“Let’s all agree that Apple makes some rip-roaringly good products. The iPhone, the iPad, and the MacBook Air are all massive successes. And there are ceaseless rumors about the forthcoming iPhone 5,” Sam Grobart writes for Businessweek. “But Apple makes many things, and it stands to reason that some of their products are better than others. The problem for Apple (and it’s a problem many companies would like to have, no doubt) is that when the bar is set so high for the good stuff, the merely adequate starts to look unacceptable.”
“That’s why Apple should consider the Jack Welch approach to product management: Just as the former General Electric chief executive officer would close or sell business units that did not place first or second in their industry, Apple should look at some of the laggards in its product portfolio and ask some hard questions about whether they have a future at the company,” Grobart writes.
Here’s where it could start:
1. Safari: Safari has never cracked 10 percent of browsers in use.
2. Game Center: I’m sorry, but what is this? I just know it as the annoying thing that pops up before I want to play Angry Birds.
3. Pages: For most people, there’s Microsoft Word, and there’s Google Docs. One’s bloated and powerful, the other’s limited but streamlined. Nobody needs another word processing program.
4. Numbers: Numbers is Apple’s challenge to Microsoft’s Excel, but for better or worse, Excel is the standard here.
5. Mission Control/Launchpad/Dashboard: Apple keeps pushing these different ‘views’ of your desktop. Most people know them as the weird screens that pop up when you accidentally move your cursor into a corner of the screen and then have to figure out how to get back to what you were working on.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
1. Smartphone/Tablet Browser Share, August 2012: Safari – 66.43%
2. Just because you don’t know what it is, Sam, doesn’t mean it isn’t useful and fun for those who do.
3. Pages for iPad is the world’s #1 word processor for post-PC devices. Grobart lacks understanding regarding Apple’s mobile iOS devices to desktop/portable Macs strategy.
4. Numbers for iPad is the world’s #1 spreadsheet app for post-PC devices. Grobart lacks understanding regarding Apple’s mobile iOS devices to desktop/portable Macs strategy.
5. As with the 4 previous items, Grobart doesn’t know enough, or anything, about the products he advises Apple to “stop making.” Mission Control displays open documents and their apps. Launchpad shows available apps in iOS style. Dashboard runs widgets. They aren’t three “different ‘views’ of your desktop.”
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “John C” for the heads up.]
This guy should NOT be off his meds. Please take as prescribed before writing this nonsense. Bloomberg, you now should hold your head in shame
The sad story is that Appe used to make bang ass software long ago.
Now they are just limping behind others.
what a nonsense, 5% Apple users in a whole..
just because YOU don’t need something doesn’t mean other people dont’t need it!
The Jack Welsh strategy is now considered by many to be a complete failure. Almost as bad as the Madoff scam just not as smart….I’m thinking Apple has been doing fine without any help from the so called intellectuals for the last ten years or so. Why listen to the idiots like this author who have nothing to offer.
I’ll admit I’m stuck in “hide app, show app” world. I never remember that Launchpad, Mission Control, Spaces, etc., exist. That’s my fault though.
I do use all the new scrolling settings… Brilliant.
I actually have less Numbers to Excel issues than I did with Excel to Excel.
What an idiot. Pages and Numbers are so much better than Office and Excel. I have all for of them but I hate to use Office. Only if there is a rare reason I do. Otherwise I avoid it.
Safari is important irrespective of Platform because by way of development of webkit it ensures that their devices have modern browsers that push support of standards. Chrome may be pushing ahead due to more regular updates, but Apple can’t rely on another company. At an absolute minimum Safari ensures they keep their foot in the door.
I use most of these religiously and would HATE to see them go.
So would I – Reverend Josiah Winkleberg. SJ.
Useless component in tech = analysts. “I’m smarter than Apple… so pay me”. Go to Hell!!!!!!!!
Mission Control/Launchpad ARE worthless and should be able to be deleted or dropped by Apple. Dashboard is the answer to the question nobody is asking.
The rest of his posit is just so much BS.
When Grobart put Safari as the number one item to get rid of, I knew this guy was a bigger idiot than Dvorak.
Are the editors at Businessweek really THAT clueless to run something from this guy?!?!?
Dvorak is a pretty big guy. At least he knows he’s just a crabby old man who keeps wetting himself.
One Thing Businessweek Should Stop Doing:
• Pretending they know how to run a business better than Apple.
Q: What is the one US business that has grown and thrived, despite our ongoing worldwide economic depression?
A: Apple.
So please do STFU all pretenders who ‘know better’. And oh look. Apple’s still growing and thriving with Tim Cook as CEO. Fascinating.
Perhaps its time for Businessweek to trim back their contributors. This guy, by his own admission, can’t even drive his Mac. His opinion is, therefore, worthless. I hope Businessweek aren’t paying him for this nonsense…
Porsche has never cracked a 10% market share either. Should the company just stop making cars?
It is critically important for every innovator to continue to explore new terrain and make “mistakes” in the real marketplace. There is no better place to learn.
Apple should stop making everything. Making things requires work. Work makes you tired. Then you want to take a nap. We should all just take a nap.
When I opened I thought for certain Apple TV would be in this list. I would have disagreed with that too.
Also, this guy needs to learn the difference between products and features.
Safari is not a bad product.
It’s not Apple’s main focus but it’s a nice looking and good performing browser. I use it every now and then.
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