A couple weeks ago Jared posted an opinion about the future of Apple, how the tech giant was losing its touch. I agree, but for different reasons than their less than refreshing product lines. Similar to the Supreme Court Justices, I'm writing a dissenting opinion, agreeing with the judgement, but for the reason that Apple used to be an innovator, but in the last few years, they've modified their product lines to be able to compete rather than take the lead.
Lets look at the tablet market in the last 2 years. The Kindle Fire, the Nexus 7, the Galaxy Tab 7. All 7 inch tablets made for a market that Apple had no foot in. Thus came the iPad Mini. Something clearly not designed to take lead of the market, with its non retina display, its severely underpowered processor, subpar cameras, and derivative design. For the last 2 years, the retina display has become the centerpeice of Apple's products. It started with the iPhone, moved to the iPod Touch, then to the iPad, and most recently, the Macbook Pro line. It doesn't make sense that Apple would release a product without it. And why would they do that? Rushed development meant no time to develop a suitably sized retina display for the 7.9 inch iPad mini.
Futhermore, the iPhone 5 is not very different from the iPhone 4 or 4S. The 4 inch screen was put in to be able to compete with the larger screens of the Galaxy S3, the HTC One X, and the Note 2. The LTE feature is over 2 years late, put in only to be able to stay competitive with data speeds. The processor is also behind, dual core 1.3 GHz chip that lags behind the dual core S3 or the quad core Nexus 4. The iPhone 5 is a device that was made to compete, its only true claim to innovation is its thinness. But wait, the Motorola Droid RAZR is 7.1mm thick compared to the iPhone 5's 7.6 millimeters.
The only place where Apple now truly excels is their computers. I've had my 15 inch Macbook Pro for all of 5 months, and I already know that there is no way I can go back to using anything else. The Mountain Lion OS is flawless, the keyboard is great to use, and that gorgeous giant trackpad makes swooping through screens more fun that it sounds.
Apple, you need to step up your game. Google, Motorola, HTC, and Samsung have you beat in hardware, Android is quickly learning and evolving, and there are only small differences between the companies you're competing against. My guess is, you'll be overtaken by Android sometime in the next 2 years. The ball is in your court.
Lets look at the tablet market in the last 2 years. The Kindle Fire, the Nexus 7, the Galaxy Tab 7. All 7 inch tablets made for a market that Apple had no foot in. Thus came the iPad Mini. Something clearly not designed to take lead of the market, with its non retina display, its severely underpowered processor, subpar cameras, and derivative design. For the last 2 years, the retina display has become the centerpeice of Apple's products. It started with the iPhone, moved to the iPod Touch, then to the iPad, and most recently, the Macbook Pro line. It doesn't make sense that Apple would release a product without it. And why would they do that? Rushed development meant no time to develop a suitably sized retina display for the 7.9 inch iPad mini.
Futhermore, the iPhone 5 is not very different from the iPhone 4 or 4S. The 4 inch screen was put in to be able to compete with the larger screens of the Galaxy S3, the HTC One X, and the Note 2. The LTE feature is over 2 years late, put in only to be able to stay competitive with data speeds. The processor is also behind, dual core 1.3 GHz chip that lags behind the dual core S3 or the quad core Nexus 4. The iPhone 5 is a device that was made to compete, its only true claim to innovation is its thinness. But wait, the Motorola Droid RAZR is 7.1mm thick compared to the iPhone 5's 7.6 millimeters.
The only place where Apple now truly excels is their computers. I've had my 15 inch Macbook Pro for all of 5 months, and I already know that there is no way I can go back to using anything else. The Mountain Lion OS is flawless, the keyboard is great to use, and that gorgeous giant trackpad makes swooping through screens more fun that it sounds.
Apple, you need to step up your game. Google, Motorola, HTC, and Samsung have you beat in hardware, Android is quickly learning and evolving, and there are only small differences between the companies you're competing against. My guess is, you'll be overtaken by Android sometime in the next 2 years. The ball is in your court.
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