Which Product Will Best Define AAPL For The Next Ten Years?

We all like Apple products. Which product line will best define AAPL and its success for the next ten years?

Each of us has an opinion on the matter.

The Mac is Apple’s past and for now I think it’s the #1 product to provide for the company’s bright future. Not to take anything away from Apple’s other products, I see Mac unit shipments doubling within the next three years and the pace of growth will be the #1 catalyst for the company’s future success.

I say Mac OSX, which wil be used to create a seamless digital lifestyle (or a police state), with the Mac at the center of it all.

Mac OSX will be used to control our television (aTV), our music (iPod), communications (Macs or iPhone) and a plethora of other itty bitty things that will come out in the future. But it will be software engineering that will make it all work together.

I say iPhone, because it encapsulates Apple’s key assets: OSX, superior UI,  seamless synchronisation, universal appeal. It’s the only product that can deliver everything Apple has to offer.

I vote for OS X, but that is really just the same as saying “All of the above”.

Moore’s Law has finally given Apple what it needed—the power to apply it’s ergonomic software and hardware core competencies to the bulk of consumer electronics products.

[quote author=“sleepygeek”]I say iPhone, because it encapsulates Apple’s key assets: OSX, superior UI,  seamless synchronisation, universal appeal. It’s the only product that can deliver everything Apple has to offer.

I voted iPhone for similar reasons.  With iPhone, there is no need to carry any gadget (exclude jewelry, weapon, cash ofc) unless you’re on a special mission .

Might want to add another choice to the poll of:

“New even more revolutionary product than the iphone”

If we’re looking out ten years here I’d say it’s a fair possibility of it happening.

Today I voted iPhone, I think it’s really the start of a new revolution in mobile communications. 

An argument can be made for nearly all of them, but I’d also give strong consideration to iTunes i.e the Apple network which delivers much of the experience of those hardware pieces.  Maybe that’s a vote for OS X?

I voted for iPhone because I believe that it already is a good mile ahead of Apple TV in the “product race” finishing in 2017.
Apple TV is suffering from the lack of iTunes stores worldwide, and as SJ put it, it’s still just a hobby while iPhone is deadserious

regarding OS X, I honestly don’t think that the average consumer identifies OS X as an Apple product on its own. When they like their iPhone, they (of course) love their interface with Safari, etc… but if you ask them a question regarding their favourite Apple product, the answer will be “my iPhone/Mac”.
But I agree with the idea that implicitly, OS X will be the product of the century, simply because all Apple Hardware will be running on it and it will be a decisive factor in making Apple products successful!

Rounding Errors.

Kinda funny on the Finance board that we have 16 responses to the poll. at 18% 31% and 50% which I make 99%...

I would say:

1) OS X
2) OS X
3) OS X - but not “Other Software”

OS X will make the hardware shine. It is impossible to put Mac OS X in the same category as “other software”.

In my view it is a giant task to create an operating system like OS X. It will simply take decades to produce a desktop class OS like Mac OS X and Vista. It’s a task of giant proportions, and only achievable inside large cap organisations, governmental bodies or giant voluntary communities. But it will always take decades - even with unlimited funds available.

OS X is the heart and soul of AAPL. It provides all opportunities, and creates all thresholds for Apple.

Without the OS there are just the dead boxes.
Without OS X Apple could not launch shining hardware.
OS X is the music. The music plays on hardware.

I would have voted for OS X, but Apple doesn’t and probably won’t market it. I voted for iPhone as a stand in for “OS X based, post-PC, multitouch device”  At the D: conference Jobs spelled out that it is very tempting to focus UI investment in post-pc rather than PC devices.  I take that statement to mean iPhone and thus future innovation will come FIRST to iPhone or be driven by it. This probably also means iPhone marketing much like iPod marketing will far outstrip Mac marketing.  So I think marketing and innovation investment means the iPhone will outshine the Mac from now on.  But I can be convinced otherwise.

Getting faster at typing!

Of course not. Give away the crown jewels ? Never!

I voted for iPhone as a stand in for “OS X based, post-PC, multitouch device”  At the D: conference Jobs spelled out that it is very tempting to focus UI investment in post-pc rather than PC devices.  I take that statement to mean iPhone and thus future innovation will come FIRST to iPhone or be driven by it. This probably also means iPhone marketing much like iPod marketing will far outstrip Mac marketing.  So I think marketing and innovation investment means the iPhone will outshine the Mac from now on.  But I can be convinced otherwise.

Getting faster at typing!

If it weren’t for the Mac OS X, there wouldn’t be any Macs, no iPhones and no iPods and Apple would be dead as a great company.  It is Mac OS X that makes it possible for Apple to compete on their own terms in the market and CREATE the market. Apple does really not have to compete, as long as they have Mac OS X. They OWN and CONTROL their entire platform. Mac OS X is really not a product. It is a part of THE BRAND - a part of a whole. Without it, Apple would be just another component provider - like Coca Cola without bottles. 

Microsoft Windows is not a brand - but rather a componenet. Microsoft has no control over the entire platform-concept, presentation, branding, image, look, sales, press, marketing, user experience or pricing. They are in lack of influence where it matter the most => in the mind shares!

[quote author=“xumbra”][quote author=“alcatholic”]I would have voted for OS X, but Apple doesn’t and probably won’t market it.

Of course not. Give away the crown jewels ? Never!

I voted for iPhone as a stand in for “OS X based, post-PC, multitouch device”  At the D: conference Jobs spelled out that it is very tempting to focus UI investment in post-pc rather than PC devices.  I take that statement to mean iPhone and thus future innovation will come FIRST to iPhone or be driven by it. This probably also means iPhone marketing much like iPod marketing will far outstrip Mac marketing.  So I think marketing and innovation investment means the iPhone will outshine the Mac from now on.  But I can be convinced otherwise.

Getting faster at typing!

If it weren’t for the Mac OS X, there wouldn’t be any Macs, no iPhones and no iPods and Apple would be dead as a great company.  It is Mac OS X that makes it possible for Apple to compete on their own terms in the market and CREATE the market. Apple does really not have to compete, as long as they have Mac OS X. They OWN and CONTROL their entire platform. Mac OS X is really not a product. It is a part of THE BRAND - a part of a whole. Without it, Apple would be just another component provider - like Coca Cola without bottles. 

Microsoft Windows is not a brand - but rather a componenet. Microsoft has no control over the entire platform-concept, presentation, branding, image, look, sales, press, marketing, user experience or pricing. They are in lack of influence where it matter the most => in the mind shares!

Amen.  OS X is bulletproof as an operating system.  It will handle the demands of 64 bit, dual quad servers, and yet it’s scaleable to operate devices like ATV and iPod.  I used to work with a version of unix very similar to OS X.  It was called QNX and depending on how you assembled a kernel, it could run a factory or a wrist watch.  OS X is the same.  It is what we all hoped back in 1981 that we would be able to have someday on our desktops.  It is the reason I spent my money on Apple stock back in 2003, when Apple’s future otherwise was very much in doubt.

[quote author=“MacProdigalSon”]I vote for OS X, but that is really just the same as saying “All of the above”.

Well stated.

Philidor once famously wrote “the pawn is the soul of chess”.  The structure formed my the pawns in what enables the more glamorous pieces to accomplish the execution of the strategy.

OSX is the soul of Apple.

[quote author=“xumbra”][quote author=“alcatholic”]So I think marketing and innovation investment means the iPhone will outshine the Mac from now on.  But I can be convinced otherwise.

If it weren’t for the Mac OS X, there wouldn’t be any Macs, no iPhones and no iPods and Apple would be dead as a great company.  It is Mac OS X that makes it possible for Apple to compete on their own terms in the market and CREATE the market. Apple does really not have to compete, as long as they have Mac OS X. They OWN and CONTROL their entire platform. Mac OS X is really not a product. It is a part of THE BRAND - a part of a whole. Without it, Apple would be just another component provider - like Coca Cola without bottles. 

Microsoft Windows is not a brand - but rather a componenet. Microsoft has no control over the entire platform-concept, presentation, branding, image, look, sales, press, marketing, user experience or pricing. They are in lack of influence where it matter the most => in the mind shares!

Very well put. I’m convinced! sort of.

Rereading DT’s OP, I realize I misunderstood his term “define Apple” as implying public perception. So, in a thorough understanding of Apple, yes absolutely OS X defines Apple.

In terms of public understanding of Apple products, I think hardware defines Apple and at the moment I would argue that no hardware is a purer expression of OS X and its potential than iPhone.

In terms of financial success of AAPL, DT’s probably right that Mac sales may be the engine. I don’t know enough to argue the point in any case.

PS
[quote author=“xumbra”][quote author=“alcatholic”]I would have voted for OS X, but Apple doesn’t and probably won’t market it.

Of course not. Give away the crown jewels ? Never!

By market, I meant advertise, not sell or license. Sorry for the confusion!

Cheers!