Where's Apple?

Just because a company isn't talking about something or releasing something, doesn't mean something isn't in the pipeline. Apple is notorious for keeping their new products a secret.

I love the prospect of an iWatch and hope it happens. I think there is a lot of potential in Apple TV and its no where at the level it should be within a year or 2. Once they figure out an app store for Apple TV, they'll have a big impact on the gaming market and streaming video.

I've had almost every version of the iPhone. Is it getting stagnant? Yeah, sure. If you want something different more often, move to Android; a new phone comes out almost every month and there are hundreds to choose from.

It's not Apple's style to talk or release new products quickly. They wait until their products are polished. The iPhone was in development for years before anyone knew it existed.

I had high hopes for Microsoft Surface, but in traditional MS fashion, they rushed it and its not as good as it should be. They only feature I wish the iPad had was a hard ethernet connection (or dongle) so I can take it into the server room (we don't run wifi at the office). Surface Pro has this, but its out of my price range and the the product just seams sub par to me. Maybe version 2 will be better...

The lesson of Apple is that exciting isn't a good thing. The Newton was very exciting, and it was a dud. On the flip side the iPod was just a slick MP3 player and changed the company. After that every product they made was telegraphed in advance: The iPhone was was an iPod phone, and the iPad was mocked as being a larger iPhone. Also the iPad wasn't innovative because Microsoft did it first. So those three dull products released years apart are what put the company back on the map.

Something else that people also forget: As much as I loved Steve Jobs the company I feel in love with was run by John Sculley. This was the company that introduced a color Macintosh which was a big deal and actually useful. This was the company that invented HyperCard which got me and the industry into "multimedia". This was the company that made the CD-ROM and sound cards a standard feature of every computer they sold. Apple in the late 80s and early 90s changed my life.

By the way if you're looking at the next Newton there's a huge chance that Google is working on it with Google Glass. It's a product that is "exciting" but feels rough around the edges like Microsoft's tablet.