How Apple Is Preparing For The End Of The iPhone Affair

[Megalith]

The iPhone is the core of Apple’s business, but nothing is forever. Some suggest that the company’s continued success will hinge on entertainment services.

Apple knows it can’t rely on the annual iPhone hype-release cycle forever. The next wave of growth is likely to come from calculated investment in content and services, reaching beyond the rush of unboxing the latest iProduct and quietly wrestling power away from the digital companies we’re increasingly reliant on for entertainment - namely Spotify and Netflix.

 

[GotNoRice]

Makes sense. At one point their main product was the iMac. Then it was the iPod. Now both of those products are essentially forgotten. If they had not adapted, they would have suffered greatly. I don't think they can really afford to not continue to adapt.

I'm not really a huge fan of apple or their products, but I think it's amazing how much success they have had over the years, and how well they have continuously adapted to a changing market.

 

[mi7chy]

Apple is at a dead end road without Jobs. iPod dead, iPad dead, Watch DOA, iPhone dying, Macbooks flat and services aren't cross platform even if they were competitive. Hope they can pull something out of the hat come 9/9 otherwise AAPL hitting 92 recently from a high of 130's is a taste of what's to come if they disappoint.

 

[Yaka]

if they want peeps to use thier tv content they gotta up thier game, netflix and amazon both have got in early and invested heavily. apparently they were bidding for the former top gear trio as well.

going by how maps turned out and apple music, they will fuck up the launch special when they go global

 

[Lunas]

So they are preparing for liquidation and sale to the highest bidder? Cause Unless they cling to the lifeboat that is the iphone or find a direction to go with OSX that would cause people to use it over windows without the absurd hardware package deal they are just going to dwindle away until final death.

What they could do it Open OSX to hardware other than what they make. I suppose they could do the same to ios but that is another can o worms.

 

[trparky]

It's not the hardware that will keep Apple alive, it will be the media, app, and mobile gaming ecosystem that will keep Apple alive. The app and mobile gaming ecosystem will be more than enough to keep the iPhone and Apple alive for at least the next decade.

 

[rudy]

if they want peeps to use thier tv content they gotta up thier game, netflix and amazon both have got in early and invested heavily. apparently they were bidding for the former top gear trio as well.

going by how maps turned out and apple music, they will fuck up the launch special when they go global

Apple has gobs of money they could pay pure cash for the entire market cap of Netflix. And that is why they wont be dead because when you have enough money you can sort of buy your way into any market.

 

[Spidey329]

It's not the hardware that will keep Apple alive, it will be the media, app, and mobile gaming ecosystem that will keep Apple alive. The app and mobile gaming ecosystem will be more than enough to keep the iPhone and Apple alive for at least the next decade.

Problem is, they're losing serious ground. I think the latest reports put Android at 81.5% [ http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25450615 ].

That's an astronomical rise over what used to be almost even.

 

[MrGuvernment]

mobility, that is our future now and even more so later as more countries are getting connected.

Next is embedded, not that i would trust any device IN my body... unless it bought me dinner first..

 

[dr.kevin]

I think people are underestimating apple customers, who will eat iphones up till the end of time.

 

[Kaitian]

Apple has gobs of money they could pay pure cash for the entire market cap of Netflix. And that is why they wont be dead because when you have enough money you can sort of buy your way into any market.

Problem with that is that you need to be sure that you're going to make a return on your hostile takeover. Market Capitalization of Netflix is $43 billion so with a hostile takeover, it's going to cost at least $55 billion. Netflix only makes $250 million after profit on a revenue of $5 billion so that's very tight margins. Unless Apple's got an awesome idea that will make them gobs of money with Netflix to make back their investment, it's an extremely poor investment.

 

[N4CR]

I think people are underestimating apple customers, who will eat iphones up till the end of time.

There sure are some who are stuck in the apple cycle, most I've seen leave, actually bothered to try use another type of phone for longer than a few seconds, didn't have a dependence on a certain app or feature, or were stuck with an IOS upgrade that turned their phone into a slide show.

 

[trparky]

I'd rather have an iPhone than whatever the stupid OEMs like HTC, Samsung, and Sony put out.

 

[Deleted whining member 223597]

Apple is at a dead end road without Jobs. iPod dead, iPad dead, Watch DOA, iPhone dying, Macbooks flat and services aren't cross platform even if they were competitive. Hope they can pull something out of the hat come 9/9 otherwise AAPL hitting 92 recently from a high of 130's is a taste of what's to come if they disappoint.

Meanwhile on Earth, Apple keeps selling record amounts of iPhones. But I guess they are dead. You said the same shit for the past 2 years and never once have any of your doomsday scenarios happened. A broken clock is more accurate.

 

[Trimlock]

Meanwhile on Earth, Apple keeps selling record amounts of iPhones. But I guess they are dead. You said the same shit for the past 2 years and never once have any of your doomsday scenarios happened. A broken clock is more accurate.

I've learned to just ignore it.

 

[Skripka]

Makes sense. At one point their main product was the iMac. Then it was the iPod. Now both of those products are essentially forgotten. If they had not adapted, they would have suffered greatly. I don't think they can really afford to not continue to adapt.

I'm not really a huge fan of apple or their products, but I think it's amazing how much success they have had over the years, and how well they have continuously adapted to a changing market.

Adapted, or cannibalized their own business?

Regards iMac and iPod, their fall from anything close to the limelight was brought about squarely by Apple who acted as those products chief executioner. Apple pretty much squarely went all in on iPhone and iPad and knowingly made the other products the sacrificial lambs.

iPhone is what pretty much destroyed BlackBerry and in doing do spurred smartphone adaption to the masses rather than being CEOs and business types. I don't lightly or flippantly or ungrudgingly give Apple that much credit whether they inteded it that way or not.

 

[nutzo]

Makes sense. At one point their main product was the iMac. Then it was the iPod. Now both of those products are essentially forgotten. If they had not adapted, they would have suffered greatly. I don't think they can really afford to not continue to adapt.

Actually they haven't really adapted much since the original iPod.

The iPhone is just an extension of the iPod touch, which was just an extension of the original iPod.
The iPad is just a large iPod touch.
The iWatch is just a fashion accessory for the iPhone.

Don't really see much in the way of new products, just incremental updates to existing products.

 

[nutzo]

I'd rather have an iPhone than whatever the stupid OEMs like HTC, Samsung, and Sony put out.

I'd rather have anything HTC, Samsung or Sony put out, instead of that than that stupid locked down, over priced junk put out by Apple.

 

[Deleted whining member 223597]

I'd rather have anything HTC, Samsung or Sony put out, instead of that than that stupid locked down, over priced junk put out by Apple.

Your post is just as silly as the one you are responding to. Stooping to the same level is why we have apple sheeple and fandroids, both of which make for hilarious posts.

 

[jwcalla]

I'm skeptical of entertainment services these days. I know some of the "alternative" distribution forms like Netflix, etc. are doing well, but don't people perceive a certain weakness in video entertainment as a product itself?

 

[Twisted Kidney]

I think Apple's media business is pretty robust. I mean sure the iPhone is huge, but Apple has established a very restrictive eco-system for customers around the iFranchise. Very few would know how to escape, it practically guarantees that the cows will be there to milk for years to come.

Imagine all of those e-jewellery toting soccer mums realizing their new phone couldn't play their favourite top 40 hits. It would be the end of the world. After all, who doesn't love that new Tay-Hanna-Grande-Ciru-Bieber song with that sample from that sixties band. I bet that Led Zappa or whatever band wishes they'd been as great at music as Tay-Hanna-Grande-Ciru-Bieber is. (OK that was a bit of a rant.)

Never mind the fact that if you buy the wrong brand of Android phone the manufacturer can't wait to fill it up with all kinds of shit you'll never, ever use. People want to gloss over the fact that Android phones are pretty foul as well, instead of trying to absorb you into their buying products, they want to absorb you into being their product. Smart phones are vehemently anti-security and anti-privacy across the board, but Google leads that charge.

It's a mine field to a customer who doesn't like thinking about their phone too much.

 

[mi7chy]

I'd rather have anything HTC, Samsung or Sony put out, instead of that than that stupid locked down, over priced junk put out by Apple.

Correct. iPhone 6 is comparable to low end Android deices with 750p resolution and only 1GB DRAM. Even a $25 2013 Moto G is better and Chrome displays sites correctly that Safari can't.

 

[Deleted member 126051]

I'd rather have an iPhone than whatever the stupid OEMs like HTC, Samsung, and Sony put out.

And blind fanboyism like this will keep Apple solvent for now..

 

[Deleted member 126051]

Actually saw an article on /. the other day about how Apple (Apple of all people) is trying to go after, get this, Enterprise business.

Damn near exploded from laughing so hard. Apple has never truly wanted enterprise business. Mainly because they're unwilling/unable to provide the sort of support/service that enterprise business requires. They make small forays in that direction every now and then. But mostly they're token gestures. Dilettante stuff.

 

[foxnews]

Actually they haven't really adapted much since the original iPod.

The iPhone is just an extension of the iPod touch, which was just an extension of the original iPod.
The iPad is just a large iPod touch.
The iWatch is just a fashion accessory for the iPhone.

Don't really see much in the way of new products, just incremental updates to existing products.

according to your logic, smart phone is just an extension of dumb phone which is just a extension of dial phone, etc.

Do you even know how much apple make on their iphone? or even ipod? more than any companies that you even know or love. enough said.

 

[foxnews]

a bunch of Apple haters in this forum...

Apple will be the last company that can survive out of dozen companies out there if there is such an end. So your hope of Apple dying is going to take a long time.

Their cash can save them from many recessions or many mistake that they would have. much longer than any companies out there.

Amazon and netfix are good company but they hardly make any money compared to apple. Apple profit margin is what most CEO can dream of.

 

[trparky]

I'm guaranteed software updates on the iPhone. That's the very reason why I got my iPhone 6 Plus.

Android? Yeah right. Want software updates? Buy a new phone!

I had four Android phones made by the various OEMs and they all suffered from a lack of updates. I couldn't even get incremental Android updates that fixed obvious bugs in the system. I'm not even talking about huge updates, I'm just talking about updates like 4.4.1 to 4.4.2.

So I said fuck Android and went to the iPhone. I have had what? Four updates in the last year. Better than Android in which I was lucky I got one update in a year.

 

[foxnews]

Actually saw an article on /. the other day about how Apple (Apple of all people) is trying to go after, get this, Enterprise business.

Damn near exploded from laughing so hard. Apple has never truly wanted enterprise business. Mainly because they're unwilling/unable to provide the sort of support/service that enterprise business requires. They make small forays in that direction every now and then. But mostly they're token gestures. Dilettante stuff.

That was how Microsoft started: from consumer to enterprise.

every large/small company with IT department have iOS mobile team. Every serious e-commerce sites have to spend money on developing iOS app.

Many schools now require/recommend students to have ipad to do their homework, especially elementary schools.

even Microsoft, who is more anti-Apple than you and I, is now creating iOS version of their enterprise software.

are you still laughing?

 

[/dev/null]

Correct. iPhone 6 is comparable to low end Android deices with 750p resolution and only 1GB DRAM. Even a $25 2013 Moto G is better and Chrome displays sites correctly that Safari can't.

My 2013 moto g is WAY slower than even my work-provided iPhone 5.

 

[Deleted member 126051]

a bunch of Apple haters in this forum...

Apple will be the last company that can survive out of dozen companies out there if there is such an end. So your hope of Apple dying is going to take a long time.

Their cash can save them from many recessions or many mistake that they would have. much longer than any companies out there.

Amazon and netfix are good company but they hardly make any money compared to apple. Apple profit margin is what most CEO can dream of.

I don't "hate" Apple.
I don't care for them. And their product isn't my cup of tea. But I don't hate them any more than I hate Tesla for turning out cars that don't meet my driving requirements.

What I detest is the rabid Apple fanboy community who seemed determined to preach that Apple is all things to all people.

If there's any fault at Apple, it was with Jobs and his little cargo cult. He's worm food now, and Apple's just another company. Granted, another company with INSANE cash reserves.

 

[SparkedFire]

I'm guaranteed software updates on the iPhone. That's the very reason why I got my iPhone 6 Plus.

Android? Yeah right. Want software updates? Buy a new phone!

I had four Android phones made by the various OEMs and they all suffered from a lack of updates. I couldn't even get incremental Android updates that fixed obvious bugs in the system. I'm not even talking about huge updates, I'm just talking about updates like 4.4.1 to 4.4.2.

So I said fuck Android and went to the iPhone. I have had what? Four updates in the last year. Better than Android in which I was lucky I got one update in a year.

My boss is mad because an iPhone update, that you cant uninstall, ruined the experience on said iPhone. Too many updates are bad.

 

[Deleted member 126051]

I'm guaranteed software updates on the iPhone. That's the very reason why I got my iPhone 6 Plus.

Android? Yeah right. Want software updates? Buy a new phone!

Really? The fault there lies with your SERVICE PROVIDER, not Android.

I've had two major system updates on my Galaxy S4 since I got it. The last one was in July that brought me up to 5.0.1 (Lollipop, the device shipped with 4.2. (Jelly Bean)). Sprint's actually been pretty good about it.

I've also had nearly ceaseless application updates.

So, a major system refresh every 12-15 months. And that's sucky?

I posit that, the REAL reason you got the iPhone has NOTHING to do with "updates".

 

[foxnews]

Really? The fault there lies with your SERVICE PROVIDER, not Android.

Buy a house from a builder. the AC broke and you blame on the AC manufacturer and try to find support from them, rather than from the builder?

that is a big difference between Apple and Google. Apple owns and is responsible for all aspects of their product, from hardware to software to services. Google's responsibility stops at Android OS. if you have issue with your android phone, it it not Google's fault, it is Samsung.

I have Google Nexus player. When Netflix had deactivation issue for months, who do I call? Goole or Asus or Netflix?

Apple won't allow any service provider to install any bloat wares on their iphone. apple won't let consumers surfer from their service provider dragging their feet to bring an update.

No wonder Apple has higher customer satisfaction than competing products.

 

[trparky]

The biggest issue that Android has is that the whole update process is completely and utter fucked up.

In order for your Android phone to be updated the following thing must occur...

1. Google must first publish the code.
2. Then your OEM has to get the code changes that Google published and then they have to take the changes and then splice them into whatever mess they turned Android into with the likes of TouchWiz, Sense, etc. Which of course they take forever and a damn year to do this.
3. Then that update is pushed to your carrier for them to splice in whatever crap they want to add to the thing.
4. Now it has to go back to the OEM for approval because your carrier added stuff and then it goes back to your carrier.
5. Your carrier gets the update and begins the certification process. Oh... crap, we forgot to add more bloatware.
6. So they add and it goes back to your OEM for approval.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 a couple of times.
8. And then finally the update is pushed to you. But oh gee... the Android version that the update is based upon is so old that there's a whole new Android version out.
9. So now we have to start this whole stinkin' rodeo all over again.

Compare to how Apple does it...

1. Apple makes update.
2. Apple pushes update to users.
3. Process complete.

See how easy it is compared to the Android update process? It's a freakin' wonder ANY Android phones get updates considering how long the carriers drag their feet on pushing these updates out.

Remember, the carriers don't want to have to do updates. They would much rather you buy a new phone instead. Making and pushing updates costs the carrier which of course hurts their bottom line. It's basically their way of saying... "Want software updates? Silly user. Buy a new phone instead, cheapskate!"

 

[jwcalla]

I don't get why people are so obsessed with updates.

I still have a Gingerbread phone and don't even care.

My tablet is on ICS and don't want to update because the later versions of Android are complete crap.

 

[foxnews]

The biggest issue that Android has is that the whole update process is completely and utter fucked up.

In order for your Android phone to be updated the following thing must occur...

1. Google must first publish the code.
2. Then your OEM has to get the code changes that Google published and then they have to take the changes and then splice them into whatever mess they turned Android into with the likes of TouchWiz, Sense, etc. Which of course they take forever and a damn year to do this.
3. Then that update is pushed to your carrier for them to splice in whatever crap they want to add to the thing.
4. Now it has to go back to the OEM for approval because your carrier added stuff and then it goes back to your carrier.
5. Your carrier gets the update and begins the certification process. Oh... crap, we forgot to add more bloatware.
6. So they add and it goes back to your OEM for approval.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 a couple of times.
8. And then finally the update is pushed to you. But oh gee... the Android version that the update is based upon is so old that there's a whole new Android version out.
9. So now we have to start this whole stinkin' rodeo all over again.

Compare to how Apple does it...

1. Apple makes update.
2. Apple pushes update to users.
3. Process complete.

See how easy it is compared to the Android update process? It's a freakin' wonder ANY Android phones get updates considering how long the carriers drag their feet on pushing these updates out.

Remember, the carriers don't want to have to do updates. They would much rather you buy a new phone instead. Making and pushing updates costs the carrier which of course hurts their bottom line. It's basically their way of saying... "Want software updates? Silly user. Buy a new phone instead, cheapskate!"

then if there is an issue with an update, the consumers are left to find out who's fault it is: google? no, Samsung? no, Ok AT&T then? maybe. call AT&T and get "no, it is Samsung"

The cycle begins to figure out who is responsible.

 

[Starcrossed]

Streaming will reach a tipping point, and Apple would be intelligent to be on the wave.

 

[Skripka]

The biggest issue that Android has is that the whole update process is completely and utter fucked up.

In order for your Android phone to be updated the following thing must occur...

1. Google must first publish the code.
2. Then your OEM has to get the code changes that Google published and then they have to take the changes and then splice them into whatever mess they turned Android into with the likes of TouchWiz, Sense, etc. Which of course they take forever and a damn year to do this.
3. Then that update is pushed to your carrier for them to splice in whatever crap they want to add to the thing.
4. Now it has to go back to the OEM for approval because your carrier added stuff and then it goes back to your carrier.
5. Your carrier gets the update and begins the certification process. Oh... crap, we forgot to add more bloatware.
6. So they add and it goes back to your OEM for approval.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 a couple of times.
8. And then finally the update is pushed to you. But oh gee... the Android version that the update is based upon is so old that there's a whole new Android version out.
9. So now we have to start this whole stinkin' rodeo all over again.

Compare to how Apple does it...

1. Apple makes update.
2. Apple pushes update to users.
3. Process complete.

See how easy it is compared to the Android update process? It's a freakin' wonder ANY Android phones get updates considering how long the carriers drag their feet on pushing these updates out.

Remember, the carriers don't want to have to do updates. They would much rather you buy a new phone instead. Making and pushing updates costs the carrier which of course hurts their bottom line. It's basically their way of saying... "Want software updates? Silly user. Buy a new phone instead, cheapskate!"

The irony of it all being...

The carriers and OEMs whine about how expensive and difficult it is to get Android updates out in anything resembling a timely manner...when they themselves are to blame for it taking so long and being so difficult. If they just went vanilla and made the framework overlay an app from the Play store-imagine how much easier everyone's life would be.

But no...that would save time money, effort, and make sense.

 

[mi7chy]

Are dumbsumers really serious about the profit argument?

Do you say the same thing when you go buy a car? OMG, I just made the car lot so profitable from overpaying for a junker.

As far as Apple updates, they're just placebos since you won't get new features like iOS 9 split view that Android has had for years on current Apple devices except for iPad Air 2 but what you're guaranteed is early obsolescence from the update intentionally lagging your device to force you to buy a new one.

 

[trparky]

Because software updates do solve problems. Like security issues, exploits, and obvious bugs in the system.

The phone I had before I got the iPhone 6 Plus was a Note 3. At the time I got rid of it it still only had Android 4.4.1 (it could have had 4.4.2, I don't remember) but whatever version it had had many issues that.. yeah, 4.4.3 fixed. Could I get 4.4.3 which obviously fixed the issues I had? Nope.