“Apple started as a hardware company. Its first product was a kit: a box of hardware that customers had to assemble on their own. There was no software included,” Joshua Fruhlinger writes for Thinknum. “That, again, was up to the customer.”
“But what eventually differentiated Apple was its user-friendly software that made the hardware disappear,” Fruhlinger writes. “Product design has always been a critical difference-maker for the company — the iPhone’s capacitive touchscreen, the iPods simple elegance, the MacBook’s slim profile — but as the company looks to the future, it’s beginning to look more like a software company than anything.”
“One could make that point by simply pointing at its burgeoning media business, but the hard truth lies in Apple’s job listings data when tracked over time,” Fruhlinger writes. “As of today, “Software and Services” (previously known as Software Engineering) is, for the first time, the most-populous category for which Apple is hiring.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, Apple’s focus is clearly on services.
Forget the Mac Pro. It is Vaporware.
Apple, the next Comcast.
I wonder if it’s just a coincidence that if you say “Apple” backwards, it sounds like “google.”
trondude…Mike…you guys are just ridiculous. Sad, really. Same “sky is falling” nonsense posts day after day, week after week.
“Apple, the next Comcast”?? That is just foolish.
I look forward to the day when all of the Apple naysayers – the doom and gloom crowd – has to eat crow when Apple once again amazes the world. Until then, take solace in the smaller victories and be patient.
I guess we will see where this all goes in the long run….
But ze good doctor has the uncomfortable hunch that mr. Apple is heading away from the once seamless union of great software powering great hardware and into greater emphasis upon the realm of services i.e. recurring subscription revenue streams augmented by useful but more fashion centered technology – iPhones, iwatches, iPods, and the like – all, of course, premium priced for premium customers.
I think we are watching the transformation of a visionary led high technology based company into a bean counter led consumer service company.
While even in its hey day under Steve Jobs it never was not about making money, but it was driven by a vision and ethic of building innovative technologies that empowered people.
it now seems to be (d)evolving into technology increasing focused on entertaining, and conveniencing – rather than empowering – people while extracting as much moolah as possible on a sustained basis
Well that is business I guess, and times change. Me ? I kinda liked it better when it was the way it used to be – and still sorta is, but increasingly isn’t – rather than the direction it seems to be heading
Entertainment is interesting and used by almost everyone, but, but …
Someone has to provide the entertainment, edit it, dub it, promote it, etc.
Can not do that without hardware.
I can’t see Apple sidling up with Microsoft & Dell to let them do the OS and the hardware.
Bring Aperture back.