If what the article contends is true, then the end of the supremacy of Apple may be at hand. Seems to me to depend on how strong the loyalty of the army of brand loyalists really is.
Too few folks were ever aware of what happened to that company back around 1998 - after microsoft drove it onto the skids, then so kindly bailed it out with a huge 'goodwill donation' - while taking full access to all that company's IP.
There are exactly TWO reasons that Apple has continued to exist since that sort of silent takeover:
1 - It could be made highly profitable for its 'parent' company as a non-competitor;
2 - It kept up the appearance of STILL being a competitor (though it was not) while keeping the SEC from looking at or into the monopoly which was pulling all of Apple's strings.
The funny thing here is that all the while, Linux (mostly via Android) was just as silently coming to dominate the IOT space, server space & to some small degree the desktop space as well - which is why this very silly era is coming to an end.
(That, and Apple has been deliberately priced out of the running...)
I think this quote is missing a word that would make it clearer:
Thusly:
"Apple’s Imminent (planned) Crash Has Begun"
Simply a valid, corporate exit strategy so as to keep up appearances, that's all.
Apple's PC business became a complete parody when they moved to using all re-badged Intel PCs.
The devout Apple users remained immune to this fact, blissfully in denial that they'd become wintel-ized.
So long as they could see their security blanket (Thanks Linus !!) of the prominent Apple symbol, then they didn't care what was 'under the hood'.
Pity.
(But totally unsurprising.)
((A wonderful side effect of the above has been the rise of the 'hackintosh', a method to get the Apple OS onto ordinary, cheap PC h/w instead of buying an overpriced 'genuine Apple' PC.))
BTW:
During the previous era, when Apple h/w was 100% non-intel, I placed many very nice, old, genuine Apple computers in the hands of low income families so that their kids could do their homework and print it, for free.
Those old Apple computers were very nearly indestructible & lasted nearly forever.
Then the arrival of $300 PCs put an end to that need.
Now, in 2019, one can easily get a 17" notebook PC with very good specs for ~$400 and an Android powered phone for ~$30 very easily - so exactly WHO needs an $1150.00 iphone ?!?
There have been many articles over the years predicting the end of Apple as we know it. I am not loyal to Apple and don't know the future direction of the company, but Apple's desktop operating system (OS X) has been the most reliable and user-friendly operating system I have ever used. I hope it will be around for a long time.
No problem there unless the OS itself stops getting updated anymore, see:
https://www.udemy.com/tonymacx86-hackintosh-how-to-install-mojave-osx-macos-on-any-computer
And...being as the Apple OS is merely a paint job on top of Unix anyhow, it is very easy to get a Linux distro that is an Apple work-alike, or to just skin your favourite Linux distro to be an Apple work-alike.
(I am a Linux user, with no need to use Apple apps via Linux, but it is possible AFAIK.)
One day, if/when all the rest of my bucket list has been filled - WAY at the bottom of it is this item:
- Get cheapest h/w & make a hackintosh PC.
Sadly for that ambition, it'll take lots of efforts to do all the rest of the things above that one, so it s most likely that I'll exit this timespace before realizing that goal...no biggie, really.
I don't think the article is predicting a catastrophic demise of Apple, but rather a gradual decent, where they will certainly be an important company for years to come, just not the mega growth company of the recent past, with, perhaps, a similar decline to IBM's, in contrast to a Blackberry or Nokia. As has been said, the problem with the future is that it's hard to predict.
People are still very much in love with apple. Well in the US especially.
The main issue for apple is that the older models run so well. People are happy to hold onto the older models when they retain a notch free experience, offer 90% of the apple experience and the new ones will burn $1000.
If starting prices drop below $800 people will start upgrading quicker. There is just something about a $1k sticker that puts you off. And no putting the iphone xr out there below $800 doesn't count since it isn't as feature packed as the xs.
At the end of the day there isn't unlimited growth potential in the market. Apple are just near or just past their peak.
Gizmodo: I Cut Apple Out of My Life. It Was Devastating
Author does an excellent job explaining the difficulties of escaping the Apple ecosystem.
Difficult indeed to do for technophobes.
As a technician though - very easy simply due to despising the wintel cartel - so:
When Apple got wintel-ized that era ended for me instantly.
Putting an i-thing intended for a purpose next to its equivalent Android device easily reveals how the same goals can be easily accomplished - often at 1/10th of the cost.
I am quite happy to say that I have avoided the i-things completely & have not missed a single thing thereby.