The iPhone Lineup
On September 7 Apple announced its new iPhone. Except for the “7” it looks very familiar.
I have never been less excited about a new Apple announcement cycle.
Tim Cook has done what most operations people do when put in charge of a company: He has wrung the last bit of excitement out of the business and made it downright boring. Longer product cycles are good operations decisions. Minimal changes and holding back on technology make sense when you are just trying to simplify operations. Boring stuff is what Tim Cook is made of.
If the rumor mills are accurate, it will take Apple three years now to produce a significantly new model iPhone. That means we have to wait until next year to get something that is really different. The iPhone8 will be a redesign from that rather unattractive iPhone6 (I still consider the iPhone5 as the classiest model ever.)
I used to get excited about new models of the iPhone being announced. I would cling to every rumor, and I would stand in line to be one of the first to get one. Now, well, I don’t even watch the keynote announcements.
The problem isn’t a lack of consumer enthusiasm. I REALLY want to see an exciting announcement. And, the problem isn’t a lack of new ideas and technology. There are plenty of improvements in processors, displays, and cameras. The problem is that Tim Cook just doesn’t get how his operations side is ruining Apple.