Apple is not doomed, but I think they've taken their eyes off the ball a bit. Watch and iPad Pro are me-too products, and the switch to flat interfaces cost them a lot of differentiation IMHO. They've cheapened their brand and they don't seem to know what market they should really disrupt.
iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
61–70 of 551 posts
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> "To me its real problem is that it's almost indistinct from long-press." Are you saying this as someone who actually uses the feature? Because in my experience a long press and 3D are very distinct. In fact 3D touch makes it quite difficult to long press on home screen icons to delete them.
I meant as a UX design pattern.
Ah ok I understand. That's true.
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#63So anyone thinking planned obsolesce might move itself up the Apple priority list? Their per quarter revenue is still massive, but Wall Street always expects more. At its current rate of stock buy back, Apple could buy back all of its stocks and go private in a few years. They could rid themselves of market fluctuations in regard to stock and pump out products while continuing making the ridiculous amounts or revenue…
This was inevitable for Apple; their stratospheric valuation has expected growth priced in. Given the company's inability to foster the same ambition Steve Jobs instilled in it, they can only ride on their existing product line for so long.
I do find their lack of acquisitions strange given how much capital they are sitting on. There are a lot of markets w/high barriers to entry they'd have no trouble getting their foot in the door(Gaming, On Demand Streaming, etc...).
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#64The era where cell phone companies offered phone subsidies as trade for a customer's long term commitment has ended. The impact this is having and will continue to have on smartphone sales is profound. It is much more likely that customers will upgrade their devices less frequently. We are already beginning to see the impact in Apple and Samsung earnings.
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#65I think we just reached peak smartphone. What's next?
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Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
(Lots of interesting data; upvoted.) > It's $79 for us to fix an iPhone 5/5C/5S screen right now Interesting, since I have a 5s with a broken screen glass that I haven't bothered getting fixed yet. :) It used to be quite a bit more, I think? Have you figured out how to separate the glass (etc) from the actual display, or have replacement display+glass packages just gotten cheaper? (If you are replacing the display -…
All depends on the cost of parts. Part cost is very low right now...I advise people to get it fixed ASAP if they have the money! You never know what it will do--part cost bounces around like the stock market. Last year it bounced really high there for a bit, and now it's come back down. The backlight, LCD, digitizer (touch "web"), and top glass are all one piece. They come bonded from the factory. I never recommend g…
Where do you source parts from? Does Apple sell these like a car manufacturer would?
The whole electronics repair business seems rather immature and shady compared to something like car repair. For a car make, you can easily get the software manufacturers give to repair shops which has all sorts of exploded assembly views, instructions and part lists.
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#67I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…
Anecdotal evidence also suggests that people like the 6 more than the 6S. It's nicer to hold in hands and it's quite a bit cheaper for basically the same phone.
Nicer to hold in hands? It's the exact same frame. Are you confusing the 6 and the 6 Plus?
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
now that phones are quite fast and have good cameras, what is the main driver towards upgrading? so that you go from 300ppi to 500ppi? not going to make much of a difference and for most people not worth the upgrade costs. The only issue is that phone manufacturers have even more of an incentive to bloat the OS more and more (and make it slower and slower on old models) and to deprecate it faster (on older models) so…
in general, hardware improvements will drive new swanky software, and make computing on smartphones closer to a first class citizen (remember motorola's laptop+phone dock, where the phone powers the laptop?). another big pain point is battery (and battery consumption). still waiting on hardware (and software in conjunction) to get more efficient. you'll remember how power hungry PCs were in the beginning and how much…
> another big pain point is battery (and battery consumption)
True, but you could easily make it less of a pain point by making the device 1mm thicker ;-)
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#69I think we just reached peak smartphone. What's next?
Nonputing. Ubiquitous invisible (hopefully secure).
Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs
#70I'm curious what other people think about the ecosystem as a catalyst, in particular Apple Pay. It seems to be that squeezing between iPhone owners and everyday purchases would be very lucrative.