disappointed by their lack of self-awareness and tendency to hype up really small things. Removing headphone jack, choosing lightning cable instead of usb-c, removal of fingerprint sensor in favor of much inferior face ID and largely incremental updates to iPhones over the past few years, I am not sure they are the same company they once were. I feel quite uncomfortable watching their keynotes loaded with hyperbole.
- op00to 5y ago
  Now you’re jumping from Apple not doing anything new in 10 years to a huge number of changes and developments Apple made over the last 10 years. Which is it?
- MattRix 5y ago
  They keynotes are giant ads for their products, so of course they’re loaded with marketing hyperbole. Every company says those kinds of things about their products!