He's right - Apple has a numbers problem ins that they need to have any potential investment be a big product category almost immediately. They've been notoriously careful to avoid random development in the public eye. When they have come to the market with half-baked products (Maps, AppleTV, iCloud/Mobile Me) they've tended to double down on them, rather than walk them backwards.
The highly integrated approach they've taken to hardware, software, and services across Watch, phone, tablet, computer, apps and a number of accessories have put them in an awkward place. They need to integrate more things into the stack, and whatever they choose needs to be almost immediately integrated into the full stack. HomeKit has been an effort to jump into the IoT with a better platform. Seemingly, Apple's main strategy now is to rely on the accessories or apps to highlight opportunities (siri, maps, etc) and then buy them and integrate them. I suggest that Apple should probably buy Sonos to continue pushing HomeKit and to follow on their acquisition of Beats, especially given the tighter integration that Sonos now has with the Apple ecosystem.
The lack of an obvious target for complete ecosystem integration is not only their lack of creativity, but the lack of obvious consumer demand for additional pieces of the puzzle. CarPlay is very nice, but it doesn't change car buying behavior, it is more like icing on the deal.
Finally, this leaves Software, which Apple has been investing less in since creating the app store. They've become comfortable as a platform company and have been unable to beat Adobe and others in the pro app market. To any professional, Software should be the obvious target, but it seems the vast majority of Apple's customers don't care enough to seek alternatives to Apple's apps. I think the lack of focus on pro software is what is really behind the lack of newer pro-level machines, since I suspect that APple's engineers on the software side were really the ones pushing for greater levels of machine performance (Logic, Aperture, Final Cut X).
Right now, Apple has Breadth in their stack, and they need depth. Software is the way to build depth, but it is not clear that Apple has anyone who understands software beyond OS-level details.
With regard to CarPlay I disagree. I will never buy a car that doesn't support it or Android Auto. The software that car manufacturers create suck. I'd rather have no computer interface - all knobs and buttons - than deal with the garbage that car manufacturers use.
I know I am just one data point but pretty much everyone thinks that the infotainment systems that car manufacturers create is junk. As CarPlay increases in use I think the demand for it will increase as well.
I purchased a new car 6 months ago, and quickly realized one of my key buying points was (well, not CarPlay but) Android Auto. I very quickly stopped looking at any cars that didn't have it. This eliminated some entire companies.
Interesting data point: one of the Ford models I was considering _still_ has it listed as "Coming soon". Glad I skipped that one.
Having used it for the past 6 months, it's now a basic part of my car-buying checklist.
I'd much rather have all knobs and buttons for car interfaces. I can feel the fear every time I look down to adjust anything on a touch screen. I pretty much won't do it while moving. It's horrifying to know so many people are driving around with it now.
I have CarPlay on my Spark and all the audio controls for audio playback are mapped to the steering wheel. The rest is controlled by voice using Siri. E.g, "open podcasts", "call Jesse", "directions to work".
The interfaces car manufactures build are horrible. Once you try CarPlay or likely the Android equivalent you'll never go back.
I have Carplay and it is a disappointment. It crashes and freezes up. Maps is better in the latest iOS but it is still horrible. I prefer Honda's Pandora to the one in Carplay.
Overall my best options for music are SiriusXM, USB flash drives, the Honda Pandora, and the Honda iPod interface. None of these involve Carplay. Also, Carplay requires a corded hookup. The Bluetooth in my car lets me make calls without hooking anything up.
I don't know if Honda's setup is atypically decent, but after buying the car in part because of Carplay, I now don't use Carplay.
That has not been my experience. I much prefer CarPlay to what Honda and others offer. I think car manufacturers are going to have to pick which set of clients to cater too. It seems to me that having both systems will be too expensive for them.
I'll clarify, they understand how to write software, but not what software to write.
They killed Aperture rather than compete with Lightroom, despite many people still using it. They replaced iPhoto with Photos (which is TERRIBLE, even for consumers). They replaced Final Cut with Final Cut X which eliminated half of the features at launch. iMovie loses random features with every major update (cut/paste across projects? really?) I don't need to really explain the number of things wrong with iTunes. The Mac App store itself doesn't work that well, except in highlighting the poor reviews of Apple's own apps.
Now, nearly 2 years later, Final Cut and Logic have passed 4 stars, but they no longer offer a real photo editor of any kind, and they replaced Aperture/iPhoto with a pathetic iOS clone app.
So, I think I'm on pretty solid ground saying they don't get it.
I've been a Mac user since I was old enough to crawl, so I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment. However it would seem the issue these days is actually that they're unable to prioritize the right product decisions for their customers, because of the internal mechanisms which ensure their short-term continued growth. A symptom of the modern world, IMO….
CarPlay ABSOLUTELY changes car buying behaviour, at least in some instances.
In one case I heard of, a young lady bought a car with CarPlay, and when it didn't work, she tried to make the dealership buy it back under a lemon law. The dealership made Car Play work, and she kept the car.
Cars with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay still have the automaker's UI, whatever that may be, or you can buy third party "radios" that replace the head unit.
If I want to buy a car (used or new) and find out that it has CarPlay I will go back because I refuse to buy an iPhone and it wont work with my Android so what's the point?
>I will double down because I refuse to buy an iPhone
Doubling down is a term from black jack where you double your bet because you think you have a good chance of winning. So in this case, you will offer double the money to buy a car because it has a feature you don't want?
The highly integrated approach they've taken to hardware, software, and services across Watch, phone, tablet, computer, apps and a number of accessories have put them in an awkward place. They need to integrate more things into the stack, and whatever they choose needs to be almost immediately integrated into the full stack. HomeKit has been an effort to jump into the IoT with a better platform. Seemingly, Apple's main strategy now is to rely on the accessories or apps to highlight opportunities (siri, maps, etc) and then buy them and integrate them. I suggest that Apple should probably buy Sonos to continue pushing HomeKit and to follow on their acquisition of Beats, especially given the tighter integration that Sonos now has with the Apple ecosystem.
The lack of an obvious target for complete ecosystem integration is not only their lack of creativity, but the lack of obvious consumer demand for additional pieces of the puzzle. CarPlay is very nice, but it doesn't change car buying behavior, it is more like icing on the deal.
Finally, this leaves Software, which Apple has been investing less in since creating the app store. They've become comfortable as a platform company and have been unable to beat Adobe and others in the pro app market. To any professional, Software should be the obvious target, but it seems the vast majority of Apple's customers don't care enough to seek alternatives to Apple's apps. I think the lack of focus on pro software is what is really behind the lack of newer pro-level machines, since I suspect that APple's engineers on the software side were really the ones pushing for greater levels of machine performance (Logic, Aperture, Final Cut X).
Right now, Apple has Breadth in their stack, and they need depth. Software is the way to build depth, but it is not clear that Apple has anyone who understands software beyond OS-level details.