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Apple in 2021

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51–60 of 105 posts

Re: Apple in 2021

#51

just my humble opinion - i believe aapl has crossed the threshold into the territory which steve jobs famously described as the hallmark of the Scully era[0] - their endless pursuit for revenue has pushed sales and marketing people to the front of the line and product people operate in their shadows. of course in a company as big and wide ranging as aapl, there are so many competing priorities and things to focus on…

On the other hand, if pre-iPhone Apple could invest into inventing the iPhone, I don't see why today's Apple could balk at a new effort of this kind, since today's Apple is vastly richer.

How much did the original iPhone and iPad cost to create? I imagine it would be an easy effort for 2022 Apple, and even a total failure would not dent their revenue by much. I can't imagine Cook being unable to do it.

Re: Apple in 2021

#52
post #38

What is Apple doing with the iPad division? The Mac spanked the iPad in 2021 and the recent earnings showed that.

There are apologists who will insist you can do real work on an iPad—if you get the iPad Pro, and the keyboard case. Which ends up being about as expensive and about the same size as a MacBook Air. And for any work that requires any sort of interface density, or complete access to the file system, or fast I/O, or…I’d way rather have a Mac.

I was a pretty staunch opponent of the iPad for a very long time. Tablets were clearly a consumption device, and I've always disliked Apple's penchant for proprietary connectors.

However, things have shifted enough that on the artistic/creative front, the iPad is actually a really nice thing to have. When the iPad Air 4 (I think? The iPad ecosystem has terrible nomenclature) came out, it not only had a USB-C connector, but worked with the Apple Pencil 2. I did something I thought I'd never do - I bought an iPad.

There are music & synthesizer apps that only make sense on a tablet, and they can talk with other music apps on the iPad pretty seamlessly too these days. And with the Apple Pencil 2, it's like a magic art pad. I've been sketching and drawing and 'painting' like I haven't done in 20 years.

And I can charge it with the same cable that charges my Pixel 6, my work-issued Macbook pro, or my wife's Thinkpad's power supply.

It certainly took long enough, but I no longer think that iPads are pure consumption devices.

Now... would I try to use it the way I use a laptop? Oh, hell no.

Re: Apple in 2021

#53
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't imagine anything interesting happening to the watch that doesn't include a big increase to battery life. I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. I have to ask: What are you doing with your Apple Watch that drains the battery so fast? I've never been able to drain my Watch battery anywhere near that fast, even with the always-on screen still enabled.

I work out every day using the Workouts app. I often bike or run outdoors so during a workout GPS, Bluetooth and the heart monitor are all active. At night I use the AutoSleep app to track sleep. I charge the watch just before sleep. I get the 10% low battery notification a few times a week.

You don’t charge in the mornings as well? Charging both before and after sleep is the common pattern I’ve read when using it for sleep tracking.

Re: Apple in 2021

#54
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't imagine anything interesting happening to the watch that doesn't include a big increase to battery life. I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. I have to ask: What are you doing with your Apple Watch that drains the battery so fast? I've never been able to drain my Watch battery anywhere near that fast, even with the always-on screen still enabled.

I work out every day using the Workouts app. I often bike or run outdoors so during a workout GPS, Bluetooth and the heart monitor are all active. At night I use the AutoSleep app to track sleep. I charge the watch just before sleep. I get the 10% low battery notification a few times a week.

I'm sure you have gone through 1 or 2, but you should get another one and if it performs similarly, return the second, chargeback the first.

My 7 year old Samsung Gear watch gets around 2 days with minimal use (IE workdays). On average hiking/running day, it will still have 25-45 percent after maximum use from like 7 AM to 6 PM. I have also: -ran it over -lost it on trail for 2+ days in rain/sleet -Sanded it tomatte, then back to shiny after....accidents -showered with it for years.

I cannot believe an apple watch does what you're describing without being a dud.

Re: Apple in 2021

#55
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. I thought the Series 7 could make it a full day? My wife has a S6 and makes it about 36 hours with her normal usage (which is admittedly quite light). For me, it's not a watch if it has to be charged every day or two. I need 4+ days of battery life so that I don't have to bring another charger on every overnight/weekend trip.

My Mi Band 6 from Xiaomi easily lives ~30 days on one charge if used less (eg. no constant heart tracking, no PAI) and ~7 days with all tracking enabled (sleep, oxygen, heart rate, 1-2 workouts a day). With a third party app instead of Xiaomi "Mi Fit", I belive also all the data stays with me. That makes me wonder - what does Apple Watch do that Mi Band doesn't that makes the time on battery so much different? I gues…

Without knowing much about mi band, my guess would be embedded vs general purpose CPU’s energy consumption.

Re: Apple in 2021

#57
post #51

just my humble opinion - i believe aapl has crossed the threshold into the territory which steve jobs famously described as the hallmark of the Scully era[0] - their endless pursuit for revenue has pushed sales and marketing people to the front of the line and product people operate in their shadows. of course in a company as big and wide ranging as aapl, there are so many competing priorities and things to focus on…

On the other hand, if pre-iPhone Apple could invest into inventing the iPhone, I don't see why today's Apple could balk at a new effort of this kind, since today's Apple is vastly richer. How much did the original iPhone and iPad cost to create? I imagine it would be an easy effort for 2022 Apple, and even a total failure would not dent their revenue by much. I can't imagine Cook being unable to do it.

> I can't imagine Cook being unable to do it.

…and he has: AirPods, M1, Apple Watch, cleaning cloth…

Also some failures that made it out the door, like HomePod…

I’d like a little more focus on quality and consistency but that would mean stepping off the annual treadmill. Which they could do everyone a service by being the first to do so.

Re: Apple in 2021

#58

just my humble opinion - i believe aapl has crossed the threshold into the territory which steve jobs famously described as the hallmark of the Scully era[0] - their endless pursuit for revenue has pushed sales and marketing people to the front of the line and product people operate in their shadows. of course in a company as big and wide ranging as aapl, there are so many competing priorities and things to focus on…

> their endless pursuit for revenue has pushed sales and marketing people to the front of the line and product people operate in their shadows

It may surprise you to learn that for a very long time, Apple’s de facto head of product (aside from Steve, obviously) was Phil Schiller. The “marketing people” have always been near the top of the food chain.

Re: Apple in 2021

#59

I have to believe that HomeKit has fallen so far to the wayside due to their work on Matter. And we can expect something big in the near future. Right? Please?

HomeKit's biggest challenge is that so much of the home automation market balks at Apple's requirement to be able to operate without a cloud service. Can't do surveillance capitalism or extort monthly fees or end-of-life product arbitrarily if you've got HomeKit branding, so of course that's first overboard.

The second problem is that Apple themselves are missing a number of functions that are baffling, such as not having history for metrics. I can't understand how it's impossible to have e.g. a history of temperatures in HomeKit.

Re: Apple in 2021

#60

just my humble opinion - i believe aapl has crossed the threshold into the territory which steve jobs famously described as the hallmark of the Scully era[0] - their endless pursuit for revenue has pushed sales and marketing people to the front of the line and product people operate in their shadows. of course in a company as big and wide ranging as aapl, there are so many competing priorities and things to focus on…

> their endless pursuit for revenue has pushed sales and marketing people to the front of the line and product people operate in their shadows It may surprise you to learn that for a very long time, Apple’s de facto head of product (aside from Steve, obviously) was Phil Schiller. The “marketing people” have always been near the top of the food chain.

i'm no expert in the inner workings of apple but i would have considered Ive head of product. just curious as to why you put Schiller ahead?

of course Marketing is an integral part of any large business and of course apple has been well above average in how their campaigns and messaging would rank in that regard.

i added the commentary from Steve about the Scully era to the original post for context. from his explanation the nuance is, IMO, that when a company gets into this endless revenue cycle, a sales/marketing effort can demonstrate growth - hard numbers - far easier than a new product could. the new product could take years to become positive in NPV while a marketing campaign can "show up" by next quarter's earnings release.

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