Comment by WillAdams | Hacker News Reader

Comment by WillAdams | Hacker News Reader

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What are the tech gadgets which folks need which haven't been made yet? What market share does Apple need to profitable stay in business? Why won't stockholders be satisfied with business-as-usual, and an existing customer base?

The iPhone (and iPad Mini) obviously subsume the Newton --- so folks have a small pocketable device with them almost constantly.

The larger iPad works well for convenient media consumption, and with a keyboard and Apple Pencil, works as a sketchpad/notepad/creative device (and can be paired w/ a Mac via Sidecar) --- so folks have a medium-size device for a bag or coffee table readily available.

The Mac is available in multiple form-factors, from small portable suited for a bag/Starbucks/airplane seat table to small/inexpensive or large/powerful for a desk.

For larger media access there's the Apple TV.

Virtual reality à la the Apple Vision Pro is one lacunae --- but really needs software support, and a form-factor comfortable enough for folks to wear for lengthy timeframes, making the Apple Pencil suited to replace the Newton's stylus might be another.

I wish that they would standardize on sizes/proportions and connector types/locations so that accessories could be carried forward and only upgraded when they wear out.

> What are the tech gadgets which folks need which haven't been made yet?

We don't know. It's just that they're not likely to come out of Apple during Cook's reign.

They don't appear to be coming from anywhere else, either. Besides, Apple was never creating revolutionary new technology. Ever. Apple didn't make the first PC, Apple didn't make the first laptop, Apple didn't make the first MP3 player, Apple didn't make the first smartphone, Apple didn't make the first tablet, Apple didn't make the first smartwatch, and Apple didn't make the first VR headset.

Not sure why you're expecting anything different from Apple today.

What Apple does do is take these new technologies and make them easy to use by the mass market consumers and create powerful tools for creatives to use. THAT is Apple's raison d'être and has always been.

> Apple was never creating revolutionary new technology. Ever. Apple didn't make the first PC, Apple didn't make the first laptop, Apple didn't make the first MP3 player, Apple didn't make the first smartphone, Apple didn't make the first tablet, Apple didn't make the first smartwatch, and Apple didn't make the first VR headset.

Yes, but I move that Cook wouldn't recognize what product to polish to Apple standards even if it hit him on the head...

We blamed Ive for the emoji keyboard mbpros, but it looks like it wasn't him, or wasn't just him. Now they're bragging that the M4 ipad pro is "the thinnest ever". New bendgate perhaps? They don't realize that some things people hated about their laptops they will hate about portables too?

In the mean time, the OS gets dumbed down on the deskop side and does not grow up on the portable side.

Lucky for them, windows is getting even worse with every release and linux on the desktop is wandering aimlessly in circles.

> Yes, but I move that Cook wouldn't recognize what product to polish to Apple standards even if it hit him on the head...

That's an interesting take on the man who brought the Apple Watch to market and oversaw the development of Apple Silicon. While Steve Jobs certainly brought the iPad to market, it has been under Tim Cook's leadership that it has evolved into what it is today.

Tim Cook understands hardware and he understand markets. What I'd argue that has suffered under his leadership is software. Sure, the OSs are doing fine, despite what you think, but tools like iWork, iLife, Logic Pro, and Final Cut Pro have been lagging and their cloud strategy appears to be haphazard. But hardware? Tim Cook is all over that!

> That's an interesting take on the man who brought the Apple Watch to market and oversaw the development of Apple Silicon.

Apple Silicon was a cost cutting measure. Cook does know how to do vertical integration well, I'll give him that. Wanna talk about how ram/storage upgrades are priced now that you can't go to 3rd parties?

The Apple Watch was started by Jobs, according to other posters in this HN discussion.

> While Steve Jobs certainly brought the iPad to market, it has been under Tim Cook's leadership that it has evolved into what it is today.

What is it today? I own the cheapest iPad possible and I keep it on my nightstand for content consumption in bed. If you're not a graphic artist/musician/video editor, it's useless for any other kind of creative work. Unless you add an external keyboard and stuff and then a macbook is cheaper.

I set up a python ... ide? ... on the ipad once. Still don't know how i get my work out of it so I'm not using it.

> Wanna talk about how ram/storage upgrades are priced now that you can't go to 3rd parties?

That's been the case since 2012? Old news, old news. Since Jobs died in 2011, it's very likely it had Jobs' seal of approval. Speaking of Jobs dying in 2011, the Apple Watch was brought out in 2015. It's highly unlikely that it was a gleam in Jobs' eye, and if it was, it was only a notional idea. Cook is the man that developed the Apple Watch, not Jobs.

> If you're not a graphic artist/musician/video editor, it's useless for any other kind of creative work.

You forgot photographer, writer, and journalist. Even so, I'd argue the iPad is a purpose-built computing device and not a general-purpose computing device.

> writer, and journalist

How the hell can you write large quantities of text on that?

By tripling is price with the fancy keyboard?

When I used one daily, I could touch-type on it. Others might use a keyboard. It's a really powerful machine, but like I said, it's purpose-built and I need to do more than the iPad was intended to do. Doesn't mean lots of people aren't using an iPad as their daily driver for getting things done.

Lenovo has been doing some interesting things --- pairing e-ink w/ LCDs is kind of neat (I wish that they'd done a better job with that, or would revisit it), and the transparent display concept seemed especially apt for didactive usage, or technical tasks such as repair or assembly.

Their Lenovo Yogabook 9i seems especially promising, and I hope it will create a new product category in-between tablets and laptops --- I'd've bought one if it had a Wacom EMR stylus, and really hope that Samsung will make a competitor w/ an S-Pen (which is Wacom EMR).

These are all evolutionary changes, not revolutionary changes.

How are things like transparent displays evolutionary?

>What are the tech gadgets which folks need which haven't been made yet?

I'd rather ask what does exist today that Apple can also do but they don't yet? iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods etc. All these things existed before, they weren't new things on the market.

> The larger iPad works well for convenient media consumption

The iPad screen ratio makes it a horrible device for media consumption compared to 16:9 or 16:10 tablets. However, that same screen ratio is also what makes it great for application and web browsing usage.

I really don't see a problem with a black bar at the bottom of a movie (but I mostly use OLED), and it seems to me it could be used profitably for captioning or control widgets.

Only the latest ipad is OLED.

Because of those black bars you are effectively carrying a tablet with giant bezels with you.

If your main tablet usage is watching video, the iPad is a poor choice.

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