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Short-sighted drivel. "In every market that Apple is in, it is the premium product." Why do you think that is, exactly? Apple has quality products because it i

Short-sighted drivel. "In every market that Apple is in, it is the premium product." Why do you think that is, exactly? Apple has quality products because it is a culture designed to produce Quality. As long as that does not stop, they will continue to absolutely pave the streets with their competitors' remains, because, frankly, no other company in the market has the company-wide culture necessary to produce the end-to-end quality that Apple does. It's far too soon to tell if they can still innovate into new and unexpected markets, but they've only released a handful of products since Jobs' death. But the truth remains: whatever market they enter, they will dominate. What do they need someone to come up with ideas? Shoot, I'll do it. How desperate do you think they are? If I show up at 1 Infinite Loop claiming to be channeling Steve Jobs, do you think they'd hire me? Hogwash. I wouldn't buy anytime soon either, but only because the stock price will continue to fall as short-sighted investors keep believing things like this.

fumar 14y ago
"Apple has quality products because it is a culture designed to produce Quality" Steve Jobs was a big part of defining that Quality culture. Culture is not static. Jobs was able to direct his teams towards specific goals. IE. iPhone, iPad, iMacs. etc. With each new product the culture shifted. The last major shift was towards tablets and iOS. I think those shifts allowed Apple to leap their competition. Without Jobs Apple's culture has shifted again. I think we have yet to really see what will happen in the market. I am not dismissing Apple's overall ability to continue their dominance. It will be a different "culture, a different company.
btilly 14y ago
You are long on insults and short on specifics. I guarantee you, as long as quality concerns remain a major motivating factor for Apple buyers, Apple will develop competitors who attempt to deliver it as well. They will never match Apple, but eventually will deliver good enough quality for the buying market. And it isn't new ideas that they need. It is new value propositions that people will want to buy. And no, they aren't going to believe you if you show up claiming to be able to generate them. So your inability to suddenly rise to the top of Apple is not evidence against what I said.
- Steko 14y ago
  Guys been dead one year and all we hear from people like you is that innovation is dead at Apple because they haven't launched any new $50 billion products in the last 4 quarters. Steve produced a handful of what you're calling "new value propositions" in over a dozen years and most definitely had his hands all over everything Apple has launched from his death to today. Your claim that Apple probably has no new products in the pipeline is one the most laughable things I've ever read on HN. Apple is not Microsoft or Google, they don't demo a thousand shitty products five years early and hope some of them catch fire. Your claim that Apple's current product lines are all doomed is also silly and disproved by inspection of their desktop and laptop business. Apple is an innovation machine and everyone else is trying to hit a moving target. Yes it was drivel and hogwash.
  - btilly 14y ago
    You say people like you as if I was in bad company. Read point 5 of http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html to see someone who is generally respected in these parts on the exact same topic. Don't forget, we've seen this play before. Apple on top of the world, Steve Jobs removed from the picture, a guy at the top with a history of execution but not innovation. (OK, the current CEO's history is in a more relevant field than Sculley's background at Pepsi...) The result was very much not pretty. They are going nowhere for a while. They are clearly ahead of the market, and they have a core constituency of fans. But I'm willing to bet money that in 10 years the luster is off, and in 20 they will be just another technology company to most of the world.

fumar 14y ago

"Apple has quality products because it is a culture designed to produce Quality" Steve Jobs was a big part of defining that Quality culture. Culture is not static. Jobs was able to direct his teams towards specific goals. IE. iPhone, iPad, iMacs. etc. With each new product the culture shifted. The last major shift was towards tablets and iOS. I think those shifts allowed Apple to leap their competition. Without Jobs Apple's culture has shifted again. I think we have yet to really see what will happen in the market. I am not dismissing Apple's overall ability to continue their dominance. It will be a different "culture, a different company.

btilly 14y ago

You are long on insults and short on specifics. I guarantee you, as long as quality concerns remain a major motivating factor for Apple buyers, Apple will develop competitors who attempt to deliver it as well. They will never match Apple, but eventually will deliver good enough quality for the buying market. And it isn't new ideas that they need. It is new value propositions that people will want to buy. And no, they aren't going to believe you if you show up claiming to be able to generate them. So your inability to suddenly rise to the top of Apple is not evidence against what I said.

Steko 14y ago
Guys been dead one year and all we hear from people like you is that innovation is dead at Apple because they haven't launched any new $50 billion products in the last 4 quarters. Steve produced a handful of what you're calling "new value propositions" in over a dozen years and most definitely had his hands all over everything Apple has launched from his death to today. Your claim that Apple probably has no new products in the pipeline is one the most laughable things I've ever read on HN. Apple is not Microsoft or Google, they don't demo a thousand shitty products five years early and hope some of them catch fire. Your claim that Apple's current product lines are all doomed is also silly and disproved by inspection of their desktop and laptop business. Apple is an innovation machine and everyone else is trying to hit a moving target. Yes it was drivel and hogwash.
- btilly 14y ago
  You say people like you as if I was in bad company. Read point 5 of http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html to see someone who is generally respected in these parts on the exact same topic. Don't forget, we've seen this play before. Apple on top of the world, Steve Jobs removed from the picture, a guy at the top with a history of execution but not innovation. (OK, the current CEO's history is in a more relevant field than Sculley's background at Pepsi...) The result was very much not pretty. They are going nowhere for a while. They are clearly ahead of the market, and they have a core constituency of fans. But I'm willing to bet money that in 10 years the luster is off, and in 20 they will be just another technology company to most of the world.