The future of Apple?

[JackBurton]

No kidding. I'm not an Apple guy. Only product of theirs I've ever owned is an iPod video. I'm a devout Android and Windows user. And even I can admit that Steve's accomplishments have changed modern technology. Even if you don't use a single Apple product, you use their competitors' -- that were based on an Apple product in order to compete.

Like their business practices or not. I've never understood the immense hatred some people hurl their way.

I don't get it either. My theory is, they're just morons.

 

[brianmanahan]

You've got an iPhone knock off.

but i can actually write software for it for FREE vs having to buy a stupid 99$ dev license. AND i can get one with a keyboard, which the iphone doesnt have, and that's a deal breaker for me.

 

[JackBurton]

but i can actually write software for it for FREE vs having to buy a stupid 99$ dev license. AND i can get one with a keyboard, which the iphone doesnt have, and that's a deal breaker for me.

Point is, you wouldn't have a Droid as you know it today if it wasn't for Apple. You'd have a Droid flip phone.

 

[Aikouka]

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.

I think I remember reading about the accident in his book. I don't recall him talking much about it, but didn't it give him amnesia for a week or two?

I don't disagree at all, and that's why I used the term "equation." Jobs was the business side of (early) Apple and Wozniak was the technical side. If Wozniak needed any part/component, Jobs would make a few calls and get it. You're also right in that in his book, Wozniak seemed to express a desire to just be an engineer.

 

[Anubis]

You've got an iPhone knock off.

what iphone has a keyboard?



yes im trolling

 

[manly]

I'm biased as an investor but they're well set to succeed in 2012. Just from China, VZ/S and continued organic growth in smartphones being dominated by both Android and iOS. Beyond that, you figure the law of large numbers has to set in; and who really knows who the winners and losers will be way down the line.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

apple will lose market share and stock values but not just because steve is gone. they benefitted the last few years from a lack of competition in the phone and tablet markets. but with android and window pretty well developed they no longer have those markets to themselves so huge market shares slide is unavoidable.

 

[bfdd]

I'm biased as an investor but they're well set to succeed in 2012. Just from China, VZ/S and continued organic growth in smartphones being dominated by both Android and iOS. Beyond that, you figure the law of large numbers has to set in; and who really knows who the winners and losers will be way down the line.

You don't know very many Chinese people do you? Most of those I talk to laugh at Apple products and those who don't only want them because Americans have them. Not to mention Apple isn't to fond of jailbreaking their devices which seems to be all the rage with the idevices in China.

 

[0roo0roo]

I think I remember reading about the accident in his book. I don't recall him talking much about it, but didn't it give him amnesia for a week or two?

I don't disagree at all, and that's why I used the term "equation." Jobs was the business side of (early) Apple and Wozniak was the technical side. If Wozniak needed any part/component, Jobs would make a few calls and get it. You're also right in that in his book, Wozniak seemed to express a desire to just be an engineer.

yea i read his book as well, as i understand it after the accident he couldn't concentrate on engineering anymore for whatever reason.

good person and genius are quite separate from being a good business person, they were just lucky to find each other. steve jobs even screwed over woz a bit in an early story where the he got paid for work they both did and he gave woz a smaller cut.

 

[Mr. President]

The public likes nothing more than a good tragedy. Apple will probably continue to grow.

 

[manly]

You don't know very many Chinese people do you? Most of those I talk to laugh at Apple products and those who don't only want them because Americans have them. Not to mention Apple isn't to fond of jailbreaking their devices which seems to be all the rage with the idevices in China.

in the springtime quarter, their sales growth in "greater China" was above 200% YoY. It's already their 3rd best region and won't take long before it passes Europe. The Chinese are extremely brand conscious and at least for now, the iPhone carries prestige. The only question is whether it's affordable enough but Apple isn't trying to take over China's mobile market of a billion customers. They only want the top customers with enough disposable income to buy a premium product, and they've just started to scratch the surface.

So far, they have only 6 Apple Stores in all of China, and two of those were just opened 10 days ago. Hate on Apple customers and products all you want to, but there's definitely a major opportunity for both iOS and Android.

Honestly average customers don't care about JBing and it is indeed getting harder. Look in the Apple forum here, plenty of people are willing to switch to stock iOS5. The iTunes store is ignored in China, but they don't buy digital downloads anyway and Apple isn't making (much) money on iTunes compared to hardware. As long as the Chinese can figure out a way to sideload cracked apps, they'll be happy.

We'll see what the numbers look like on Oct. 18.

 

[Aikouka]

steve jobs even screwed over woz a bit in an early story where the he got paid for work they both did and he gave woz a smaller cut.

Yeah, that part pissed me off a bit. :| I have to give kudos to Woz though... I don't know if I would have forgiven him for doing such a thing to someone you consider a great friend.

 

[Schadenfreude]

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.

 

[Krynj]

At least the total wastes of life at the Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket Jobs' funeral.

 

[MarkXIX]

They'll get caught in the WWJD (What Would Jobs Do?) loop and fail over and over again into relative mediocrity.

 

[lxskllr]

At least the total wastes of life at the Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket Jobs' funeral.

They do? Why's that?

 

[ProfJohn]

They do? Why's that?

Apple is a fruit
Fruits are gay
God hates gay people

Duh!

 

[MarkXIX]

Apple is a fruit
Fruits are gay
God hates gay people

Duh!

Sounds like their logic too. I'm ashamed to admit I'm little more than 45 minutes away from those assholes too. Can't tell you how many times on a bad day I've considered making the drive and punching one of them in the face for some easy satisfaction.

 

[gorcorps]

They do? Why's that?

:hmm: They must think turtlenecks are gay

 

[Mr. Lennon]

They've been saying that for years and yet the 2.3-year-old iPhone 3GS still outsells any single Android phone by a large margin. The 4S, 4, and 3G will continue to be the #1, 2, and 3 smartphones until the iPhone 5. Mark my words.

Who cares about individual phones? It comes down to market share, and Android will eventually take over. Mark my words.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

That's not trolling. That's stating clear facts. Android is gaining massive market share. It's not a phone, no, but, if you asked Apple who their biggest competition is on the mobile market, they'd say Android, not any particular device. There will be dozens of hot new Android devices out by years end -- and the Nexus Prime is going to snag a lot of iPhone deflectors, and you can count on that.

This

dwell is just a rabid fanboy who is obviously incapable of fairly judging where the market is heading.

 

[cronos]

I think all of you Apple fans who think Apple will be 'just fine' is in denial. Steve Jobs *is* Apple as we know it. By refusing to admit that Apple will be in decline after his passing, you are basically dismissing the accomplishment of a great man. Read up Apple's history for the past 15 years and you'll see that it's all pretty much Steve Jobs and his visions.

I have mentioned a similar thought back when he stepped down. Now that he's really gone, I think it's safe to say that it's all going to go downhill from here.

If you really like Apple stuff, you should be afraid. Even I'm a little worried and I consider myself platform/brand agnostic (currently own, and love, an iPod Touch and a MacBook Pro).

 

[bfdd]

in the springtime quarter, their sales growth in "greater China" was above 200% YoY. It's already their 3rd best region and won't take long before it passes Europe. The Chinese are extremely brand conscious and at least for now, the iPhone carries prestige. The only question is whether it's affordable enough but Apple isn't trying to take over China's mobile market of a billion customers. They only want the top customers with enough disposable income to buy a premium product, and they've just started to scratch the surface.

So far, they have only 6 Apple Stores in all of China, and two of those were just opened 10 days ago. Hate on Apple customers and products all you want to, but there's definitely a major opportunity for both iOS and Android.

Honestly average customers don't care about JBing and it is indeed getting harder. Look in the Apple forum here, plenty of people are willing to switch to stock iOS5. The iTunes store is ignored in China, but they don't buy digital downloads anyway and Apple isn't making (much) money on iTunes compared to hardware. As long as the Chinese can figure out a way to sideload cracked apps, they'll be happy.

We'll see what the numbers look like on Oct. 18.

I'm not saying they aren't going to do well now, I'm talking slightly longer term. With the way Apple runs their business, just how long do you think it'll be until they try to lock down the shit in China over jail breaking? They also won't exactly be able to make money off of iTunes there because well the Chinese don't exactly much give a flying fuck about our IP and Copyright laws. I think they'll sell well enough until Apple does what Apple does and kills their own business in China, then you'll see Apple products in China with a different logo.

Without someone to make Apple products "magical" the magic will eventually fade. They need a new salesman.

 

[between]

If the lackluster announcement of the iPhone 4S was anything to stand by, it may be signs of trouble for the company . . ..

I don't think you can blame Apple for a lackluster iPhone 4S announcement.
They probably knew that Steve was very close to death, and yet they had to focus on looking happy and giving an upbeat sales presentation.
I thought the guys who gave presentations looked quite grim at times. Probably they knew what was coming.

 

[jpeyton]

Who cares about individual phones? It comes down to market share, and Android will eventually take over. Mark my words.

Android took over a while back, and is accelerating its lead.