Well, there's the Apple II, the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone...
Apple has had a long history of products that redefined the future of entire categories, and almost all of them up to this point except the Apple Watch included deep involvement by Jobs.
Other than that not much, but to be clear there has not really been any other inventions in this time span like those you mention. The market is more mature.
This is what makes coming out with new products harder - Apple doesn't have a market for a mid-range camera, or a GPS, or a music player, or a PDA - because those are all things the iPhone does. They add capabilities to the phone to usurp other device markets (most recently, emergency satellite communicators and OnStar-style crash detection). Apple releases new devices most often by releasing them inside the iPhone.
Which is why now, with a saturated cellphone market which is slowing down the upgrade frequency, they are so interested in wearables (separate hardware that augments your phone) and services (software that augments your phone).
The sad thing is that there are areas they could make a lot of innovations, such as smart home accessories. They killed off the AirPort line, and license out HomeKit with almost no first-party hardware, because those just don't move the needle for a company of Apple's size.
Is it equal to the legacy of Apple under Jobs? Definitely not. But how many other companies/people released 3 revolutionary products?
If that is the measure, then we have to bring in Jobs' tenure as not only CEO but company founder that stretched 25 years as CEO, 1976 to 1985 and 1997 to 2011.
Cook only took the reins in 2011, and at that time arguably the company should not have focused on releasing yet more revolutionary products.
iPhone is the most successful consumer product in history, focus was correctly placed in supporting that, building moats around it and positioning the ecosystem to support the next big thing.
One product often left out, which may have started with Jobs, but delivery should be attributed to Cook is the new Apple HQ. The initial impact has crumbled due to Covid WFH.
However, this campus may turn out to be a force multiplier going forward. If so, it is a victory, but not in the minds of consumers.
Much more important is the people you interact with every day, both in person and at a distance. If I had to choose between jobs doing the same work but one was in a closet but interacting with people I like or the apple campus and interacting with people I felt no connection to, I would take the former in a heartbeat.
I don't think I'm an outlier. If indeed I'm not, what does that say for how important and special Apple HQ will end up being in the long run?
Even in an online office! When I had Slack, I felt much more involved with people and the company (500+ employees) culture overall. Ever since they transitioned to Teams, I feel like I only exist within my own team.
A pleasant and aesthetic office, surround by nature, built with sustainability in mind, etc is already a driving force for the type of culture you want instilled in your company.
It will certainly attract a type of people that want to work surrounded by beauty, it’s already paving the way for a common ground of understanding.
It goes much further than just wonder. It’s a feeling that persists. A nice feeling.
Culture does matter for this as well though, as enjoying your coworkers but not the culture may still make the job somewhere you don't want to stick around.
I think physical surroundings may help with the culture some, but they'll always be a much lesser influence than the people and policies in place. What's worse, sometimes companies will think the physical surroundings are much more important than they are, and focus on those instead of fixing the policies destroying their actual work culture. I think most people past their early twenties would much rather have a better set of work policies than a really good view out of an office window. Sometimes that's doubly true because those policies might allow you to spend less time in the office and more time at home, around your real family.
I was once like that. Until I get over my anxiety and started to hang out more with girls. Especially from the arts and languages side.
The way they choose their environments… where they go to eat out or have a coffee, the clothing they wear, buying flowers, how they setup their home…
Even when I was down, being in their environments just made me feel more cozy. It was heartwarming.
In contrast, most of my engineer friends have either literally a mattress and a desk. Or, they just buy for their house whatever, without any thought in regards to color pallete, textures, shape, etc
You’re describing my first two apartments. I only wound up buying a couch and a coffee table because I wanted to appear somewhat normal in case a woman came by my apartment.
The combination of design work, history of buildings/art/cities, and socialization with people hyperfocused on their surroundings gives you superpower awareness of great environments at every scale, from silverware to regional planning. It makes travel a joy, no matter where, Paris or Poughkeepsie, it’s all fascinating.
On the downside, there are impossible odds you’ll ever get to actually create any of what you imagine, and the horrors of miserable design, a world full of McMansions and cheap junk, will crap all over your visions of paradise.
Not that Apple is a bad company or place to work or anything, but it also isn't some magic zen garden that will imbue all who work there with the power to change the world.
For 90%+ of the people who go to work there, it's a job, and the scenery changing that equation meaningfully seems like wishful thinking. It might be nice, but it's not going to radically alter your output.
https://www.macworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Jons-and...
I'm pretty sure (strike that, am certain) the secret sauce is not the office.
Apple Park: it kinda sucks to actually work at Apple Park. It’s a goldfish bowl. It’s impossible to focus. But, yes, it looks really nice. It’s very pretty, that is undeniable.
Also, Teslas and Mercedes aren’t exotic or rare. They just cost a bit more than most Hondas. And the rare, occasional actual exotic doesn’t inspire new features, better design, or QA polish, they just indicate someone’s a pretentious ass with more money than sense. Remember that Steve drove a fairly pedestrian Mercedes.
Here's a forum post saying they were selling for $160k at dealerships https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-r230/25583-how-much-2003...
Really not a "pedestrian" Mercedes, at the time it would have been in the upper tier of their price range. The current-day SL AMG model starts at $178k.
And he leased a new one every 6 months.
Sometimes what people think they want isn't what they actually want once they experience it. People unhappy and surrounded by drab office space might pine for a beautiful setting to work in, but I suspect most of them will find that it wasn't the lack of beauty making them unhappy and that a change of scenery doesn't do nearly enough to rectify the problem.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/10/how-s...
Tell me you live in a rich neighborhood without telling me you do.
Lack of environmental enrichment is not what gets in the way of innovation.
But, no, it’s not a force multiplier vs a more pedestrian setting.
> However, this campus may turn out to be a force multiplier going forward. If so, it is a victory, but not in the minds of consumers.
Curious, have you ever actually talked to anyone that worked there? While I have admittedly only talked to a couple folks, they either hated it or were at best indifferent. There reasons ranged from "my commute is now twice as long" to "it's still just a giant suburban office park".
Again, in no way arguing this is some sort of representative sample, so I am curious what Apple employees who work there actually think about it.
(I've always compared it to some beautiful, modern art gallery — but without any art.)
But to the above degree, I have to say I enjoyed all large Apple work environments (even some of the more far flung ones I worked at like Results Way).
It's because I have enjoyed being able to walk down a hall, up a floor, and chat with The Guy That Works on IOKit Display-support. I am a "social engineer" (not one to socially engineer though if you know what I mean). I truly disliked working from home for extended periods.
Personally I'd almost certainly prefer a real office (even a tiny closet-like one) with a door, maybe in Infinite Loop.
[1] https://www.macworld.com/article/670869/complete-guide-to-ap...
On my current team we share a hall-wide office that seats 4. On my old team I shared a half-hall wide room with another person.
Most people have this 2 person arrangement. Some teams sit in groups of 6-8 together. All of this is Siri.
Teams in other orgs are wildly different. I had a friend in iCloud that was in one of those open office style arrangements. She hated it. She left to Netflix eventually.
I'd say it's probably Coca-Cola?
https://s2.q4cdn.com/470004039/files/doc_financials/2023/q2/...
It's an unrealistic & impractical scenario, obviously, but IMO it's more likely they'd want to increase their liabilities (and likely WOULD be able to - lol!) without touching their assets. It's actually an interesting & somewhat comical mind game, even if nothing else.
FWIW, I've no personal position.
But Air-pods, Apple Watch and Apple TV streaming were all under cooks watch. Maybe not as ground breaking but still very important. Mind you, who else has been doing ground breaking stuff like under Steve? I cannot think of anything other than the recent AI stuff. It kind of feels like Steve picked the last of the low hanging fruit and then bowed out before it came to stagnation.
I say this as someone that uses none of these type of devices from any vendor.
Is this similar to how AMD's Bulldozer architecture back around that timeframe was the writing was on the wall for their current competitive dominance over Intel?
PA Semi was a great talent accu-hire, but AFAIK at the time of acquisition they only had Power-based designs ready for market.
> It kind of feels like Steve picked the last of the low hanging fruit and then bowed out before it came to stagnation.
PT Barnum was a renowned showman as well, but that doesn't mean he trained all the elephants.
For instance, I would hardly say the release of a market-dominating phone was a foregone conclusion based on the success of the iPod, and an Apple without the iPhone would look incredibly different.
Sure, people wanted to take their music with them, but the nearly purely multitouch interface was a fresh invention - the iPod did not have a touch interface AFAIK until three years later.
I just don't see something which was such a fresh take and new engineering - to the point that other smartphone vendors thought the original keynote demos were staged - was low-hanging fruit.
By low hanging fruit, I mean the concept of a portable computer in your pocket. I'm not undermining the astounding work that went into things like the iPhone - The execution was fifth steps above everyone else. I just mean after the iPhone and iPad, ideas that had been around for a long while but had not been executed well, we have been waiting to see what the next step will be. I feel this is why things like VR got so much traction.
The idea that you could have two, disconnected pods seems to have been quite bold.
The obvious idea of wireless is anything but bold
While the Airpods seem completely obvious now, they were pretty radical and controversial when first announced.
Their winning traits may seem banal, but in everyday carry objects small utility improvements play a huge role. Not having to deal with cables and increased range of movement are enough - what elevated AirPods though is that a visible, wearable product is an implicit fashion statement. Apples product designers succeeded in making st thing that is clearly recognisable and stands out against similar products already on the market, but is subtle enough not to disturb anything or polarise by totally overthrowing stylistic and societal convention. Perfect mix of identity and brand that is easy to integrate with your personal image.
Apple silicon is another kind of thing: it's just the same thing as before but cheaper and more powerful, without compromising any trait that made the predecessor products appealing.
Apple "reality" or whatever - I don't see carrying any of those same traits. It's much too visually disruptive to become an AirPod, it's much too close to similar products to be an M1, and on top of this it's success fully depends on expensive-to-produce software content within a technically complicated ecosystem, while Apple has long lost it's profile as a developer centric and welcoming brand and rather capitalized on it's ubiquity and alienated many developers who only still contribute to the platform it because they have too by sheer numbers.
Apple might be able to not totally fail spinning up the platform, because of buying power, image and again numbers.
But those just slightly more practical, still bulky and odd looking VR glasses are nowhere near replicating the seamless product fit of iPods, IPhones, AirPods or CPUs.
It's Metaverse all over again.
I don't think that's enough. AirPods "just work" in a way that no prior Bluetooth headset ever did. Everything else was a kludge, particularly when it came to switching between multiple devices.
I haven’t heard anything in-ear that comes close, disclaimer though I honestly haven’t tried many other in-ears in that price category.
The AirPods Pro were a game-changer for me: I could always have headphones in my pocket, and isolate myself from the world whenever I wanted. The 2nd generation surprised me with much better sound and noise cancelation.
Don't get me wrong: over-ear Sonys (I have those) will still sound better and remove more noise. And my B&O H6 gen2 sound much better still if there is no noise around. But I can't have any of those with me at all times, I can't wear them when it's really hot outside or when it's really cold (because of head coverings).
AirPods I just always throw in my jeans pocket and they work anytime, anywhere.
It's not about a "fashion statement" as some say, it's about a really good product that changes your life patterns because it works so well.
>Many times throughout its history, Apple Inc. has redefined consumer technology
This is how this starts. Let me correct that. "Many times after Apple's garage period ended and Jobs took lead, Apple has purchased or copied things other people created, claimed it a new revolutionary feature, and the Trump cult.. sorry, the Jobs cult ate it up."
What apple has done is gimp its own devices, and instead of meeting user requirements, forced crap down people's throats and told them they like it. And their target market does. Disagree? You're holding it wrong.
Maybe part of the reason they did so well is that competition sucked. Windows is a blob of cruft on top of cruft, isolating Microsoft into its own developer bubble. Android OS has been a very mixed platter, known for relying on carriers and manufacturers to keep the phones up to date (which they provably suck at)
There are many ARM CPUs out there, Apple made another one with some minor tweaks. For the home, I can get a 64 core Intel with a terabyte of RAM. For work, I get an 8-core xeon laptop w/ 128GB of ECC RAM, that runs cool, quiet, and just as fast as Apple. Difference is, when I want it to run much, much faster than Apple, I can plug in a 200W power brick, spin up the fans to max, and have my script done when I'm back from lunch.
Iphones aren't market leaders, with 20% market share vs Android. They're overpriced toys to which you don't have full access and can't run your apps of your own choosing on. I'm browsing this site by chromecasting my phone screen to my 65" TV, and I've reprogrammed my buttons to pick up calls when the phone is locked if I press power+volDown. When I go to a customer site, I can plug in my phone into an ESX farm, copy a VMDK onto the host, and start the demo VM. All the guys with a terabyte of storage on their expensive iphones are searching for that USB stick in their bag.
AirPod Max? Who cares. It's just a bluetooth headset the price of a laptop, and sounds like garbage compared to my $100 Sennheiser bluetooth.
Apple products are toys.
Android OS? The latest version of which one I'm running on the 12yo phone I'm using to browse this site on my TV, in firefox, which has no trace of google services and is lightning fast?
The 'classical consumer' you're talking about here is my wife. I get her an iphone because if she had something better, she'd screw it up and waste my time. It's the same reason you get your kid a chevy cavalier instead of an audi S8. That doesn't make the chevy the better car. When she dropped it, because the back was slippery glass (brilliant, as you put it), the $1200 phone had to go to the trash. Because you know, let's make things people hold and drop a lot slippery and fragile. Fanboy comment? Why didn't she goop on a screen protector and a thick rubber case? Same reason I don't wrap my car in bubblewrap. Because not having your device destroyed when you drop it 4ft on wood floors is a basic function of the device, and Apple seems to be the only one struggling with basic functionality. Bad reception? You're holding it wrong. Destroyed by tiny falls? You should have wrapped it in bubblewrap. Keyboard breaks from typing? You shouldn't be typing on macs, that's what siri is for.
Part of the reason they did so well, is because Apple products are shiny and cute, and they're dumbed-down forget-it devices for the lowest common denominator. I wouldn't necessarily call 20% market share well, but because they're all margin, Apple makes a lot.
I'm here saying I'm absolutely willing to pay the iPhone price so I don't get bugged by my wife - my time is worth more. But that doesn't make the iPhone any more brilliant than a car that only goes 65 that you buy for your teen.
https://en.meming.world/images/en/f/f9/If_Those_Kids_Could_R...
Unless your work apps are Docker, Docker, and more Docker, this is almost certainly false. Even then, it’s just slow, not broken.
> There are many ARM CPUs out there, Apple made another one with some minor tweaks.
If 2x single threaded performance is “minor tweaks”, sure.
> For work, I get an 8-core xeon laptop w/ 128GB of ECC RAM, that runs cool, quiet, and just as fast as Apple.
FWIW I’ve typically found that my personal computer generally beats my work machines specced similarly to this.
>If 2x single threaded performance the M1 is just an iphone chip on steroids, and the M1 design is indeed a minor tweak of the design by ARM. 2x compared to what? The cortex X3 or a bunch of cell phone CPUs? The M1 is indeed a minor tweak of a Phone processor, with bigger hardware to accommodate laptop/desktop use cases.
Other companies make CPUs that run what people want to run. Apple makes CPUs that don't run what people want to run, and expect the world to rewrite everything for their new toy. That's why MACs have almost no footprint in the real world compared to x86/64. Because my computer is a tool. I have some nails and need to buy a hammer. Apple gives me a screw driver and tells me I'm doing it wrong. It's a tool that can't do the job, so it's the wrong tool. Yes, there is a small niche where Apple is a good fit. That niche, is 7% of the market for laptops for example. Surprise - people don't want an expensive paperweight. They buy tools to solve their problems, not create new ones.
Tim Cook's first major executive move as CEO was to fire Scott Forstall.
So was Steve Jobs—Tim Cook would have fired him, too, if he could.
What does the author consider to be a victory?
Tim Cook was elevated because he had the operational capability to grow Apple. Jobs did not consider Cook to be a product design person. But Jobs trusted Cook to find and keep people who could design products.
By any stretch of the imagination, the company's biggest victories have been in growing and holding together the vast ecosystem of HW / SW and services that continuously deliver the highest customer satisfaction ratings. The reward for that has been becoming the biggest company in the world. (Some might consider this a victory.)
If introducing new hit products is the only kind of victory that can exist, then Apple Silicon and AirPods victories also go to Cook.