“In an upcoming PBS interview with Charlie Rose, set to air Friday night, Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses the company’s current product lineup, Beats, Apple TV, Steve Jobs’ legacy and hints at new product categories that ‘no one knows about,'” AppleInsider reports.
“When asked about Apple’s future product pipeline, Cook admitted that there are a lot of things the company has interest in, but a focus on execution prohibits the number of devices it can work on at any given point,” AppleInsider reports. “‘There are products we’re working on that no one knows about, yes. That haven’t been rumored about yet,’ Cook said.”
AppleInsider reports, “Cook talks about Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, saying, ‘I think about Steve every day,’ a comment he made on Tuesday during an interview with ABC News‘ David Muir. Another interesting tidbit dropped during Rose’s interview is that Jobs’ office remains untouched at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.”
More info and videos in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Alas, I have come to expect that when anyone at Apple says “lots of things,” what they mean is “a few things,” and when they say they’re “working on things,” it means that out of 4 or 5 pots on the stove, only 1 or maybe 2 will ever come to fruition. I would also suspect that Cook may be referring to things that are not really groundbreaking, like new versions of old products, maybe a redesigned Mac Mini or something.
That said, if you want to predict what Apple could tackle next in terms of a new device they are not already making, you should follow some basic guidelines:
1. It should be a common object used by many people at the consumer level.
2. It should be something that has never been done as well as it should have, and item which has never been fully utilized due to poor design
3. It should be something that people will buy new versions of every 2-5 years
4. It should be something that can be usefully integrated into the OSX/iOS ecosystem
5. It should be something which can serve as a platform for developers and perhaps accessory makers (Watch being an example of the former, not the latter)
6. If possible, it should combine the functionality of at least a few different devices/products (under the principle of universal design)
So the question is, what kind of product fits all of those points? It’s hard to imagine, as Apple has already addressed most of the low-hanging fruit.
Eyewear, a la Google Glass, is one possibility; it is arguable that Google fumbled on that one, partly because it moved too soon, before the technology was there, and they did not think it through as well as they should have. I would be surprised if Apple did not have an ongoing work group focused on that one for the long term.
TV is an area we know they want to expand into, but they haven’t been able to break into yet because of all the existing players aggressively guarding their markets. Count on that to be a strong focus for Apple, however, especially if a la carte TV begins to break out.
If something does not work for everyone, you could focus on large market. What could students, for example, use that Apple does not already make? Could there be more of a software focus than a hardware one?
My sister bought a smart pen a while back, one that recognizes what you’re writing and had other cool features. I would not be too surprised if Apple was working on a writing device which could make writing by hand cool again.
Ideas?