“Since Tim Cook took the helm, Apple has stumbled. Its stock peaked at over $700 in September 2012 and has spent much of 2013 down around $400, only recently moving to $500 territory,” Scott Finnie writes for Computerworld. “There’s been a lot of criticism of the company by media, analysts and the financial community some of it warranted. Over the last two years, Apple’s biggest new products have been the iPhone 5, the iPad Mini and the Retina MacBook Pro. The Retina display aside, they’re all derivative and either play catch-up or, in the case of the iPhone 5, lag behind in both worldwide market share and leap-forward product innovation.”
“What’s more, 2013 has been mighty thin in terms of Apple product launches,” Finnie writes. “You have to go back to 2005 to find a year with fewer new hardware releases. (Beginning in January 2006 and throughout that year, the company released new Intel-based versions of all of its Macs.)”
Finnie writes, “So, has Apple lost its mojo? Has it run out of innovative ideas? I believe that what we’re witnessing this year is the end of the pipeline of in-the-works projects from the Jobs era. To be sure, there are plenty of other test-tube ideas Apple is developing that Jobs had a hand in. There has been a delay in 2013, but it’s understandable. The first six months under a new CEO must have been a time of uncertainty for Apple employees. It gave them pause. Cook is nothing like Jobs, and that had to affect Apple’s corporate culture. It’s this adjustment period that resulted in a slow 2013. All the same, while it’s clear that Apple can iterate existing products very well, can the company still hit home runs with new ideas as it did with the iMac, OS X and the iPod, iPhone and iPad?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: By not having anything of note to release beyond the extraordinary MacBook Air – and that’s mainly due to Intel’s Haswell – and a bunch of “coming soon” previews this year (so far), Tim Cook has left Apple wide open for this type of criticism , not to mention stock manipulation.
We’ll all know soon enough if Apple’s OK or not. We’re betting strongly on the former.
There is no evidence that Apple is suffering – unless you want to pretend AAPL matters to the actual health of Apple.
The product “drought” was planned and if WWDC is any indication, you’re going to want to buy AAPL.
i believe there is some truth to your comment — product drought being planned — yes there was no need for Apple to challenge the copy cat competitors as Apple profit was not in decline – So Apple just road out the wave… the next wave will approach when Apple sees fit to ride a new one.
I think it ignored the wave and some of hat was down to SJ. With things changing quicker than anticipated and SJ no longer around to steady to nerves and using personality to cover the strategic errors the sort of response we have seen was inevitable. I think the gap was something of a change in that strategy which is more suitable to competing in the new competitive environment and hopefully the fruits of this readjustment will soon be seen.
I remember after the product push last fall that there were rumors that Apple would start to update their iOS products twice a year, but of course nothing happened in the spring.
But I think the rumors of the iPhone 5 to be replaced by a 5S and a 5C show that this may indeed be the future roadmap. Imagine if in spring of 2014 Apple releases a completely new iPhone 6, and then in the fall they replace it with a 6S (upgrade-better internals) and 6C (cheaper plastic version).
They could repeat the process every year.
Those that are ready to upgrade in the spring get the latest and greatest, and those ready to upgrade in the fall have a choice between greater or cheaper. And it reduces the lag between iPhone launches that give Android a window to grab “exposure”.
I think Cook has been trying to transition Apple to this faster roadmap, they just needed to make sure that the foundation of Mavericks and iOS7 to be ready. This is why the operations guy is in charge.
Another idiot ANALyst judging the companies health based on Stocks Value. Fattening up the WS players wallets is what its all about.
Correct. Also note the article is a hit piece against Apple except for the last line which says Apple will do just fine. WHAT???
Hit piece. No issue.
Even Steve didn’t have a new product to introduce every week.
No but for the most part Apple under Steve had something to announce about every 3 months to keep them in the news. This fairly new trend of annual release and announcements is not a good plan.
In what year did Apple announce something every 3 months? And what products or services were announced ?
Everyone twists reality and forgets stating otherwise, that under Cook AAPL went 700, first of all!
Last year Apple updated every singe product they sell before the end if the year. Who is to say they aren’t planning to do the same thing this year?
All indications are that Apple has gobs of stuff planned for release soon — this article is premature.
It’s important to remember, now that Apple is so huge, they can’t do what most companies do and whip out a million or two of a new product and be done. Apple has to have *millions* of new devices manufactured and in the pipeline because the demand will be there. That really complicates logistics and manufacturing.
Agreed. Certain rumored products also require agreements with the film and television industry. I hope that cobweb allows end users to enjoy what Apple has planned with no unnecessary delays.
Saying Apple has stumbled after Tim Cook took over is like saying that after the death of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman that OJ’s life got a little more complicated!
Apple is actually in more trouble than Microsoft.
At least Ballmer will now be contained, while Cook is left unchecked and dangerously incompetent.
The tech world moves fast and misteps can set a company back decades… If you don’t believe, just ask Microsoft.
Facts please. What are the facts or are you just playing analyst? Stock price aside, what indicates Apple in trouble? Lack of users? Poor performances of iTunes or MacBook Air, Pro, or iPad?
The man asks for facts:
* Does not understand the difference between updates and prematurely obsoleting a product (iPad 3, 30-pin connector)
* Fires innovative talent (Forstall)
* Botches major software releases (maps)
* Botches major product releases (iMac)
* Disrupts stock because market has lack of confidence in him (Gee, I wonder why)
* Confuses new products with minor, incremental upgrades (every time he opens his mouth)
* Has all the emotion and presentation skills of a mannequin at the mall (since the moment he started sucking in air)
* Caved in to greedy shareholders (offered dividend, something Jobs would have never done; boy, Icahn is going to love him)
* Can’t keep an executive on board to run retail (since Jobs left, retail has been a complete disaster)
I could go on until Ballmer grows and afro.
* Does not understand the difference between updates and prematurely obsoleting a product (iPad 3, 30-pin connector)
**Apple has always obsoleted hardware “prematurely” (e.g floppy drive, parallel port.
* Fires innovative talent (Forstall)
**Fires obstructionist asshole who alienated everyone in the company.
* Botches major software releases (maps)
**Maps was immature for a couple months, but now has caught up with, and in some areas is ahead of Google maps in many ways. Currently Google maps has the same glitches that remain in Apple Maps.
* Botches major product releases (iMac)
**Just like SJ “botched” the original Intel iMac release.
* Disrupts stock because market has lack of confidence in him (Gee, I wonder why)
**Apple was targeted by the big brokerages (e.g. Fidelity) for a sell-off. They made a fortune deflating the bubble last September through December. There was NO change in AAPL fundamentals and its P/E ratio is still laughable.
* Confuses new products with minor, incremental upgrades (every time he opens his mouth)
**Under your definition, what new products have Samsung and Google released in the last…well, forever?
* Has all the emotion and presentation skills of a mannequin at the mall (since the moment he started sucking in air)
**He’s still light years ahead of Monkey-boy.
* Caved in to greedy shareholders (offered dividend, something Jobs would have never done; boy, Icahn is going to love him)
**Apple paid a dividend from 1987 to 1996. Where was sJ during those 9 years?
* Can’t keep an executive on board to run retail (since Jobs left, retail has been a complete disaster)
**Retail is doing just fine. Been to an Apple retail store lately? Notice the difference between them and that other store across the mall?
I could go on until Ballmer grows and afro.
**Yeah, you do go on and on.
You’re in denial Zeke… that’s a river of delusional Apple fans over in Egypt!
Tim Cook is about as qualified to run Apple as Windows RT is qualified to be a decent operating system, absolutely not at all!
But keep up the propaganda and stroking your ego. Or are you keeping up appearances and stroking something else.
Whatever, you seem to be having fun doing it and I suppose that’s all that matters, right?
We were having fun before the wet blanket—you—crashed the party. Congratulations, killjoy. You’ve convinced no one, but that can’t have been your goal anyway, given the lurid Nicole Simpson reference. Choose a less reprehensible analogy next time, please.
Bozo, thy name is Orandy.
Is media OK? Have reporters run completely out of innovative stories?
Tim Cook promised great things this year and next. A promise made is a debt unpaid.
We will get an inkling of what Tim Cook can do by December 2013 and we will know for certain by December 2014.
The magic is gone. Tim hasn’t a clue. All us “trolls” have known that for long time. Now it sets in all around.
Steve Jobs had a fire burning inside, Tim Cook is as cool as ice. Time will tell, if Cook’s determination and insight will match or exceed his predecessor.
I would not underestimate Tim Cook. He’s one tough cookie, you can see it in his eyes, and during interviews.
I’d appreciate more action and less eye toughness, whatever that is. Justin Long portrayed a more compelling Apple enthusiasm without even trying, and all he had to go on was a short script.
Actually your presence (along with your, apple hating, troll brethren) reassure me that you are (as group) still running scared.
I mean after all if you were confident (and dot get me wrong only a fool would be confident of windows future at this point) about windows marketshare domination, let’s be blunt, you would hag out like a bunch of losers, on mac forums.
Sorry typo…
“let’s be blunt, you would hag out like a bunch of losers, on mac forums.”
Should read
“let’s be blunt would you hang out, like a bunch of losers, on Mac news forums.”
it’s a sad time when common folk can not make out and recognize their own prophets for who they are.
Stupid article….. Apple is actually up since tim took over.
Apple has had no shortage of product releases.
His coment about 2013 being the slowest year of of product release sincec 2005 is premature… 2013 is not over yet…we have another 5 months ( almost 1/2year left)..
Revolutionary products dont happen every year.. Even in apples case in the last 15 years.. They have released something with huge wow factor, every 3 to 4 years… Not every year…..
Mdn comment ., must be a mistake… Or they have tuned seriously bipolar!
There’s only 4 months left in the year. By the time the upgraded iPhones are in our hands there will be three months. By the time we all get used to the obnoxious colors in iOS7 that are masking the lack of imaginative thinking there will be zero months.
A company can’t release small upgrades to existing products once every year and stay exciting.
This is another example of the vast media wasteland. We wade through a lengthy rehash of stuff we already know, followed by a stupid hypothetical question posed with no real insight.
Ok so why aren’t the analysts asking this question about MS? Cripes, they’re in so much trouble, they shitcanned their CEO, finally!
Is Apple Ok? Give it a rest for cryin’ out loud!!!
“Apple” in a headline generates more attention than “Microsoft”. When pages load, ad counters go up, paychecks are issued.
I can see a “rule” in operation: when there is zero Apple news, rehash an old story or start a rumour. It’s mendacious. It’s crass. It’s ignoble. It’s the frontier of a brave new journalism.
I think the video at the beginning of WWDC tried to explain that Apple has been busy perfecting. iOS 7 is a massive overhaul and a very dangerous move that they can’t afford to get wrong. We think we know what the new iPhones are all about but I expect Apple will do something unexpected.
Poppycock! …MDN’s take as well.
Another day, another dim witted tard who thinks Apple’s stock price is of any use in gauging the health of Apple the company.
Look.
Retards.
The pundits and shills of the crooks on Wall St didn’t see Apple’s meteoric rise before it happened, to say nothing of the blinkered tech press, what with their heads so far up Microsoft’s ass for decades. To even give provisional consent to the idea that these same morons know fuck all about Apple’s future is delusional.
MDN – get your own fucking house in order before you dishing out your bipolar nonsense!
This site is a mess and your app is shit.
Wow. That’s some blunt criticism of MDN and you’re still here! All I have to do is hint at dissatisfaction with the MDN mobile app and I’m censored.
Uh oh, here it comes… 3…2…
The only thing that has me worried is the new Mac Pro. Apple and Intel screwed the pooch forcing Thunderbolt prices to be so high that you’ve already spent a couple hundred dollars before actually getting to the peripheral. For instance you pay 3-4 times the price for a 1 TB Thunderbolt HDD than you do for the same mechanism in a USB 3.0 case. No difference in performance, no way to daisy-chain because that would have raised the price too high, no inexpensive TB hubs.
Back when Firewire was introduced it had two advantages over USB, It could daisy-chain and was faster. The increased cost was moderate so it gained some popularity. Thunderbolt doesn’t have the advantage of speed or expansion until you start spending big bucks. To come out with a Mac Pro that is ONLY expandable through a NEW version of Thunderbolt is very bad news for Pro users unless Apple keeps the older line available for as long as there’s demand.
I see the new Mac Pro as the updated version of the Cube. Cute, but of limited usefulness, something that’ll be a cool find on the used market a few years from now.