Decade after Jobs’ death, has Apple traded magic for profit?
Ten years after Apple founder Steve Jobs' death, the firm has grown into a colossus of devices and services that is the world's most valuable company, but the tech legend's diehard fans lament its lost aura of revolution.
"Apple doesn't innovate anymore" or "Steve Jobs is turning in his grave" are the type of disillusioned tweets that pop up especially during product launches led by Tim Cook, who took Apple's reins in August 2011.
On the surface, Jobs -- who died October 5, 2011 after a battle with pancreatic cancer -- left the company DNA imbued with his demanding intensity.
At every launch, Cook delivers the same hyperbolic turns of phrase that Jobs once did to unveil even incremental changes to the cameras or chips in its range of phones, tablets and other devices.
But are these game-changing innovations in the post-Jobs era?
"Apple lost the ability to bring out products that could revolutionize a market," said Tech industry analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.
"They became a financially-focused company very effective at milking its faithful users," he added.
The company has impacted hundreds of millions of lives since its 1976 founding in a garage, with devices like the iPod launched in 2011 and the 2007 release of the iPhone that put the internet in people's pockets.
Since then, Apple has released an internet-connected time piece, the Apple Watch.
"The measure of Apple is always innovation, that's what people focus on... another aspect of a company being successful is its ability to change themselves," noted analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Apple has indeed diversified by adding many services carefully integrated into its devices: music, payments, videos and games.
The company had to learn a world outside of the hardware business, a strategy Milanesi described as "more ropes that bring people to Apple... and keep them here.
Source: www.thedailystar.net
