“In search of growth opportunities beyond just smartphones and tablets, it now appears that Apple is willing to venture far beyond the latest wearable consumer device — such as the iWatch — and experiment with opportunities in everything from medical devices to automobiles,” Dominic Basulto writes for The Washington Post. “The latest rumor making the rounds is that Apple has considered a hookup with Elon Musk and Tesla, which would give Apple immediate access to the market for electric vehicles and pave the way for renewed growth going forward.”
“That’s undoubtedly good news for Apple’s shareholders, but what about for Apple’s consumers? What this means for Apple’s legions of fans – the same fans that are willing to wait in line for hours for the chance to be the first to use a new Apple product — is that the company is increasingly going to look less like a Silicon Valley start-up and more like GE: a mature, entrenched company completely dedicated to improvement and incremental innovation on a global basis,” Basulto writes. “Not that there’s anything wrong with Apple turning into a company like GE. You could make the case that GE, with its market capitalization of just over $250 billion (about half of what Apple is worth these days), is one of the most innovative companies in the world, with a track record of innovation in everything from big data to the industrial Internet. ”
“Yet, GE doesn’t inspire the same rabid fan boy base as Apple,” Basulto writes. “Quite simply, it’s the difference between incremental innovation and disruptive innovative… You can already see signs of how Apple has become more of a incrementally innovative company than a disruptive innovation company with each new product iteration of the past two years. Each new iPhone, each new iPad, is clearly better than anything that came before – yet it’s not clear if Apple holds the same appeal for consumers as it once did when Steve Jobs was running the show.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Dominic Basulto does not understand Apple and is simply not familiar with Apple’s history.
Apple is operating exactly as it did under Steve Jobs: Disruptive innovation happens sporadically and then each product is refined in quest of perfection.
• iPhone was released 5 years, 7 months, and 19 days after iPod.
• iPad was released 2 years, 9 months, and 5 days after iPhone.
• Tim Cook has been Apple CEO for 2 years, 5 months, and 26 days.
