“History is replete with examples of technology companies that once generated vast sums of revenue and profit, only to either cease to exist or become shadows of their former selves,” Ashraf Eassa writes for The Motley Fool. “Sometimes, these companies were disrupted by smarter, more agile competitors that changed the rules of the game, and in other cases, poor management simply couldn’t keep the momentum going.”
“One way that Apple tries to avoid such a fate is by investing heavily in research and development,” Eassa writes. “Last quarter, the company once again increased these investments.”
“During Apple’s most recent quarter — that’s the second quarter of Apple’s fiscal 2018 — Apple spent $3.378 billion on research and development expenses. This represented an eye-popping 21.7% year-over-year increase. During the first half of fiscal 2018, Apple’s research and development spending was up 20.1%, so the rate of growth actually accelerated a bit during the second quarter compared to the first,” Eassa writes. ” Apple needs to be working on next-generation product categories. They can be smaller deals, like new accessories (e.g., AirPods, HomePod), or they can be much bigger deals, like the Apple Watch. Not every one of these new categories is going to be a smash hit in the mold of the iPhone, but if Apple can regularly bring out reasonably successful new categories and invest heavily in them, the aggregate revenue from these categories should become quite substantial.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: May Apple’s investments bear much fruit!
SEE ALSO:
Apple R&D spending continues to grow in lockstep with iPhone, AR projects – May 3, 2018
An Apple R&D bonanza – March 15, 2018
He forgot to mention the car! 😉
So if Apple is really spending that much on IR&D then where are the updated Macs? Every (yes, every — even the iMac “Pro”) Mac has been superseded by technology that is out there in competitors’ systems. If Apple really is spending that much on IR&D then either the Mac division is getting virtually NONE of it, or the Mac IR&D team(s) are incompetent. PERIOD!
Those are the only two possible choices. If it’s the former, Cook and clan need to be fired. If the latter then fire 100% of the Mac IR&D teams and replace them all.
Apple doesn’t seem to be all that interested in computers, anymore. That’s a darn shame. Apple seems to be totally hung up on things like AppleWatches, AppleTV, AirPods, and the like. Profitable yet small consumer tech items. At this point, all I can do is hope for the best and that Apple really does have some sort of good plan for the future. Apple is always hiding its plans so we won’t know until it actually happens.
I’m hoping for updated Mac desktop hardware, a highly-evolved Siri and definitely a fully-packaged streaming service that can compete with the likes of Amazon’s streaming service.
I’m hoping my maxed out 2012 mini lasts forever. The way things are going it might have to! 🙁
“Apple doesn’t seem to be all that interested in computers, anymore.”
Very accurate statement. So much so, that I would say to anyone that hasn’t bought a mac since 2012 because none of the products suit you, there’s a VERY good chance that no future product will suit you either. You have to decide, stay with your old system or switch to something non-Mac.
Previous four posts — gripe, gripe, gripe, total BS.
Be patient and wait for the new Macs or switch and buy Wintel, because your griping on this forum is not going to change anything.
I hope Apple is investing in getting AirPlay 2 onto the desktop (notebook). I have four UNpaired NON-stereo HomePods. I love them. But, I would love them MORE if they worked in stereo (paired) with my iMac (streaming from iTunes via AirPlay 2). Time will tell.
Once a market saturates (phones, laptops, desktops) there is only one basic way to improve market share that I am aware of.
Segmentation for different market segments is what is traditionally done.
The Model T was great for an all-around first vehicle that could be used for cargo and people. The next logical step was to make a “truck” to replace horse drawn wagons. After that the half-breed pickup and now today the so-called SUV.
What I detect is Apple ignoring the pro-user segment, though a small % of the overall market, is a group of very influential people who know damn well what they want and sometimes must have.
Pro-users don’t buy a piece of “tek-equipment” based on whether it is a pound heavier, because the know they want more OPTIONS. Battery, ports, removable media, upgradable video card, RAM. If you have upgradeability, it may cost the pro user far less per year to “keep up” since he can upgrade and increase the lifespan of his “tek-equipment.”
The interesting thing is that once you focus on a small market segment and start innovating, you start finding new ways to innovate.
I hope Apple does reenter true “Pro-Mode” because doing that forces them to reevaluate what they can create which can eventually trickle into their large volume products, too.
“trickle into their large volume products”
Seeing as how “large volume” for Apple = iOS, I struggle to see see how anything that applies to a Pro-Mode Mac machine would apply to their large volume iOS devices. Unless by Pro-Mode, you meant a Pro-Mode iOS device, which would indeed scale well to their other iOS high volume products.
And, they’ve sold all these large volume products without upgradable video cards, upgradable RAM, removable media, removable battery, no port other than lightning.
“…if Apple can regularly bring out reasonably successful new categories and invest heavily in them, the aggregate revenue from these categories should become quite substantial.”
Ooo thanks Mr Obvious
“if” and “should” in the same sentance…meh