What Is Happening to Apple?
When I wrote a story about Apple last November, I asked a basic question: Was there a shakeup at Apple or is it just business as usual? Since that time Apple appears to have come unhinged. Sales of the iPhone 5 have slowed, there are still lingering effects of Steve Job’s death, and there has been a lot of turnaround in top-level management.
Why is this important to IT professionals? I believe we can all learn a lesson from Apple’s success—and its failures. If we are complacent in our jobs as developers, analysts, testers, and configuration managers, our “personal stock” will drop dramatically. Additionally, consider this startling statement from The Times of India in which Tim Cook said that Apple won’t add any new products to its line of business. As we all know, more products mean more work for the development community—both inside and outside of Apple.
An article on Forbes takes us on a deep dive into the successes and problems at Apple in five in-depth points. To summarize, Apple has lost the edge that made it Apple. For several years Apple set the tone and the frenzy for the mobile market. Now the playing field is being leveled; Samsung—Apple’s biggest competitor—is making a push to unseat Apple from its perch.
Innovation is key to growth in the IT field, and this is why all IT professionals should be watching Apple and its innovative quotient—not just its stock price. Fox Business points to a Bloomberg poll that states 71 percent of respondents believe that Apple is no longer an industry innovator. What does this mean to the developers who write apps for Apple and other IT professionals who depend on an innovative Apple?
Appleinsider.com reports that Samsung is offering money to developers who will write Galaxy-specific applications. If Samsung is able to pull developers into making applications specific to its product line, this could bode well for many developers entering new markets for their work.
A writer from nasdaq.com attributes the downturn at Apple to Tim Cook, who promised more company transparency. The article makes a lot of sense; as Apple has become more open, the company's mystique has gone away.
Time will tell what will happen to Apple and whether it can regain the swagger that made it the juggernaut it is in the mobile world.
What do you think? Will Apple regain the perceived and real success they once had?
