
Apple Inc: A Pre-Mortem - imartin2k
https://medium.com/adventures-in-consumer-technology/apple-inc-a-pre-mortem-568d1a0b7d72
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qwrusz
> "It is not easy to evaluate a company I love as if they have failed."

Clearly. I realize Apple headlines get clicks but this blog post is
hilariously myopic or sarcastic trolling or both. I'm still not sure what the
author even means by "failed".

Apple is a business, not iKumbaya computer camp. Any realistic discussion of
how Apple could "fail" as a company would not give that much attention to the
Apple Watch and Apple TV. As symptomatic of problems as those products might
be, if Apple is going to massively fail then iPhone/iOS is really all that
matters. It dominates the company internally and externally.

Companies have ups and downs...People come and go. Of all companies, anyone
aware of Apple's history should get this. Also if Apple fails who will replace
its market share? Microsoft? Apple could in theory buy Microsoft tomorrow if
it wanted to (doubt gov would let them).

I'm as annoyed as others about Apple product decisions recently (the latest
phone and laptop released 1 month apart don't have compatible ports, ffs
Timmy).

Sorry to say but a company can fail for you as their customer and no longer
make and sell stuff that fit your needs, and that doesn't mean the company has
failed. They are on a bad run lately but give it a minute. But if Apple does
decide to break up with its prosumer segment of customers, its not you, it's
them. It'll be OK.

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stcredzero
_Also if Apple fails who will replace its market share? Microsoft?_

What if it's failure to keep the lead in innovation? Maybe being on the ropes
and being declared dead or irrelevant is what it takes to motivate innovation?
There was a time when Steve Jobs was told he should sell off Apple's assets
and shut the doors. Right after that is when one becomes desperate enough to
do something really new.

~~~
qwrusz
Does Apple have a lead in innovation to even keep?

You may be right, being on the ropes and declared dead can be a catalyst to
motivate innovation. But that's not much help here. Apple is nowhere near the
ropes or being declared dead; not in any practical, rational sense of the
words.

Maybe Apple has plenty of innovation happening they don't release or it's
comfortable it can hit the On-switch when it wants to? Unlike Apple's need to
make a comeback back in 1997 there is less incentive to release major "really
new" stuff today in as quick a cycle as they used to. It can actually hurt
them long-term if that pace continued.

"How fast do you need to be to outrun a bear chasing you?...Just faster than
the guy next to you."

------
hobarrera
I was kind of worried, since we hadn't seen an "Apple is dying" article for
about two weeks now!

~~~
nkkollaw
Thought the same thing.

All this because of how much their last keynote sucked?

Honestly, I was waiting for a retina Air and I was very bummed—to the point of
looking at alternatives and trying Linux for a couple weeks—but I've tried the
new MacBook at the Apple store a few times, and while I still think it's
extremely overpriced, there are still no better laptops around on many
metrics. The keyboard is absolutely awesome to type on, I can type about twice
as fast on it. Since their trackpad was already the best, they now have the
best trackpad and the best keyboard on the market.

I'm buying the new MacBook (the one without their retarded touchbar), and it
looks like a lot of other people are doing the same thing.

If they stop removing ports and headphone jacks, they should be alright for
another couple of decades.

~~~
Clubber
Yes, the MacBook is the future air. I just wish they had put another port on
the opposite side.

I use a 2013 15" rMBP as my laptop. The only port I use is the magsafe. You
notice them missing on the occasion you need them though.

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sparky_
Interesting to see the author make the case that Forstall's departure was a
fundamental mistake. Haven't seen that in too many other "Apple gloom and
doom" takes.

~~~
lobster_johnson
Forstall was the closest thing they had to Jobs, after they lost Jobs.

He was fired, according to Tim Cook, because he was acting too much like Jobs
-- he was "difficult" and "political" \-- which didn't fit into the
streamlined Apple culture that Cook was trying to cultivate.

~~~
stcredzero
_He was fired, according to Tim Cook, because he was acting too much like Jobs
-- he was "difficult" and "political"_

That's misguided Silicon Valley maneuver #1 -- acting like Steve Jobs, even
when that's not the best thing to do at the moment.

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mayoff
Apparently the Mac is not an Apple product...

