It was a hellish day indeed and it went from bad to worse ever since.
I live in a predominantly Muslim country and Islam seems to have an insecurity & inferiority complex so large that it needs ear deafening audio signals broadcast at dawn time to notify the population of its suffocating and heavy presence in their daily lives.
The tablet market and more importantly its poster boy the iPad (the notebook killer lol) have been swallowed by two beasts simultaneously, from the bottom up, larger size smartphones, and from the top down, hybrid notebooks like the Surface/Yoga that integrated the touch based interface and generally speaking more capable devices not toys.
The MP3 player market and iPods in particular have been swallowed and cannibalized to Apple's discontent by their smartphones and their peers again.
So, it doesn't look rosy for Apple as it's becoming more and more a one trick pony with one single dominant product while the rest are suffering or in steadfast decline and when you take into account that the saturation point for smartphones is approaching, you'll realize that they will need to bring up REALLY something new or face the fate every tech company finds itself sailing the ship through the stagnation storm just to get alive.
Apple's quality at this point of time is SO overrated. Yeah, Apple products out of the factory gates are relatively quality products compared to the competition but they tend to break down over time real quick and show their true colors and Apple's modus operandi of charging people more and more over the lifetime of the devices (recurring income) in replacements and repairs like in the automotive industry.
Contrary to popular belief and urban myths, the market in which Apple operates is ripe for commoditization and iPod and most recently iPad sales are the best proofs now for my assertion.
Forward looking, I'd be really very surprised to see Apple staying relevant in tech in the next decade as the smartphone revolution fades away and the novelty factor they enjoy or make up as well as market dominance will follow suit.
Tell me about it, bro!
It was a hellish day indeed and it went from bad to worse ever since.
I live in a predominantly Muslim country and Islam seems to have an insecurity & inferiority complex so large that it needs ear deafening audio signals broadcast at dawn time to notify the population of its suffocating and heavy presence in their daily lives.