Why Apple desperately needs a new Steve Jobs

The Mac Observer‘s Bryan Chaffin writes about “how important Steve Jobs was to making Apple products insanely great.”

“He focused on the little details most people simply don’t see, don’t care about, or don’t bother to do anything about even if we do see them,” Chaffin writes. “This was always a huge part of what set Apple products off from the competition. Even if we didn’t know why they seemed so much better, the fact that they were better was inescapable.”

“In recent months, I’ve been feeling what I fear is Steve Jobs’s absence,” Chaffin writes. “From the worst security disaster in modern computing to ever-more frequent UI glitches, Apple seems to need that person who can obsess over the things the rest of us miss.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: First of all, Steve Jobs is irreplaceable, but someone with vision, taste and focus is what’s required here.

The magic of Steve Jobs was vision, focus on the products from the user’s point of view, fastidious attention to detail, and next-level marketing acumen.

As we’ve been warning for many years now.

Apple is not firing on all cylinders.

The quality has been slipping for years and the mistakes, bad designs, stupid decisions, product delays and worse have been piling up. Exactly, how do you so thoroughly fsck up your top-of-the-line Macintosh by “designing yourself into a thermal corner” while trying to prove that you can “still innovate, your ass” (and failing abysmally) and not be able to deliver a replacement for going on FOUR YEARS?! Even HP and/or Dell could do it in 4 weeks. ASUS could do it on 4 days. If anyone needs a stronger indication of the existence of a problem at Apple that stems from the very top, they’re batshit delusional.

So, when you produce a $300 coffee table book with 450 painstakingly shot photographs on “specially milled German paper with gilded matte silver edges, using eight color separations and low-ghost inks” and even trumpet that it “took more than eight years to create,” but you can’t make or even bother to update the Mac Pro for over four years… Hey, you deserve every single bit of criticism and then some, if not for your horribly misplaced priorities and blatantly obvious mismanagement, then for your abject tone-deafness alone.

In other words, doing your real job first grants you the ability to screw around on some vanity projects without criticism. — MacDailyNews, May 18, 2017

This lack of focus, lack of attention to detail, lack of striving for perfection will catch up to Apple eventually if it is not arrested and corrected in time.

So – sigh – we once again present to Apple CEO Tim Cook, where the buck supposedly stops, the Trophy for Misplaced Priorities:

The Misplaced Priorities Trophy
The Misplaced Priorities Trophy
MacDailyNews, November 29, 2017
 

Luckily for Tim Cook, Steve Jobs left him a perpetual profit machine that can absorb pretty much any lackadaisical fsckatude that can be thrown into the spokes.MacDailyNews, November 17, 2017

Apple brass. Lost for years in the weeds of Apple Park, The Colossal Distraction. May you find your way out ASAP! — MacDailyNews, December 11, 2018

[Organizations like Apple] require a charismatic leader who will shoot people in the knees when needed.Alan Kay, April 2013

SEE ALSO:
The Washington Post: ‘Why doesn’t Apple make its devices as carefully as it’s making Apple Park?’ – December 11, 2017
Apple Park estimated to cost upwards of $5 billion to build – December 9, 2017
What to do about Apple’s shameful Mac security flaw in macOS High Sierra – November 29, 2017
Apple started working on HomePod in 2012, so why are they so late to the smart speaker market? – November 21, 2017
Why Apple’s HomePod is three years behind Amazon’s Echo – November 21, 2017
Under ‘operations genius’ Tim Cook, product delays and other problems are no longer unusual for Apple – November 20, 2017
Apple delays HomePod release to early 2018 – November 17, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook: The ‘operations genius’ who never has enough products to sell at launch – October 23, 2017
Apple’s Mac Pro debacle: Failure and future – May 8, 2017
Why is Apple’s next-gen Mac Pro taking so long? – April 18, 2017
Apple’s desperate Mac Pro damage control message hints at a confused, divided company – April 6, 2017
Who has taken over at Apple? – April 5, 2017
Apple’s embarrassing Mac Pro mea culpa – April 4, 2017
Who’s going to buy a Mac Pro now? – April 4, 2017
Mac Pro: Why did it take Apple so long to wake up? – April 4, 2017
Apple sorry for what happened with the Mac Pro over the last 3+ years – namely, nothing – April 4, 2017
AirPods: MIA for the holidays; delayed product damages Apple’s credibility, stokes customer frustration – December 9, 2016
Lazy Apple. It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs asking, ‘What have you been doing for the last four years?’ – December 9, 2016
Apple is misplaying the hand Steve Jobs left them – November 30, 2016
Apple delays AirPod rollout – October 26, 2016
Apple delays release of watchOS 2 due to bug – September 16, 2015
Apple delays HomeKit launch until autumn – May 14, 2015
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Apple delays production of 12.9-inch ‘iPad Pro’ in face of overwhelming iPhone 6/Plus demand – October 9, 2014
Tim Cook’s mea culpa: iMac launch should have been postponed – April 24, 2013

66 Comments

        1. Sarah below is a foool, doesn’t understand that libs are liberals, i.e socialist commie fsckwits.

          Libs does not equal libertarians.

          Libertarians rule. Foools like Sarah scuk.

        2. Fake news or not, it appears the rats are deserting a sinking ship or one that is about to hit a massive iceberg. At least Timmy with his massive stock options doesn’t have to go down with the ship like the common loyal shareholder. He also doesn’t appear to be throwing anyone else a lifeline. Apple management is occupying all the life boats. Right now, Apple is the RMS Titanic as far as Wall Street is concerned.

        3. HA HA! Broadway Scott! Yeah he’s been SO on top of things in is current tech company… that he’s not in… because, really, no one wants him 🙂

          If he was any good ANY good at all, he wouldn’t be on Broadway. That’s a fact!

        4. I believe that Scott would willingly come back to Apple, on the condition that pertinent personnel changes were made to facilitate his homecoming. One would be to hobble Jony Ive, a man too big for his britches, and the other would be to disappear Eddy Cue, a man more interested in basketball than business.

          The sticking point is Apple’s Board of Directors. They supported Tim Cook’s ouster of Scott Forstall, and remain loyal to Cook because he’s consistently delivered profits. I’ve written to them about displacing a distracted social justice warrior with a more committed business person, namely Angela Ahrendts. They don’t respond. But they are mostly men, and I have come to expect this sort of attitude. It surely is due to their hormones.

        5. You believe it’s just plain sexism that keeps them loyal to TC at the expense of AA? I’m not a TC fan and like AA, but not sure about your conclusion.

        6. “Jony Ive, a man too big for his britches”
          What an odd….no, weird…thing to say about the man who is probably the most retiring, dedicated_to_his_art, gentle soul, at Apple.
          Come to think of it, I cannot bring a single controversial Ive comment to the table. Are we talking about the same person?

        7. Why? Several reasons.
          He’s English.
          That’s how we pronounce it.
          That’s how the whole world apart from the US n’ Canada pronounce it.
          But principally, because your attitude is pathetically provincial and ‘you’ don’t own the English language.

        8. Why? Several reasons.
          He’s English.
          That’s how we pronounce it.
          That’s how the whole world apart from the US n’ Canada pronounce it.
          But principally, because your attitude is pathetically provincial and ‘you’ don’t own the English language.

        9. No, he’s all in love with Broadway now. If he wanted to be in Tech, he would be, but he’s not, because everyone knows he’s no good in Tech. Plus… BROADWAY… may tell you something about the guy. Just saying… He’s very likely……… another liberal.

        10. Yeah right. Bring back the un-cooperative, argumentative, non- collaborative, departmental bully, destabilizing political troublemaker who refused to sign the official apology for the Siri/Maps introduction fiasco.
          Given your penchant for narcissism, I can see that mixing-it-up Trump style would appeal to the easily fooled trouble maker you are.
          Meanwhile, in the real business world, nobody is interested in deliberately killing one of the worlds industrial Crown Jewels.

        11. Hardly. If you are inferring Scott Forstall is another Steve Jobs, why did TC find it so easy to get rid of him. Why was TC able to silence him and then make him hang around at Apple twiddling his thumbs?
          Bright bloke but no way another Jobs.

  1. Does anyone at Apple read MDN? All this work, all this pain,
    all these suggestions, Is it for nothing?

    Next, Steve Jobs can be replaced, at least the first 99%, as long as that person creates the obvious,, and makes it so IT JUST WORKS. and fast, and beat the competition to the punch, and sure, add some graceful design. But my god,
    the garbage can? Thin everything for no reason? When everyone says just give me a battery that lasts? Fuck Thin?
    i put a case on it anyway? Missed timing? NO PRO APPLICATIONS, NOT APPS. Pro, yes pro,
    Its embarrassing that nobody thinks of macs for pro applications, or business? My god. and no gamer thinks a mac is even a consideration. Name one game that excels on a mac better than any other platform. None.. WHY? Fat cats at Apple afraid to say anything that’s not PC, set up with gross amounts of stock options. I hated hearing they were getting a bonus, for what? they screwed up.
    From the Newton on, Steve Jobs was concerned about a mobile everything, the Iphone, but every phone in the world now can do what Iphone does, You can barely do real work on an Ipad, or iOS. no file system and the surface is taking over. Yes, it is. and Chromebooks.
    APPLE DESPERATELY NEEDS A MAN AT THE HELM NOT A Twisted twinkle toes FRUIT.

    Apples Brand was that it was always, “WORTH IT” worth the extra money.
    I’m not sure the general public feels that way now.

    last, I have skin in the game, stock, but these issues are not just about stock going up or down, I need functionality and I want great products from Apple. If they are made, I dont have to worry about the stock, or that Tim does with his own time. My god, Dont look fat, you look gross.

    1. Well the story goes that Jobs did talk to him about being CEO but Ive refused because he has no political abilities and lacked the will to exert authority. No fault there, it’s not a job for a designer who only gets off on product design.
      Back at his workbench now that ‘the ring’ is complete, I presume.

  2. Steve Jobs is dead. And he has not been reincarnated anywhere within or outside Apple. Do we really see anybody within Amazon or Microsoft who can do better than what Apple has now? Even Steve was fallible. Tim and Co. are surely fallible. They would do well to learn from their own mistakes rather than the delusional armchair analysts and critics, which includes just about anyone with an opinion. And that surely includes some of the narrow-minded critics posting on this page.

  3. Comparing Apple of today which is about 3x larger than the Apple of Steves last years and equating the complexities of managing this Juggernaut to when it was only a third of the size is fools errand….

    Could have been, would have been etc… just useless rant.

    1. You nailed it. And complexity would be it.

      I run a 7 million dollar company which I know is teeny tiny, but I cannot even imagine what it must be like to plan for the biggest company on earth.

      How will this be affected if you do that? And on and on. Fascinating they do as well as they do.

  4. MDN is right on this issue.

    I don’t even tell my pc master race friends “it just works” anymore because they have too many examples of it “not working” now.

    I’ve said it since 2016, Tim Cook sucks. Ready for a new ceo to get the ball rolling again at Apple.

  5. I’ve invested thousands of dollars into Apple products. My 6+ has suddenly degraded its performance to where it’s a joke to make even a simple phone call.

    If I’m going to pay a premium for a product, I want this shit to work and work well. I’m watching the next couple of iOS releases with keen interest. Either my stuff starts working reasonably well, or it’s going to be bye bye Apple.

    What Apple doesn’t get us that good customers are hard to get, and that good customers are easy money. That is until you piss them off. Many of my friends are moving away from Apple products and I’m afraid I’m not far behind.

    iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 x2, iPhone 5 x2, iPhone 6+ x2, iPad 3rd gen, IPad Air, Ipad air2, IPad Pro, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac 21”, Mac mini, Apple Watch 1, Apple TV gen 3 x2, AirPort Extreme (current), AirPort Extreme (previous version), airport express, time capsule (original). Apple Music (family), 200gb iCloud storage, iTunes Match, 100s of paid apps, and 100s of paid iBooks, Oh ya, how about a 2017 Honda Civic hatchback with Apple CarPlay

  6. Apple’s current stock performance is absolutely horrible for a company loaded with a mountain of cash. Tesla is burning cash like it was powering a steam locomotive and Tesla is doing better than Apple in holding its share price up.

    I’ve really got to pull away and just think about my Apple dividends to get me through the rough times. Tim Cook is doing alright but he definitely leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to CEOs. I have no right to complain as I’ve done well by owning Apple stock since 2004. I suppose every company has its ups and downs. However, it just seems as though Apple is throwing away lots of opportunities to boost its revenue. Let’s see what Apple can do in 2018 and hope for the best.

    1. “The definitely leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to CEOs”

      SO true. And really, just think about it… if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s the CEO of the most profitable company in the world, he wouldn’t even be the CEO of the most profitable company in the world! Him being a CEO that has bested all other CEO’s? That’s ONLY because he’s a CEO that has bested all other CEO’s. They should find someone from a company that’s smaller than Apple (any of them) to be the CEO because someone with no experience running the most profitable company in the world would almost certainly do a better job.

    2. “Tim Cook is doing alright but he definitely leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to CEOs.”

      Contrary to the simpletons posting here, CEOs are not responsible for hoe WS values the Company. Jack Kelly (revered former CEO of GE) said it best, “managing a company to move stock valuation is a fool’s game”.

      This advocating Cook is a failure because AAPL isn’t performing as they think it should are clearly FOOLS.

      1. We are surrounded by fools, and we too are fools. Everyone is a fool except for the mystical one per cent, the sociopaths that profit from our folly. Because they are sociopathic, they take no pleasure or pain from our collective suffering. They simple take, and we simply suffer.

  7. I agree that I think Tim Cook has become ill equipped to deal with all the rapid advances of technology and formulating a “strategy to rule them all.” The pieces of the puzzle seem to be too puzzling for him and they seem to be aimlessly drifting. And I was a Tim Cook supporter but the Mac Pro Incident broke the back of future belief. So yeah someone with a real Jobsian-like vision needs to be in charge and start taking back Apple’s street cred.

  8. Put me in as CEO. Here is what I’d do…

    1. Create a proper headless Mac for consumers and businesses. *see below!
    2. Create a proper Mac Pro for prosumers and professional users.
    3. Get rid of the stupid bloody “thinness doctrine.” Everything doesn’t have to be so thin that it hampers usability.
    4. Move to AMD Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper processors for desktops and laptops.
    5. Reduce MSRPs across all products. Apple can afford it to help consumers and businesses purchase more Apple products.
    6. With the iMac/iMac Pro, I’d like to see RAM, SSDsm HDDs much cheaper and letting end users replace them as needed.
    7. With laptops, I’d like to see RAM, SSDs much cheaper and letting end users replace them as needed.
    8. I’d bring back the original colored Apple logo.

    * I’d like to create a special retro-styled headless Mac with the original colored logo on it.

    1. Forgot…

      9. Stop releasing unstable macOS and iOS updates before they are ready for prime time.
      10. Make the developer program free.
      11. Drop products that make no sense for Apple to even consider and that takes away from core products.
      12. Bring back the Genius Bar at Apple Stores.
      13. Allow people to create their own PC with AMD Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper processors to be able to run macOS. Would not allow sales of macOS clones, but I’d make it “official” for home users to build a Mac clone. Many people have built a “Hackintosh” with motherboards that require no hacked drivers. Officially support Gigabyte, ASUS, etc. that will make sure their products can run macOS for the users that would love to build their own system.

      Basically, I’d revamp Apple from the top down.

      1. While I would applaud #10, I think it may contribute to how well Apple has been able to maintain a good App Store. Imagine the torrent of App submissions that would happen if everyone and their granny started submitting Apps. Apple would have to hire many more App reviewers to weed out the junk.

        1. I thought that $99 is the annual dev fee of which part of the ‘benefit’ is the ability to submit Apps for consideration for addition to the App Store.

  9. Steve Jobs was a founder and those people are irreplaceable.

    There will never be another Walt Disney no matter how well the company he founded is run. Plug in the name of other people with a clear vision and desire to see it through at any number of companies and you see the same problem. Steve Jobs knew this and when it was obvious that his time was about up he left the company in the hands of someone who could run the company- Tim Cook- and told him to not second guess himself trying to figure out how he (Jobs) would run it. Steve simply ran out of time and had to do the best he could with the situation and time he had left.

    I have always thought that even without the Cancer Steve Jobs was going to step back from day to day operations at some point- that is part of why he built the Yacht he commissioned. You cannot sail the world with your family AND run a massive enterprise like Apple. It is sad that he never got to do that, because by all accounts he seems to have become more and more a family man over time and he certainly deserved the rest from working so hard for so long.

    You could recruit someone to run Apple, someone with a strong vision, but they would never have the license a founder has in running the company they birthed. No board of a company approaching the value of a Trillion Dollars is going to just hand the keys to some visionary. Boards are conservative by their nature and bound legally in some ways that stifle chance taking.

    Apple 2018 is a very different company than the one he ran the day he stepped down from as CEO and even more so than the company he returned to after Apple bought NeXT.

    So if you were given the chance to appoint a new leader, who would it be? The only two well known executives I can think of that are as brash and driven are Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and they both have full plates. Both are men are more consumed with spaceflight than with cell phones.

    For all the effort, Apple has moved from a company dependent upon the Macintosh to a company dependent upon the iPhone. The massive overhead Apple now employs could not be sustained by Mac sales, or software or Apple Music or even the iPad- it takes the massive cash machine the iPhone represents.

    Cook is trying stuff to diversify the income base Apple needs to run, but knows that the time frame is limited. Steve Jobs once made the comment of milking the Mac for all that it is worth and then getting on with the next big thing. Tim has been looking for that next big thing and has been doing lots of little things in the meantime.

    Steve Jobs is gone and there will not be another like him at Apple. Simple obvious truth.

    1. DavGreg you sanctimonious so-and-so. Steve Jobs came after Walt Disney. There will be other people who will have the talent and charisma of someone like Steve Jobs. They’ll just likely not work for Apple. Sheesh!

  10. Jobs’ true greatness lies in his DNA to please his customers/consumers. I could tell how proud he was when he could offer what consumers wanted and market reacts wildly. He was constantly thinking day and night how to hit the market with truly innovative products which consumers wanted and only Apple can produce.

    Steve Jobs’ quotes

    A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. – Steve Jobs

    Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. – Steve Jobs at the unveiling of iPhone

    I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. – Wayne Gretzky

    We built [the Mac] for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. – Steve Jobs

    Those are the true essence of Jobs, which are totally missing in today’s Apple. What had happened? No one succeeded this attitude? Did they all become moneyman?

    Taking an example of iPad. The idea of tablets existed long before Apple brought it to the market. Hell, it was first brought out by M$, and it was an utter failure. Bu when Apple brought it to the market, people embraced it. why? Because Apple made it truly useful by packaging it with useful apps. Suddenly, iPads became a very capable and useful tool. But it required superb brain, passion with technical vision. If you are thinking about how to make money day and night, see what happened.

    Apple should somehow try to bring back past mojo. Money will follow.

  11. They can start by fixing autocorrect in iOS. What an f-ing disaster – completely useless most of the time as it “corrects” actual words or an entire sequence of words and replaces it with nonsense.
    They can stop being so greedy and put the free internet radio stations back into Music on the iPhone instead of pushing users into their paid streaming service.
    Plus they can stop changing shit just for the sake of it. It’s beginning to feel like every bloody time they do an update more things become counter-intuitive.

  12. I can do that job!

    Dear Apple,

    1 – MacPro
    Update the MacPro every year with any updates that exist – more ram, faster graphics, MORE I/O ( not less ), more storage, expandability and upgradability. THIS is what a PRO user wants and needs. No reason not to update this yearly. In the Q1 timeframe, a time when companies allocate funds towards equipment and the consumer market slows down. It’s not a fluke why the consumer electronics show, NAMM, auto show, etc.. all pimp new products in Jan/Feb.. now sell to them.

    2 – Displays
    No reason to blow this market off. You proudly advertise how great your retina display is, yet you ignore making a desktop one? Confusing. Make displays to compliment your MacPro and MacMini. Not to mention having a Apple logo in front of millions of users doesn’t help sustain the brand in people’s minds.

    3 – Mac Mini
    I still think this product is used and should still be made, just update it.

    4 – iMac
    WHY is this not a priority to Apple? Make NEW iMacs every year. Announce AND release it in Q3 for the Holiday season; and make sure you manufacturer enough to meet the demand.

    5 – iPhone
    Increase battery life. More innovation. Don’t neglect the 4″ size, just because Samsung made you think the world wants huge phones… not everyone does. Loose the “s”, it makes no sense on the marketing side to the consumer. And if you are going to do a whole keynote and release a new model, make sure it has more than “look how thin it is”

    6 – iWatch
    Utilize the board of directors you built on this device to help recognize heart attack and stroke symptoms before they happen. Having the watch excel in the medical and health field will reap dividends for years to come… making it a must-have product.

    7 – AppleTV
    The i/o again is lacking for systems that run like Control4 that needs better options for i/o.
    Get the deals done with the networks to help consumers rid the stranglehold on cable companies that over-charge for a million channels.

    8 – MacBook Pro
    Bring back i/o!!!!
    If you want to be respected as a PRO machine, allow there PROS to USE it without 1,000 cables coming out of it. Pro users do not want to deal with dongles.

    9 – MacBook / MacBook Air
    just give them a refresh more often than 3 years
    I really don’t understand the difficulty to update these yearly, without the need for a re-design…

    10 – Stock
    Keep buying back diluted shares so it’s harder to be manipulated. AAPL is one of the most manipulated stocks on the market.

    11- Aquisitions
    Make sure what you are looking to acquire is not something Apple can achieve on it’s own with the talent within. (See Beats). And whoever is negotiating these deals needs to grow a pair and learn how to get better deals and not waste so much money on some of these companies. When I see what Apple pays for these acquisitions, I shake my head. Paying $3B for beats was a terrible decision.
    Tim didn’t get the memo that Apple CREATES ecosystems and doesn’t just buy them.
    If you’re gonna acquire a company, acquire Adobe; for the assets.

    12 – Diversify Manufacturing
    Apple needs to diversify manufacturing to more than one resource to meet the demand. Be the leader in bringing back manufacturing on a large scale back to America. Utilize China, Mexico and India to meet demand for products so the consumer can purchase the products you are advertising.

    13 – Advertising
    More money needs to be spent on Advertising and aggressive advertising. Apple has gotten a little weak on ads. Marketing is everything.

    14 – iTunes
    Fix iTunes. It’s such a pain and over-bloated. iTunes 2010 runs better than iTunes 2017… that is messed up.

    15 – Software
    Fix Mail. Fix spotlight. Bring back Aperture.
    Allocate staff to interact with users of your software and aggressively update them based on the users input. It’s not that difficult.. the users will give you the answers to the quiz. Listen to them and your software will shine.

    16 – iCloud
    This is kind of embarrassing. Other companies offer better services for less money. it almost makes more sense to roll $5 – $10 more into each product and offer iCloud for free with a generous space to sustain the
    user base, offering tons of services with all that content. 1TB free is what I would offer.

    17 – Retail
    Allocate more employees to help people at the help desk. Every store I go in has 10-20 sales people, mostly talking to one another, meanwhile 2-3 tech people are backlogged with pissed off customers. This is mis-managed and can be better handled.

    18 – Keynotes
    Tim, step aside and let someone with passion, excitement and a great stage excitement do the keynotes. Make them count. Don’t assemble the press and your fan base to come to one of these events to tell them the new iPhone is thinner. Don’t waste everyone’s time and understand when you have the stage.. perform… sell… and if you lack things to talk about, then it should be telling to your allocation of the talent around you and how you utilized them.

    19 – Apple Pay
    WHY is this not being advertised like crazy? No excuse for the lazy approach to this. Advertise this everywhere. Co-Brand with world brands. Do a co-brand commercial with subway showing people buying a sandwich and paying with their phone in seconds. Show how easy and secure it is. Almost every person I tell about Apple Pay has no clue about how much more secure it is than the other choices. Even the retail staff doesn’t know. Who’s job is that to tell them? Apple! Run ads showcasing that strength.

    20 – HomeKit
    See how users use products like Control4 and start building the ecosystem for that. I feel this, along with CarPlay, can be a game-changer if done right. You create great things like HomeKit, yet trying to educate the consumer about it is lacking. There should a fun section on the website all about these technologies you have. Consumers should not have to dig for that info. The website and marketing should be promoting them more aggressively. This is a under utilized sector for Apple.

    21 – iPad
    iPad should be updated every year and announced and released Q3 for holiday quarter sales.

    22 – R&D
    Make sure the products are tested enough so you don’t have issues after the release (see maps, EarPods, macbook pro 2016 battery, etc.. )

    23 – Fix your Christmas failures
    2017 – missed releasing HomePod release for Christmas
    2016 – missed AirPod inventory to sell
    2015 – missed inventory on iPhone to meet demand
    2014 – missed iMac inventory to sell thru Christmas
    This is a ongoing problem. The date for Christmas has not changed in 2017 years.
    Take around 1% of your revenue $200 – $250B and hire 50,000 workers averaging $50,000 each
    and diversify them into manufacturing plants: 20,000 in the U.S., 10,000 in China, 10,000 in Mexico and
    10,000 in India to meet your product demand so the cycles of the products are announced, released and
    exercised in ONE financial quarter so your analytic data points are more accurate sand consumers are better served.

    24 – Better communication
    Way too many PR nightmare from one CEO for such a small sku product line. Throttling the iOS without
    letting people know was one of the worst executions this company has ever done.. again under Tim Cook.

    Those are some of my ideas.
    Richard Hofherr

  13. ““He focused on the little details most people simply don’t see, don’t care about, or don’t bother to do anything about even if we do see them,”

    That just about sums it up.

    Mac user for 30 years last October. Not going anywhere else because there is no option. But after 2 days of massaging High Sierra 10.13.3 and I will give Apple Support credit for all their efforts, no question there.

    But my critical software which I use to run my business comes from the excellent 3rd party developers who work their butts off to adapt to the “updates”. Their costs of doing business are increasing incrementally every year, as are mine.

    Please go back to Snow Leopard and work your way back up, and then only release it when its ready.

Reader Feedback

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.