I like how the second apple has made a few mistakes, everyone is saying the company is doomed. While I said it worried me sometimes, I also acknowledged that it was paranoia on my part and that the fear was largely unjustified.
The truth is, apple has always made mistakes. It's just now that they're the biggest company in the world, they're more heavily scrutinized when it happens. While they have made some amazing innovations, I think their greatest strengths have been how they market their products and public relations. I don't think anyone said the sky was falling when Microsoft released Vista, an O/S people largely hated, or failed to make a dent in the mp3 player market with Zune. Every company makes mistakes -- it's how they rebound that counts. I'm not saying this to sweep apple's faults under the rug or anything but I just think it's a bit premature to claim that they've reached their peak. -Marc On 9/22/12, Ricardo Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > Interesting. Lets not forget Steve Jobs was around for ping and mobile me > or whatever the thing before iCloud was called. lol. I can't even remember > anymore. He was also alive when Siri was in the works, and knew it was > going to be released although it was still in beta. And lets not forget > Antenna gate? "Your holding your phone wrong"? I say this all to say, > Jobs, as great as he was, made some bad moves too. I think its still way > too early to say if Apple has peaked. > > JMO. > > Ricardo Walker > [email protected] > Twitter:@apple2thecore > www.appletothecore.info > > On Sep 22, 2012, at 4:07 PM, "M. Taylor" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Has Apple Peaked? >> By JOE NOCERA >> Published: September 21, 2012 >> >> If Steve Jobs were still alive, would the new map application on the >> iPhone >> 5 be such an unmitigated disaster? Interesting question, isn't it? >> >> As Apple's chief executive, Jobs was a perfectionist. He had no tolerance >> for corner-cutting or mediocre products. The last time Apple released a >> truly substandard product - MobileMe, in 2008 - Jobs gathered the team >> into >> an auditorium, berated them mercilessly and then got rid of the team >> leader >> in front of everybody, according to Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs. >> The >> three devices that made Apple the most valuable company in America - the >> iPod, the iPhone and the iPad - were all genuine innovations that forced >> every other technology company to play catch-up. >> >> No doubt, the iPhone 5, which went on sale on Friday, will be another >> hit. >> Apple's halo remains powerful. But there is nothing about it that is >> especially innovative. Plus, of course, it has that nasty glitch. In >> rolling >> out a new operating system for the iPhone 5, Apple replaced Google's map >> application - the mapping gold standard - with its own, vastly inferior, >> application, which has infuriated its customers. With maps now such a >> critical feature of smartphones, it seems to be an inexplicable mistake. >> >> And maybe that's all it is - a mistake, soon to be fixed. But it is just >> as >> likely to turn out to be the canary in the coal mine. Though Apple will >> remain a highly profitable company for years to come, I would be >> surprised >> if it ever gives us another product as transformative as the iPhone or >> the >> iPad. >> >> Part of the reason is obvious: Jobs isn't there anymore. It is rare that >> a >> company is so completely an extension of one man's brain as Apple was an >> extension of Jobs. While he was alive, that was a strength; now it's a >> weakness. Apple's current executive team is no doubt trying to maintain >> the >> same demanding, innovative culture, but it's just not the same without >> the >> man himself looking over everybody's shoulder. If the map glitch tells us >> anything, it is that. >> >> But there is also a less obvious - yet possibly more important - reason >> that >> Apple's best days may soon be behind it. When Jobs returned to the >> company >> in 1997, after 12 years in exile, Apple was in deep trouble. It could >> afford >> to take big risks and, indeed, to search for a new business model, >> because >> it had nothing to lose. >> >> Fifteen years later, Apple has a hugely profitable business model to >> defend >> - and a lot to lose. Companies change when that happens. "The business >> model >> becomes a gilded cage, and management won't do anything to challenge it, >> while doing everything they can to protect it," says Larry Keeley, an >> innovation strategist at Doblin, a consulting firm. >> >> It happens in every industry, but it is especially easy to see in >> technology >> because things move so quickly. It was less than 15 years ago that >> Microsoft >> appeared to be invincible. But once its Windows operating system and >> Office >> applications became giant moneymakers, Microsoft's entire strategy became >> geared toward protecting its two cash cows. It ruthlessly used its >> Windows >> platform to promote its own products at the expense of rivals. (The >> Microsoft antitrust trial took dead aim at that behavior.) Although >> Microsoft still makes billions, its new products are mainly "me-too" >> versions of innovations made by other companies. >> >> Now it is Apple's turn to be king of the hill - and, not surprisingly, it >> has begun to behave in a very similar fashion. You can see it in the >> patent >> litigation against Samsung, a costly and counterproductive exercise that >> has >> nothing to do with innovation and everything to do with protecting its >> turf. >> >> >> And you can see it in the decision to replace Google's map application. >> Once >> an ally, Google is now a rival, and the thought of allowing Google to >> promote its maps on Apple's platform had become anathema. More to the >> point, >> Apple wants to force its customers to use its own products, even when >> they >> are not as good as those from rivals. Once companies start acting that >> way, >> they become vulnerable to newer, nimbler competitors that are trying to >> create something new, instead of milking the old. Just ask BlackBerry, >> which >> once reigned supreme in the smartphone market but is now roadkill for >> Apple >> and Samsung. >> >> Even before Jobs died, Apple was becoming a company whose main goal was >> to >> defend its business model. Yes, he would never have allowed his minions >> to >> ship such an embarrassing application. But despite his genius, it is >> unlikely he could have kept Apple from eventually lapsing into the >> ordinary. >> It is the nature of capitalism that big companies become defensive, while >> newer rivals emerge with better, smarter ideas. >> >> "Oh my god," read one Twitter message I saw. "Apple maps is the worst >> ever. >> It is like using MapQuest on a BlackBerry." >> >> MapQuest and BlackBerry. >> >> Exactly. >> >> A version of this op-ed appeared in print on September 22, 2012, on page >> A23 >> of the New York edition with the headline: Has Apple Peaked? >> >> Original Article at: >> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/opinion/nocera-has-apple-peaked.html?_r=0 >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" >> Google Group. >> To search the VIPhone public archive, visit >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. >> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > > > -- “There is no shame in being who you are. There’s only shame in not going down swinging to protect it” -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
