“Apple has survived more than 40 years in a fiercely competitive industry by taking risks,” Brad Moon writes for Kiplinger. “It has been rewarded at times with game-changing products that have sold literally billions of dollars. But from time to time, Apple has made some spectacular faceplants.”
“For every iPhone that consumers line up for, there has been a Newton gathering dust in a drawer,” Moon writes. “Here is a look at 10 Apple products that changed everything, as well as 10 that flamed out … and even a few more current products that the jury still hasn’t ruled on.”
Changed Everything:
• Macintosh
• iPhone
• iPad
• iPod
• Apple TV
• AirPods
• MacBook Air
• iMac
• Apple Watch
• App Store
Changed Nothing:
• QuickTake Camera
• Macintosh TV
• Pippin
• Power Mac G4 Cube
• Apple Batteries + Charger
• iPod Hi-Fi
• 2013 Mac Pro (trash can)
• Newton
• Macintosh Portable
• Apple USB Mouse (hockey puck)
The Jury’s Still Out:
• HomePod
• MacBook Pro With Touch Bar
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: To pick just one out of multiple quibbles, putting the Newton on a list entitled “Changed Nothing” is ludicrous.
SEE ALSO:
Remembering Apple Newton’s prophetic failure and lasting impact – August 5, 2013
The story behind Apple’s revolutionary Newton – January 20, 2010
Apple Newton’s Y2K10 issue corrected; devices ready for 2010 and beyond – December 30, 2009
Apple rehires Michael Tchao, one of the original Newton developers – September 28, 2009
Newton cancellation protest leader: ‘Jobs was right to cancel the Newton’ – August 04, 2008
Apple’s Newton continues to fascinate and attract users – July 08, 2008
Computerworld’s Haskin: Apple seems to be repeating Newton mistakes with iPhone – February 26, 2007
Newton lessons for Apple’s new platform – December 11, 2006
Ten-year-old Apple Newton beats latest Microsoft Windows ‘Origami’ UMPC – July 27, 2006
Apple Newton fans keep platform alive – September 03, 2004
Apple’s Newton will never die: Newton-powered mobile blogging – May 05, 2004
Apple’s Newton: the PDA that just won’t die – March 24, 2003
The Changed Nothing-list is a clickbaiting joke. Even the failures of Apple in most cases are worth more than the best products of Dell and Microsoft, if there are any. The Newton was ahead of its time. The Cube was a little too sophisticated. Nevertheless, great products. I still love my cube. (The hockey puck was nonsense, of course.)
Agreed. The Newton was the predecessor for PDAs, in general, and was also a pathfinder for the iPhone released over a decade later.
I would also argue that the QuickTake camera was a rather significant product, since it helped to usher in the era of electronic photography. It is the product that *should* have triggered Kodak to evolve its business model, but didn’t.
Among the quibbles, the Pippin was not an Apple product. In addition, to the best of my knowledge, the Pippin was never commercially released.
Uhh, the PowerBook 500, was the first Mac portable to incorporate a trackpad, ethernet and stereo sound. It redefined what a portable computer could do.
And the PowerBook 100 was the first portable computer with a palm rest. Such a small thing in retrospect, but then all the competitors at the time were geared toward a mouseless DOS…
How are the AirPods game-changers? I mean, they don’t even always connect to the iPhone if the iPhone isslavingly looking for a Braille Display which isn’t on, because the do rely on Bluetooth. The do not sound much better than regular headphones, and are just a bit more laggy than regular headphones too. So, I’d put those in the “still waiting” category. I just don’t get the “magic” feeling with them. Sure, they’re okay, I bought them after all, but they’re not the “wow” kind of tech.
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Where does Siri fall?
I asked Siri that question.
It doens’t know. Thankfully, it’s main competition is Alexa which seems equally vapid.
How did Apple’s Battery Charger & Rechargeable Batteries not make the list. 6AA batteries + a charger…. revolutionary indeed!
Actually, the glaring miss is the very first Apple product I bought, an Apple ][+ That was the game changer as far as bringing computing to the masses. Probably because it was before the author of the article was born?
Spot on. The Apple II+ is the first Apple smash hit. Without the II+, there is nothing else on that list because Apple folds up and is never heard from again.
I might also argue that my iPod touch trumps the Apple watch in that I still use my iPod touch to do everything I might use an Apple watch for. Even more. Similar in concept of the switch from pocket watches to wristwatches. But what do I know? Most of the younger generation people that I know, that have Apple watches, have never even seen a pocket watch.
Where’s the Apple Store (not the app store). Those Apple Stores changed a whole lot. Knowledgable people available, ability to demo anything, and beautiful design. Looked at the way stores changed after that? Microsoft Store, Amazon store (bricks and mortar kind) and many others.
Yeah that round mouse. Jesus! It had the most design over functionality among any of Apple’s products. Carpel Tunnel medical specialists loved it.
“…have sold literally billions of dollars.” Since when has Apple or its products sold dollars or any other currency? The Web needs better writers as well as fewer shallow articles.