Are Google and Amazon more innovative than Apple?

[motion]

Walter Isaacson seems to think so:

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/11/jobs-biographer-apple-no-longer-innovative/

Is Apple destined to be the next Microsoft? It certainly appears that way to me. The Apple Watch was their last innovative product, and it was approved while Steve was still alive. Siri had a huge head start as a personal assistant, yet Apple has failed to take advantage of that in the home space.

[GH85Carrera]

I don't believe anyone thinks Steve Jobs was not the vision behind Apple. He is dead, and the company has lost it way for innovation. They still make great products, but the magic does seem to be gone. No doubt there is enormous pressure on the folks at Apple to come up with the next new thing.

Apple has more cash on hand than anyone. 250 billion, about the same as all the gold in Ft. Knox. Think about that for a second.

What are they going to come up with next? The iPhone 8 is going to have to be some sort of wow to get me to upgrade from my iPhone 6.

[Gogar]

I iphone8 won't be that great, but they will build in some planned obsolescence to iOS for a force-upgrade.

IMO there is going to be a (or I hope there will be a) social backlash against things like Siri and things that are always listening and "predictive everything", and Internet-of-things. So if Apple is hanging their hat on it, I don't think they are going to continue to lead the pack.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I don't believe anyone thinks Steve Jobs was not the vision behind Apple. He is dead, and the company has lost it way for innovation. They still make great products, but the magic does seem to be gone. No doubt there is enormous pressure on the folks at Apple to come up with the next new thing.

This times ten thousand...

Back in the day Apples and PC's had radically different architecture, today they are similar hardware with different software.

Samsungs and iPhones are both made in China... I wouldn't be surprised across the street from each other.

[intakexhaust]

For you fashion type or helpless.

The Amazon Echo Look is a disaster in the waiting. Imagine the hack on privacy or voyeurs and much more.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I don't believe anyone thinks Steve Jobs was not the vision behind Apple. He is dead, and the company has lost it way for innovation.

+ 250 billion.

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

They still make great products, but the magic does seem to be gone. No doubt there is enormous pressure on the folks at Apple to come up with the next new thing.

With 250 billion in cash on hand, why stick your neck out? I doubt that there is enormous pressure to come up with a new product. The pressure is to keep the company profitable by any means necessary. I'm surprised they aren't buying tech companies up like candy.

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Apple has more cash on hand than anyone. 250 billion, about the same as all the gold in Ft. Knox. Think about that for a second.

[Willem Fick]

I appreciate the fact that Apple has traditionally innovated in spaces that caught us all by surprise and had us lining up with money in hand to buy a "piece of Steve". As a result they have lots of cash on hand, so should be well positioned to be far more innovative than Google and Amazon are.

However;

I sadly think they got stuck on iPhone, Ipad, Ipod, and in doing so lost out on some big opportunities.

They are not nearly as diversified in their offerings as either Google or Amazon, and have allowed their competitors to make a killing the last places you would have expected.

Google and Amazon have products (both physical and virtual) that touch on every level of society, and not just the few that can fork out money for expensive tech. Their income models are based on volume, and not price. Where they both started out as very focussed businesses, both understood the value of data and reach early enough. They understand how you can mine data, sell it and predict demand or even product trends. They both have AI products and cloud capabilities that mean they have become part of your everyday life in ways you can't imagine, targeting not just the rich or the first world, but everyone, and everywhere there is an internet connection, no matter what device you use (you don't even have to own your own device for them to make money off you!)

If I just look at my own circumstances:

I own an iPad, and it is nice. Actually, it really isn't better than an Android device at a third the price, but hell it at least gives me some "Apple Cred" with my friends and family, who perceive me as cool for having one. I browse on it, and read the odd magazine. It really gives me screen real estate larger than that of my phone, but other than that it really doesn't add any benefit to my life that a different brand of tablet would have, nor does it create any commercial opportunities of value for Apple.

By contrast, when I mail, I use Gmail. when I browse I use Google. When I shop, I look at what Google proposes, and it damned well knows I want something long before I do. When I drive home, Google tells me the quickest way. All of this is not just available on devices native to Google or Android, but also any other device I have, including my iPad.

When I shop I hit Amazon often enough, but when it comes to cloud hosting and services for my business they are right up there with the Google and Microsoft cloud services. This is very far removed from where they started as just being a web store.

They have also invested in AI, so often target me with stuff I didn't know I really wanted. What's more their product range spans inventory that has something for everyone, no matter the budget or location. If I want to publish a book, I no longer have to sell the idea to publisher, but can self publish through Amazon.

Sure Apple have the cash, but you can't hedge your business model on three great physical product lines, a web content store, and the misery that is iTunes! What is needed is bleeding edge thinking outside of your regular scope, and I frankly don't see them stepping up to the plate in any meaningful way.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

When did Microsoft buy Apple?

[Willem Fick]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

+ 250 billion.
With 250 billion in cash on hand, why stick your neck out? I doubt that there is enormous pressure to come up with a new product. The pressure is to keep the company profitable by any means necessary. I'm surprised they aren't buying tech companies up like candy.

This is exactly the problem! (And I know as the organisation I'm working for is being challenged by the same thinking, and probably will go from being the dominant player in their space to a vague memory in the next decade!)

It is simple:

Your war chest can never be big enough to keep you afloat in a world that is changing as fast as ours is technologically. Today's Nokia is forgotten by tomorrow, no matter how cool it was at the time.

In addition you are bleeding cash into overheads such as manufacturing, staff, buildings, channel infrastructure, keeping lights on, and a whole host of other things.

If you are in the consumer tech industry and not out there innovating, failing fast and moving on, you may as well bank your money, get out of the game and retire, hoping your investments will outlast you.

[berettafan]

Amazon is simply a retailer. Google is an internet thug. Nothing innovative going on with either.

[berettafan]

I'm not sure I'd call Apple innovative as much as I'd call them experts on styling and presentation mixed with quality.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Amazon is simply a retailer. Google is an internet thug. Nothing innovative going on with either.

Google also has Google Earth. Many companies and cities, counties, and states use the Google Earth imagery.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

This times ten thousand...

Back in the day Apples and PC's had radically different architecture, today they are similar hardware with different software.

Samsungs and iPhones are both made in China... I wouldn't be surprised across the street from each other.

Early on Apple squandered a huge performance opportunity using the Motorola processors. It was pretty sad watching software on a Mac emulator on other machines based on the 68000 chip run faster than it ran natively on a Mac. The architecture for the chips to talk to each other was pretty bad on the Mac.

Apple has always had a lead in style and in marketing their portable devices.

They still make a lot of money on the peripherals for their portable devices.

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google are all thugs really.

[McLovin]

I think now, yes.

Apple's innovations in the past, though, cannot be overstated. They are (were?) far more than just styling and marketing.

So many of their products, going back to the Mac in the 80s, were revolutionary. Culminating in the iPhone, which changed the world.

But will Apple come up with some other revolutionary, world changing thing? No one knows, but I don't think so. Meanwhile, for better or worse, Google and Amazon are and will.

[flipper35]

The hardware in the early Mac computers was not revolutionary. They GUI and mouse on the other hand was.

[red-beard]

Apple could use the Cash they have and BUY GE.

[rusnak]

I think Apple should buy Google and Adobe. What made their stuff possible was great software to go with the hardware. Amazon, not so much. Maybe Netflix.

[GH85Carrera]

One of my friends still has his Motorola Startac that he dearly loved. I remember when that came out he was telling me it was the ultimate in cell phones and nothing was coming along that could surpass it. He does now admit he was mistaken.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One of my friends still has his Motorola Startac that he dearly loved. I remember when that came out he was telling me it was the ultimate in cell phones and nothing was coming along that could surpass it. He does now admit he was mistaken.

I still have mine; it was my first cell-phone. Very innovative for the time. But shortly there after I picked up other phones. One innovation was the ability to connect one of my later Palm (Palm iiic) devices to a serial cable to connect to a phone. I was able to check e-mail on the go! This was about 2 years before you could do this with a Blackberry (phone version of Blackberry).

[rwest]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One of my friends still has his Motorola Startac that he dearly loved. I remember when that came out he was telling me it was the ultimate in cell phones and nothing was coming along that could surpass it. He does now admit he was mistaken.

The beauty of those phones and the even smaller one that Motorola made was they were so small and easy to carry. I sorely miss those days; for me smart phones are going the wrong direction. I was hoping for a phone that was so small and slim that it could slip in a back pocket seamlessly.

Now these new smart phones are becoming gargantuan so people can have a big screen. Of course so many people don't need a phone that they can slip in a pocket because they can't muster up enough self control to put the thing down!