YOUR MONEY and TECHNOLOGY

Steve Jobs rolls over again and again and again

If there was any doubt Apple has lost its Mojo or the bloom is gone, this year’s early September’s (back-to-school) extravaganza release of  new devices has been widely acknowledged as a major disappointment.

Any myth that Apple is cutting edge and the leader and 'great innovator' was laid to rest.

'Evolution' and ‘S’ series upgrades were the company’s buzzwords. 

So what's new?

iPhone get upgrades to processor and cameras and some gimmicks. Oh, yes, it now has an Android devices app so your iPhone can work with them.

The upgrades match what Android competitors already have but it is nice for Apple to recognize most people buy Android devices and Apple needs to be able to link to them.

iPad gets a larger 12.9 inch big brother -- to compete with Android competitors already on the market

The new tablet also comes with two Apple firsts-- a keyboard cover and stylus.  Too bad both ideas have been part of Microsoft’s Surface line up for years and are widely available from other manufacturers and third party accessory suppliers.  

And it must have shocked Apple launch attendees and linked worldwide audiences when Tom Cook called up Microsoft employees to demonstrate the wonders of the stylus.

Apple TV box, which has been underperforming and marginal for some 7 years, has now been totally redesigned and refocused to allow for video gaming. And Apple, for once,  is allowing independent third party game creators access to the new OS operating system.

Also, the Apple TV box will come with sensors for body movement recognition.  

So Apple has finally realized the existence of PlayStation and Wii and Xbox.

What innovation!!!!
 

Apple Watch, whose sales have disappointed experts and which has been ridiculed by early adopters as flawed and hard to use,  will no longer need to be teetered to a nearby iPhone to operate.  Think Samsung Gear S and Google’s Android Wear.   Most notably, it is getting new, designer wrist bands from Hermes and new finishes including rose gold.   Wow!!! What great breakthroughs!!!

All these new devices will be priced to ensure Apple continues to have windfall profits as it refuses to accept anything less than a 50% profit -- unlike all others who accept 30% or far less.

Finally, the new operating system which will run the new Apple TV, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus  and the new iPad Pro and any new programs or apps designed for these devices will not be backward compatible. 

If you want a new feature, sorry, no upgrades allowed. Just pull out your wallet and throw away your year old or older unit into the garbage!!!

So much for saving the environment!!!!

But why, you may ask, does the title of this blog focus on Steve Jobs?

I have argued in the past Jobs was a brilliant marketer and Paris/Milan quality 'designer' but really not an innovator or inventor. 

·  But Steve Jobs hated the idea of a stylus and often ridiculed it.  Now it is an Apple 'highlight'.

·    As far as Jobs was concerned, the original iPad was the one and only 'perfect size', but now there are many and growing. 

·    Apple Watch’s focus on optional real gold finishing and designer outsourcing to Hermes or anyone else, and diverse wrist bands as a key selling point, would not have been acceptable to the Zen Buddhist and control obsessed Jobs.

·    Also, Steve Jobs (while still healthy) had one fundamental rule: never release a product until all the bugs and flaws have been solved; it must be perfect from day one on the market.

Today Apple is the most valuable company in the world and hugely profitable. It has millions of loyal users who worship Steve Job's iconic brand.

But Steve would not be happy with the companies 'progress'.

He would be rolling over in his grave at every one of last Wednesday's 'great breakthroughs'.