The future of Apple?

[Schadenfreude]

RIP Steve Jobs;

It may be insensitive to post this, but I think it's a genuine question that's lingering in everyone's mind;

Now that Steve Jobs has passed, what will the future of Apple look like?

I'm not knocking on Steve - in fact, he was IMO the single factor that made Apple what it is today, brought forth a lot of innovations in function and design transcending just his brand, becoming synonymous with a design philosophy (not in creating the philosophy but being it to the masses) and I believe a lot of others agree.

Having said that, with the "cult of personality" that Steve built around him gone, will Apple be able to maintain its marketshare/growth like it has before?
If the lackluster announcement of the iPhone 4S was anything to stand by, it may be signs of trouble for the company . . ..


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EDIT: I'm sure there's going to be a rash of Apple-related thread for a while now: thought I'd just update w/ my rationale of why I'm putting this up - I posted this in the ATOT forum because I wanted an unbiased opinion on the matter and I really do think that Steve's untimely passing does affect the gadget landscape as a whole past just Apple as a company. If this thread needs to be moved to the Apple forum, so be it. But I've got to say it is interesting to read a lot of you guys' analysis of the situation.
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jesus christ is apple the new lady gaga around here?

how about you post 'APPLE THREAD' and contain all this garbage in there? then you won't even have to listen to me talk about how i hope someone pisses on steve jobs' emaciated corpse.

Well, considering that we're posting in a forum that's mainly devoted to gadgets and such, it is big news; Apple is/was the 800lb. gorilla in the room and brought a lot to the table.

I posted this because it is interesting for this reason; as far as I can tell Apple has relied on innovation and setting the bar for the general public (notice how I said general public) and has spurred on a great number of competitors, innovators and copycats. And let's face it, Steve jobs = Apple. And with his recent retirement, what many see as a failed unveil of the iPhone 4S and finally Steve's passing, Apple is in a fragile state.

With Apple being such a big player for a single company, it is genuinely interesting to me to see what will happen to it (and by proxy the entire landscape of smartphones, tablets, etc.) in the long run as (I maybe wrong here) Steve was the innovator, the one with a vision guiding Apple, and now he's gone.

Think about it this way; if Microsoft, for one reason or another, was in a position to (potentially) lose a HUGE portion of the OS market, you don't think the ATOT forum, let alone all the other hardware enthusiast forums, will be speculating/talking/bemoaning/laughing about it like we are with Apple now?

Frankly speaking, Steve Jobs or Apple as a company has no direct effect on me whatsoever - I think it's a little ridiculous to start a thread about how it has positively affected your life or some BS - it's a company that makes gadgets that you paid money for, for chrissakes - so I decided not to post in that thread, or any of the other threads (other than saying RIP in the sticky'ed thread). But to me what is interesting is to see how it'll affect the gadget landscape.

After all, that's 99% of the reason we're here in the first place.

 

[Patranus]

His leaving this time is a lot different than the first time.
He has his hand picked people in place.
Doubt Apple changes that much if at all.

 

[ProfJohn]

I think they are in better shape than when he was ran out in the 90s.

They have really differentiated themselves from the other companies and they offer a very different product than other PC makers.

In the 90s they were trying to out PC the PCs but didn't have as much to offer product wise as they do now.


And of course the iPod, iPhone and iPad are HUGE money makers.
I think they will do fine.

 

[Aikouka]

he was IMO the single factor that made Apple what it is today

I think people tend to leave Wozniak out of the equation a bit too often. While he certainly hasn't done much in the past decade (he still technically is an Apple employee), he provided a ton of technical innovation in the early days of Apple. I mean, back when everyone was satisfied looking at blinking lights, he was off soldering together the first concept of what we all call a personal computer today.

 

[lxskllr]

I think they'll hold on to what they have, but won't see tremendous growth.

 

[ProfJohn]

If they want to expand market share they will to move faster in the phone and iPad front.

They are making great products, but once a year updates won't work when 5 other companies are putting out new products over 2-3 months.

Apple needs to get to perhaps once every 6 months to really keep up.

 

[Anubis]

I think they'll hold on to what they have, but won't see tremendous growth.

This, their install base is huge for their products, but much like the PC market back in the day the insane amount of non apple stuff will flood the market like it always does, being cheaper with a faster refresh cycle

 

[Arkaign]

They were already losing steam before this.

The smartphone and tablet markets are going to go through the same 'get cheaper/better' mold that caused PCs and notebook prices to plummet over the years. And marketshare of phones vs. droid (and soon wp8) is shrinking and will continue to do so.

They're not doomed, but will inevitably start to shrink.

 

[lxskllr]

Think it would be tasteless to run a limited edition iGadget in black to commemorate Jobs? With careful marketing, I think they'd sell well, but you always have the harpies taking a negative spin on everything.

 

[amdhunter]

They will become more powerful than you could ever imagine.

 

[0roo0roo]

I think people tend to leave Wozniak out of the equation a bit too often. While he certainly hasn't done much in the past decade (he still technically is an Apple employee), he provided a ton of technical innovation in the early days of Apple. I mean, back when everyone was satisfied looking at blinking lights, he was off soldering together the first concept of what we all call a personal computer today.

no, he was technically brilliant but without jobs driving him he would have remained working for others happily... then he got in an accident and it was kind of over. the specific vision and direction of apple is pretty clearly not woz, he'd be happier working as an unknown behind the scenes google engineer if he could still work.

 

[dwell]

They'll keep making great products. Maybe won't be able to come up with another industry shaker like the iPod, iPhone, or iPad again but will continue to make products markedly better than the competition.

 

[brblx]

jesus christ is apple the new lady gaga around here?

how about you post 'APPLE THREAD' and contain all this garbage in there? then you won't even have to listen to me talk about how i hope someone pisses on steve jobs' emaciated corpse.


Apple is in the title of this thread. If you don't like the topic, then don't bother opening it or posting in it. This post, along with at least one other post, has earned a week vacation from posting here. -Admin DrPizza

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Android has rapidly been gaining market share. With the 4S flop, it's only going to skyrocket.

As for PC's, the price will keep Apple in the minority. Most people can't afford a computer over $500 these days.

 

[Ns1]

They will become more powerful than you could ever imagine.

 

[Newbian]

The computers will never overcome PCs as they have shown they can't do because more expensive for less power will never work but they do great in other areas, ipod / iphone and such so unless they fall behind in those they will be fine for awhile.

 

[jpeyton]

They will maintain their success in the near term, but will need a new blockbuster product if they want to grow after the commoditization of the smartphone and tablet markets.

 

[dwell]

Android has rapidly been gaining market share. With the 4S flop, it's only going to skyrocket.

Android isn't a phone and the 4S has not been released yet. What's your point other than trolling?

 

[ProfJohn]

Think it would be tasteless to run a limited edition iGadget in black to commemorate Jobs? With careful marketing, I think they'd sell well, but you always have the harpies taking a negative spin on everything.

The iTurtleneck??

 

[0roo0roo]

They were already losing steam before this.

The smartphone and tablet markets are going to go through the same 'get cheaper/better' mold that caused PCs and notebook prices to plummet over the years. And marketshare of phones vs. droid (and soon wp8) is shrinking and will continue to do so.

They're not doomed, but will inevitably start to shrink.

Eh, they own the high end. Netbooks have been around for years, still no one can undercut apple even with ultrabooks.

 

[Newbian]

jesus christ is apple the new lady gaga around here?

how about you post 'APPLE THREAD' and contain all this garbage in there? then you won't even have to listen to me talk about how i hope someone pisses on steve jobs' emaciated corpse.

I wonder if we can get even more subway threads if Jared dies.

 

[gorcorps]

jesus christ is apple the new lady gaga around here?

how about you post 'APPLE THREAD' and contain all this garbage in there? then you won't even have to listen to me talk about how i hope someone pisses on steve jobs' emaciated corpse.

Have some self control and don't click on the threads then.

 

[Ns1]

They were already losing steam before this.

MBA + iPad2 currently wiping the floor with the competition.

 

[Capt Caveman]

The computers will never overcome PCs as they have shown they can't do because more expensive for less power will never work but they do great in other areas, ipod / iphone and such so unless they fall behind in those they will be fine for awhile.

Hasn't there marketshare in PCs been going up? And those that said they are shrinking, haven't their revenues been increases annually?

 

[JackBurton]

jesus christ is apple the new lady gaga around here?

how about you post 'APPLE THREAD' and contain all this garbage in there? then you won't even have to listen to me talk about how i hope someone pisses on steve jobs' emaciated corpse.

Removed.