
Is Apple Losing Its Way?  - olalonde
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/429315/is-apple-losing-its-way/
======
dakrisht
They're certainly not "losing" their way because they released a shitty
product in Maps, a subpar OS release in Lion and other minor issues (so far).

However, Apple is certainly not innovating like they were when Steve was
around and the market itself, in particular the smartphone market, is becoming
very mature - smartphones can only get so small, thin and fast before they
reach an apex. And think of the iPhone in relation to the Porsche 911. It's
more or less the same car for the past 50 years. Every 2-3 years Porsche makes
it better. It works for them, the consumer, the brand and the legacy. I'm not
sure why some people were expecting a Phone in the i5 that would make them
breakfast but it's a better product than already great product in the 5.

At this point, Apple is such a massive company lead by not a visionary, but a
supply chain genius in Tim Cook.

Ive leads design, but Cook has the final say. Forstall and the iOS team don't
really care to shift much and take risk in exciting new features (after all,
why take risk, if it ain't broke, don't fix it). That's why there are barely
any new and groundbreaking features in iOS 6 vs. 5 (BS on your "200 new
features" - nothing but minor tweaks) Do not disturb? Come on. It's nice but
not a keynote slide.

I LOVE Apple products, I used to destroy my eyes on Apple IIs back in the day
and have always loved what they do. I've followed (and had) most every product
they've launched. I still have a Newton somewhere and once in a while play Sim
City on OS 9 classic like a super-nerd.

I also think consumerism expects A LOT from this company. When Steve was on
stage announcing products and wowing audiences, there was innovation, risks,
big bets were being placed on products - now, the empire just runs, like a
conveyor belt. Every year, a minor upgrade. It works. It sells. It's fine.
They're not losing their way, they are just becoming a part of the status quo.
They're not challenging anything. At least in the last year or so. Leadership
is strong but they're going in a straight line. Calculated moves.

You can't blame them - this is a massive public company and one mistake will
lead to an uproar. The question is - will Apple's biggest mistake be not
taking a risk and innovating.

Remember, even the Roman Empire fell.

~~~
fingerprinter
> However, Apple is certainly not innovating like they were when Steve was
> around and the market itself, in particular the smartphone market, is
> becoming very mature - smartphones can only get so small, thin and fast
> before they reach an apex. And think of the iPhone in relation to the
> Porsche 911. It's more or less the same car for the past 50 years. Every 2-3
> years Porsche makes it better. It works for them, the consumer, the brand
> and the legacy. I'm not sure why some people were expecting a Phone in the
> i5 that would make them breakfast but it's a better product than already
> great product in the 5.

That is a great way of saying it... love the Porsche analogy.

However, I challenge you on one point. I don't think Apple EVER innovated.
Rather, they've iterated. And they did this wonderfully. Apple is notorious
for not innovating but rather taking already established ideas and doing them
much, much better than even the people who originally did them. That is their
secret. They are great and simplifying and making it oh, so pretty.

EDIT: I should caveat the above to the modern Apple era. Post 2001 or so.

And not to take anything away from this, but when most people say "innovate"
they typically mean something other than what I say above. In reality, the
groundbreaking new features are never from Apple. If you looked at the
marketplace, someone, somewhere already had those features. Apple just did it
better a year later. That is what they do, no shame in it either...but they
are not an innovative company.

~~~
quesera
> most people say "innovate" they typically mean something other than what I
> say above.

Have you considered the possibility that you're misusing the word?

The word you're describing is "invent". But you'd still be violently wrong
about Apple not doing it.

------
twiceaday
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridges_Law_of_Headlines>

~~~
digitalengineer
Great comment! From your wikipedia link: "...any headline which ends in a
question mark can be answered by the word "no". The reason why journalists use
that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bollocks..."

~~~
georgemcbay
Predictable comment, IMO.

Quoting Betteridge's Law of Headlines is this season's "You're not Google's
customer, you're their product".

I can predict with great accuracy whether or not I'll see it referenced in any
given HN comment thread based on the headline (ironically, in this case if the
headline ends in a question mark, the answer is yes. If the headline is asking
something negative about Apple, the answer is double yes).

~~~
CamperBob2
_Quoting Betteridge's Law of Headlines is this season's "You're not Google's
customer, you're their product"._

How is that not a true statement? A customer is somebody who gives you money.
There's really no other definition at the end of the day.

~~~
georgemcbay
I didn't say nor mean to imply that either statement was untrue, I'm just
noting a pattern wherein certain meme phrases take hold on HN and then get
over-quoted for the next 6 months or so. Referencing Betteridge's Law is
currently one of the more popular current instances of this.

This is not entirely unlike reddit or 4chan or wherever, except the over-
quoted phrases are some sort of startup/media/business wisdom rather than some
geeky pop culture reference.

~~~
nirvana
Well, its better than the "Apple sucks!" And "This new product from Apple
[which is actually really great] is terrible and Apple's going to fail!"

I remember that when people were whining that the iPod sucked compared to
archos media players and predicted it would fail.

This season its popular to claim that somehow the magical Steve Jobs's death
means the end of Apple --- always from people who hope it is true.

The sad thing is, They are the ones who have all along insisted Steve Jobs was
magical, becuase they refuse to understand why Apple is a success.

Which is why they constantly bash Apple products and claim they will fail (And
then are silent about them when they win.)

iOS Maps is already far better than google maps. Further, Google maps hasn't
really progressed in the last decade, while iOS Maps clearly is progressing
pretty quickly.

The iPhone was going to suck, the iPas was the worst product name ever....
hell, this tradition goes all the way back to the original mac before most HN
readres (I suspect) were even born.

I'm tired of the "Apple's product sucks because I don't know anything about
technology or design but am a fan of [competitor]" junk.

~~~
georgemcbay
"iOS Maps is already far better than google maps. Further, Google maps hasn't
really progressed in the last decade, while iOS Maps clearly is progressing
pretty quickly."

It has been a long while since I've used an iPhone on a daily basis (iPhone 3G
for nearly two years), so perhaps what you're saying is correct for the iOS
version of Google Maps, but the Android version has progressed tremendously
and it continues to do so. Google Maps/Nav is 90% of the reason I'd never even
consider using a non-Android phone platform right now.

"I'm tired of the "Apple's product sucks because I don't know anything about
technology or design but am a fan of [competitor]" junk."

This goes both ways. Yes, there are Android fanbois who are overly critical
and overly defensive, but there are _at least_ an equal number of Apple
fanbois. If you only notice one side of this and noticing that makes you super
defensive enough to post about it, odds are you yourself are a bit too much of
a fanboi.

------
cristianpascu
"The direction of Apple to go into maps is the right direction, but people
will probably start questioning whether Apple products are as wonderful. It's
been almost like a cult. We can always forgive people for one mistake, and for
the post-Steve-Jobs era, this is the most significant. Another slip of this
kind, people will start questioning Apple."

Apple has done lots of mistakes in the past. I've been an user of their
products for only a few years, but even so I know.

It's not repeated mistakes that sink a company. It's unfixed mistakes. If
users will find alternatives to iOS6 map app, they will use them. It's been
like only a week since the new OS version was released. Not everyone has
updated yet. People have been warned.

And the 'apple is cult/fanboys are blind followers' argument is one of the
worst. Just like when non-religious persons belittle religious persons for
being irrational, blind and manipulated. Which is stupid because it's not
(generally) true.

Many make educated and conscious decisions. Buying a product is partially an
irrational decision. BUT, the fact that Apple products produce those
irrational decisions is the key to understanding the quality and the design
thought that went into the products. And the fact that people keep on buying
them, with every new version, tells that these products are really good. It's
not magic. It's an illusion. It's just good products, and it's a damn
successful company.

Mistakes can be fixed. Fixed ideas, hardly.

------
M4v3R
Ok. We get it. Apple maps are subpar (for some people), they need to improve
them soon. Is this YET ANOTHER STORY about it so interesting that it hits HN
main page?

Btw, I've tried them and while there are some quirks, I really like them.
Being vector is a huge win, it loads up quickly and whole experience is a lot
smoother. As for accuracy, I live in a small town in Poland (not exactly
Apple's main point of interest) and it's as accurate as Google Maps were.

~~~
epo
Its the Apple haters having their day in the sun. They have to have something
to distract them from their rubbishy phones.

------
fingerprinter
Apple is huge. When a company gets as big as Apple does, you'll always be able
to find cracks and missteps.

Where I think Apple is failing is filling the gap of Jobs, and I don't mean
the man, but the fear. Jobs was notorious for being an asshole and firing
whole teams if they didn't deliver to "his standard". Without this fear, I
wonder if things will begin to come out that would otherwise never have seen
the light of day.

IMO, the last few products Apple has released have been much worse than the
previous few. Lion was a bad release, Mountain Lion was better, but generally
not a great release either. The new Nano with the round icons is, well,
horrible looking. Would Jobs have let that go out? Would the team release that
if Jobs was still alive and in charge?

I'm actually a huge fan of individuals being able to make autonomous
decisions. I think that leads to healthier companies and better products.
HOWEVER, Apple has never been structured that way and it could take some time
before natural leaders step up inside the company. They have the money to
weather storms and lets face it, the Apple fans are going to give them many
years of free passes so there really isn't a fear of them ending anytime soon.

------
abrym
"Google Maps is not available as an iPhone app, but Google Maps can still be
used on a Firefox browser."

I stopped reading at this point.

------
JanneVee
To answer the question in the headline. No, the company and brand has always
been "arrogant" and occasionally "entitled". Just look at the iPhone 4 antenna
problem. This is the same thing, they lose airports and train stations. Then
they tell people to use it so they can find all the problems so they can start
fixing it. I don't know about you people but I use the map app but I use it to
find locations where I haven't been before. I find the response slightly
arrogant to this whole maps deal. It is "your holding it wrong" all over
again.

I have a bunch of Apple devices. But this maps thing and other things like
Gatekeeper makes me hesitant to buy a device that is more expensive than the
competitors. The thing is that I don't feel that the premium isn't simply
worth it anymore.

------
kyriakos
i'm no apple fan and i don't own any apple products but even i can say that
companies make mistakes (after all its people who run them). its how they come
out of the bad situation that counts.

obviously bad map app is an inconvenience especially when you buy a premium
product that claims that it just works.

is it the end though? no.

did apple make more serious mistakes in the past? certainly, but it didnt kill
them

just like the antenna issue, people will complain for a bit, and in a couple
of month's time it won't be in the headlines anymore assuming they FIX it. if
they don't then we should start considering that they might have lost their
way.

------
headShrinker
A lot of people feel the need to complain for some reason but I don't quite
understand why. I don't see a smoking gun. There are no broken antennas, and
MobileMe didn't crash. Sounds like a company just released a brand new product
and there are some small bugs to work out. Which it what I would expect, from
any company. We all know Samsung has bugs, MS Windows 8 has bugs, Nokia 920
has bugs. When I got a Galaxy S, 2 years ago, I received an OTA update v2.2.2,
it bricked my phone. It bricked a lot of peoples phones. They stopped doing
OTAs after that. Then the GPS didn't work. That was sort of accepted as a flaw
in the GS v2.2.2. I had to root my phone and run a third party hack to get it
to work. The mp3 player had a button to view music by album but tapping it
would crash the player. That wasn't fixed until much later, v2.3.4, 9months
after google released it. Had to use my brothers PC, install software on PC to
install sw update on phone. Ridiculous. Virtually no updates to touchwiz UI.
Garbage! Calls were always dropped constantly. Then I got a GS2. It would
crash... all the time. I had to reboot nearly everyday. That is sort of
expected with the GS2. Calls were dropped all the time. Text messages wound't
come through on Google Voice. The control buttons on the headphones worked
erratically but mostly not at all. TouchWiz is a disaster. Battery life was
maybe 8 hours of standby. I had to charge to phone two times a day. The phone
IS TOO FUCKING BIG! Trying to use the phone one handed, the thumb muscle would
touch the screen before the tip of the thumb causing unintentional taps. These
are 'real' user issues. What droidfans aren't saying is that Android is rough,
and they like to fiddle with it, they like to mod it and install patches, and
break it and reinstall it, and fuck with it some more. This is why there is no
waiting lines for Samsung products. The 'sheeple' like expensive shit that
works. I mean works as in 'doesn't crash everyday', not 'boo hoo, the bridge
in my maps looks funny [frown-face], this is awful I think I will go shoot
myself!1!!'

I understand people are having a problem with maps but most of the blogs are
complete hyperbole right now, and the maps are working great for me in NYC.
Public transit was never very helpful by google maps because "public transit
is underground!" Welcome to the big city. Thus no network connectivity. No one
is having "real" problems with the new iPhone. This is all BS for the purpose
of getting visitors to a shitty blog. No Apple has not lost its way. iPhone 5
is amazing says nearly all reports. iOS 6 is great. There are some bugs. The
total package is what I would expect from Apple, past or present.

