Kind of an attempt of rewrite of history there. Sure Steve Jobs did many stupid things and had to temper himself. But let us not forget that after he left Apple was on a never ending downward slope. It was when Steve Jobs came back and put product designers in the drivers seat that Apple actually became one of the worlds most valuable companies.
I have seen this over and over again. Where I am from an Apple reseller was first started by enthusiasts and made it big until MBA types took over only caring about the short term bottom line. They killed the company because customers stopped having faith in the sales people having their interests at heart. It was all about selling you maximum amount of stuff.
They got kicked to the curb by a new upstart mac reseller where the owners really cared about the product and customers enjoying their Mac experience, not just getting money.
The problem with the MBA style guys is that don't really see the value of anything. They just see money. That can only take you so far.
Apple was not on a “continued downward slope” after 84. From 1986 - 1993. Apple was doing quite well financially and was more profitable than MS. As late as 1993 they were the number one or two computer seller. Going back and forth with HP.
There have been a few execution failures like the MacBook keyboards and the trash can Mac Pro. But Apple will still stick to something long term even if it isn’t an immediate success.
The AppleTV would have been cancelled years ago by any other company. For a tech company to invest billions on creating content like AppleTV+ is something that most non entertainment companies wouldn’t even try.
The Apple Watch has seen dramatic continuous improvement over years and the iPad didn’t come into own until 2015 with both the pro models and iOS improvements. It was just a big iPhone during the first three years.
I have no comment on your larger argument but this feels like a weird point to make:
> The AppleTV would have been cancelled years ago by any other company.
If the AppleTV didn't exist, what would that change? AppleTV+ (the service) does not need AppleTV (the hardware) in order to exist, nor do I think one benefits the other.
Apple is primarily using iPhones and iPads to push AppleTV+. The service is also available on non-Apple hardware, such as smart TV's.
> For a tech company to invest billions on creating content like AppleTV+ is something that most non entertainment companies wouldn’t even try.
Netflix was in the business of sending video to people’s home. Sending video electronically was a natural evolution. They didn’t have a choice but to create their own videos or they would both be beholden to studios and be a commodity.
The Apple TV was introduced in 2006. They kept pursuing it for over a decade and it still hasn’t gotten that much traction.
The difference is that all of the other hardware choices are slow, ad ridden (Roku has hard coded buttons on their remotes that go to the highest bidder) and privacy invasive.
They also have another avenue to push Apple Arcade. The AppleTV is much better integrated with Apple’s other offerings from the phone to the watch to the HomePods.
None of these are clearly indicative of short term thinking. The keyboard was simply a mistake of prioritizing thinness over reliability. AppleTV is a long term play to own home media (which may or may not work) and the massive investment into iPad software is indicative of long term planning to evolve it into a platform separate from iPhone.
I have seen this over and over again. Where I am from an Apple reseller was first started by enthusiasts and made it big until MBA types took over only caring about the short term bottom line. They killed the company because customers stopped having faith in the sales people having their interests at heart. It was all about selling you maximum amount of stuff.
They got kicked to the curb by a new upstart mac reseller where the owners really cared about the product and customers enjoying their Mac experience, not just getting money.
The problem with the MBA style guys is that don't really see the value of anything. They just see money. That can only take you so far.