Apple’s Long Slow Slide

This was a headline referring to Apple’s stock price, but that’s not the point of this post.

It seems to us that Apple has gotten where it is by missing one of the tenets of business: if you’re an innovative company, you better keep innovating.

Clayton Christensen of Harvard first outlined this problem in the 1990s in two books about innovation that said basically once you start innovating, you can’t stop, or your company stagnates. Facebook appears to get this, but it’s where Apple was 20 years ago. Google has continued to innovate.

And, as a result of past successes, Apple is sitting on enough cash to go buy a small country. Seriously, why not go buy Vodaphone in Europe? And buy another telecom in China?

Seriously, the one product that really should have been introduced earlier is the low priced (comparatively) IPhone SE. But, we’ll bet there was a big fight inside Apple about diluting the brand. However, consumers here and abroad have been clamoring for a cheaper IPhone for the last five years.

The ICar looks most interesting, but we’ll bet that it comes out at too high a price, say $50k when it should be $35k.

As I’ve said before, but it bears repeating, Tim Cook doesn’t strike me as the most innovative guy. I’d like to see him move up to Chairman of the Board and put Jonny Ive into his job.

So, Apple, we hope you take these lessons to heed. See you at the stockholder’s meeting.

And here’s an update, based on what Apple is doing in India: Here’s Tim Cook chatting up the leaders of India and getting rebuffed about putting in Apple stores. Meanwhile, street and small shop vendors are selling the heck out of recon Apple I Phones. It seems to me that Apple is missing a market here: what happens to all those I Phones that get turned in for new ones? India might just be the tip of the market.

This miss is a classic case of not understanding India and what countries need. Seems to me that some Apple country manager should tell Cook that.

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