Is the golden age of Apple over? Maybe.

From change-maker to operations

At the beginning of the year, Peter Thiel was asked if the golden age of Apple is over. Thiel believes that it is, saying that the smartphone is “not an area where there will be any more innovation.”

FoxNews reported that Bob Burrough, a former Apple engineer, tweeted “the very first thing Tim did as CEO was convert Apple from a dynamic change-maker into a boring operations company.”

Leader of innovation

At one time, the company was considered one of the most innovative companies in the world, with the iPod, the iPhone, iPad, and iTunes. The iPhone 7 was heavily criticized for not being much different than the iPhone 6, leading many to believe that have stopped innovating.

The iPhone 8 is set to be released in September, to celebrate the smartphone’s 10^th anniversary. There have been quite a few speculations as to what will be included with version 8, including wireless charging, an iris scanner, and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, which would allow the phone to fold or curve. Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu commented “We don’t know whether Apple’s OLED iPhones will be a hit, but if they don’t walk down this path and transform itself, there will be no innovation.

Apple hasn’t stopped transforming their products, but the pace of innovation has seemed to slow down.

New product categories, like the Apple Watch, haven’t seen the growth that was anticipated. I’m interested in seeing if Apple’s iPhone 8 will live up to the hype.

[clickToTweet tweet=”I believe Apple has been innovative, but not always for the consumer. Case in point – AirPods.” quote=”I believe Apple has been innovative, but not always in ways that work for the consumer. Case in point – AirPods.”]

Major challenges in the future

Disclaimer: I have used an iPhone since about 2009, and at this point, I wouldn’t change brands. That being said, I’m constantly frustrated at some of the features of my phone. I don’t use many of the Apple apps, preferring to use ones that have been developed to meet my needs. I’m sure that the iPhone 8 will have many new features, but I wonder if these features will really fix the complaints that I have or if they are just innovations to demonstrate what can be done.

Don’t place any bets on Apple being down for the count.

The company may certainly be working on many new features that haven’t made it into the marketplace yet. It is always a challenge to stay ahead of your competitors, but over the years, they have proved that it does and is at least one step ahead.

#Apple