What’s in Apple Product Roadmap – Update
Back in 2014, I speculated that if Steve Jobs had left a product roadmap for Tim Cook, what sort of things would it have. What’s in Apple Product Roadmap? Two years later, I look at how accurate were my predictions and what’s happened at Apple since then.
Apple Product Roadmap Report Card
Past Predictions that Came True
All in all a little disappointing but thats mainly because we have come to expect so much from Apple. True innovation takes time. However, if Apple sits on it’s success for too long and gets comfortable, history will repeat itself. And this time Steve Jobs won’t be around to save the day. Let’s see how Apple did in the last two years.
| 2014 Prediction | Progress Report |
| Commerce | |
| Payment – cashless economy | Apple Pay (on devices and Web) |
| Apple Retail Store user experiences | |
| Bluetooth and RFID based proximity sensing | iBeacon |
| Consumer Electronics | |
| Home Central Operating System | |
| Battery technology | Some improvements |
| Voice interface | Siri |
| Internet of Things and home automation | Early stages of the Home Kit |
| Digital displays | |
| Hologram technology and screen projections | |
| Cloud servers for real time access and storage | iCloud |
| Apple TV Set-top, and content streaming | |
| Virtual Reality | |
| Artificial Intelligence | |
| Robotics | |
| Durable Goods | |
| Appliances. Motivated by Internet of Things (IoT) | |
| Apple car. (read about Apple Car) | Rumored project started followed by laying off of the team. Apple Car Kit is here. |
| Home and utility robots | |
| Mobile Phones / Smart Phones | |
| The home button moved to software or removed altogether | |
| Wireless audio | Beats By Dre and the Apple EarPods |
| Wireless charging | Competitors are leading the charge |
| Memory and storage technology | Some improvements |
| Reduce health risk of using wireless gadgets | |
| Sports and Healthcare | |
| Wearable devices | Apple Watch |
| Information Management Systems for healthcare and medical records | Health Kit |
| Vision-correcting smart display screens. | |
| Real-time performance and health feedback | Some headway |
Whatever Happened To …?
- Text Books: We heard a lot of Apple disrupting the text book industry. Replacing the book bags with an iPAD sort of thing.
- Apple Television Set: Apple TV was supposed to be replaced with a high end, state of the art, slick looking Apple Television Set with a promise to alter the way we view television programming and consume other content. Personally it was a smart move for Apple not to get into this highly commoditized space. Apple TV is doing just fine.
Surprises
- One thing I didn’t see coming is Apple’s foray into enterprise application. This was marked by Apple’s partnership with IBM.
- I also did not see coming is Apple dropping the 3.5 audio jack. Okay I am willing to accept this move.
- I was also very disappointed with Apple EarPods. They don’t stay in people’s ears (that’s most people I talked to), you can’t workout in them, they are very expensive, and they are very easy to loose.
Last Updated: Oct. 27, 2016
It Looks Like Apple Is Killing Off the MacBook Air – This is happening sooner than I had anticipated.
