

Innovation is a Fight - filament
http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2012/11/11/innovation_is_a_fight.html

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dave1619
Sure Apple has it's challenges. I'm sure all of us can agree.

However, to me Steve Job's "visionary son" is not Forstall but Ive. Ive
embodies the values that Jobs had regarding innovation (not surprisingly he
was one of Jobs' best friends and spent the most time with him of all of
Apple's executives).

Personally, I think it's possible Ive can be underrated. Sure, people value
his hardware design. But can he design software interfaces? Most people would
doubt he could. Yet this is the major task Ive is now entrusted with.

I'm not sure if Ive can do software design well, but I wouldn't be against
him. I think he's got years of innovation experience and understanding the
essence of simplicity and user experience.

I'm hoping Ive can surprise us all, and lead a resurgence in Apple with some
killer new devices. I'd love to see him make a watch (or pendant) that
connects with your phone but allows you to access key features. Of course
there's also the TV we've been waiting for (and the backend services).

I also think Apple could get into household/home devices (ie., the Nest). It
could be interesting if Apple bought Nest and expanded into the automated
home.

Lastly, this is a far-fetched dream... I'd like Apple to buy Tesla. It would
be pocket change for Apple ($3-4 billion market cap, but probably more to buy
them). But could open up a decade of huge innovation that Apple pours into
cars. Tesla has a great start, and Apple would just get behind them. Imagine
iOS integrated in your car. That would be awesome.

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scott_s
I agree with everything but the last bit about Tesla. First, I don't know if
Musk _wants_ to sell. Two, I think Tesla has the potential to be a
revolutionary company on the scale of Apple or Ford. I think being owned by
Apple could stunt that potential.

~~~
THE_PUN_STOPS
There's no way Musk wants to sell. Tesla is still his baby and personal goal
as much as SpaceX is. I think he'll only be willing to sell both _after_ he's
"solved" space travel and electric cars.

~~~
dave1619
I agree than Elon Musk probably doesn't "want" to sell Tesla. But if Apple
offers $10 billion and presents a clear vision of how they're going to take
Tesla and propel the electric car movement even far beyond what Tesla is
thinking... then, I think it might be interesting to Musk. Elon Musk's main
goal with Tesla is to expedite the transition of vehicles to electric power,
and if Apple somehow can convince him that they have the same goals and can do
it at larger scale, it possibly could work. (Just fyi, here's Musk's
"strategy" for Tesla in 2006, [http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/secret-tesla-
motors-master-p...](http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-
master-plan-just-between-you-and-me) .)

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MattRogish
I am a huge Apple fan. I have had numerous iPhones, MacBooks, iMacs, etc. I've
coined it the "law of large companies" - eventually they get their lunch eaten
by someone who doesn't yet exist and they could never see coming.

With Apple, Steve Jobs has implemented a lot of policies that try and stave
this off (a single P&L, cannabalization of their own products, etc.) but I'm
concerned, as "Rands" is, that the ossification of upper management will
reduce the agility.

See: IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo. It'll happen to Google, and it'll happen to Apple.
It seems as certain as the laws of thermodynamics. As a company gets bigger
and exists longer, the probability that someone is going to disrupt them
approaches 1.

~~~
fatbird
Except, as IBM proves, being disrupted need not be fatal. The certainty that
another giant will arise seems obviously to approach 1 over time, but that
Apple will die rather than successfully re-invent itself less so.

The Hudson's Bay company was incorporated in 1670, and has been in continuous
operation since. It's one of the dominant big-box stores in Canada, moreso
since Eatons closed down, and in the U.S. owns Zellers and Home Outfitters.
The tech industry seems to have a very dark view of corporate lifespans
because of the apparently quick cycle of birth and death, but it's not obvious
that it has to be that way, even over centuries.

~~~
btilly
Useless trivia. The Hudson's Bay company's largest sale ever was the sale of
Prince Rupert's Land to Canada.

For Americans, the amount of land sold was larger than the Louisiana Purchase.

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fatbird
Talk of Apple's doom always reminds me of the saying "economists have
predicted 12 of the last 4 recessions."

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rythie
I don't think these product categories can last forever, they've had 3
massively disruptive products since Jobs returned in my view (and many others)
iPod, iPhone & iPad.

iPod sold really well, but it peaked in 2008, it's unlikely to explode again.
[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ipod_sales_per_quarter.svg>]

There is clearly strong competition for the iPhone with Android, with Nexus 4
(and others) coming at much cheaper price point it's not clear they can hold
the margins they had.

The iPad seems to still be doing well and particularly the mini seems to be
well received - but how long is that going to last with the Nexus 7 & Kindle
Fire bringing the price expectations down.

Apple really needs another product category - something you can see that Steve
Jobs with is background as a entrepreneur, particularly failing at NeXT while
away from Apple - was a master of. It's not clear who will lead the new
product category, neither Tim Cook or Johnathon Ive are entrepreneurs and it's
not something they are likely to learn while at Apple.

~~~
mahyarm
Well what product is really burning with suckage and can be really improved?
The music player, the smartphone and the tablet were all there and apple
approached what it should be. The smart tv? Cameras?

~~~
rythie
TV clearly sucks at the moment.

Why can't I watch any movie ever made at the touch of a button/tablet?

Why can't I watch any series produced in the U.S. (or anywhere) as soon as
it's available from U.K. (or any non-US country)?

Why do [in the UK] do Sky & Virgin control much of what you can watch?

Why do I have to manually choose what to watch, shouldn't the TV know what
type of thing I like?

I've missed the 5 episodes of a series, why does the next episode only catch
me up on one?

and so on.

Not sure about cameras, the main problem with discrete cameras is that it's
too hard to upload the photos on the move, but that's changing quite quickly
now with WiFi and/or Android cameras. Essentially Apple have a solution to
that anyway, which is to just use your iPhone which many are happy with.

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LVB
Apple may not collapse or be doomed, but it could definitely stagnate and
become passé. I once worked with for a Jobs-ish type GM and agree with Lopp's
thesis that a leader who can maintain a high level of discord without letting
it destroy the organization is much more likely to see brilliant innovation
arise.

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erichocean
As much as it is possible for a large company to reflect a single person's
taste and judgments, Apple reflected Steve Jobs.

Can anyone imagine Jobs working under someone else in some multi-billion
dollar corporation like Apple? I can't. Scott Forstall can -- take that for
what you will.

Jobs _founded_ Apple. No other person (besides Wozniak) has that kind of claim
on Apple, or could run it the same way as Jobs did.

Looking for the next Steve Jobs at Apple is pointless: people like Elon Musk
will found their own companies, just like Jobs did with Apple.

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pippy
Conflicting methodologies is a great way spur innovation by forcing the best
of each to try and out do each other. This, however, isn't why Apply is
successful.

Employees famously hated even being on the elevator with Steve. What ever the
employees made, it wasn't good enough. Even if it was. This turned mediocre,
or even great, products into top products.

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esusatyo
I really don't understand the last sentence: >Love him or hate him, Scott
Forstall’s departure makes Apple a more stable company, and I wonder if that
is how it begins.

What does he mean by 'it'? Demise of Apple or being a stable company?

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snowwrestler
The concept of fighting is not mutually exclusive from the concept of
collaboration. However to achieve results, each participant must be willing to
fight in good faith, and bow to the better idea when it becomes obvious. Going
by the published accounts, Forstall no longer was doing this in Apple.

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marshallp
Apple can take one of two directions

\- focus on data, like google does, by massively investing in siri (they
should make forstall in charge)

\- focus on design, but expand out of consumer electronics (which will shrink)
into cars and robots, like tesla and rethink robotics (tim cook and jony ive
are the right people for that)

Their current niche, square screens and possibly google glass is a dead end

