<i>How do they fix this? They need to do more talking — and even more listening — with their users. Engage with the influencers. Sit down and find out what their developers need that the current products don’t offer. Find out what is making their users unhappy.</i><p>Asking people what they want will give you predictable results: complaints about any kind of change and positive feedback about shiny-looking features that demo well. You'll end up pulled in a million directions as you try to account for everyone's feedback.<p>The traditional Apple solution was to give a single idealized user — Steve Jobs — the power to improve his own experience. Nobody can replace Steve, but I think someone (or some group) inside Apple needs to fill this role before their products can become really great again.
I went from almost never needing to restart my mac (with Snow Leopard) to having to restart it a couple of times a week with Sierra. The UI just becomes totally unresponsive (the cursor stops moving, the time in the menu bar stops ticking and the spinning wheel stops spinning) and needs a restart. And I don't even have things like SIMBL installed (I used to with snow leopard, not anymore). I just have Karabiner elements and Little snitch running (oh and coconut battery since Apple in it's great wisdom decided to hide the remaining time estimate).<p>The new versions of macOs provide no added advantage and have a lot of regressions. I used to use Exposé all the time, now I don't because everything slows to a crawl when I activate it.<p>And I run into severe bugs. For example, when I installed Yosemite and activated Filevault, it managed to corrupt my partition and all my data (luckily I had a backup).<p>I really wish Apple starts actually hiring good software engineers or at least manage them to work on their OS because right now it's embarrassing. It reminds me of when Windows ME was a thing. If Apple ran the I'm a Mac, I'm a PC ad nowadays they wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on.<p>And then don't even get me started on their pro apps. Aperture used to be a great app (much better than lightroom), they stopped its development.
If you're browsing this and say "Great, another developer article shitting on Apple after the Pro release who thinks they have figured out everything about the company", please do read this. I was truly surprised at the depth, fairness, and considerations in this article.<p>I'm very curious to see how Apple plays out in the next few years and will likely look back at this article to compare, if I remember to.<p>As a developer, I wonder if making a Mac Developer model could be an interesting path, and if it would make financial sense in any way given the idea of "power users".
In 2009 I bought my first Apple product: an 8GB 13" MacBook Pro that cost $3000 ($1000 for the extra 4gb, like a dumbass). Quite soon after I got an iPhone 3GS. Now every computer in the house (family of four) is an Apple. Every phone is an Apple. Even AirPlay was an influencing factor in selecting a hi-fi receiver (HTR7065). Apple TVs sit next to actual TVs.<p>Yesterday I replaced our fleet of TimeCapsules and Airports with Lumas. Despite their problems they are still better than the Apple product. Rumor has it Apple isn't working on Airports any more.<p>Today, I began looking for a replacement for the 2009 MBP, which my 11yo son now uses. I started by looking at Microsoft Surface.<p>In the present, Apple doesn't meet my needs and as I look to the future, when <i>I</i> will need a new machine, the MacBook "Pro" is more like a MacBook "Bling".<p>Apple used to be an ecosystem. Now its just incremental phone updates.
> But here’s the problem: sitting in this niche of excluded users are some of Apple’s strongest supporters, the influencers that create word of mouth...<p>I see this point made a lot, especially on Hacker News whenever this general topic comes up. I'm just curious: what evidence is there to support this point of view?<p>I'm as frustrated as the next software engineer that the new Macbook Pros aren't targeted at me or users like me (and that there hasn't been a new Mac Pro in a long time), and my next primary machine may well not be an Apple product when my current Macbook Pro ages out. But I don't really see an argument that draws a line between that fact and a future perception issue for Apple - and that seems to be accepted as gospel whenever the topic of Apple comes up in developer circles. Who are these "influencers" whose opinions purportedly closely align with software engineers' and why do consumers care about them?
The day Apple makes a power cord that doesn't have a cable sheath with the consistency and durability of silly putty is the day I will recognize them as back on track.<p>It's a small detail, but the power cord is the one part of the computer that users have no choice but to interact with every day and they've been ignoring the problems with them for the better part of half a decade.<p>Every Mac at work either has detached and frayed around the power connector strain relief, or looks like an extremely precise samurai has made tens of small cuts in the jacket of the cable.
Apple is the world's most profitable business - twice the profits of #2 (JP Morgan Chase) and almost a 4x magnitude over Google.(1)<p>I agree with the author's final assessment - "meets expectations with some areas that need improvement" - and I think this is the key.<p>They are stoking the fire, keeping it burning, but clearly their focus seems to be diminished on their core business.<p>And even companies of this scale need hyper focus to drive what seem like small but obvious improvements, usually executives are faced with two choices:<p>(a) Focus on today's business and unlock maximum value in your product line / distribution.<p>(b) Innovate to turn a corner and plan for tomorrow.<p>I am surprised at how few people attribute the current challenges at Apple to what I suspect is an internal focus on planning for tomorrow.<p>How much more profitable is the iPhone going to get? The smartphone market is approaching saturation (2)<p>So what does the leadership do?<p>Are laptops, imacs, and apple pro's the future?<p>No, they barely represent 9% of Apples sales and have been FLAT for years (3)<p>What about Apple TV & Apple Watch (the "other" category) - those have already grown to 6% of sales - and moving in the right direction.<p>But is that it?<p>My suspicion is that Apple / Tim Cook knows something BIG that we don't that they are going to get PERFECT while they still have the cash fire hose of the iPhone to drive the engine.<p>(1) <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/06/08/fortune-500-most-profitable-companies-2016/" rel="nofollow">http://fortune.com/2016/06/08/fortune-500-most-profitable-co...</a><p>(2) <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/smartphone-markets-glory-days-are-over-says-analyst/" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnet.com/news/smartphone-markets-glory-days-are-...</a><p>(3) <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2016/01/26/q1-2016-results/" rel="nofollow">http://www.macrumors.com/2016/01/26/q1-2016-results/</a>
Apple is a company that is following the process they learned when Steve ran the show, without any clear understanding of <i>why</i> that process exists. As a result, they are unable to adapt to adapt that process to the external world while remaining true to the underlying principles.<p>What you see is the predictable result: ossified thinking couple with a rigid adherence to "what makes them great". all criticism falls on deaf ears and they'll just continue like this until Tim Cook is gone and they get a product guy back in the heal who can give Apple direction and heart.
> Defining products by the spreadsheet: A big percentage of complaints over the new MacBook Pro devices is that they ignore the needs of the “power” user. The problem? This group is fairly small and have needs living well towards the end of the bell curve.<p>The problem with ignoring this niche is because these users are either developers or big influencers. They help with the ongoing success of the App Store as well as with free marketing.<p>This is also a big reason why Apple needs to release either an iMac without a screen or a more affordable Mac Pro. The Mac Mini has never really cut it for anything but personal use.<p>For the 1st time in years, I'm thinking of switching back to Windows since Docker makes development easier now. I'll still get a cheap Mac for personal stuff like Photos, but it'll just be relegated for that.
I feel like Apple are one of the few large SV companies that are producing products for their users.<p>For everyone else the user is a resource that they're selling to advertisers.<p>They've shown they're willing to stand up for user rights. For this reason alone I hope they continue to be successful.
The trouble at Apple is one of culture and timing. The ideals of Apple and the timing of their thinking is in many ways out of sync with the rest of the world.<p>This was the same that happened to Microsoft when their lets just create machines with a million different providers and slap our OS on top were surpassed by Apple when Steve Jobs came back. The advantages of Apples vertical integration allowed them to push for radical new hardware design aesthetics when that was craved the most. On top of that a completely different way of pushing product in sync with the OS which allowed them to avoid the issues of backwards compatibility which MS struggled with. Today though in many ways the Apple aesthetic have been commoditized and were it haven't Apple just haven't spent enough time improving (looking at you OSX and Mac)<p>I frankly don't think there is much to do about it for the simple reason that it would require Apple to change it's culture from being a secretive one to being more open. This is where Google have many advantages as it's much more in sync with where the world and technology is heading (Cloud, Deep Learning, web). I don't think Steve would have been able to save Apple either although I think he would have done things a little better.<p>I am a big fan of apples products and own only that but I can see a future, if things doesn't change were I would easily use ex. Android phone.
I remember feeling the same way about Apple back in late 2012/early 2013. I was ready to replace my iPhone 4, and Apple was only making phones with small screens, while the market trend was for larger screens. Then Apple Maps came out, and it was the worst release I can remember Apple ever doing. Android seemed to be pulling ahead in a lot of ways. A lot of people were saying that Tim Cook wasn't capable of running the company, and that the magic died with Steve Jobs. The stock price started to slide.<p>As we all know, Apple recovered from its bad release of Maps and revamped iOS, the stock price recovered, and there was much rejoicing. So, it's important to have a sense of perspective about these things.<p>Apple certainly seems like it has slowed down lately, but they have more resources available to improve the situation than any other company in the world. I suspect the current issues are caused by internal organizational problems rather than a lack of product vision.
I find the recent turn of public opinion against Apple to be interesting. Two years ago people were writing about brilliant Tim Cook was, largely because of the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Which was Apple simply scaling up to product sizes that they had previously resisted in joining, but were common to the rest of the market.<p>So was praise then wrong and overblown? Or is the current wave of discontent wrong and overblown? Or is two years enough time for Apple to underperform and cause a loss in faith?<p>I think it's a bit of all three, but also a lot because this current unhappiness is driven by developers, who had expected Apple to treat the MBP- much less the Mac Pro- with greater care and respect. 2014 saw the introduction of Swift, and developers were happy.
One thing Apple needs to fix ASAP is online (iCloud) and offline storage (iPhone).<p>Almost all my family members are having issues with running out of space on their iPhone. Some even bought additional iCloud to improve storage space only to be completely shocked and pissed to find that iCloud isn't really add additional storage (it is just for synchronization).<p>On top of this Google is taking serious advantage of Apple's bad execution with a fairly effective marketing campaign.<p>In some regards the most important thing about your phone these days is the memories you have collected and not so much what operating system or form factor is being used.
I think this is a fair article and it echoes a lot of my sentiments. Something is going wrong over at Apple. No, they're not going to go out of business soon, but I think the sheer volume of criticism they've been receiving (not just from users, but also from noted Apple advocates) is troubling, and they need to do something about it.<p>My standout is the battery case they released a few years ago. The design of that case is just unspeakably hideous. They need somebody with a Jobsian level of ruthlessness, attention to detail and unified vision to steer the ship back in the right direction. Another example here would be the fact (mentioned in this article) that they effectively copied the rest of the market by providing a larger phone. The Apple of old didn't do this. They didn't really follow market trends, they started them. And then to be flummoxed by demand when people responded so positively to smaller phones is baffling to me.<p>I wouldn't be surprised if we see some C level leadership changes some time this year.
What's the reasoning for trying to disable right click on your website? I simple wanted to google for the WiFi company mentioned - I had to find an add-on to copy the thing. For someone really into Apple you're good at obnoxious design.
I've seen very little discussion here of the battery issues with the new MBP, which in my opinion is the most offensive example of Apple's decline in quality. Lucky users are reporting 9 hour battery life, while others are getting 4-5. Nobody is getting the promised 10 hour battery life from their $1,500+ laptops.
A great write up. I wonder, whether Apple just has gotten a bit to large for their current organizational structure. It worked, when Apple had no iOS devices to care for and the attention was divided across much less products. Especially the signs of "sloppiness" point in that direction. At minimum, Apple should create senior positions overlooking individual product categories. Even the rather forgotten iPod business could be larger, if there was a small team focussed on the question: what can we do to make new products people want to buy? A friend was just missing a small (waterproof) iPod which works seamlessly with Apple Music for example<p>The same with the Mac. It is understandable from the view of the company, that iOS is the bigger thing. But, as the article mentions, the Mac is a vital part of the Apple eco system. And the Mac Pro is a vital part of the Mac eco system. You need to support the professional developers to have all the applications for your "non-professional" customers. The best sign, that Apple was surprised by the public reaction to the new MacBook Pro was, that they reacted by reducing the dongle prices. It didn't seem to have thought that people would object at buying a collection of them at full prices. When I bought my G3 iBook, it came with the necessary dongles included.<p>Besides the obvious conceptual issues with the current Mac Pro, the biggest sin was not to update its hardware regularly. Same for the Mac Mini. So there needs to be two things done:<p>- set up senior people for each product to make sure that issues/development for that product/category gets the necessary attention, e.g. people who only care about the mac.<p>- these people need to make sure that each product is updated in set cycles. The iOS devices as well as the operating systems are updated in a yearly cycle. Maybe not as strict as with the iPhone, this should be applied to all products. The releases might shift a bit on parts availability, but the Mac Pro and the Mini have missed several updates of CPUs/GPUs/other hardware.<p>One more thing: while it is understandable that the retina MacBook only has soldered on parts, this is less understandable for the MacBook Pro, and not at all for the Mini, iMac or the Mac Pro. How can you design desktop machines like the iMac, where you have to unglue the screen to get to its internals? I still have my G5 iMac, and that was a nicely designed machine. A mac czar could tell upper management, where clever and efficient production methods stop and making a bad product starts...
the <i>brand new</i> Macbook Pro has last-generation Intel CPUs. I remember when Jobs announced one of the first Intel Macbook Pros with chips that no other manufacturer had even been given the chance to ship yet.
<i>> Want us to think you’re still serious about the Mac, Apple? Show us parity of capabilities between the two platforms, at least on your core product sets...</i><p>Be careful what you wish for.<p><pre><code> The primary problem with Sierra with respect to PDFs is that Apple chose to
rewrite the PDFKit framework in macOS 10.12 and it broke a number of things
that PDF-related developers relied upon...
Apple wants to use a common foundation for both iOS and macOS. However, it was
released way too early, and for the first time (at least in my experience)
Apple deprecated several features without caring about compatibility. And to
make things worse, lots of former features are now broken or not implemented at
all, meaning that we had to add lots of workarounds or implement stuff on our
own. And there’s still work left to be done.
10.12.2 introduces new issues (it seems that Apple wants to fix at least the
broken compatibility now) and of course fixed almost none of the other issues.
</code></pre>
<a href="http://tidbits.com/article/16966" rel="nofollow">http://tidbits.com/article/16966</a>
Apple has forgotten how to compete in the computer industry. In the old days there was a ruthless and relentless refresh cycle with manufacturers working hard and fast to trump each other with more advanced products.<p>Apple appears to simply no longer have that cycle as part of its business DNA, and no longer seems to even understand that is what the computer industry is (or was) about.<p>I am looking ever more favorably at Windows again.
This may be rather ignorant of how the motivational structure of a large company works, but is it possible that some of these issues, like missed ship dates, is caused by a lessening of the amount of fear that trickles down the hierarchy?<p>Wasn't Jobs the kind of person you were terrified of letting down and doesn't that kind of thing trickle downward?
Even customer service seems to be befuddled by Apple's policies at times. The current battery issue with the iphone 6s took months until Apple made it 'claimable'. Then people are told to send their iphones in and are expected to wait for 6 weeks (without a temporary replacement). But what's better: they get the same phone back (because the system check apple performs won't test for cold temperature based battery issues, so the device always passes).<p>I don't know if the Apple before Cook and Icahn was different in that, but this is soooo ... dare I say "heyday Microsoft"?
Apple doesn't seem to have anything new. Just minor upgrades of the old stuff. The car project, whatever that was, seems to have been canceled. The watch is something of a dud. Amazon and Google are fighting it out in the voice operated home control space, while Nest doesn't have an entry.<p>Apple is still making tons of money. Boring but profitable isn't that bad a place to be. It's possible to be boring, profitable, and still be a prestige brand. Look at Rolex.
I have a 2013 13" MBP and have started to look for a specifically non-Apple machine to replace it with. What got me to give up on Apple is not really the high price or infrequent updates but rather the state of macOS and bundled apps. It just sucks. Each upgrade seems to introduce more eye candy, more complications, more bugs, and is also slower. To me it feels like planned obsolescence.
With regards to shipping dates. It used to be a source of pride of Apple to say "shipping now" when they demonstrated a new product but somewhere along the line they fell into the trap of announcing well before they could deliver. They need to pull back.<p>having owned an airport router I no longer see the need as other routers have become just as easy to use. my 1g service from AT&T was a breeze to setup for home use and heavily customize, all from my Mac.<p>the only bone I have to pick with Apple is the disgraceful product cycle associated with the mini and Pro. If they are going to drop these products then drop them. if they aren't going to do yearly updates then either drop the product or guarantee refreshes so people don't feel like they are buying into a dead end.<p>finally, damn please get all your products to one connector again and fast and in the mean time adapters should be included when your own products don't interconnect
I just got a Google Home speaker and for me it feels like how the iPhone felt in 2007; a revolution in computing!<p>But Apple is so far behind with the horrid Siri it's laughable. I've used Siri almost daily since 2011 and after using Google Now I cant stand to use Siri as her accuracy is 90 percent if lucky vs. her competitors 100 percent.
I am really interested to see in 2017 Apple's product releases. Is iPhone 8 going to make me staying in iPhone? I already switched from Mac to Dell XPS and I am quite happy with it. I guess this year there will be many old Mac users that will be leaving Apple. Unless they do something drastic? But what could they do?
Apple has a large enough hardware footprint.<p>They now need to compete on AI. I imagine a lot of their resources are being put in the catch-up-to-Google bucket.<p>There have been a lot of blog posts saying Apple doesn't know who their customers are. But their products are already accepted by everyone (every group). Their customers are everyone.
> it makes sense for Apple to stop making WIFI devices<p>Only if Apple is looking not to innovate. Mesh networking has great potential to take off, especially if the software was integrated into iOS. One missing element from mesh is AAA, which Apple could definitely mediate.
2 things really concern me about Apple's direction under Tim Cook: his statements that he doesn't see why someone would need a computer in addition to an iPad and iPhone, and the fact that he has reportedly combined the iOS and MacOS teams.<p>My MBP is only 1 year old, waiting to see what comes out of Cupertino later this year before deciding if I'll move away from Apple products for my dev machine.
I see a lot of articles suggest that Apple may no longer support developers, building only consumer devices. But what are Apple developers using internally? Would Apple maintain some hackintosh build for their developers? This seems unlikely to me. I would instead expect that we will soon see some new hardware suitable for developers. But maybe I'm wrong. They got rid of Xserve, which means they either are building server hardware they don't sell or they are using Linux or Windows for their own servers.
> They need to do more talking — and even more listening — with their users. Engage with the influencers<p>Some influencers who are not either professional bloggers or iOS devs too please.
At this point my expectations for Apple are set so low that I'd be thrilled if 2017 brought us options for a physical escape key and 32GB RAM on a spec-bumped MacBook Pro. But I suspect even that is too much to ask.
I switched from Mac Pro to PC a few months ago. We needed NVIDIA and running some hack over thunderbolt isn't a real option, despite what the Apple Zealots say.