“Here are three big challenges facing Apple in 2016,” Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes for ZDNet.
“Growing beyond the iPhone,” Kingsley-Hughes writes. “Apple is now more accurately ‘The iPhone corporation,’ with the company being more reliant on this single product than ever… And if you think the mythical Apple Car could be the next big thing, think again. The car industry is hugely competitive, and a minefield of governmental regulation. Apple would be better dusting off those TV plans.”
MacDailyNews Take: People aren’t going to stop needing and/or wanting new pocket computers disguised under the moniker of “smartphones,” or premium notebooks and even desktops any time soon. Certainly not in 2016.
And if you think the mythical Apple iPhone could be the next big thing, think again. The cellular phone industry is hugely competitive and blah, blah, blah.
“Improve software quality,” Kingsley-Hughes writes. “Buggy software is still buggy software, and it sucks for consumers who have paid top dollar for products to be encumbered with so many issues. It makes Apple appear slapdash and lackadaisical, especially since it has such a tight control over the hardware.”
MacDailyNews Take: Agreed. Way ahead of ya, Adrian.
“Managing analyst/media/consumer expectations,” Kingsley-Hughes writes. “Apple is a super-secret company, and this information vacuum is just begging to be filled with nonsense. And the crazy levels of speculation, hype, hysteria, and plain old fabrication that precedes the launch of new Apple products is dulling the effect of the actual launch.”
MacDailyNews Take: As it has always been and it doesn’t seem to be affecting the bottom line very negatively no does it? Would you rather have a company whose products are subject to endless speculation or would you rather have a company whose products are ignored?
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: One out of three. That’s good for baseball, but not much else.
Well I don’t agree with you on the third point. I think Apple should do a better job at PR. Protecting the shareholders doesn’t mean you will sell less. And secrets are not the only way to create a buz. Apple is using Job’s old recipe without thinking if it still make sense today.
Secrets are not just about creating buzz. They are about not promising something until its ready to be delivered.
This allows Apple to stay focused on quality, because they can delay or even cancel features, even at the last minute, without breaking promises to customers.
Especially in software, predictions of when things will be done are often wildly inaccurate because until something is done the chance that some last minute problem will be found is high.
I’d not even be that generous: IMO, MDN’s pundit went 0 for 3.
Because:
a) Product lines … the reliance on the iPhone *is* causing an imbalance, and there’s enough other phone vendors by the wayside which show just how fast this consumer market can shift. And while “cars” might be an appealing diversification opportunity, it isn’t a wide open area for innovation because it has become very entrenched in regulation of the industry (a good observation by Kingsley-Hughes, even if there is disruption opportunity).
b) Software quality & bugs … yes, MDN can claim “Beat Ya To It”, but that’s also been 10+ months since that editorial … so just how has MDN noted that Apple has actually changed? FYI, something borked in Apple Mail on my Mac Pro this past week such that it has gone through 2-3 hangs per day…do I need to go dig out the MS-Outlook install disks to bail out of yet another Apple ecosystem product?
c) Management of customer expectations … MDN’s defense is merely “…but it has always been this way!” – – but so too have there been complaints – – especially from Enterprise – – about how this policy of secrecy does hamper broader product adoption. Quite frankly, I’m *shocked* that our Enterprise actually certified iPhones in addition to Android to replace our Blackberries.
-hh
My wish list:
1. Modernize and simplify iTunes, break it into separate apps if needed.
2. More useful Pages & Numbers
3. Keep improving iCloud.
4. Replace iOS by Windows 10
5. Replace MacOS by Windows 10
Wow, that was so awesomely witty! Now crawl back over the border, taco breath.
“Taco breath”? Really! That’s what you’ve got? A stupid, small-minded racial slur? How old are you? 14?
Thanks for your support!
I was thinking the same but after hesitating for a while, I decided not to respond.
🙂
Meanwhile, Win10 mobile is going to glom onto Android apps! Now that’s funny!
Why stop there?
1. Modernize Mac OS
2. Revitalize ALL entire suite of iLife & iWork desktop apps to have additional functionality that iOS does not offer (because Macs DO HAVE MORE CAPABILITY)
3. Split iTunes into separate programs for media rental and media purchase and personal collection management.
4. make iCloud an optional application, not baked into the Mac OS
5. remove unnecessary 3rd party fluff from OSes: Google, Facebook, Bing, Twitter are all undesirable.
6. redesign GUIs to have more skeu and more color instead of the awful flat playskool look.
7. fix the bugs.
8. get serious about pro applications and hardware. bring back Aperture, etc.
9. fix Apple TV
10. update iPods
11. update Airports
12. update displays
13. update trashcan Mac Pro with Core processors, slash price
14. introduce new Mac Pro workstation with internal expansion
15. update MacBooks with internal expansion, multiple USB-C ports
16. bring back 17″ MacBook
17. offer 2 screen sizes of iPhone
18. increase the built in memory of all devices, and/or stop raping customers with insanely inflated prices.
19. give away adapters instead of charging $30-$50 for what should already be integrated to the device.
20. increase battery life of all portables
21. introduce new waterproof / rugged iPod shuffle
22. etc.
If you want to see just how consistently and hilariously clueless Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is, try looking at how the Macalope tore into him in August 2008 when he questioned whether Apple could survive a move to mass market.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1141231/macalope_att.html
Off topic, but can someone tell me how to effectively stop the grotesque ads appearing on this page? They’re really making me sick to my stomach. Thanks in advance.
Install adblock
I think the ads that show up are based on your browsing history.
Better stop googling Two Girls and a Cup and Human Centipede. That might be the reason you are seeing grotesque ads.
1: Make iCloud Work Properly (haven’t been able to back up to iCloud since iOS 9 launched)
2: Integrate Touch Gestures into Apple Music element of iTunes
3: FIX iTunes & iCloud :p
These would be a good place to start before introducing more hardware / service which rely on both the above to function properly.
P.S a number 4 (arguable No 1) Stop sucking up to Celebs and the fashionistas delivering Watches and start focusing on what Apple does, Hardware & SOFTWARE!!!!!!
Some of us don’t want iCloud at all.
Perhaps Apple should start designing its Mac & iOS so that some of us could make the Mac the center of our digital lives instead of making Big Brother’s Server, I mean iCloud, the unreliable link that’s supposed to back up your stuff but never actually does for too many reasons to discuss here.
Reliable syncing locally between a Mac and an iOS device needs to work first, without the stupid forced upgrade games and the changed settings that occur without the user’s notification.
3 problems facing apple in 2016.
Bugs
Bugs
More bugs
Apple fixes these 3 things it’ll be all better
You mean other than Tim Cook and Jony Ive turning Apple into an artsy fartsy tech company more interested in looks than innovation?
Software.. Software.. Software…
Massive attention needed..
Look at Apple TV… Great platform ..but riddled with incomplete implementation of software.. Holes everywhere.
Some functions not well thougt out….
In my mind this product was truly rushed… And why ? I dont get it… Apple had such long time to polish the software end! Years …while they were trying to work out content contracts …..
Apple music! Convoluted , Cramped… And grrr those bubbles. And why is itunes so disconected from Apple music.? Why cant i buy stuff directly in apple music…?
iCloud abstraction….. ( apple please give us a nice coherent user manageable file system on Ios)
Iso spell check and contextual understanding of language/grammer… Worst in similar servises out there… Why ? Come on.
Apple Please. Tripple down on quality software.. Make sure all is tight before you release something to the public.
Apple customers pay a premium to get the best.. They dont deserve to be treated as beta subjects .
Thumbs up on the buggy software. I don’t expect revelations from Apple, but I do want what they sell to work as advertised. Airdrop hasn’t worked between my iPhone and Macbook since I installed El Capitan. I’m not going to do clean installs of my operating systems so problems like this just might get sorted out.
√ Rubber stamp of MDN’s POV.
Yes, Apple. Falling down on the software. Why? Maybe Scott Forstall needs to return.