Apple’s Tim Cook: “We Believe the Future of TV Is Apps

Apple’s Tim Cook: “We Believe the Future of TV Is Apps

Good morning, All,

Apple hasn’t had an easy time of it lately. It’s still the world’s most valuable company, but the stock hasn’t been what it was, and is still below $120. Which might account for all of the announcements at its event last week: they need sales. Even at the expense of true Apple innovation:

Apple TV: “We believe the future of TV is apps,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. Well, Roku obviously agrees: they already have thousands of them. As for making the new Apple TV voice-enabled: see ‘Amazon Fire TV.’  No Apple Internet TV service yet. But after the recent launch of its music service, they’d better get it right with this one (Apple Music is a mess, and it’s alienating the company’s biggest fans).

iPad Pro/akaApple Surface: Apple took more than just the Microsoft office suite with the Pro – it’s the Surface, by any other name (Apple’s iPad Pro is the best illustration of the new Microsoft), with the Apple iOS, which could well make it a game changer – but full disclosure:  we’re an Apple fangirl from way back.  We just tend not to get the first iteration of anything Apple and note to self: it’s too big. Let’s not forget how the iPad mini cannibalized iPad sales when it was released. Then again, good move by Apple. There are always those who go out and buy the latest and greatest. When the iPad Pro Mini is released, well, cha-ching! Hopefully.

The iPhone 6s: it’s another oversized one. We’re not going to go into all of the enhancements – you can check it out for yourselves – but after talking to friends and associates who own the 6+, the game plan is clear, as they pretty much agree: it’s a big phone to have to pull out every time you need it, so they’re waiting for the next gen Apple Watch so that they can receive notifications and decide whether or not to pull out the full phone from there. Again, Apple marketing at its best. As @saracpr tweeted: “Everything you need to know about the new iPhone: the one you have now is good enough”

Speaking of the Apple Watch, according to Fast Company, “Apple is also pushing the medical use cases for Apple Watch pretty hard. Apple invited Dr. Cameron Powell to demo an app called AirStrip, which promises to change how doctors interact with their patients.’ Doctors can view live feeds of patients’ medical data (including their heart rate), as well as their schedules, using the AirStrip app for Apple Watch.” As we cited not long ago, Startup L. Jackson tweeted that “The Uberfication of everything is turning San Francisco into an assisted living community for the young.”  Well, now they have a heart monitors, too.

The Apple Pencil. Said Steve Jobs in 2010, If you see a stylus or a task manager, ‘they blew it’. There was a time when many a portable device required a stylus.  It was a dumb technology, meaning that they weren’t wifi or Bluetooth enabled. “It’s like we said on the iPad,” said Jobs, “if you see a stylus, they blew it. In multitasking, if you see a task manager… they blew it. Users shouldn’t ever have to think about it.” He felt that users were born with the best pointing device in the world – ten of them, in fact, namely, fingers. As far as the Apple Pencil goes, time, and technology, will tell.

Apple Is A Great Copycat: Did They Improve Anything?, said Fast Company. Yes and no and let’s not forget that Apple is also a great platform, no matter who’s at the helm. Right or wrong, the Apple Pencil may well have marked the end of the Steve Jobs Era. It may also be a portent that it may be time for Apple to go back to the drawing board. For the record, that’s two Apple presentation ho-hums in a row, and if the company keeps looking at their competitors to come up with their own latest innovations, it won’t be long before they will have to start looking over their shoulder instead. And unless sales improve, the Apple Pencil may mark the end of the Tim Cook Era as well  Onward and forward.

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