Over the last several years, Apple has grown to become the largest technology company on the planet. In recent years, Apple has released a pen, a watch, and a computer with 1 port—all of which has been seemingly underwhelming from a technology point of view. Technologically speaking, Apple hasn’t released a new, successful, revolutionary product in almost 3 years. The last product apple unveiled which was successful, and well received, arguably is iOS7. Apple is on the decline.
Now before you all stop reading and start trolling the article, hear me out. iOS 7 gave us a fresh new look at our Apple devices allowing us to experience a fresh look with a modern sleekness to it. I’ll hand it to you that it was nice, and cool but since then what has been a comparable success? The watch? The stylus? The iPad Pro? None of these had a great roll out when the hit shelves.
The watch was one of the most unsuccessful technological roll outs. Again, I say technological for a reason. Yes, their sales have been through the roof, and the year they came out (2015) Apple sold more watches than iPhones. However, a successful product this does not make. A salesperson could potentially sell computer monitors for 10 dollars and make a fortune. However, if the computer monitor doesn’t work, is it still considered a successful product? In addition, over the first three months of its sales, the watch decreased in sales (See below).
The Watch OS had a number of bugs in it making it very difficult for the average user to access its full potential. The watch was also marketed in the fall of 2014 keynote as something that would replace the iPhone. Even today, you cannot use your watch without your phone entirely. To answer calls, you still need your phone close to you, and texting is only good if you have just three words to reply with.
The next product that leads to the point of Apple plateauing is the Apple Pen. Sure, it looks fancy, it can do some cool things, but it destroys the main point of the iPhone that Steve Jobs created. In the keynote of 2007 (back when Apple only needed to 1 keynote per year instead of 2 or even 3), Jobs said, ”Who wants a stylus? You have to get them out, and put them away. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. Plus we were born with 10 perfectly good ones.” When the iPhone was revealed, the new touch screen software was new and imaginative. Now, with the Apple Pen, it feels like we are going back in time rather than forward.
Over the last few years, it has seemed like Apple has hit it plateau and point of customer inflation. There have been rumors in the tech world about a car, as well as some other products they are working on. For their sake, I hope they come up with the next iPhone soon. From what has been released about the iPhone 7, the future doesn’t seem bright.
