>>The future will be a different world, and while Apple shaped much of the last 20 years, I'm afraid that time is over.
This statement is a very good example of how successful Apple's secrecy practices are.
You look at Google and seeing all the "cool" shit they are publicizing. Glass, robots, NLP, and so on.
You then look at Apple and see... nothing. Maybe a few speculative press release from mysterious "sources" but nothing that will clearly indicate what they are working on in their underground bunkers. Short of a prototype device being stolen in public, you don't know with any certainty what the hell they are working on.
So then you conclude that Google has a good grasp of the future whereas Apple is sliding into irrelevance.
That's exactly what Apple wants.
The first rule of warfare is to hide your plans and movements from the enemy. Apple is in a great position right now: the only thing the tech world knows for certain they are working on is the next versions of their current product line.
To give you an idea of how advantageous this position is: the iPhone was released from a similar position of extreme secrecy. That's why competitors were at least a year, if not two or more, behind. By the time they caught up, Apple had already built a war chest of tens of billions of dollars.
To suggest that they aren't doing anything that will shape the future is the epitome of silliness.