chinacat
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AAPL Long since 2006
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Post by chinacat on Sept 5, 2019 6:12:35 GMT -8
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chinacat
Moderator
AAPL Long since 2006
Posts: 4,426
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Post by chinacat on Sept 5, 2019 7:20:11 GMT -8
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4aapl
Moderator
Posts: 3,622
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Post by 4aapl on Sept 5, 2019 7:23:44 GMT -8
"By keeping the same essential design and features for three years in a row, Apple's not giving people a reason to get excited -- or to upgrade. "
What is innovation? Is it tweaking a case design that's often hidden behind an outer case? Some people care about that....I don't.
A problem is that once you get to the somewhat correct form factor, your not going to make huge changes that one might consider innovative. Once a sports car is dialed in, you're not changing the form factor by feet. Maybe inches. But wrap the whole thing in a rubber protective cover, and you lose any styling changes. OTOH, the slow "progress" of making it bigger might not be innovation. FYI, a new Rav 4 is longer than my old 4runner, just as the current 4runners grew over the past 30 years.
Apple is knocking it out of the park on the processor side, basically the one non-styling thing that Apple has complete control over on the HW side.
If Apple wanted to knock it out of the park and have a new iPhone get lots of attention, I see 2 things they could do. First, bring back a speed comparison. I'm thinking back to the old G3 ads, complete with bunny suits, fire extinguishers, and a snail. Find some things that can lap up the power, and compare then. Make it fun. Make it drool worthy. Most people don't need the speed, but many will crave it. Think Fort Night Frames Per Minute. Think video effects on a great action or kids video. Think load times, or something else that frustrates. Show that Apple's processors are just so much faster. Give a differentiation that people can latch on to.
The other biggie that might not seem innovative but would be is fall protection, and this would need a HW improvement. Every year we hear that the glass is more and more crack resistant, and yet every year I see more and more cracked screens, even for people with cases. Sometimes it seems like at least half the phones out there have cracked screens, and this is across all smart phones. We've had iPhones for maybe 9 years now, and frankly this was one of my biggest worries, and also biggest amazements. Somehow, we managed to not break our screens. Sure, that started out with a 4 in a super thick 3 layered case, which over the years slowly got stripped down to just one layer. But there were also tests of it, such as an 8 foot drop off of a deck railing onto asphalt, I believe without a case. Various launches across the floor when the grip wasn't just right. And kids, 3 of them. Somehow the screen never cracked, even if one did separate a bit in the corner after 4 years and a few corner drops. But then came the larger 8+, and it's screen broke after just 6 months, even in a minimal case. No direct drop was blamed. Instead, our thinking is that there might have been a little flexing when shoved in a rear jeans pocket, and then temp changes with freezing winter conditions.
My opinion is that the larger, thinner phones are just harder to protect. Especially with curved screen edges.
I think Apple could make huge steps here, even innovative steps, if they figure out how to make them last better. Maybe that's Gorilla Glass 7.0, with some crazy innovation like adding polymer strands to the glass to prevent cracking (think LFT mortar) or a vinyl layer between layers (car windshields). Or maybe they change the styling just a little. Which is sexier, a curvy phone with a cracked screen, or a few less curves but in mint condition. Think classic cars? Timelessly styled architecture? Especially when the whole thing is wrapped in a case for 50-80% of the users.
Those are the 2 things I think could really change things, and give Apple a huge competitive advantage. They already have the rocking chips, so they just need to market it and bring it to the forefront. Sturdier devices would both take HW engineering, along with a mindset change. But IMO it could be a huge competitive advantage, and frankly it would be a one worth going after.
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ono
Member
compensation
Posts: 537
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Post by ono on Sept 5, 2019 8:38:37 GMT -8
macrumors: re ApplePay via Apple VP: Bailey also confirmed that Apple is "working on" allowing users to export their Apple Card financial data to a budgeting app like Mint. (This was a complaint I saw here or over at PED.
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Post by hledgard on Sept 5, 2019 10:33:39 GMT -8
Insightful and thoughtful post 4aapl ! !
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Post by silkstone on Sept 5, 2019 12:07:19 GMT -8
Insightful and thoughtful post 4aapl ! ! Yes, insightful and thoughtful but I would have a hard time believing Apple’s iPhone engineering group haven’t already had and worked thru all of those ideas 💡 plus many more.
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4aapl
Moderator
Posts: 3,622
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Post by 4aapl on Sept 5, 2019 13:49:24 GMT -8
Insightful and thoughtful post 4aapl ! ! Yes, insightful and thoughtful but I would have a hard time believing Apple’s iPhone engineering group haven’t already had and worked thru all of those ideas 💡 plus many more. One would certainly hope so. We're all just armchair quarterbacks here, no matter our history, as far as anyone knows. But why hasn't Apple yet exploited the dramatic difference in computing power that the benchmarking tools have shown? That is a measurable difference, a lot easier to quantify than "the iOS is better". Likewise, are iPhones more fragile now than 6-10 years ago? It seems like it, but I haven't checked in any quantifiable way. And yet, there sure are a lot of places offering screen replacements, and it seems a problem of all smartphones, no matter the latest glass armoring technology that is used. Apple did (and I presume still does) have a series of tests it would do on a laptop, such as spilling such and such ml of soda on the keyboard, and a different amount of water or coffee. It can't protect against everything, but I can sure come up with a list of real-world actions that could be tested against. I'm sure Apple has too. Lots of smart people work there, and they are competitive. But I have yet to see a phone, or an Apple produced add-on case, that is rock-solid. Maybe in our disposable lifestyle people just don't care. Personally, I'd rather have our lifestyle be a little less disposable, and Apple coming out with an iPhone that was solid against a battery of tests, and then raised the bar for the competition, would be a good thing. And until competitors did such, it would be a marketable advantage, one that can be pointed to and tested a lot better than just saying "our OS is a lot easier to use, and more secure". Make the up-sale marketable. Especially if there are other marketable items (5G) where the competitors might have a marketable advantage (along with a competitive advantage for those actually in a 5G area).
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Post by BillH on Sept 5, 2019 13:50:46 GMT -8
"By keeping the same essential design and features for three years in a row, Apple's not giving people a reason to get excited -- or to upgrade. "
To steal a Phil Schiller Line...,"Not innovative my ass!"
From chip design to augmented reality to medical device to wearables Apple has been innovating like crazy. These guys aren't paying attention until Apple whacks them over the head with it. Oh well....
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walterwhite
Member
"I am the one who knocks!"... Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 346
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Post by walterwhite on Sept 5, 2019 14:13:09 GMT -8
if i'm not mistaken, today is the highest closing price since nov 1st last year! ($222.22)
aapl flirted with higher levels after both earnings calls... it traded above $215 on may 1st and above $220 on july 31st... but it closed july 31st at just $213.04
cheers to the longs!
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ono
Member
compensation
Posts: 537
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Post by ono on Sept 5, 2019 21:17:21 GMT -8
I've no feeling that expectations are high for Tuesdays event; in fact the opposite. Cheers to a mediocre or better event!
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