Re:The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR
by BurningFrog on Monday January 07, 2019 @10:11AM
(#18845721)
You're saying that Apple needs a Steve Jobs like genius who figures out new world changing product categories and also turns them into real high quality products.
Well of course Apple, and every other company needs that. But hoping for a savior is not a plan.
Re:The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR
by llampx on Monday January 07, 2019 @05:21AM
(#18844116)
I used to love going to the Apple Store and playing with the new iPhones, iPads and Macbooks, especially soon after a new product launch. Maybe its just me getting older but it doesn't have the same appeal anymore.
Re:The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR
by bluedino on Monday January 07, 2019 @08:25AM
(#18844881)
The iPad Pro is worth going to play with in person. But the Mac lineup hasn't been in years.
First it was the Air, "Wow, look how small this laptop is. And it's made of aluminum!" Then it became, "Wow! Look at the Retina display! It's amazing!"
Now it's just like, "Why'd they take off the ports on this laptop? It's a weird brown color. And two of the keys don't work, already." To make it worse, everything is the same. You can't tell anything apart? Is this the Air? Wait, it's the old Pro? Which watch is this? Is this the XR or the XS? What's the difference?
Re:The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR
by shliachtx on Monday January 07, 2019 @09:41AM
(#18845433)
I found it interesting that the last time I was in the mall with a friend, we were both more fascinated with the Microsoft store than the Apple store. The Apple store was just bigger, faster, better phones and computers. The Microsoft store had new things. Virtual reality, Surface Hub, Surface Book, etc.
Re:The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR
by jrnichols on Monday January 07, 2019 @10:05PM
(#18852754)
Microsoft clearly took a page out of Apple's book for their stores, but I agree, their retail experience has been enjoyable. I miss the Windows Phone section, though.
Microsoft is sitting on such an amazing ecosystem and it feels like they just don't know how to tie it all together sometimes.
Re:The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR
by dreamcompiler on Monday January 07, 2019 @09:38AM
(#18845409)
Same here. Everything in the Apple Store now seems designed to impress me rather than to help me get work done. Battery life gets shorter, keys and ports get removed, prices get higher. But boy do these things look amazing in the store!
There's an obvious difference between "a cheaper phone" and making the range as affordable as it was five years ago - instead of relying on so-called luxury branding while offering very little extra and annoying customers with product issues (missing headphone jack, BatteryGate, etc) and mediocre software updates.
Apple doesn't have an iPhone problem. Apple has an Apple problem.
It's at least possible (who knows for sure...?) that if Jobs were still alive Apple would have opened up at least a couple of innovative new product lines by now - not just gimmicks like Watch, but new "I didn't know I wanted that, but now I see it I obviously do" products, with supporting services and industry partners, all pitched at the affordable-at-a-push level that Apple products originally lived in.
This is where Cook has failed. There's nothing new on the table. Putting up prices is a short-term tactic. So is "a cheap phone".
What Apple needs is a coherent and impressive long-term strategy, and investors aren't seeing that.