Apple quietly preparing for a future without iPhone — or is it something else

October 18, 2022 By Omal J

(Image Credit Google)

Apple is at the top of the world, and it's difficult to imagine the company being anything other than the dominant player and tastemaker that it has been in recent years. I'm not about to predict its demise, but those who remember the dark days of the 1990s (like me) know that success is never assured. In any case, it's unlikely that a company as large and powerful as Apple would simply vanish into thin air. However, as the company has grown and matured, its nature has undeniably changed. Also Read: How to share & customize Apple News in iOS 16, know here These modifications are not without precedent. There has been a pattern among dominant tech companies over the last several decades. Whereas they may have once ruled the world by producing the thing that everyone needed—whether it was a hardware product or a critical piece of software—they appear to eventually transform into a new form, one where they're less centered on delivering a key product and more on what service they provide. iPhone 14 Pro

Dealing with business

At the risk of reliving ancient history, IBM was once the undisputed leader in the computing market. Given the company's current state, it may be difficult to imagine, but it employed an armed force of salespeople in suits and ties to sell the concept of computers to the world's largest corporations. From its inception, Apple saw itself as the antithesis of IBM, free of tradition and corporate ideology, and instead as pirates and rebels, perhaps best summed up by the famous photograph of co-founder Steve Jobs bestowing a colorful gesture in front of one of the monolithic company's buildings. iPhone 14 Pro

At the time Apple began, IBM was the leader in the computing market, the one to beat. In simple words, it was all over the place. Nonetheless, it was defeated, at least in that domain. However, because the company had spent several decades evolving, acquiring different companies, and establishing a range of businesses, its loss in the computing industry did not result in an existential crisis for the company; rather, it resulted in a strategic shift.

Choosing Microsoft

This brings us to Microsoft, another company that was once the leader in computing. Microsoft was, of course, enormously successful in the 1990s, when the Office productivity suite and the Windows operating system were at their peak. And, like IBM, it was Apple's most formidable adversary at the time, as the Mac and Windows were locked in a never-ending battle for the personal computer market. However, the company missed out on the mobile computing rebellion and, like IBM before it, has had to change its strategy to focus more on services. Microsoft is now everyone's best friend. In recent weeks, the company has announced partnerships with Amazon (to allow Word docs to be sent to the new Kindle Scribe), Meta, and giants like Apple too. Microsoft taskbar manager

It's an interesting evolution for a company that still regulates key aspects of our daily technology experience, from consumer apps like Word and Excel to core technologies like Azure. But Microsoft has seen the writing on the wall that says you can't always be the biggest fish, and it's sometimes better to become an indispensable part of the landscape.

Success as a service provider

How does all of this relate to Apple? There have been a few reports recently about Apple beginning to expand its advertising business, with the probability of ads on Apple TV+ as well as elsewhere in Apple's ecosystem. This comes several years after it abandoned its first attempt to create an advertising system, iAd, which failed spectacularly. Though this decision may appear to be out of character for Apple, simple reason: the company saw what happened to some of its biggest competitors. Just because you're at the top now doesn't mean you'll always be at the top; it's better to control your evolution than have it forced upon you. Apple Fires Employee

That is why the company has made such a significant shift in services over the last decade. Yes, the iPhone still accounts for roughly half of the company's revenue, but Services are around 25%, which could soon outnumber its remaining three categories (Mac, iPad, and Wearables) combined. Apple is preparing for a future in which the iPhone is no longer the incredibly popular product that it is today. There may come a time when Apple finds itself sitting in the old tech home, reliving with Microsoft and IBM the good old days. It's determined to put that as far into the future as possible.

By Omal J

I worked for both print and electronic media as a feature journalist. Writing, traveling, and DIY sum up her life.

Apple quietly preparing for a future without iPhone — or is it something else

Dealing with business

Choosing Microsoft

Success as a service provider

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