John Gruber deconstructs this Wall Street Journal article, titled Polaroid. Walkman. Palm Pilot. iPhone?. It’s a terrific read, especially useful given the linked article is behind a paywall.
Read John’s whole piece, it’s not that long. But from the wrap-up:
There will be major new products from Apple, someday, when they’re ready. There is no rush for them. If you’re worried about Apple’s near-future success, the key is their execution on their existing products. The Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Watch are all businesses that any company would kill for. Apple has all of them, and none of them are going anywhere. Apple needs to keep them insanely great where they already are, and raise them to insanely great where they aren’t.
This. So much this. I am such an Apple fan. I want that insanely great feeling to go back to being higher in the mix, more the rule than the rare jewel.
I’m tired… “journalism” and “investors”…
My regret is that the Next Big Thing *looks* like it’s going to be in services.
That’s not all bad — if they can help develop and roll out truly revolutionary healthcare products, and the Holy Grail, a truly universal digital format for healthcare records that can be both private and accessible for those who need it, they’ll save tens, if not hundreds of thousands of lives every year.
But it’s just not “my Apple.”
Now turn down that music, ya damn whippersnappers!
The “next big thing” isn’t just fabricated out of thin air, or even invented in solitude.
Its a combination of everything that enables someone to stumble into what might become the “next big thing.” Apple just so happens to be good at surveying the land to determine where they might stumble into something.
But to act like breakthroughs happen through sheer invention is silly. The environment and timing is just as important. iPhone happened in just the right climate, at just the right time. Those are factors beyond any companies control. However, its up to the company to seize those moments.
I’d just be satisfied with a new Apple monitor that’s optimized for their Mac OS and connects using USB-C.
I mean, SHIT, their last one was originally released 7 years ago and then was discontinued 2.5 years ago.
LG monitors SUCK Apple.
The problem is that the market wants a next big thing to pump up results. The press wants a next big thing so they can write about it (the tech press is hit driven, after all). Techies want a new toy to play with.
But Apple has only had perhaps 4 or so Next Big Things:
1) The Apple II.
2) The Macintosh.
3) The iPod.
4) The iPhone.
I could even remove the iPod but I think it demonstrated the UX prowess of Apple to a wide audience because of the presence of iTunes on Windows.
I’m not saying there weren’t other important events in their product history. OS X was certainly one of those as, had they failed at that, Apple would be dead. But from a product perspective, that’s it. And they’ve had failures and minor successes that didn’t come close to a NBT (XServe, the Cube…).
Much of the problem is that the iPhone changed the world. Look around you and almost everyone has a smartphone. 83% of city dwellers do. 94% of people 18-29. This up from basically no one 15 years ago. That kind of massive product hit just doesn’t happen more than once a generation or so. Anyone expecting it every few years just shows that they have no idea about how things work.
I really don’t care if Apple never comes up with the next big thing. As long as they keep making great phones and computers, I will continue to purchase them. So far for me, they haven’t disappointed me.
Yeah but he’s saying “Relax, this is a very healthy company with a portfolio of amazing products most companies would be lucky to have one of”.
nailed it. I like the surveyor analogy. You can’t invent gold in the ground, but you can get good at finding it.
they have already said theyre working on monitors. i doubt it will be USB-C, unless you mean via the TB plug.
yup. the “Yeah but whats your NBT?” point of view is silly. what they’re doing for me today is just as weighty as whatever new stuff they may do for me tomorrow.
My list is more externally focused – Next Big Things that felt like that to the world vs just to Apple.
You’re right, of course, that the iPod was huge to Apple and that the iMac saved them. But the iMac wasn’t a world changing Next Big Thing to the world, just to Apple. The other items really did have significant impact on the world at large.
The number of hobbyists who started with an Apple II is huge and it was one of the first really useful personal computers that people bought. The Mac brought windowed interfaces to the world (and yes, PARC invented these but Apple brought them to the world). iPhone… I don’t need to explain I think.
iPod I’m on the fence about just because much of its influence was to establish Apple as a company that was unique in their concern for human interaction and as one that delivered innovative designs that were focused on ease of use and intuitiveness. It was, to use a religious metaphor, the John the Baptist to the Jesus Phone.
iPod is definitely on that list, tt was a cultural and CE phenomenon. Financially it saved Apple and funded what came next — the iMac (should also be on the list), and the iPhone.