>> I think a car is inevitable too, but I hope the majority of the R&D spend is related to the iPhone. Apple needs innovation to make people want to upgrade at a fast clip. Apple can't lose focus on the golden goose while rooting around for the next big thing.
What are they going to do? Invest the money in better batteries? Higher resolutions than retina? New types of connectors?
I really don't think the R&D dollars are the problem. Ideas are the problem. Everything that is happening with phones today is on the margin. 3d touch is cool but not user in a hundred has any idea what it is about. Live photos was, to me, a killer idea, but I've yet to see anyone other than on my daughter's phone when I was trying to figure out how to disable it for her. These are just not things that matter to people enough to drive profits.
No, they need to be coming up with new revenue streams to replace the lost subsidies. That is, after all, what we're talking about here.
We know they've added a significant number of engineering staff in the automotive area and it is enough to presume they're beyond mere tinkering. They'll roll out a little bit of stuff for the car, I imagine, over the next months.
The phone should be a great profit center for years to come. But the growth will have to come from elsewhere unless someone can radically reinvent the phone. (Actually, I would suggest that better integration with business systems is an untapped opportunity but it may be too small to bother with). I do not know why they have refused to move on the Enterprise. |
