“As Apple’s reputation for execution falters in the post-Jobs years, Samsung’s ruthless pace could put it ahead, even if customers would ultimately suffer,” Rob Enderle writes for DigitalTrends.
“Apple has excelled by taking Microsoft ideas and improving on them. The problem hasn’t been that Microsoft didn’t innovate; the company just didn’t execute. Microsoft manufactured smartphones and even had the idea for the iPhone before Apple did,” Enderle writes. “Microsoft produced MP3 players before Apple had an Apple iPod Touch-like product on the market. They played music and did most of what the iPod Touch did years before the Touch came to market. Even though Microsoft wasn’t the first with tablets, Microsoft tablets were on the market years before the iPad.”
Enderle writes, “The consumer electronics market is speeding up. Smartphones in particular have moved quickly to 4G along with larger screens and faster processors. Apple, which once led this market in technology, always had issues, with the latest radios being late to both 3G and 4G. More recently, Apple has fallen behind in screen size. Even if the iPhone is 4 inches, the market appears to have already moved to 4.5 inches, placing Apple behind.”
MacDailyNews Take: While the off-his-meds Enderle clearly ought to change his name to Old Man Jenkins, his disinformative ramblings do raise a central question:
What have we really seen from Apple since Steve Jobs passed?
• A “new” iPhone (4S) that looks exactly like the previous iPhone and whose claim to fame is a beta feature (Siri) that Apple purchased and which even Apple’s co-founder lampoons with regularity.
• Expected, predictable evolutions of the MacBook Pro and Air model lines.
• A new iPad that looks exactly like the previous iPad, but with a better screen and a faster chip. In other words: another totally predictable evolution.
• A new OS X, drop the “Mac” please; another predictable evolution.
• A new iOS, about which we can barely imagine muster the interest to bother installing. Oh, yeah, we get the promise of “Facebook” integration – coming “later this fall.” Thrilling. On the positive side: Maybe Siri will actually finally work more than 20% of the time.
• Ron Johnson, the guy who built the most profitable retailer in the world, exited Apple and was replaced by Cook with some random dunce from Dixons who obviously doesn’t understand the Apple way and who is already “fixing” what isn’t broken, but instead is the public face of the company and one of the main engines for its success.
• Bob Mansfield, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, retires. Replaced by someone from inside Apple, at least (Dan Riccio, Apple’s vice president of iPad Hardware Engineering). We’ll see. Fingers crossed.
• Apple continuing to do billions of dollars of business with Samsung, a company which is stealing Apple’s intellectual property left and right, outselling Apple by tens of millions of handset units in the process.
• A Mac Pro flagship that is, for now, the ultimate symbol of the post-Jobs Apple: Stagnant, slow, old, neglected and rapidly becoming a sad joke.
Bottom line: We haven’t seen much to get excited about yet, but we have seen much about which to be concerned.
As we wrote in a response to a reader yesterday: [The success you see from Apple thus far has been the result of] Steve Jobs’ massive momentum. [Virtually anyone with a brain could have been Apple’s CEO and experienced the same degree of success – or more – so far (and they likely wouldn’t have hired John Browett, either)].
Until we see something insanely great created under Tim Cook’s leadership, with no prior input from Jobs, the jury remains out on Cook as CEO.
Is Cook a visionary CEO or a mere caretaker? We’ll know soon enough.
Yes, we know Steve Jobs personally handpicked Tim Cook. He also handpicked John Sculley.
Enderle writes, “Samsung is cycling its products quicker and thus improving them faster than Apple does, which should result in a sustainable execution advantage. Given this is how Samsung beat Sony, one can easily conclude that, using the same strategy, Samsung may be poised to beat Apple.”
“Besides Samsung’s speed advantages, there are early indications that Apple is getting weaker. I’m seeing reports out of the Apple stores that satisfaction is dropping as Jobs’ policies of focusing staff on customer satisfaction are replaced by policies focusing staff on sales (and Apple has had a history of underpaying staff),” Enderle writes.
“On the product side, the product-refresh cycle has clearly slowed down. The expected iPhone launch (traditionally in June) has apparently slipped until September, the Mac refresh was very late, and unless something happens quickly, even the fourth-quarter refresh of the iPods (generally in August) will be late,” Enderle writes. “Word out of Apple suggests postponed decisions, missed deadlines, and an increase in secrets leaking out of the company, all of which points to Apple having difficulty executing. With Samsung increasing its level of execution and Apple falling off, one has the potential to replace the other, but the customer gets screwed.”
Enderle writes, “I’ve personally bought a number of Samsung products, and the company’s service and support organization is truly horrid, particularly compared to Apple’s… Unless Samsung improves the way it treats customers, I can’t support that company replacing Apple at the top of the pile.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Here’s hoping Apple’s malaise on the product side so far in the post-Jobs era is not because the magic died with Steve Jobs, but because Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Scott Forstall et al. have been working just as hard as they did with Jobs there to push them and are just about ready to stun us with some real envelope-pushing again!
Re: MDN take:
Apple has historically been very evolutionary in their designs. Take for example the MacBook Pros and Mac Pros. For years, they basically maintained the same appearance. The fact that the iPhone 4S looks the same as the iPhone 4 does not prove anything except that they are following a formula that has worked for them for years.
In regards to “predictable evolutions of MacBook Pro and Air”, you seem to have forgotten the revolutionary retina displays found on the Pros. As for the other aspects of the machine, they can only do what they can with what Intel has available.
Simply changing the look of something for the sake of change is not necessarily a good thing.
As for people leaving the company, people came and went when Steve was still around as well. People will continue to come and go. It’s the nature of a large company. Sure, the guy from Dixon seems to have stumbled out of the gate, but there were bad hires during the Jobs era too. Anyone remember Mark Papermaster?
I think MDN is nit picking at non-issues.
MDN’s bullet points above are not “nit picking at non-issues.”
Not even close. Their points back up what they’re saying perfectly: “Bottom line: We haven’t seen much to get excited about yet, but we have seen much about which to be concerned.”
And what exactly are you concerned about?
Things to be concerned about – with Apple (pre/during/post jobs):
1) Apple killing its “pro” market
— a) out dated Pro Tower workstations, no PCIe v3x, no TB for externals (though TB is nice, its not nearely as fast as say 8x PCIe v2x.
— b) Final Cut ‘Pro’ X was actually iMovie Pro … when released.
— c) Apple killed Final Cut Pro (old) 7 … there was not even an option to legaly buy this software from Apple, but if you were lucky, maybe a reseller hand a box somewhere…
— d) Apple’s “Pro” monitors are way to reflective/shiny – these make horrible displays – unless maybe you like wearing sunglasses or you can dig up your 1997’s anti glare screen…
— e) Shake is gone… right? No more Shake… or did this morph into something else?
Apple’s lack of support for cool features in OS X… such as FrontRow – which was largely neglected in 10.6 and abandoned in 10.7 … I suppose because AppleTV is what they want to sell you.
On the consumer side – lack of a mini tower (Core i3/i5/i7 options would be nice too… two PCIe slots… four DIMM/RAM slots… three drive bays (on as an optional optical or 3rd HDD/SSD) woudl be killer…
Apple releasing OS X updates faster than they use (see 10.7’s lack of FrontRow and 10.8 after only 10.7.4 was just released, which in some ways is not nearly as good as 10.6.8).
Apple releasing 10.8 to fix 10.7’s “issues” … because they almost tried to iOS OSX. Yes, some people do like to see the file system on a regular computer.
Not supporting 10.5.8 for iCloud … is just bad. I mean I know its old, but Apple did release some damn nice/powerful systems back in the day. They still support iTunes 10.6.3 on OS 10.5x and they almost let me upgrade to iCloud from my PPC Mac — actually I think iTunes 10.6.3 encouraged me to update to iCloud from the PPC/10.5.8 system … WTF Apple – lack of support for OS X going forward.
The ability to sync with any Mac/Computer and/or iCloud at the same time (though this could have been caused by the recording “industry”).
—– What I like about Apple …
They tend to get features right – not just features on a check list (that suck, crash, fail, etc…)
retinal displays
unlocked iPhones
no contract iPads
optional anti-glare displays on some units
Thunderbolt
AppStore
iTunes – for the most part
Apple tends to revolutionize, then evolve a product at a fairly slow pace, always moving toward where the puck will be (and the puck keeps moving after they hit it further up the ice).
Look at it this way, Steve Jobs wanted the original Mac to be today’s iPad (that’s what I think anyway). It took a long time to get there and drew inspiration from other Apple products. They refined their craft designing (engineering) those other products. When the Mac came out, they only had the Apple ][ to draw their experience from, with the iPhone and iPad, they knew what they wanted (as a result of iPod and iMac, etc…) and had the tech to make it happen.
My point again, Apple revolutionizes, then evolves and refines it.
On to Cook…
Cook may never escape the shadow of Steve Jobs, he won’t get credit for the TV, he won’t get praise for the mere evolution we see in the iPhone and iPad lines, nor Mac lines. It’s no win, he knew it, Steve knew it and Cook accepted it.
Cook is going to make mistakes as Caretaker, he just needs to limit them so that when Forstall takes over, Apple is healthy and ready to start the next Revolution (which may not happen for several years into his leadership – so Apple may “coast” for six or seven more years). Be ready and be patient, Apple Fans, we may look back at 20-teens as the “dull” years.
Thanks for reading…
Why should apple reinvent the wheel just to prove itself . if you have a great car tire is your innovation stunted if you only come out with the radial? Good design can only be refined not redone
Wall Street and hence AAPL shareholders demand growth or there will be a hellish price to pay.
Innovate or die, Apple.
Is this the best you can do, Mr. Cook?
Sure got to agree with you. Cook has driven this company into the grave. Lousy 600 billion market cap, AAPL at record high. Let us lynch the stupid bastard if this is the best he can do.
I bet MDN staff, all two of them, have already sold their AAPL and bought GOOG. We see enough Apple hatred from elsewhere, we do not need MDN piling on. Juvenile.
Apple’s recent focus has shifted from out-innovating it’s competitors to out-litigating them. While they’re certainly justified in this approach, it dilutes focus on inventing great new stuff. In the past, Apple has been so far ahead of the competition that they haven’t had to focus on this (i.e., they really didn’t have any fierce competition). The gap has certainly narrowed these days, and I would have to agree that Apple’s glory days are numbered. Like Microsoft however, they will still remain a top technology vendor for years (or decades even) after their peaking. But I think Apple has peaked – – it’s hard to say for sure because they’re still at the top of the peak.
Unless they can protect their IP, where is the incentive in producing new, great things? Everyone will just copy and undercut on pricing.
News flash. Apple retail has ALWAYS focused on sales. The idea is to show the customers that buying that extra bit is beneficial for them and you’re doing them a favor by even letting them know that.
Why do you think they ask if you have AppleCare when you go to the GeniusBar?
They can look up if you have it. It’s to imply that you should buy it w/everything. They make a ton of money on it.
Well, it sure looks like Enderle stirred up some shit here. I can’t remember the last time posters jumped on MDN’s case like this, and MDN responded so many times. If these reactions are a sign of Tim Cook’s reign, then we might be looking at problems in the future.
I think the people here are replying more to MDN’s take than Enderle’s article. We’re all used to his BS already. We’re just not used to MDN agreeing with him.
Yes, we know Steve Jobs personally handpicked Tim Cook. He also handpicked John Sculley.
Dude, I don’t know what your issue with Tim is, but I would point out that unlike Sculley, Tim Cook worked alongside SJ for over a decade. He joined Apple when it looked like Apple was about to go belly-up, and he could have written his own ticket with any other tech company. He was instrumental in building the most valuable company in the world. This isn’t some sugar-water peddler we’re talking about.
-jcr
“…the ultimate symbol of the post-Jobs Apple: Stagnant, slow, old, neglected and rapidly becoming a sad joke.”
MDN, I agree that there are some issues about which we should be concerned — flaccid advertising (which you initially defended) and the recent screw-up over the Apple stores (which you slated from the outset) — but the above comment is a wee bit over the top.
Nevertheless, your criticisms have generated one of the most interesting threads I’ve read in months.
Must be a mortgage payment is due at MDN’s basement condo.
How can people say that everything positive coming out of Apple is a result of Steve Job’s momentum, but everything bad coming out of Apple is the result of TIm Cook. It goes both ways.
When the iPhone 5 comes out, people will be giving Steve all the credit. Why is Tim getting the flack for the lack of product innovation in the meantime.
April Fool!
I was hoping this troll had gone away.
Still a total dumbshit, I see.
It’s too early to jump to conclusions. I’d wait another year. Meanwhile- look at the rest of tech: see anything revolutionary, or that “just works?” I’m troubled by this sales guide, but let’s not crucify Tim Cook and the entire company! There will never be another Steve Jobs. But that doesn’t mean Apple is doomed. If so, it’s going to take everyone else down with them.
The spirit and passion of Steve Jobs still resides at MDN and we can only hope that it is still alive and well at ‘Apple Inc.’ Time is quickly running out and the product line has yet to show itself.
I understand MDN frustration at keeping Samsung as a supplier. Jobs was just too trusting. I also understand the frustration at taking in the guy front dixons.
But that does not mean MDN SHOULD POST CRAP ABOUT SAMSUNG OUTSELLING apple in the smartphone market. Those ar all lies from WS shysters. MDN posting those analyses are giving credence to the shysters. Post it if you must but call them out. MDN posts stuff from Dewitt, and yet the post of Dewitt calling out the liars (dubious as he put it) is not carried by MDN. Be angry at Cok but call out the liars.
Re MDN take.
Patience please. It’s only been a year and you’re looking for fireworks? These complaints seem vaguely familiar. The 4S as an improvement to the 4 is the same as Steve’s 3GS vs 3G. The iPad 3 over the 2 like Steve’s 2 over the 1. OS X is evolving at a similar pace. Yes a short miscue in Retail, but antenna gate was a small miscue also. Steve also was famous for ignoring the Pro.
It is disappointing to rely on Samsung, but when a company is growing as fast as Apple, reality constrains the speed of ramping up already, and when you are at the cutting edge there is no quick switch to an alternate supplier. Apple helped build these Samsung factories and has to realize their exclusive initial benefits. Next generation facilities are more likely to be changeable, but the expertise is not readily transportable. You shouldn’t cut off your nose to spite your face. This will be a slow messy divorce.
Remember that even Steve didn’t reinvent industries every single year, and it has only been one year. Patience.
“As Apples reputatation for execution falters…” ?? Absurd ! Everything we’ve seen since Steve Jobs passed away IS part of the plan that was in place prior to his death. We haven’t seen any products that Jobs didn’t know about… They’re HIS plans.
I’m not worrying too much about Apple. I just got back from my 45th high school reunion. Sat at a table of eight from all over the US. When it was time to show pictures of grandchildren, 8 iPhones appeared. 6 of the eight were discussing the September 12 date and planning the fastest way to get a 5.
Hey MDN, are you under new management? It’s been a few years since thats happened.
Someone actually reads or listens to Enderle?
The one person who does is MDN?
I thought everyone knew he was a paid shill for Dell and Microsoft who pooped on everything Apple did.
Really need to rethink coming here for news.
are most of you apple fanboy? there is no number. 1 forever. remember this. Apple will suffer slowly from out of idea, and get a pressure from manufacture. I think that they need to build their own manufacturing beside unibody system. other than that, there is no way Apple to compete with Samsung for long term. Apple’s heyday will be slowly vanish after all. it was all about Steve Jobs. now, it isn’t. Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. the company changed very differently.
And GET OFF MY LAWN!
MDN’s take is so much rambling, inconsistent and self defeating nonsense..
How many revolutions do you really want? Isn’t it better for the occasional revolutionary thing to then evolve into something much better? Evolution gives us compatibility and a coherent ecosystem. Apple is willing to jettison the past to move forward, but balance is needed. Of course it depends what you define as evolution v revolution. Was the iPad a revolution? After we already had the iPhone and the Touch?
Are Samsung revolutionising their phones? No, they have evolved them with bigger screens, faster CPU etc, none of which is necessarily better. A faster CPU can be a sign of more power availability, but it can just as well be a sign of greater power need through inefficient software or hardware, such as adding more RAM just to show a bigger number to customer. Screen size is a choice, it’s where you make your compromise. All screens are always the wrong size. Even the iPhone is bigger than you really want a phone to be, and even the Samsung Galaxy III is smaller than you want for browsing the web. You have to compromise.
How many revolutions did Steve Jobs actually give us? In how many years? Most of the time under him we saw a few great innovations evolve to become better.
Yes, Steve Jobs hired Scully, proving that promoting Cook does not make Cook a sure thing. But it also proves Steve make mistakes. Bloody big ones. Eric Schmidt as a friend and on the board? How could that go wrong?
And where did the ‘Siri is crap’ come from? Where have you expressed this view before? You’ve raised questions about it, asking in a poll whether it got summer in the months after launch, but this ‘20% accuracy’ and the view it was a nothing (and Beta) feature of the 4S is, for me anyway, out of the blue. I saw no clue that MDN views it as such a failure.
What business case is there for dumping Samsung as a supplier? There’s a revenge case, for sure. And if you can do it, why not? But to take any risks, to do it with unnecessary haste, will achieve exactly what? Will Samsung go broke and be unable to afford to continue ripping Apple off? Will it serve as a punishment so severe they’ll realise the error of their ways and turn over a new leaf?
The MacBook Pro and Air have shown only predictable improvements? What did you want? Is anything else possible at the moment? Doesn’t MDN often stand by the point that Apple knows when to implement something? While others run off with the newest technology and install it, no matter what the effect on batter life or usability? Under Steve Jobs we didn’t get copy/paste till they figured how to do it right. We didn’t get 3G until the battery impact was acceptable. While everyone else put 4G on, that pretty much no one could make use of, Apple waited. They waited for better battery life, smaller size and maybe even a chance that the user could actually make use of it. Samsung didn’t care, the engineers stuck it in because the marketing guys demanded it. I thought this is part of what Apple does. Tremendous innovations that really work well and evolve over over time.
MDN does this. They ‘defend’ Apple over everything, while all their negative thoughts are suppressed, probably making that portrait in the attic grow ever more hideous. Then one day they can’t take it anymore and they stomp around the office with a purple face and rage against all the evil Apple has done. The iPhone 4 antennae was the most spectacular example, I think they were almost sectioned over it, although they apologised for going off the rails on that one. MDN is always destined to be the biggest Apple supporter or the biggest hater. Nothing in between will do. They have warned of this, as they have repeatedly declared that, watch out, because if Apple does start to go wrong, they will tell us. And Apple. And everyone. MDN are the guardians of Apple, their conscience and their ultimate saviour. We need not look for signs Apple is deviating, MDN are watching closely for us. When they go wrong MDN will pass judgement. No one else’s judgement will do.
The Sculley/Cook thing is garbage and deserves no credence. You are comparing decisions made 15 years apart, one by a 28 year old and one by a 43 year old. MDN needs to screw its head back on.
Reasons for visiting MDN:
Apple loyalty.
Razor sharp focus on FUD.
WTF attitude to dumb articles and anal-ysts.
Humour and long running jokes…aka ‘Apple now worth 50x Dell’
Meticulous iCal archiving of dumbass blogger and public statements.
MDN takes
Schadenfreude with extra salt.
Good mix of referenced articles.
No forum moderation(that I’m aware of).
Precise criticism of Apple when necessary.
Some great, witty, knowledgable posters…and their opposites.
Reasons to not visit/leave MDN:
MDN increasingly thinks they know better than ‘God’
Daily, almost schizophrenic hypocritical changes in direction ré Apple management.
Changing from fandom (= good) to fanbois (=really bad)
Too much snark.
Provocative political stance leading to page hits and sooo much party based ‘beat the crap out of the opposition’ postings (tho’ as a Brit, it is highly amusing).
MDN posting replies??? What is THAT all about?
Meant to add…
In the early days it didn’t matter that MDN came across like an overactive 12 year old, but now that kid has grown up with teeth and brawling tendencies it’s not so attractive in an adult going on 12.
Or maybe it’s just me growing older?
it’s you. It’s always been you.
A “new” iPhone (4S) that looks exactly like the previous iPhone and whose claim to fame is a beta feature. . . .”
and
“. . . we understand why iPhone 4S is different from iPhone 4 and that the 4S is simply the best damn smartphone ever made.”
MDN, 4 October 2011
Exactly…MDN author must be off his meds. No better than any other hitwhore.
By the way, visiting this site is letting 15 different entities track your behaviour, including Google Adsense and Google Analytics. I suggest MDN cut the hypocrisy and stop littering their site with useless ads, most often featuring Microsoft, Dell and various smartphones. Ugh.
It’s been less than a year… Give him 2-3 years to see his handiwork.