ColdFusion - Is Apple Losing its Magic?

Starting point is 00:00:00 You are watching Cold Fusion TV. Welcome to another Cold Fusion video. From an outside perspective, it would seem that in recent times Apple has been stagnating a little bit. But what's actually happening? Ken Siegel, who worked with Steve Jobs and came up with the ad slogan, Think Different, had a great analysis and makes an interesting point. Apple seems to have lost the focus of functional simplicity, from the design of hardware and software to more complex product lines and even company structure.

Starting point is 00:00:38 Simply put, the Apple under Tim Cook isn't the same as the Apple under Steve Jobs. Siegel states that Steve Jobs cannot be replaced. And I agree, whether you loved him or hated him, Steve had the ability to make things happen by sheer force of will. It's a method that some people would call dictatorial tactics, but nevertheless, it meant tremendous success for Apple. So what's going on with Apple right now, and are they losing their innovative edge? Are they stagnating? In this video, we'll take a look. I'll be talking about a few instances in this video, but I think there's one example

Starting point is 00:01:11 that's a perfect microcosm of Apple's problem. The new MacBook Pro. As a disclaimer, this is all my opinion and I'm just stating the facts and evidence to back it up. Let's get into it. So with the 2016 MacBook Pro, Apple has taken out some very useful ports like the SD card reader, which is a disaster for video editors. In addition to this, the ports are Thunderbolt ports in USB Type C format.

Starting point is 00:01:37 So while this is great for the future, right now this new means to plug in a hard drive, USB or even an iPhone, you're going to need an adapter. Yes, the new MacBook Pro has a great design and there have been improvements in performance and display, but removing functional ports, this kind of behavior from Apple is almost like arrogance through design, and it's starting to plague all of Apple's products. The products are getting thinner and lighter at the expense of features that many customers actually found useful. Einstein once said, things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Starting point is 00:02:08 And of course, he's right. You can safely apply this concept to industrial design. A product should be as functionally simplistic as possible, but once you make it simpler than that threshold, it actually becomes more difficult to use. In this case, more adapters and more dongles. And this isn't the first time. Remember the single USB port in a MacBook last year?

Starting point is 00:02:29 That was almost an insult to prospective customers, and there's no reason to talk about the missing headphone jack in the iPhone 7. Taking one look at the way the Apple Mouse charges, it's hard to believe that this product was the result of a company renowned for its industrial design. It's strangely out of character. And the same goes for the iPad Pro in the way that Apple Pencil charges, again, out of character, and not much more needs to be said. And yet again, the same thing for Apple's iPhone charging case.

Starting point is 00:03:01 The battery hump is huge and they could have just flattened out the battery to cover more area and make it thinner. It almost seems like they didn't think it through. Until this day, there's no touch on any of Apple's MacBook lineup. Here's the argument for why that is. At Apple, we build prototypes around all sorts of ideas. So we certainly explored the topic deeply many years ago and had working models, but decided that it really was a compromise.

Starting point is 00:03:30 That for a device that you hold in your hand, like a phone or a tablet, it's very natural to rest your hand on the tablet and work that way, we think touch is at its best. crafting touch on something that fundamentally was designed around a precise pointer really compromises the experience. So there you saw Craig Federici state that a UI designed for a pointer wouldn't work well with touch. Well, somehow Microsoft made that exact concept work. Sometimes when I travel, I take with me a little Windows 10 touch PC, and touch works great with it. Microsoft's OS is now geared for both touch and a mouse. I don't see why with enough careful thought, Apple couldn't pull off the same thing.

Starting point is 00:04:10 And this comes in a time when Microsoft is going out and exploring creative ideas. For example, the Surface style and the Surface PC. While the Surface PC isn't for everyone, it's still interesting and augments our view of computing ever so slightly. This is a sign of progress. Although Apple has innovated with a touch bar, it's hard to know how big of an impact that could have. It could be cool, but to me personally, it looks like an interesting reimagination of the

Starting point is 00:04:37 shortcut bar rather than a completely revolutionary idea. is just appealing to those who want to upgrade their old MacBooks. Safe, but not exciting. And of course, if you touch on Apple in the smartphone industry, the rest of the competition is at the top of their game right now. Smartphones are now more powerful than ever before with a competitive price, especially with efforts from the Chinese. And lastly, to add to all that we've talked about, we've got the price increases. The 13-inch MacBook Pro, without the touchbar, went up by 450 British pounds in the UK, supposedly because of the brats. But the Brexit technically hasn't actually happened yet, so really it could be because there's no reason.

Starting point is 00:05:16 It's even worse for the 15-inch model. It went up by 400 US dollars and a whopping 750 pounds in the UK. In this global economic climate, Apple seems to be a bit out of touch with their pricing. So in conclusion, the answer is yes. Apple is starting to lose their magic. It appears that they're leaning on their legacy and brand image to sell products. But they can't do this forever. Consumer sentiment is slowly changing.

Starting point is 00:05:44 It's only a matter of time before even loyal Apple users become frustrated. The fragmentation of product lines and disregard for consumer needs all sounds familiar, kind of like someone has warned us about such things. And the companies forget what it means to make great products. It sort of the product sensibility and the product genius that brought them to that monopolistic position gets rotted out. by people running these companies who have no conception of a good product versus a bad product. And they really have no feeling in their hearts usually about wanting to really help the customers.

Starting point is 00:06:23 But I guess in Apple's defense, current laptop and smartphone technology is really good at the moment. So it's hard to see what the next big step is. Who knows, the 10th year anniversary iPhone may be a big surprise. Maybe the next big step isn't in phones or computers at all. Maybe it's something like altered reality, or the Apple car or Apple's energy generation, all of which Apple is looking at at the moment. So I guess ultimately we have to wait and see what they do in the future. And that's where I'll leave the video. So thanks for watching guys. Tell me what you

Starting point is 00:06:53 think in the comment section below. Give this video a thumbs up if you liked it. Subscribe if you've just stumbled across this channel. This has been DeGogo and you're watching Cold Fusion. I'll see you again soon for the next video. Cheers guys. Have a good one. Cold Fusion. It's new thinking.

ColdFusion - Is Apple Losing its Magic?

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