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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Why Apple doesn't need to innovate much to stay ahead of the competition

By | March 13, 2012, 6:00am PDT

The rules that apply to everyone else in the industry don’t apply to the Cupertino giant. But Apple doesn’t need to innovate much to stay ahead of the competition.

To begin with, Apple doesn’t seem to be having any problems selling iOS devices. They’re flying into the hands of consumers as fast as they are coming off the production line. With a whopping 172 million post-PC devices – iPhones, iPads and iPod touches — sold up to the end of 2011, and of that 62 million being shipped in the last quarter of 2011 alone, not only is there a huge pre-existing base of people wanting to upgrade their current iOS device to the newer model, new buyers are also climbing aboard the iOS juggernaut every day.

And it’s not just consumers that are embracing iOS devices in their millions, the iPhone and iPad are making huge inroads into enterprise markets too.

Then there’s the budget iPad 2, Apple’s newest iOS gateway drug. It’s only available in one storage capacity of 16GB. At $399 — compared to $499 for the cheapest new iPad – the price will not only be an enormous temptation for consumers who have been putting off buying a new iPad, but also it will appeal heavily to anyone thinking about buying iPads in volume.

By keeping the iPad 2 on the market, Apple is engaging in psychological warfare with the competition. It’s sending the message that at $399 the year-old iPad 2 can still give whatever new product other companies bring into market a run for their money.

Also, by keeping the iPad 2 on sale, Apple is giving those who bought an iPad 2 over the last few months the feeling that the their purchase isn’t obsolete. Apple isn’t trying to sell the new iPad to those who bought an iPad 2, but instead it’s selling to those who either have yet to buy an iPad, or those who bought a first-generation iPad. This is Apple’s business model in other areas, so it’s not that much of a leap to imagine that the company will do the same with iOS devices.

Another thing that we need to bear in mind is that post-PC devices are rapidly becoming mainstream and we will soon look at them much in the way that we look at PCs now. We don’t expect yearly innovation when it comes to PCs, and there will come a day when we won’t expect it of post-PC devices either. There will also come a day when Apple updates the iPhone and iPad much in the same way as it does with iMacs and the MacBook range; silently and with little in the way of fanfare.

The final, and most obvious reason why Apple isn’t really under much pressure to innovate is the fact that there’s little in the way of competition to the iPad, or the iPhone for that matter. Android might be selling more when it comes to volume, but the Android ecosystem is made of up of a whole bunch of disparate OEMs.

Margins are razor-thin as everyone fights it out and races to the bottom in terms of price to try to capture as much of a market share as possible. I don’t see a single Android tablet that rumps the new iPad or the iPad 2 at their respective price points.

The tablet has been pretty much stitched up by Apple and I don’t even see Microsoft causing much of a disturbance when Windows 8 ARM tablets start making an appearance. In fact, OEMs will have an enormous challenge on their hands to bring a Windows 8-powered tablet to market that can compete against the iPad on price, battery life, screen quality, performance or portability.

Image credit: Apple.

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Topics

Apple iPad 2, Apple iPad, Apple Inc., Apple iOS, Tablets, Mobile Operating Systems, Innovation, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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Top Rated

Your premise is unproven at best, delusional at worse, Bob
kenosha77a 2 days ago
Regarding your statement, "people buy iPads because they do not know any better ... " is, IMO, logically unsustainable. You have forgotten that one key human trait - word of mouth advice.

People buy products because their friends or their research sources have recommended that product. Usually, consumers also have hands-on experience (even if that experience is of limited duration) with the product they wish to purchase. I'm pretty sure that most iPad consumers have had more than enough info and advice about the Apple tablet before they purchase one to counter your claim that "they didn't know better".

As far as a fashion statement being a primary reason for purchase, well, that's just plain hokey. (Except for the person who plates his new iPad in 24 K gold -- I'll give you that one. Grin)

Give it up, Bob. As much as you have fought the "good fight" against the iPad for the past two years, your battle has been lost. Your arguments will not sway a consumer's iPad tablet purchase because of what that consumer wants, what that consumer has seen and what that consumer has heard about Apple's iPad tablet. Even enterprise and educational markets have jumped on the bandwagon.

Are you actually implying that committees that were in charge of purchasing these Apple tablets for educational and enterprise market applications did so because they wanted to make a "Fashion Statement"? Or that they didn't "know what they were doing"?

Your right, however, when you stated that the iPad is a fine device. In some ways, it is an exceptional device when coupled to it's ecosystem. Those are the reasons consumers buy iPads and not because they wish to make a "fashion statement."
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Just In

Sorry - but you missed it.
TheWerewolf 14 hrs ago
Apple doesn't need to innovate to stay ahead because people aren't buying Apple products because of the *products*... they're buying into the Apple *experience*. This is the genius that Jobs pulled off - not by making a better product - that's demonstratively not true - but by building an experience AROUND those products that's compelling and exciting.

Evidence? I can give you a perfect example of it. When the iPad 2 came out where I live, Apple had just opened their second store. People were lined up at that store hours before it opened... which sounds familiar until you realise there wasn't a huge line up at the OTHER (first) store - or at any of the other retailers who also had it available that morning. Any of those people could have simply gone to a Best Buy and got one without lining up.

But it wasn't about getting an iPad 2 - or even really getting one first (they'd be first by an hour at most)... it was about being part of something with a group of like minded people.. it was a *social* experience.

Every Best Buy has an Apple store in it - but you don't see crowds of people milling around it... you barely see anyone there. Yet the Apple stores are always more or less crowded - even though they have, basically, 12 products and a handful of accessories I rarely see anyone even looking at. The EXACT same stuff you can get at Best Buy or heck, Microcenter and plenty of other places.. yet they still go to the Apple Store.

THAT is the part no one thinks or talks about... THAT is where Apple's win is.

Weirdly, the Samsung barista ad gets it right.

And Apple manages to do what every other company has utterly failed to do: they keep the excitement and the social elements going.

A big part of it is the feedback loop that is the media - Apple products get talked about more than any other product - far, far more than makes sense. That gives people a disproportionate sense of the importance of Apple and its products. Which gets them buying those products, and around we go.

Look at most retail websites and you'll see "iPad and Tablets" and "iPhones and Cellphones", as if iDevices aren't the same as the other products. You don't see 'Galaxy Nexus and Cellphones' or 'Transformer Prime and Tablets'. The best is when you go to a cellco and see there are 'special' iPad and iPhone dataplans not realising they're EXACTLY THE SAME PLAN, but called out for iDevices... which of course makes iDevice owners feel special.

And here's the thing - I'm betting that Apple is paying these stores to do this. Most people don't know that for example, having your product on display at the endcap of an aisle in a something a company has to pay for.. and Apple pays for a lot of this.

The others don't.

Which is why Apple wins and why innovation isn't as important as solid marketing.
View in thread
-5 Votes
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You know what reality is...
Peter Perry 2 days ago
It is both iOS and Android... Both sides don't like the other selling well but they both do and it is the same holy war as Mac vs PC but the winner of the last fight is an aging champion and it has given way to younger challengers.
3 Votes
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To be honest I don't care if "Android" sells well...
James Quinn Updated - 2 days ago
Over all I think the path they Google choose is to emulate the old champ MS in many ways what with volume sales and such. I'm pretty sure it's not going to work out very well for the OEM's that get caught up in the inevitable price war that is the untold story of MS's success. And in the process like MS Android will suffer because as more and more people see a growing chain of failures via support, lack of quality build, poor support all due to cutbacks in the ever increasing demand to find profit in a world of thin margins and share holder demand to see results from their investments. Basically a repeat of the past. Google might do fine in the short run with this but with Google buying Moto mobility and teaming with what is it Assu to make tablets all Android OEM's have to ask themselves some serious questions and with W8 representing a viable third option other than iOS and or Android OEM's might decide something like this "Well at least MS won't be making their own Phones and or Tablets to compete against us so why not go with them?" And "IF" MS gains some market share with W8 I can see an OEM price war with W8 and Android devices trying to under cut one another to gain market share and or volume. A game i don't think Apple will choose to play. So in the end it's all good:)

Pagan jim
0 Votes
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Current Reality
WebSiteManager 2 days ago
I wouldn't count that battle as over yet. You may eat your words in a few years. I still remember the articles written in 1997 about how Microsoft had overlooked the Internet and was being brought down by Java and Netscape. So far, they're far from beat. May still happen, but hasn't happened yet.
2 Votes
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And what was their response?
Richard Flude 2 days ago
That's right behavior that had them embroiled in antitrust cases for a decade and payments of tens of billions of dollars.

Netscape was on the right track, it has taken much longer but watch HTML5 and the browser now dominating the APIs.

MS has lost the win32 lockin, the source of its monopoly. Competitors are taking advantage.
3 Votes
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Different markets
TsarNikky 2 days ago
Apple has chosen to focus on individual users via their smartphones and tablets, which they do very well. As for business-oriented PC's, not so well. Microsoft used to focus on business-oriented and power-user PCs and did quite well. Now that Microsoft is attempted to move in on where Apple has done quite well, with its mongrel Windows-8 Operating System, things are not going well for MS.
2 Votes
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Changing Dynamic
WebSiteManager 2 days ago
It used to be that people bought for their home what they had at work. That's how Microsoft won in both territories. Today, a lot of people - many would be arguing it's the new dynamic - are taking what they bought at home into the workplace (BYOD - bring your own device). This comes at a time when Apple is very strong in consumer. Microsoft is trying to counter that with focus on consumer, both to continue to grow (their market share in) that segment, and to protect their corporate turf.
Mobile phones are an especially interesting device in that regard: on the one hand, they are important computing devices for people that they use for more and more things. On the other hand, in a time of economic difficulties, many businesses and public sector employers can't stomach handing out mobile phones to their employees, leaving that territory wide open to BYOD and its accompanying sea change.
-2 Votes
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Don't forget...
TheCyberKnight 2 days ago
The social factor. Apple is still perceived as the hot thing and it is fashionable to own their devices. Also, a lot of people get Apple devices because that's what they hear about or because they have know people owning them.

For Windows 8, it would very suprising that Apple even has an eye on it. In its current form, it is not even a distant threat. Why bother then?

Microsoft has an incredible opportunity but it still seems they are not ready to leverage it. Some old-style, attached to the past internal forces are keeping Microsoft from taking the real game changing decisions.
-1 Votes
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Not a distant threat? I agree.
William Farrel Updated - 2 days ago
Apple looks at it as closer then they would like, so they see it far from distant.

Remember - Apple mocked Vista, yet didn't say boo when Windows 7 came out. If you think that Apple doesn't consider everything a threat, then you don't know Apple.
-7 Votes
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Why Apple doesn't need to innovate much to stay ahead of the competition
Loverock Davidson- 2 days ago Below threshold | Show Anyways
They don't need to innovate because they know their loyal fans will continue to buy and upgrade every year no matter the device or price.
0 Votes
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Ironically; as a devoted MS fan boy that's something you know too well.
Socratesfoot 2 days ago
But you're right. It's the same reason Microsoft can market a Metro OS that nobody likes or wants much and still push Windows 8 forward into a purely cloud-based model users neither trust MS to embrace ethically or believe that they can provide reliably.
2 Votes
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By no one you mean you right?
bobiroc 2 days ago
Why is it when people like you do not like something or want something it is made out to be that no one wants it. But if you do like or want something and somebody else doesn't agree with that then they are a hater.
0 Votes
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Lets stay on topic here
Loverock Davidson- 2 days ago
This really isn't about Microsoft, its about Apple.
5 Votes
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@Loverock Davidson
msalzberg 2 days ago
The topic here is Apple and its competitors. I believe most people think that Apple's competitors include Microsoft.

Therefore any discussion, no matter how much you want it to be merely about slamming Apple, should include Microsoft.
1 Vote
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Does it mean that there are more Apple fans than MS fans?
iRMX 2 days ago
Going by what you say, does it mean that MS has very few fans (judging by its WP7 success)? If so, why? I am a techie who never owned Apple devices for the last 25 years (but do so now) even though ALL my programming is on Windows. Apple has a better user experience compared to Windows. Most young people out there feel Windows development is for middle aged developers and senior managers. Windows is like job security, so many patches every Tuesday or so which messes up something else and you need to check your .NET code to ensure it works properly and so on. Compared to that, the Apple experience is very smooth and slick. Though I am a Windows guy, I feel that Apple will to do Windows what the Japanese car companies did to the American car companies
-1 Votes
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Not sure about that
Loverock Davidson- 2 days ago
But the article is more about Apple than Microsoft so we'll focus on that.
1 Vote
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Innovate or die
mcksmith 2 days ago
It's assinine to suggest that a company in the tech industry doesn't need to innovate to survive. How many tech giants have been brought down by a competitor over the years?

Heck, Microsoft has a market cap over $600 billion at one time and I bet that in 1999, no one predicted Apple would be giving them this kind of run for their money 10 years down the road.
2 Votes
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Agreed
use_what_works_4_U Updated - 2 days ago
But the premise of the article is that Apple doesn't need to innovate *much* rather than not needing to innovate at all. Two years ago they innovated very much with the introduction of the iPad (I still find the name to be laughable). This year they innovated, but did so to a much lesser degree. This benefits Apple tremendously. They can concentrate R&D; on a limited number of innovation projects in order to do those projects right the first time, and it gives them a much longer period of time to introduce new versions of products and thus profit from each release over a longer stretch of time.
-1 Votes
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Don't forget the massive amount of free marketing.......
OhTheHumanity 2 days ago
Apple recieves every day. We have a local news channel here that just talks about the ipad about every other segment and post on facebook and they are just one example of many. They push it like its the best thing since sliced bread and no other company gets treatment like that in the market. I would say Apple recieves more free marketing than P&G; pays for marketing in a year, which is in the Billions! I am hoping that kind of obnoxious in your face free advertising makes people think twice about supporting such ridiculous shove it down your throat adittude they push on us and go with a different product!
-6 Votes
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Just like on ZDNet!
Loverock Davidson- 2 days ago Below threshold | Show Anyways
Your local news and ZDNet seem to have something in common.
-4 Votes
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Seriously?
cbstryker 2 days ago
"there???s little in the way of competition to the iPad, or the iPhone for that matter."

Seriously? Over 800% growth for Android in 2010 and that growth continued throughout 2011. Android has nearly double the global market share of the iPhone and has passed the US market share (the one that most blogs seem to only care about) recently.

This isn't an "iPhone sucks, Android rules" comment. I'm just pointing out that the author has made a very blanket and frankly incorrect statement. The difference with what I said is that I actually gave facts to back it up.
-5 Votes
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Little Competition
bobiroc 2 days ago
People keep saying that there is little to no competition but I think that is only because people buy iPads because they do not know any better and it is an Apple product that they view as a status symbol. When it comes to buying a tablet there are some key functions most everybody wants like:

Access to Email
Basic Web Browsing
Play Games
Read eBooks
Watch Videos

Just about any tablet will do that and comparing the key apps and services that people like to use I find that the Kindle Fire does what most people want at the fraction of the price and does it well. I know others that have an Android Tablet that love it too.

The iPad is a fine device but marketing and bloggers have made it sound like no one has a choice because the iPad is superior. In some ways yes but in other ways not so much.
7 Votes
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Top Rated
Your premise is unproven at best, delusional at worse, Bob
kenosha77a 2 days ago Top Rated
Regarding your statement, "people buy iPads because they do not know any better ... " is, IMO, logically unsustainable. You have forgotten that one key human trait - word of mouth advice.

People buy products because their friends or their research sources have recommended that product. Usually, consumers also have hands-on experience (even if that experience is of limited duration) with the product they wish to purchase. I'm pretty sure that most iPad consumers have had more than enough info and advice about the Apple tablet before they purchase one to counter your claim that "they didn't know better".

As far as a fashion statement being a primary reason for purchase, well, that's just plain hokey. (Except for the person who plates his new iPad in 24 K gold -- I'll give you that one. Grin)

Give it up, Bob. As much as you have fought the "good fight" against the iPad for the past two years, your battle has been lost. Your arguments will not sway a consumer's iPad tablet purchase because of what that consumer wants, what that consumer has seen and what that consumer has heard about Apple's iPad tablet. Even enterprise and educational markets have jumped on the bandwagon.

Are you actually implying that committees that were in charge of purchasing these Apple tablets for educational and enterprise market applications did so because they wanted to make a "Fashion Statement"? Or that they didn't "know what they were doing"?

Your right, however, when you stated that the iPad is a fine device. In some ways, it is an exceptional device when coupled to it's ecosystem. Those are the reasons consumers buy iPads and not because they wish to make a "fashion statement."
3 Votes
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Yup, it's just a toy.
kludd 2 days ago
That's why iPads are in the airline cockpits, for the professionals, while Androids are in the passenger section, for games.
3 Votes
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Little Competition
Viviana Wong 2 days ago
You forgot creating artworks. Have you seen some of the paintings done on the iPads by artists using the painting Apps available for the iPad? They are simply stunning.
-3 Votes
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RE: Regarding your statement
bobiroc 2 days ago

people buy iPads because they do not know any better



You know it's funny when that statement is made to argue against people buying computers with Windows on it then it must be true but when it is made about a competitor product then it is because the product is so much better. Here you claim people research before they buy and then others claim they are forced into Microsoft products and do not know any better or how to research. I think I know how this game works. If it is made by Microsoft it is an evil company forcing their products on you if it sells well. If a competitors product like Apple sells well then it is because it is so much better.

I tend to think it is a combination of both ignorance and what people actually want to use. I still stand behind my statements that in many cases for people that buy an iPad they could have used a less expensive device such as a Kindle fire to check their email on, browse the web. I know many that is all that they use it for. There are many great things that you can do on an iPad and in some cases only on an iPad if that certain App is only available on an iPad for example but you cannot deny the fact that people do in fact buy Apple products to signify their status. My wife has gotten that already. I recently picked her up a Kindle Fire because the features suited her needs. She brings it to work to read a book (or play Angry Birds) on her lunch break and she was told that "What is your husband too cheap to get you an iPad?" She was very hurt by this but told her that this less expensive device works for her needs and she can fit it into her purse so it is more convenient.

I have no goal to sway people away from buying an iPad but there are many that will not look somewhere else because they think Apple is their only choice. People are very uniformed when it comes to technology it seems and if I was such an Apple hater why would I be using my 3rd iPhone? Seriously. I know what the devices can and cannot do and when it comes to functionality iPads have their positives and negatives just like any other device. It just seems you cannot illustrate anything negative about the iPad without being called an Apple hater. Nothing I am saying is a lie or a skewed version based on bias.
1 Vote
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The devil is in the details...
techconc 2 days ago
@Bobiroc:

For starters, you mention the basic functions as if they are simple checklists on a specification sheet. Honestly, if you've ever used "browser" on an Android tablet and compared it to Safari, you'd have a better understanding of why such comparisons are not that simple. It's also about the execution of these features and this is where the iPad shines.

Also, you simply can't ignore apps. I use apps all the time. Most Android tablet apps are simply phone apps that are blown up and look like crap as compared to native iPad apps. Again Bob, it's not just a matter of checklists on a spec sheet.... Yup, both tablets have an app for product X. Take a look at both apps and universally, the iPad app is better.
2 Votes
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But you do believe in using straw man arguments to make a point, Bob.
kenosha77a 2 days ago
For example, you quote me perfectly when you say, "Here you claim people research before they buy ???", which is exactly what I said and what I meant. But then, before that sentence is even completed you go on to state, "???and the others claim they are forced into Microsoft products and do not know any better or how to research."

That is a classic "straw man" argument when you claim "others" do this or "others" do that. The dubious point you are trying to make was never in your original comment to begin with and, of course, I never responded to that topic in my previous post.

The "game" you are trying to make me play is based on your premises and beliefs. Specifically, you state, "If it is made by Microsoft it is an evil company forcing their products on you if it sells well. If a competitors product like Apple sells well then it is because it is so much better."

First of all, Bob, those are not my beliefs. They are childish in nature and logically in error. (My high school debate coach,if he were alive today, would slap me silly if I ever tried to use such arguments to make a point. Grin)

However, to be fair, any product that sells well is almost, by defination, meeting it's design goals if we make one assumption and that assumption being consumers, as a LARGE group, make intelligent buying decisions. But it is just a weak corollary to state that a product that sells well must be a superior product. Sometimes it works out that way .. sometimes it don't.

I'm sorry past comments by idiots hurt your wife. People can sometimes be cruel by accident or by intent. And I'm glad her needs have been met by using a Kindle. (My sister's family has a Kindle. Nothing wrong with that device and I make that statement irregardless of the fact my sister has one.)

But here is a question you need to ask or consider when you give advice or recommendations when it comes to a tablet purchase. Will that tablet meet the future needs of a person? Or, another way to state the same thing, which ecosystem has a better chance of meeting unforeseen wants and needs of that consumer?

But I do have to differ with your statement that you have had no goal in which to sway people away from an iPad. That statement runs counter to every statement you have posted on ZDNet for the past two years in relationship to an iPad. Your posted words DO sway people whether you understand that or not. I really don't care what you use for your personal computing needs. And, I really don't care what opinions you publicly state about those beliefs. What I do care about are if those beliefs are stated in a logical and factual manner. (I shouldn't but it is my bias. It upsets me when I see intelligent, rational people make stupid comments.) So, if a person makes those types of remarks than I will call them out. (Fashion statements being one example and the like)

I will grant that you do not lie but you have been known to use colorful metaphors at times. For example, you were fond of stating at one point that iPads were used as toys implying that they were. Quote: "I find that most people use iPads as "toys" and not much for anything productive or work related." (Of course, you were not the sole owner of that opinion.) The iPad is not a toy. Never was. And, although I can't prove that the majority of iPad owners (some 50+ million of them) used their iPads as a toy as you claim most of the people observed by you do, my guess is that they didn't.

Finally, here is an example of your negative bias toward iPads and iPad users stated on November 14, 2011 in James Kendrick's blog - Typical day in the life of an iPad 2

You state: Here is a typical Day of an iPad in my environment

-Check Email
-Play Angry Birds
-Complain that you cannot run all the programs like you do on a regular computer
-Play Some More Angry Birds (or another game)
-Browse the net (complain that some web features do not work due to the lack of flash)
-Go to a meeting and exclaim how the iPad is wonderful because of all these apps. Be sure to use all the Apps that have no relevance to our job duties like all the games and eBooks you read.
-Complaint to the IT staff on how they need to MAKE YOUR IPAD WORK with things it was not designed to work with. Argue that you paid $500 + for this device and it should do everything that a regular computer can because the Apple Genius said it would.
-Go Pout in the corner and play some more games, watch a movie, or read an eBook.
0 Votes
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Yeah, but owning an Andriod powered Accer A500 Tablet
kiwicasperguy 1 day ago
I can tell you that the OEM's are in know hurry to update existing products. Having released the A500 last October, the promised Ice cream Sandwich by Janurary, then February then March and now we are told April, meanwhile Acer have released 2 newer tablets which they have updated, with onother one on the way (Olympic A510 Tablet that comes with ICS no less), the Android market is so fragmneted and rediculously out of touch, hell your brand new Tablet is usually old news as you are taking it out of the box. I have a 1st gen. Windows Phone 7 .5 from LG, that they are still updating (they just gave me Phone teethering in the latest update. Apple gave me the latest ios update for my 2 year old Ipod touch, and from Android (Google, Acer), nothing, and I've had the Iconia tablet just on 6 months and Jelly Bean will be out before Acer update my Tablet. They are in just no hurry at all to look after their customers, which if you read the OEM's forums surroung there products and release dates , there are a lot of P!ss off poeple that have been well and truely skewered by Android and after their first look and try, will probably never go back. What's the use, your shinny new Tablet is Obsolete as you are unwrapping it......
-5 Votes
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The first iPhone
bobiroc 2 days ago
Was a remarkable innovation. It changed the smartphone industry for the world. Everything since then just has been technology evolution. The only thing Apple innovates is the over-use of the word revolutionary.
-6 Votes
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The first iPhone
Loverock Davidson- 2 days ago Below threshold | Show Anyways
I remember seeing people lined up for a week and willing to spend $600 just to have it and the phone didn't do anything. It was hilarious to watch.
-4 Votes
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Lined Up
bobiroc 2 days ago
I don't get that either. I know people that have purchased every version of the iPhone and iPad and will be in line to get the iPad 3 even though they have an iPad 2. I have an iPhone 4S but I skipped the original because I knew 3G would be available and skipped the minor update of the 3GS. In fact the only reason I went from the 4 to the 4S is because the 3G that I handed down to my wife had a bad screen and it was beyond the point of usability. All that being said I did not line up to get it like it was the cure for cancer just to say I had it first. I am not looking forward to work on Monday the 19th when I will see some of the people that buy every iGadget walking around with their iPad 3 snubbing their noses at those still using an iPad 1 or 2 like they are better than them.
0 Votes
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Actually what was funny seriously funny was when MS
James Quinn 2 days ago
did that whole carry the iPhone coffin thing. I'm still laughing today about that one:P CLASSIC!

Pagan jim
-1 Votes
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You just keep cashing that
William Farrel 2 days ago
Apple paycheck, James Quinn. wink
-4 Votes
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RE: Seriously Funny
bobiroc 2 days ago
Yeah that is almost as hilarious as the Apple commercials that bashed Windows and lied about how their computers are so much more secure and cannot get infected.

But I do agree with you. That was a dumb marketing stunt. WindowsPhone is a great mobile OS but the team marketing it is doing a horrible job. Of course the sales people at these cell phone companies do not help either. I have heard them tell people that they do not want WindowsPhone. It seems a person ends up with the phone that the salesperson has a personal bias towards much of the time.
0 Votes
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It's only the fools that bought WP7.
Junpin Jack Flash 2 days ago
bobiroc that walk around turning their noses up at others. Kind of like the "Star Bellied Sneeches". Even though the phone is not better, just different.
1 Vote
+ -
And the first iPad created the tablet
baggins_z 2 days ago
market whole cloth.
-1 Votes
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Yes, But They Need to Keep the Magic Coming
WebSiteManager 2 days ago
They sell a device that is outdated quickly (couple years), and doesn't last too long (battery will stop holding much of a charge after a few years). While lots of people are investing in iOS apps, and that gives them some ecosystem lock-in, many of these are apps they don't rely on (will anyone care about even Angry Birds five years from now?), and consequently they don't have to stick with Apple for the long term. In the end, if Apple lost their way, they'd be only a few years away from a deep fall: the same boon that people upgrade their devices to a new iPad with some regularity could become their downfall - if the market decided to dominantly go somewhere else. In contrast to that, the PC ecosystem in the workplace has far more sticky applications that will require some type of PC architecture for quite a while into the future, because you just can't replace a lot of the applications we use.
As long as Apple continues their run, they will reap huge rewards. But the higher you go, the deeper can you fall, and their lock-in is not a potent as that of some others.
1 Vote
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And hopefully Apple ignores this article
se1971 2 days ago
Agree WebSiteManager. Their hardware is unsurpassed with high attention given to every detail. No one else does that, but going to far as to say they don't need to innovate is ludicrous. They aren't Coca-Cola, you have to innovate to stay at the top no matter what (you could argue Coke innovates with advertising but that's subjective).

Kodak and Xerox dominated their respective markets and were infallible. Xerox had 100% market share at one point! Never assume market domination, always be willing to try new technology out and most importantly make your mind up for yourself.
3 Votes
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What more does Apple need to do?
dhmccoy 2 days ago
Create Cold fusion? Tele-pod? Exactly what innovation have we seen from the other companies?

Any look at either phones or tablets pre-iPhone/iPad clearly show the Apple's influence. There were no tablets of any consequence prior to the iPad. Apple's app store model is THE model for the other vendors to follow.

What have we seen from say, Samsung? The stylus? These guys copy the look and feel of Apple's stuff right down to the charger for pete's sake. They use Apple's icons in their store. Or Asus? They attached a keyboard and stole the name of characters from an 80's cartoon.

The only thing the industry hasn't copied is Apple's outstanding support and the creation of a tablet that people actually want.
-1 Votes
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Oh My!!!
dogarner 2 days ago
Everyone uses the concepts of other companies and tries to make that concept better. Apple has been on a hot streak the past few years. But look at Windows XP to see how things can go south very fast. XP was the pinnacle for some and it was if MS did not need to innovate anymore. In fact many said that is what happened, they stopped innovating. If Apple does not leap forward in the next few years I fear they will be in Microsoft's position today. Maybe they will have learned from the past if not they will be doomed to repeat it. No one thought MS would fall from its perch a few years back. They prayed for it but it did not seem they could fall.
1 Vote
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Not quite
dhmccoy 2 days ago
XP was hardly a pinnacle. The security problems were so profound that significant amounts of development stopped as MS sent many of its devs to security training. Remember all of the complaints about XP's Luna interface looking like a toy? It wasn't that long ago.

I don't believe that Apple has even exhausted the stuff in their pipeline yet.
-1 Votes
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Which people?
HypnoToad72 2 days ago
"the masses"?

Funny, in a land that proclaims how great individualism is, advertising prefers playing up the "in crowd" - and that's pretty much true for them all since they all want 100% of the people to use their gear...

Still, with the Apple store model, entities like Adobe... or even the small company working on their own products... may not like Apple collecting 30% of every sale. That hurts the workers' ability to compete... and since it's just a store, what if Best Buy demanded 30% of every sale of every shrinkwrapped box in their store? (Best Buy bought the quantity - allowing the developer to profit - and then re-sells it at a markup so they can profit in turn, but that's not a direct comparison to the 30% anti-developer sentiment in the new e-store paradigms...)
-7 Votes
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Too many foolish consumers
owllnet 2 days ago Below threshold | Show Anyways
Only one logical reason - There are simply too many foolish consumers who buys an utterly overpriced iDevice every year. These crowd thinks that owning an apple device is 'cool'...
3 Votes
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And now we have a mind reader as well:)
James Quinn 2 days ago
Wow such a diverse range of shrinks, sociologist, and now mind readers. Will wonders never cease? How about this the "build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door" theory? People just like it? I know crazy right people actually like the iPad. Radical eh?

Pagan jim
0 Votes
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So, every year we're going to see more waste and iwaste?
HypnoToad72 2 days ago
And people are being told how much longer tablets last over PCs in terms of usability, green factor, etc...

This is rich.

Now, if people on either side will care to actually post statistics about people brainlessly buying the shiniest newest release (or not), that might help all of these piddle-rants about "sheep", "crowds", "popularity contests", and the rest of the cant and drivel both sides enjoy being slave to...
-7 Votes
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Sheeple!
Scotsman828 2 days ago Below threshold | Show Anyways
To many Sheeple want to be part of the "IN CROWD". I really don't understand the popularity of their devices. It's not like they're cutting edge technology. Guess it's the "Look at me, I have an iWhatever" mentality. No thanks!
4 Votes
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The "I don't understand it... So I MUST insult it" tactic:)
James Quinn 2 days ago
Bravo sir! Your complete lack of understanding could not have been better illustrated. Again sir BRAVO!

Pagan jim
-7 Votes
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The "I don't understand it... So I MUST insult it" tactic:)
Scotsman828 2 days ago Below threshold | Show Anyways
"Bravo sir! Your complete lack of understanding could not have been better illustrated. Again sir BRAVO!"

I understand fully! And I don't want any part of the iInsanity nonsense!
2 Votes
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Yeah, those Android buyers ...
kludd 2 days ago
... who proudly strut their Android devices as proof that they're "cool" and not part of the iCrowd grin
-3 Votes
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Yeah, those Android buyers ...
Scotsman828 2 days ago
Did I state which smartphone that I currently own? No! And I'm proud not to be counted as part of the iCrowd.
0 Votes
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Sorry - but you missed it.
TheWerewolf 14 hrs ago
Apple doesn't need to innovate to stay ahead because people aren't buying Apple products because of the *products*... they're buying into the Apple *experience*. This is the genius that Jobs pulled off - not by making a better product - that's demonstratively not true - but by building an experience AROUND those products that's compelling and exciting.

Evidence? I can give you a perfect example of it. When the iPad 2 came out where I live, Apple had just opened their second store. People were lined up at that store hours before it opened... which sounds familiar until you realise there wasn't a huge line up at the OTHER (first) store - or at any of the other retailers who also had it available that morning. Any of those people could have simply gone to a Best Buy and got one without lining up.

But it wasn't about getting an iPad 2 - or even really getting one first (they'd be first by an hour at most)... it was about being part of something with a group of like minded people.. it was a *social* experience.

Every Best Buy has an Apple store in it - but you don't see crowds of people milling around it... you barely see anyone there. Yet the Apple stores are always more or less crowded - even though they have, basically, 12 products and a handful of accessories I rarely see anyone even looking at. The EXACT same stuff you can get at Best Buy or heck, Microcenter and plenty of other places.. yet they still go to the Apple Store.

THAT is the part no one thinks or talks about... THAT is where Apple's win is.

Weirdly, the Samsung barista ad gets it right.

And Apple manages to do what every other company has utterly failed to do: they keep the excitement and the social elements going.

A big part of it is the feedback loop that is the media - Apple products get talked about more than any other product - far, far more than makes sense. That gives people a disproportionate sense of the importance of Apple and its products. Which gets them buying those products, and around we go.

Look at most retail websites and you'll see "iPad and Tablets" and "iPhones and Cellphones", as if iDevices aren't the same as the other products. You don't see 'Galaxy Nexus and Cellphones' or 'Transformer Prime and Tablets'. The best is when you go to a cellco and see there are 'special' iPad and iPhone dataplans not realising they're EXACTLY THE SAME PLAN, but called out for iDevices... which of course makes iDevice owners feel special.

And here's the thing - I'm betting that Apple is paying these stores to do this. Most people don't know that for example, having your product on display at the endcap of an aisle in a something a company has to pay for.. and Apple pays for a lot of this.

The others don't.

Which is why Apple wins and why innovation isn't as important as solid marketing.

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