First off, I’m a Mac. I “converted” in 2004 and have been using an Apple laptop ever since. Since I work as a translator/writer at home, this is an important choice. If the options are Mac and Windows, I’m going to stick with Mac.
That said, I’m disappointed in Apple. Not to the point of hating, by no means. But I got the original iPhone in 2007, loved it, and then kept waiting for the big new improvement to come out. It didn’t, so I got a Windows Phone last October. I love it. Really, it’s so much better than the iPhone–like night and day. It’s also forced me to learn a few new tricks that have improved my productivity; e.g., synching with Google calendar instead of Mac’s crappy Calendar program.
Be that all as it may, my personal preferences are just that. I think a lot of people share my mehness, however, based on the following:
• The new craptastic version of iOS. Oh my. Neon Hello Kitty Uncool. (Another reason to love Windows Phone at this point…)
• Dereliction of the Mac OS (I have 10.8.4, something-or-other Lion, I guess). I don’t hate it, but it has been buggy as hell, and a lot of shit is stupid and/or doesn’t work (Notification Center).
•iTunes. Need I say more?
•Shit like that.
OK, again, these are just some… things. Let’s get to the heart of the matter. The reason why it’s downhill for Apple from here is that they don’t have any new products! And here is where they are a victim of their own success. Because Apple rocked the world starting with the iPod back in 2001. The iPhone was a brilliant success in 2007. Then the iPad in 2010 (doesn’t that seem like forever ago)? Since then, it’s only been incremental stuff, like the iPad Mini and different versions of the iPhone. Since then, a legion of smartphones and tablets have appeared in the market.
Look, job well done. I’m not complaining about that. But then the stock price goes up. And up. And now, well, it’s stratospherically high. Apple introduces the craptastic new iOS and… stock price goes up some more!
Stock prices should rise based on success–to some degree. The problem is that a high price is only justified by the expectation of further growth. Apple has grown incredibly fast based on hit products. But it can’t continue to grow at the same rate. It has no hits in its pipeline. It’s now going to stagnate, and that stock price is going to fall.
Apple is a strong company. It’s got the iTunes and App Store cash cows, and it has a ton of cash. It’s not going to go out of business or anything like that. Not anytime soon. But seeing a once great company stagnate is not a pretty thing to see. As Apple comes down the other side of its success arc, I hope it continues to take care of its laptop customers like me (which it is already not doing a great job of taking care of).
As far as causes go, I don’t think it’s anything special. It had a great run, and runs don’t last forever. I also don’t think it had much to do with Steve Jobs dying. I’m not a Jobs worshiper by any means, and I think this would have happened anyway. It just is what it is.
Thoughts?