The pundits and counter-pundits are working on Apple big time. I believe in Apple's bright financial future at this moment. Why? Below I summarize, prognosticate, I express my opinion.
- Computers:
- The Apple Macbook Air 13" and Apple Macbook Pro 13" are both high performance powerhouses that have had important internals updated.
- The newer faster storage is, for some, an easing of a pain point.
- The force-touch trackpad is a welcome technology update. Those who like Apple's work with additional gestures welcome another gesture - force touch.
- The Apple Macbook 12" is new, interesting, something folks are talking about and trying out, and reminds many of the first Macbook Air. It is very much different than other products on the market. While I do not want one now, I foresee that there could be one in my future at some point:
- A new standard in portability
- Thinner and lighter
- Somehow fitting in a retina display
- Minuscule power use
- Also with the force-touch trackpad
- Colors to go with other devices such as iPhone and iPad
- With a new thinner keyboard that some love, some do not like
- With no more magsafe power, but with only one physical port (aside from a jack for headphones) - the USB-C port. No one seems to know how to usefully use this port, yet, for anything other than power.
- Battery life is not the best. Some call it a netbook. The port situation is not what many want - they want magsafe, and ports they can readily use, or more ports than just the one. There will, however, be a group of users who buy and love the features. If you don't want it, don't buy it. I will not be among buyers this round, but this kind of feature diversity is great. I do not at all equate this system with a netbook, or even the underpowered original macbook air.
- Apple Watch:
- I am not getting one, at least not at this time. However, I think Apple is operating in a very smart way to push farther into fashion than they already were with their well designed sleek devices. I want sleep tracking, and I can get that with other devices if I so choose.
- There are already watch bands in the wild from Apple that are not for sale. There will be more watch bands from Apple, and more from competitors. This accessory market will be large and could more than double Apple's sales value from the product.
- I still strongly believe Apple will "frequently" update Apple watch with new designs. There will be Apple Watch 2015, and Apple Watch 2016 (or 2017). Some will buy for design updates, and some will collect. All of this will make people happy and make Apple money. There will also be new bands at all price ranges.
- Other product updates coming:
- Apple TV - I am waiting to see an app store and a newer better experience with all the crazy channels avaialble.
- iPod - a touch based on updated internals would be welcome, including force touch
- iMac - 8K
- Mac Pro - for real pro users, this is getting long in the tooth. The CPU line at least is aging. Update the CPUs, put in newer faster memory, and put in the newer faster flash storage too.
- iPhone/iPad - Force touch should be coming...
- iCloud, iTunes, and Apple Pay
- People have barely started to use the Photos app for mac, and thus have barely started to use iCloud storage. This could be an area of reasonable growth for Apple.
- iTunes - if we could store more media that we own in the cloud, it could be another revolution - I'm talking about audiobooks and movies not purchased from Apple. If iTunes content could all just be in the cloud, the world would be a different place.
- Apple Pay - it does keep on rolling out and getting expanded use. Plans are starting to come together for some international use as well.
- Other stuff - "kits" and OS X
- HealthKit and ResearchKit - we have barely started to scratch the surface with what these can do for us.
- HomeKit - I still cannot control the temperature of my house with my Apple TV - this has barely started to be used as well.
- CarPlay - pretty much all car manufacturers have announced that support will be coming.
- OS X advantages
- It remains, contrary to some comments, more secure than most OSs.
- Vastly easier for backup and recovery, as well as for migration to a new machine.
- Integration with hardware, enabling software like Safari to be extremely power efficient.
- Continuity - I like texting from my computer.
- The doing good thing:
- Apple keeps up doing more for preventing environmental damage. Apple just bought a forest. This is to offset paper usage, and the plan is for sustainable management.
- Apple continues to eliminate chemicals someone deems harmful from its products - in the last year, this included beryllium. This would likely be to make workplaces that previously used beryllium safer.
- Apple bought solar energy for domestic energy offsets and use for the next 25 years for nearly $1B. Apple says they are using 100% renewable energy for all domestic uses, including their data centers.
- Apple works hard to be non-discriminatory. Apple admits to needing to do more for women and minorities and pledged $50 million to the effort.
Apple has expanded its product lines. It has given people new ways and reasons to use its products and use multiple products together (for example, Apple Pay and Continuity). It now has a fashion-forward accessory line (Apple Watch) for those who want it. And Apple is doing a better job than any other large company to be a good corporate citizen - one that is an example for the rest. Apple has its problems, but making money is not going to be one of them.
