Apple has come far from where Steve Jobs had left. But recently Apple has shown some really brave yet near-to-the-margin of stupidity moves, which only made them more vulnerable to competition than ever before.
Last year, where on one side Apple brought waterproofing, dust resistance, dual-cameras and all, it (don’t know why) decided to remove the earphone jack, which was innocent enough to get killed so soon.
Now this year, they did away with the fingerprint scanner in the iPhone X, in spite of the fact that they could have fit it somewhere else, like its back very easily and provide both features to the user, making the device unbeatable.
Now face recognition is not something entirely bad and according to their claims, Apple has enhanced the technology even further to improve its overall accuracy. But, then again, what if you have a twin brother- he will open the phone pretty neatly. But same wasn’t the case with the fingerprint scanner because that is perhaps the only thing every animal on this planet has unique.
Also, the new lot of iPhone X was reviewed to have manufacturing glitches by its customers.
Now on another front, the company has always been at least one step ahead of the competition in hardware advancements and software experience. It used to be that to switch to Android or Windows, you’d have to give up functionality, user experience and access to the latest and greatest apps. The switching cost to move to a competitor was very high. But sadly, now apart from the cost difference everything is the reciprocal of it.
Apple used this position to gain the upper-hand in partnerships — deal terms were often in their favor. It also gave them leverage on the consumer side.
Now, Apple is playing catch-up with the competition. On an anti-side of it, Google has gone on a slew of hardware and software advancements with its VR and AR, Google Assistant to take on Siri, Android Oreo, and the new Pixel Devices.
The last best iPhone that was really ahead of its time was perhaps the Apple iPhone 6S. But now, there are compromises and reason to the customers for making them.
Apple is seen losing its share consistently, and now it is struggling on a third position, second being Lenovo on the list.
On the OS front, Android is also dominating global market share. The global market itself is reaching a saturation point, which means the biggest growth opportunities can be found in new platforms — an area in which Apple is behind and the competition is already moving on aggressively.
To make a comeback, Apple needs a visionary CEO, just like Steve was.
Albeit Tim is a great CEO, but he is an operative one. He doesn’t go into advancements but followings. And there is where Apple has lost recently.
For instance take Satya Nadella or Sundar Pichai for example, who are extremely visionary in their single approaches. They can foresee things and act forward. And that is exactly why Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Surface Pro is beating the shit out of Apple’s tech ecosystem.
Though, it is not all dark for Apple- it is still the third largest tech firm and its present stronghold is the App Store. Even though iOS market share in the U.S. has dropped by 16 percent since 2012, the App Store still grosses 4X more than the Play Store.
However, with the advent of Pixel Devices, a cross-switching of platform has been noticed. And, if enthusiasts and the affluent begin switching over due to the decline in innovation, the Play Store ecosystem could gradually become more appealing to developers.
So, lets just hope in the meantime Apple takes lessons and does not fall like once Nokia did and for the same reason- it failed to have a vision!
