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Tim Cook To Investors: Apple is Working on Future Products That Will 'Blow You Away' (macrumors.com)

Speaking to investors on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he has "never been more optimistic" about where the company is today and where it's heading. He said the company is "planting seeds" and "rolling the dice" on future products that will just "blow you away." A story adds: Cook went on to say that Apple's eventual goal is to be able reduce the price of the 2018 Retina MacBook Air, which currently starts at $1,200. In reference to the Apple Watch and the AirPods, Cook said there's a "long, great roadmap" of "fantastic" products on the horizon. [...] On the topic of services, Cook said Apple is well on its way towards meeting the goal it set in 2016, which was to double its $25 billion revenue by 2020.

26 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Really? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's been saying basically the same thing for years: "We have amazing products in the pipeline".

    But all I see is more expensive laptops with unreliable keyboards and a problematic T2 chip.
    Hell, when they released the 2018 MacBook Air, they kept the 2017 model, which is really the 2015 model, at the same fucking price it has been for years.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:Really? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2, Funny

      Courage!

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    2. Re:Really? by dryeo · · Score: 4, Funny

      What I heard was a futuristic way of dialing a number. A circle area with numbers that you touch and and drag in a circle. The further you drag, the higher the number that is entered. It'll also have feedback in the form of clicks, just go a little way, one click, a bit further, 2 clicks, right up to 10 clicks, which will bravely represent zero.
      Users will eat it up as it's modern compared to the old fashioned square number pad.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    3. Re:Really? by alaskana98 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That 'courage' line from Apple still makes me shake my head today.

      Hey Apple, let me give you an example of courage. 'Courage' is huddling on a barge, wet, cold, trembling, sick to your stomach with fear, knowing that you are about to land on a beach filled to the brim with blood thirsty Nazis ready to pump a barrage of hot lead into your body, knowing that your chances of survival are about 40% or less and still somehow finding the will to off that boat and charge the beach.

      Sorry, I digress. I guess it is a pretty courageous thing to do to remove a analog headphone jack on an iPhone.

  2. Let me guess by quonset · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple will make a PC (not laptop) which has hardware which isn't five years old, which the user is able to swap out parts as needed, AND doesn't cost a kidney to buy.

    That would be mind blowing.

  3. blow us away? by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    iFan

  4. Sounds a bit desperate by misnohmer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only reason to make a statement like this, which effectively boils down to "Apple's value is going increase, but you have to take it on pure faith because I just can't give you any concrete reasons why", is if you're desperately trying to uphold investor confidence in light of Apple's image fading as a premium technology leader. No doubt this was attempt was fueled by all the announcements from the rest of the industry about the foldable devices, which look so much "cooler and leading edge" than Apple products.

  5. In other words by Snotnose · · Score: 2

    I have smoke and I'm blind as a bat, please fart so I know where to blow it.

  6. Announcing the iR-15 by MikeRT · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The only slightly non-standard .223/5.56 rifle that fires proprietary ammo so disproportionately expensive you'd think it was designed by the same people who designed the main gun on the new LCS vessels.

  7. After all these years apple still does not get it by PerZon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Technology for the masses not the classes

  8. Wait... what happened to the famous pipeline? by sandbagger · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They've killed off much of the ecosystem of products -- time capsules, excellent routers and repeaters, monitors -- and the entire line computer like is now made of laptop parts, they killed off their support for education, and their pro applications and computers. Could it be that the famous pipeline of products they promised after Jobs's death was smoke and mirrors? For shame!

    --
    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
  9. They have had successes, and more to come by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They don't have a new amazing thing every year.

    But the Apple Watch has turned out to be quite a hit.

    The AirPods, possibly even a bigger hit.

    The iMac Pro was a great update to the Mac, as was the new Mac mini...

    It's really easy to claim someone is not successful, if you simply define away anything they were successful at.

    I agree that some of what he is saying is hype... but I also think, some is probably not. They have a lot of money and a lot of long term R&D at work.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:They have had successes, and more to come by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      People joke about the "distortion field", but it seems to me that there's an even stronger one in reverse. Some people are incapable of seeing anything Apple does as anything but a failure. Take the Apple Watch for instance. Not only did Apple go from zero to the biggest watchmaker in the world in under two years, but they now outsell the entire Swiss watchmaking industry combined. And yet there are hordes of people who consider it prime evidence of how badly Apple are failing. You know, that Apple that profits $5m dollars every hour.

    2. Re:They have had successes, and more to come by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

      None of that has "blown you away."

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:They have had successes, and more to come by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not only did Apple go from zero to the biggest watchmaker in the world in under two years, but they now outsell the entire Swiss watchmaking industry combined.

      You should realize that the Swiss watchmaking industry is not very big. The watch industry is not very big, having been destroyed by the cell phone industry. It's an impressive sounding fact, but a number would give more concreteness and clarity.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  10. Away? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    As much as they charge, they should just work on a product that will blow me.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  11. In-no-way-vation. by az-saguaro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I read the article.
    I can't wait for the future.

    " Cook said that Apple is "rolling the dice" on some future products that will "blow you away "
    Thank goodness they are just rolling the dice, and not betting the farm, because the following are all too ho-hum. Yawn.

    " eventual goal is to be able reduce the price of the 2018 Retina MacBook Air "
    That would be nice. Hardly revolutionary. The only minds to be blown are those who cannot believe that Apple would make a budget minded model, and I think their heads are safe for now.

    " in reference to the Apple Watch and the AirPods, there's a long, great roadmap of fantastic products on the horizon "
    They have already risen over the horizon. In the past, Apple moved the industry and society when they founded new concepts, not spinning what's already in the barn.

    " while Cook did not go into more detail "
    There's your sign.

    " rumors have suggested that AirPods coming in the near future will be available in new colors (black) and support and the ability to be wirelessly charged "
    Thank goodness, lack of black is the only thing that has kept me from buying into the Apple ecosystem. And don't all you cynics be discounting the wireless charger - less chance of scratching that beautiful new finish. Now, if they gave you a jar of Turtle Wax with the phone, that would indeed be revolutionary.

    " more ambitious products are also rumored, including a pair of augmented reality smart glasses and perhaps even a full self-driving vehicle "
    AR and VR are certainly hot topics, but that is because everyone else is already making geek goggles (e.g. MS), or already gave it up (Google). Self driving cars - now there's an idea - why didn't anyone think of that before?

    " on the topic of services, goal to double its $25 billion revenue by 2020 "
    Thank goodness, I was starting to think that this was a fabricated story, fake news, but there it is, the real Apple.

    " two new products in the services category, including a new streaming TV service with original shows and a new Apple News service with subscription for a monthly fee "
    Perhaps they should ask Amazon, Google, Netflix, Hulu, MS, and the others for some brotherly advice.

    " Cook also said that Apple is pushing for regulation against tech companies like Facebook and Google that build data profiles of their users. Apple has long been an advocate for customer privacy "
    Okay, good for them. We pay our respects.

    Innovation can be hard, and for every million products made, only one comes along that changes everything. Apple and Jobs used to do that. Now, the Cook in the kitchen is just making re-hash. Why is this even news? (Trick question see above, 2 times $25 billion).

  12. Sure by finkployd · · Score: 4, Informative

    You mean a laptop with a keyboard that doesn't suck? I say this as a 10 year MBP user who is getting a Thinkpad next week because it sure feels like they have abandoned the pro market. If I want an OS that is abandoned and turning into iOS and a keyboard that is unusable, I'll be sure to come back :/

  13. Bye Apple. by s0nspark · · Score: 4, Informative

    I used to be quite a fan of Apple products, going back to the Powerbook days... and for a while it was a pleasure to set aside Linux and Windows in favor of a OSX-powered Macbook. My frustration with their horrible attempts at simplicity and the decline of reliability in macos pushed me back to Linux and that in turn brought me to Windows 10 with WSL. My Apple TV is gone in favor of a Roku with Plex. My company-supplied iPhone is the only Apple product I still use and when I am up for a refresh I will be switching to something Android so I have choices again about how I manage my data and what I can do with my own device. Oh! Did I mention that I have been trying for over EIGHT MONTHS to get Apple to clear an activation lock on a company-purchased phone where the user mistyped his recovery phone number and now can't access his Apple ID? I've been told everything under the sun about what to do and what the result will be. In the end, the group responsible for actually unlocking the phone so we can reset and reissue it only communicates through form letters via email and there is no way to contact them directly. EIGHT MONTHS I have been going round and round... That device will eventually just get thrown away, I guess. I am SO done. Bye Apple.

  14. No they were not iterative by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    iterative improvements on their own (iMac Pro, Mac mini) or other people's (Watch, AirPods) products.

    I'll grant the Mac improvements were more iterative.

    But AirPods and the Apple Watch were not at all iterative. AirPods had quite a lot of innovation all in one, from the charging case to the custom pairing method that was WAY easier than any other bluetooth device I had ever set up before.

    The Apple Watch even moreso - just like with the iPhone, it seems like no-one can remember what a horrible piece of crap smart watches were before the Apple Watch. I know as I had a few Pebbles - I really, really wanted that platform to do well but there way simply no denying how much heads and shoulders better the AppleWatch was by any measure. It was a true leap and the truth of that is evident in how weak competition is against it even now, years later.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  15. Apple has lost most of is appeal ... by Qbertino · · Score: 2

    ... to me.

    No viable affordable low end models anymore. MS style hoops to jump through to get xcode. Flaky OS lately. Obscenely priced mobile hardware - although I have to admit that people lap that shit up like it's no tomorrow.

    This is why Apple is making such obscene amounts of money. Apple its first and foremost a fashion brand these days. They really don't need to care what experts think.

    Hence I'm back to Linux as my main OS. I miss the hard and software integration, but that's the smaller price to pay right now. AFAIAC they need to really get back to 2003 form again if they want me interested again. 13 inch iBook g4 was their high point for me. MB air a close second.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  16. Tim Cook does not get it ... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

    We want a 17" (or more!) Mac Book Pro, call it Expert Book if you want.
    With:
          o perhaps a touch screen
          o build in iOS emulator, to run some apps
          o enough ports, and not silly removal of ports so we need dozens of dongles, removing the SD card slot e.g. was just plain stupid, my old 17" even has a PCMCIA it is super useful
          o RAM ... a Pro should have RAM
          o true function keys - if you want add a glowing touch bar on top of it, I don't mind
          o a fullscreen mode that works again, not the silly one we have at the moment
          o perhaps: display the content of one window on a external screen/projector (I have dozens of ideas like this and wonder why no one does that)
        o oh, and a SIM card slot would be nice, it simply sucks to pair the Mac with a Phone to have mobile internet (yeah, not a priority, I bought a mobile hot spot long ago).

    And as people are complaining about the non useable keyboards at the moment, perhaps you want to go back to the 2014/2013 keyboards?

    I'm basically at the point joining the Hackintosh community ...

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  17. Correction by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 2

    "Blow your wallet away."

    There, fixed it for you

  18. Military by Njovich · · Score: 2

    Looks like the military has found a new partner after Google dropping out. Not really the 'blowing away' you were looking for, but certainly nice for the shareholders.

  19. Blown away as... by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 2

    ...Samsung Galaxy 7 owners ?!?

  20. Right to repair by BeemanIT · · Score: 2

    Forgot to say their Legal dept was figuring out new ways to kill small business and the right to repair the idevice you paid for.