3 ms·

Apple has many problems now. Android and Windows phones/tablets being a massive one. Android is now 75% of the new phones (as of Q3 of 2012), 41% of the tablet

by rorrr 14y ago

Apple has many problems now. Android and Windows phones/tablets being a massive one. Android is now 75% of the new phones (as of Q3 of 2012), 41% of the tablet market. Google is eating Apple's lunch as we speak. Microsoft is about to take a bite of their pie as well. Another big problem is - Apple hasn't invented anything in a while. They are riding the old wave, doing only incremental changes. Their OS is super stale and is sooo far behind Android. They did increase the resolution of the tablets/phones, but they don't manufacture the screens, and so now everyone has high resolution displays. From my perspective, Apple is done, unless they come up with something new and exciting. They understand it too. That's why we see lawsuits instead of innovation.

arrrg 14y ago
Does Apple need large market shares? Do they have to sell a phone to everyone? Do they even want to? Also, your line about Apple not having invented anything makes it pretty obvious that you know next to nothing about Apple’s modus operandi during the last decade. Apple does something really new every five years or so and spends the rest of the time polishing (i.e. making incremental changes). Apple was also always litigious. The lawsuits don’t have anything to do with anything. At the moment Apple’s biggest problem is that they can’t make as many iPhone 5s as the market demands. They let massive amounts of money on the table. That’s a problem, however not one that usually indicates a company being doomed.
crayola 14y ago
Another element is that, unlike Google or Amazon, Apple need big margins on their products as that is their main revenue stream. They clearly never competed on price, but that position is about to get more complicated with the new Google lineup. On another note, I admire how you avoided the (too) easy plays on words here around eating / taking a bite of the apple. "Google is eating Apple's lunch as we speak." "Microsoft is about to take a bite of their pie as well."
rimantas 14y ago
> Another big problem is - Apple hasn't invented > anything in a while. They don't invent, they reinvent. We got iPhone in 2007, iPad in 2010. Do you want to bring completely new product every year? What company does that? > Their OS is super stale and is sooo far behind Android. It's mature, not stale. I won't go into "sooo far behind", because we both know how it really is. > but they don't manufacture the screens, True. Does Google manufacture screens? Does Microsoft? > and so now everyone has high resolution displays. Not really true. > From my perspective, Apple is done From your perspective (applying the same criteria) Google and Microsoft are even more done.
dasil003 14y ago
It seems like you're suffering from Apple expectation inflation like so many pundits. When did Apple stop innovating exactly? I mean the iPad is still less than 3 years old. It's perfectly reasonable that they would be iterating on their tremendously successful product lines. It's true that Android has caught up and has advantages in some key areas, but they are selling on such razor thin margins to compete with Apple and even with much cheaper prices it doesn't seem to be hurting Apple's sales much (more like extending into the feature-phone market). Windows tablets? Well, Windows 8 is not exactly lighting the world on fire yet, it remains to be seen what kind of traction Microsoft is going to get and how long they'll have to hammer away at it for an XBox-style success. Despite Apple looking relatively more assailable, they continue to push an impressive product line forward. It's a lot harder to invent a blockbuster new product when have a suite of computing devices that already cover the range of use cases covered by Macs, iPhones and iPads. I don't understand what people expect from Apple.
nicholassmith 14y ago
Except Google isn't eating Apple's lunch. It's eating a segment of the market where Apple is less concerned about competing, if you're going to buy an Android phone it's unlikely you were going to buy an iPhone. Very few companies invent anything, they mostly work off existing concepts and bring them to market. Then make them better incrementally. A company getting ultra-high resolution laptops out to consumers? That's exciting. That'll push the state of the art forward. Everyone seems to go "They've not made any changes in the iPhone for AGES! BORING!", but they've got a pretty diverse portfolio of products that get very strong refreshes cyclically.

by rorrr 14y ago

arrrg 14y ago

Does Apple need large market shares? Do they have to sell a phone to everyone? Do they even want to? Also, your line about Apple not having invented anything makes it pretty obvious that you know next to nothing about Apple’s modus operandi during the last decade. Apple does something really new every five years or so and spends the rest of the time polishing (i.e. making incremental changes). Apple was also always litigious. The lawsuits don’t have anything to do with anything. At the moment Apple’s biggest problem is that they can’t make as many iPhone 5s as the market demands. They let massive amounts of money on the table. That’s a problem, however not one that usually indicates a company being doomed.

crayola 14y ago

Another element is that, unlike Google or Amazon, Apple need big margins on their products as that is their main revenue stream. They clearly never competed on price, but that position is about to get more complicated with the new Google lineup. On another note, I admire how you avoided the (too) easy plays on words here around eating / taking a bite of the apple. "Google is eating Apple's lunch as we speak." "Microsoft is about to take a bite of their pie as well."

rimantas 14y ago

> Another big problem is - Apple hasn't invented > anything in a while. They don't invent, they reinvent. We got iPhone in 2007, iPad in 2010. Do you want to bring completely new product every year? What company does that? > Their OS is super stale and is sooo far behind Android. It's mature, not stale. I won't go into "sooo far behind", because we both know how it really is. > but they don't manufacture the screens, True. Does Google manufacture screens? Does Microsoft? > and so now everyone has high resolution displays. Not really true. > From my perspective, Apple is done From your perspective (applying the same criteria) Google and Microsoft are even more done.

dasil003 14y ago

It seems like you're suffering from Apple expectation inflation like so many pundits. When did Apple stop innovating exactly? I mean the iPad is still less than 3 years old. It's perfectly reasonable that they would be iterating on their tremendously successful product lines. It's true that Android has caught up and has advantages in some key areas, but they are selling on such razor thin margins to compete with Apple and even with much cheaper prices it doesn't seem to be hurting Apple's sales much (more like extending into the feature-phone market). Windows tablets? Well, Windows 8 is not exactly lighting the world on fire yet, it remains to be seen what kind of traction Microsoft is going to get and how long they'll have to hammer away at it for an XBox-style success. Despite Apple looking relatively more assailable, they continue to push an impressive product line forward. It's a lot harder to invent a blockbuster new product when have a suite of computing devices that already cover the range of use cases covered by Macs, iPhones and iPads. I don't understand what people expect from Apple.

nicholassmith 14y ago

Except Google isn't eating Apple's lunch. It's eating a segment of the market where Apple is less concerned about competing, if you're going to buy an Android phone it's unlikely you were going to buy an iPhone. Very few companies invent anything, they mostly work off existing concepts and bring them to market. Then make them better incrementally. A company getting ultra-high resolution laptops out to consumers? That's exciting. That'll push the state of the art forward. Everyone seems to go "They've not made any changes in the iPhone for AGES! BORING!", but they've got a pretty diverse portfolio of products that get very strong refreshes cyclically.