Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Has Apple Peaked?

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 105 posts

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#91

Post by enraged_camel »

mikeash wrote: post #88
knowtheory wrote: post #46

The canonization of Steve Jobs as some sort of saint auteur is just freaking ridiculous. Apple has made missteps in the past, while Steve Jobs was alive. That Jobs was not around for this particular misstep isn't particularly interesting or relevant. The disappearance of Google Maps is a consequence of the breakdown of relations between Google and Apple, and that is not about Steve Jobs. Making it about him is just s…

It's baffling. The G4 cube, Motorola ROKR, retroactively downclocked Power Mac G4s, Mac OS X pinstripes... the man was behind some amazing stuff, but it's not like he was somehow immune to screwups.

Your argument is a gigantic strawman. Nobody has ever claimed that Steve Jobs was perfect and never made mistakes. People admire him because he was an amazing visionary whose product ideas revolutionized several industries.

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#92

Post by mikeash »

enraged_camel wrote: post #91
mikeash wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's baffling. The G4 cube, Motorola ROKR, retroactively downclocked Power Mac G4s, Mac OS X pinstripes... the man was behind some amazing stuff, but it's not like he was somehow immune to screwups.

Your argument is a gigantic strawman. Nobody has ever claimed that Steve Jobs was perfect and never made mistakes. People admire him because he was an amazing visionary whose product ideas revolutionized several industries.

People have been saying repeatedly that this maps problem would not have happened with Jobs at the helm. I can only conclude that they think he never screwed anything up, because why else would you say that? Do you know?

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#93

Post by Samuel_Michon »

dhughes wrote: post #63
anonymouz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the headline is inflammatory, the article itself is not so bad. He makes some valid observation about how the market and Apple's position in it have changed, making it harder for them to be the new and innovative player as they have more and more to lose by taking risky moves. In general however I agree with your sentiment.

>While the headline is inflammatory In what way? It's three words "Has Apple peaked?" .

According to that logic “Was Hitler right?” wouldn’t be an inflammatory headline...

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#94

Post by coolnow »

sxcurry wrote: post #38
steve8918 wrote: post #11

I'm neither an Apple fanboy nor a hater. I have an iPhone5, but I use a Windows 7 desktop PC. (I am, however, an Apple Maps hater after using it for a few days.) The annoying thing about articles like this is that it's basically the professional journalist's version of trolling... making an outrageous statement in order to garner attention/clicks. He can come in and shit all over Apple, and suffer no consequences if…

I agree - the article was basically a cheap trolling shot at Apple. It ignored a lot of history (remember the initial release of OS X?) and overplayed the map problems. FWIW, iOS6 Maps work great for me, and I live on a private rural road. Apple has always incrementally improved its products, and Maps will be no exception.

>iOS6 Maps work great for me

If you serve shit on a plate to millions of people, you're inevitably going to meet a scat fetishist that doesn't mind.

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#95

Post by pedalpete »

dasil003 wrote: post #67
xxcode wrote: post #27

Apple will never be able to match Google in Maps. Here's why: Apple does not have any technical depth. I am a former Apple employee. Apple can't do technically hard problems that require a multi-person effort. Yes, Apple can and has done good Hardware. But hardware is not technically hard - its an art. Apple is good at Art. Google is good at science.

To the contrary, Apple can deal fine with technical problems. Doing good hardware + software is extremely technical. You can't build an entire platform like iOS + OS X without massive technical expertise. The problem with maps is its irregularity and irreducible complexity. You can't reduce maps to their essence and create a great MVP—if you want Google-caliber maps you need tens of thousands of people on the ground…

Though I agree with your sentiment, I don't think the apple stores is anywhere near the footprint they need on the ground . There aren't that many stores, and they are significantly focused on the US.

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#96

Post by taligent »

coolnow wrote: post #94
sxcurry wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - the article was basically a cheap trolling shot at Apple. It ignored a lot of history (remember the initial release of OS X?) and overplayed the map problems. FWIW, iOS6 Maps work great for me, and I live on a private rural road. Apple has always incrementally improved its products, and Maps will be no exception.

>iOS6 Maps work great for me If you serve shit on a plate to millions of people, you're inevitably going to meet a scat fetishist that doesn't mind.

Well that was completely unnecessary.

Apple Maps works great for me because in terms of quality of data it matches Google. Remember that there are lots of cities in this world and not all of them will be missing lots of data.

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#97

Post by prodigal_erik »

ceejayoz wrote: post #53
xxcode wrote: post #27

Apple will never be able to match Google in Maps. Here's why: Apple does not have any technical depth. I am a former Apple employee. Apple can't do technically hard problems that require a multi-person effort. Yes, Apple can and has done good Hardware. But hardware is not technically hard - its an art. Apple is good at Art. Google is good at science.

> Apple can't do technically hard problems that require a multi-person effort. Making UNIX accessible to the masses wasn't a technically hard problem that required a multi-person effort? How about Webkit?

When you regress to an extremely short list of recent supported hardware and abandon features like package dependency management and high-performing remote display, shipping a BSD fork is no longer that hard.

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#98

Post by RobAtticus »

rphlx wrote: post #75
logn wrote: post #19

Fortunately, Steve Jobs had the idea for Apple TV (a real TV not the little box) that could give Apple another runaway success. With their designer Ive's and the UI designers still around, I see no reason why Apple TV won't propel Apple for many years to come.

TV is fading. Yes, Baby Boomers still watch it. But those under 30 mostly watch video on phones, computers, tablets now.

Can you source that last claim? It's a rather large claim, and one I'm not willing to take on face value. I can believe that TV is fading, but that the under 30 crowd "mostly" watch video on those mediums is a bit of a stretch to me.

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#99

Post by mtrimpe »

mikecane wrote: post #43
mtrimpe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed; just wait for the iPhone Nano. If only that had been this year's one more thing...

I don't know that anyone would buy an iPhone Nano. There is such a thing as just being too small. See HP/Palm Veer.

Really? Imagine a tiny phone with around a week of battery life, camera, mp3 player & maps, using the rotary dial for contact selection etc..

As far as I'm concerned that would get you 95% of the value a full iPhone provides; and it would've made for a great one more thing during the last iPhone reveal...

Re: Has Apple Peaked?

#100

Post by Someone »

rphlx wrote: post #75
logn wrote: post #19

Fortunately, Steve Jobs had the idea for Apple TV (a real TV not the little box) that could give Apple another runaway success. With their designer Ive's and the UI designers still around, I see no reason why Apple TV won't propel Apple for many years to come.

TV is fading. Yes, Baby Boomers still watch it. But those under 30 mostly watch video on phones, computers, tablets now.

I do not think AppleTV is the same as that TV you are talking about. AppleTV turns that large screen in your living room that used to only get data from a cable into a large Internet-connected display that shows on-demand photos and video (soemtimes from those phones and tablets). In a sense, the TV just is the largest display in the house, in a place where it is convenient for multiple people to look at it from comfortable chairs.
Post reply on HN