Back when Steve Jobs ran Apple, they were regarded as an innovator in consumer electronics. (Actually it took a $150 million dollar cash infusion from Microsoft and Jobs returning to save Apple a few years after he had left the Board of Directors but I digress.) It was shortly after this period that they began marketing the iPod and Apple Store. A few years later, they came out with their big cash cow, the iPhone.
Now that Tim Cook is caretaker of the Apple brand, the company is much different. They are years behind the competition and shamelessly copying the ideas of leading technology companies and incorporating proven technology into their existing devices.
5G
We have thoroughly documented this in regards to their purposeful refusal to demonstrate or market any true 5G devices in 2019 and beyond. But there are more examples.
Folding Phones
Samsung reportedly supplied a set of foldable displays to both Apple and Google. And if sources are to be believed, the displays delivered to Apple is quite similar to what you see on Galaxy Fold except for the fact that Apple got 0.1-inches smaller in size.
“We know that Samsung Display has supplied a set of foldable drives to Apple and Google in order to fully expand its folder-based display business and uncover customers,” an industry source familiar with the Samsung Foldable Display told ETNews.
Samsung playing a part in Apple’s upcoming foldable device, in turn, rejects the possibility of the Cupertino-based company indigenously developing its own foldable displays and slapping it on the Folding iPhone.
“Apple has been a leader for quite a long time in a few areas such as Touch ID, Face ID, and easy payments with the phone,” Wozniak said. “They’re not the leader in areas like the folding phone, and that worries me because I really want a folding phone.”
–Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
If Samsung is charging $1,980 for their low end foldable phone, what do you think Apple will charge for theirs?
Unified App Platform
Back in 2017, Bloomberg first reported that Apple is planning to follow this same path as Microsoft to create an unified app platform that will allow developers to target iOS and macOS devices. This project is code-named “Marzipan.”
Marzipan is expected to be revealed in 2021. Given its smaller PC ecosystem, tighter restrictions on diversity of hardware and software, virtualization done on other operating systems (Windows and Android) by other companies, and ability to learn from their competition, Apple is better positioned to attempt this unification. However, they are last to the dance in this area also. This roll-out will be about a decade after a similar announcement from Microsoft.
Apple Ditching Intel
Apple used to make their own CPUs and then gave up and went with Intel products. Of course Apple charged more than other manufacturers for the same hardware. This arrangement has severed them well for over a decade; however, in the last few years, they have decided that it might be time to follow HP, Microsoft, Dell and others and get away from an Intel only model. Next year they are expected to roll-out their first ARM-based MacBook.
We all know that Apple will be replacing Intel processors in their Mac lineup with their in-house designed ARM processors in the future. According to a latest report by Axios, developers and Intel officials have privately confirmed that this transition will start as early as next year. Next year, you can expect Apple to release at least one ARM-based MacBook that can run iOS apps natively.
My Thoughts
Please note that going with an ARM processor for their PCs will make it easier to write code to achieve the goal for a unified app platform; however, currently, ARM processors lack the “horse power” to do intensive computing tasks. Apple might find itself with both ARM and Intel devices needing support. This is something that would complicate their stated goals.
I find that a full program on a PC is much superior to a stripped-down app that tries to do the same thing. I think Apple will encounter some real problems in trying to unify their phone and PC experiences. There is a real danger of “dumbing down” their PC to make it just an extension of their phones. This defeats the reason to have the PC.
Look for them to copy Microsoft and Samsung and allow their phones to hook-up with PC monitors which will also support a mouse and keyboard. Again, a decade after the completion first did it.
Apple is a “me too” company. The irony is that they will claim all the stuff that they copied from others as their new innovations. The Apple faithful, who know no better, will gleefully drink the Kool-Aid from Cupertino.