If the Apple Board elected you CEO, what would you do?

[Warped9]

When the iPod, iPhone and iPad were released they were truly game changers.

But those sorts of shifts usually don’t come multiple times in a generation.

Truth. Game changing innovation isn’t done on an assembly line basis where they roll out something amazing every year or every upgrade cycle.

The mistake I see Apple making presently is perhaps relying a bit too much on their brand identity. Thats not good enough when you can offer something that really makes your products compelling. Yes, a simple thing like upgrading the base specs of some of their devices to be more in keeping with their price points.

 

[klasma]

If the Apple Board elected you CEO, what would you do?

Do everything to maximize usefulness to end users, software stability and interoperability (including true sideloading and switching to open protocols for everything). Make the marketing non-cringe. Bring back a small, lightweight iPhone model. Remove the notch/island. Dual Touch ID plus Face ID. Have both landscape and portrait camera on the iPads. Make precision 3D hand controllers for the Vision Pro. Change the UIs so that controls are unambiguously recognizable as such (in the sense of iOS 1-6). Increase UI uniformity (within each platform). Ditch the content-related services (Music, TV+). Make the physical keyboards more like the old Thinkpad ones. […]
I would likely get fired before long.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Do everything to maximize usefulness to end users, software stability and interoperability (including true sideloading and switching to open protocols for everything). Make the marketing non-cringe. Bring back a small, lightweight iPhone model. Remove the notch/island. Dual Touch ID plus Face ID. Have both landscape and portrait camera on the iPads. Make precision 3D hand controllers for the Vision Pro. Change the UIs so that controls are unambiguously recognizable as such (in the sense of iOS 1-6). Increase UI uniformity (within each platform). Ditch the content-related services (Music, TV+). Make the physical keyboards more like the old Thinkpad ones. […]
I would likely get fired before long.

So you want stability and open protocols? That’s like saying I want to lose weight and eat chocolate cake every day!

 

[klasma]

So you want stability and open protocols? That’s like saying I want to lose weight and eat chocolate cake every day!

Open protocols have specified behaviors. There is nothing that inherently creates instability due to them being open. Instability is always due to bugs in handling the protocols. E.g. Apple Mail isn’t unstable because it is based on an open protocol (email). Safari isn’t unstable because it is based on open protocols (HTTP, HMTL, TLS, etc.). The Calendar app isn’t unstable because it integrates CalDAV.

 

[Ctrlos]

1. Buy shares in Trumpf. Not controlling or the EU/DOJ would definitely come knocking!

2. Invest a few $$$ in onshore 3nm silicon processing. Create local jobs and not have my entire product line dependent on TSMC.

3. Diversify manufacture and assembly across all 50 states. Pay a living wage and turn Apple into a model employer by giving back to the USA in a way the government would be on side with.

4. Create a scholarship program route for future employees from high school onwards. Grant schools free access to Apple hardware at the whole of K-12 and run a software development competition nationwide. Todays users are tomorrows customers.

5. Look at creating solutions to problems again. Put the onus back on software because customers buy shells for iOS at the end of the day.

6. Streamline the product lineup. Every device should have a good/better/best choice with strong value at all price ranges. It’s ok being an aspirational brand but still selling better low-end computers.

7. Diversify revenue streams by making the Apple Watch compatible with Android and the iPad. Let users log into Windows using the Watch. Increased competition in those spaces for us would breed innovation. Keep customers by just being better.

8. Refocus the mobile division on the Watch. Here you have a future comms paradigm with all the benefits of staying in touch but none of the addictive drawbacks. The dream would be everyone owning an Apple Watch regardless of their phone choice.

9. Focus marketing on how the Watch is then the perfect phone for kids and the elderly, sorely forgotten markets.

10. Put the M3 in an Apple TV and directly compete with Sony and Nintendo. 100% backwards compatible with all iOS controller titles on day one. Maybe invest in a brand with gaming pedigree to build exclusive titles like Sega.

11. Licence the A-series chipset for TV manufacturers. Android TVs are slow devices with terrible menu systems. There is a lot of room to disrupt that market. Sony day one partner.

12. Resurrect the iPod as a high end lossless media player. Classic design, 2Tb storage, killer audio quality. $1000 price. 1m in sales day one.

13. Resurrect the Time Capsule but build it in to a HomePod. Huge marketing campaign about how ownership of data should be yours. Features iCloud mirroring and faster local backups. “Your data in your place.”

 

[Sippincider]

11. Drop the completely ridiculous pricing for memory and storage BTO upgrades. Premium hardware can command a premium price, but industry-common components need to have industry-common pricing (which we'll still make money on).

12. "Pro" product needs to be genuinely designed and built for professional use. Not just a branding we stick on things.

 

[mdnz]

Make 4GB base Macbooks and upcharge $200 for 8GB and another $200 for 16.

 

[cateye]

Aperture was great for professionals too.

Except it wasn't. It was over-priced at launch, wasn't well supported within Apple, had too long of a development cycle compared to Lightroom which was actively working with professional photographers and creatives (myself among them) to evolve the product on a rapid cadence, was locked to the Mac as a platform, and sold poorly. Aperture was an also-ran in every possible way and a poor choice for a professional audience.

But sure, it was "beloved," which is why ten years later we can't stop moaning about it. Better to not love things that will never love you back.

 

[tonmischa]

- Simplify the product lineup.
- Move to 2-year release cycle for every OS.
- Use the mean time to FIX BUGS!

 

[Jdizzle188]

First order of business would be to get AirPower resurrected and released!

Then Airport!

 

[cateye]

12. Resurrect the iPod as a high end lossless media player. Classic design, 2Tb storage, killer audio quality. $1000 price. 1m in sales day one.

1m in sales? To whom?

Honestly, judging by most of the suggestions in this thread, I think most of you haven't thought this through beyond "I want more of the things I buy to have Apple logos on them because that's super duper important to me."

Which... I mean.

 

[basicuser]

They need to recognize Apple’s unique, trendsetting history and pay homage to old products that won the hearts of millions. They should offer limited editions of previous designs with more modern internals. How cool would it be to have an iMac G4 with an OLED display, blu-ray drive, and an M3?

Look at the success that Nintendo had with bringing back its Super Nintendo in recent years…

 

[HackMacDaddy]

Remember that affluent white adult males are not the only people who use tech, thus, recruiting greater diversity in design and development (including women) would open the eyes of designers of tech to the needs (and wishes) of others who may use tech.

Omg 🤦‍♂️

 

[jaw04005]

1. Refocus on the "digital life" except this time in the cloud. Photos and iMovie (and the Pro Apps) would receive massive updates with cloud-based processing including AI. iCloud.com would be scrapped and rebuilt. Collaboration would be the goal with an updated iWork suite. iCloud Drive would gain parity features with DropBox and OneDrive including sharing between users (something we had back in the iTools days).

2. Create a "home" division and move Apple TV hardware and HomePod into it. Bring back the AirPort router and purchase a third-party like Eve to start building Apple home ecosystem devices. Focus on privacy and security.

HomeKit has been an absolute failure. Even this week, partners report Apple has stopped accepting manufacturers into the HomeKit Secure Router program.

Apple has abandoned HomeKit Secure Routers, claim vendors

Apple's HomeKit Secure Routers were announced in 2019 but never really taken up by manufacturers, and now some vendors are claiming Apple is no longer pursuing the technology.

appleinsider.com

3. Simplify the iPad line up, at least on Apple.com and through resellers. Offer older models only through the EDU or B2B stores.

4. Slow down the macOS upgrade cycle. I would change the branding too as "places in California" mean nothing to a worldwide audience.

5. They're losing their design edge. You can be design forward without having a butterfly keyboard. Products feel stale as they've maintained the same general design language for years upon years.

6. The App Store bull needs to go. There's a compromise that can be made there that still financially benefits Apple.

7. There's more to life than margins. Apple shipped products for years with lower margins just to support the Mac ecosystem.

8. It's 2024. There should be no states without an Apple Store and no states with just one Apple Store either. They don't all have to flagship locations.

You don't have to be CEO to address these changes. They need just new blood.

 

[bigpoppamac31]

1. Buy shares in Trumpf. Not controlling or the EU/DOJ would definitely come knocking!

2. Invest a few $$$ in onshore 3nm silicon processing. Create local jobs and not have my entire product line dependent on TSMC.

3. Diversify manufacture and assembly across all 50 states. Pay a living wage and turn Apple into a model employer by giving back to the USA in a way the government would be on side with.

4. Create a scholarship program route for future employees from high school onwards. Grant schools free access to Apple hardware at the whole of K-12 and run a software development competition nationwide. Todays users are tomorrows customers.

5. Look at creating solutions to problems again. Put the onus back on software because customers buy shells for iOS at the end of the day.

6. Streamline the product lineup. Every device should have a good/better/best choice with strong value at all price ranges. It’s ok being an aspirational brand but still selling better low-end computers.

7. Diversify revenue streams by making the Apple Watch compatible with Android and the iPad. Let users log into Windows using the Watch. Increased competition in those spaces for us would breed innovation. Keep customers by just being better.

8. Refocus the mobile division on the Watch. Here you have a future comms paradigm with all the benefits of staying in touch but none of the addictive drawbacks. The dream would be everyone owning an Apple Watch regardless of their phone choice.

9. Focus marketing on how the Watch is then the perfect phone for kids and the elderly, sorely forgotten markets.

10. Put the M3 in an Apple TV and directly compete with Sony and Nintendo. 100% backwards compatible with all iOS controller titles on day one. Maybe invest in a brand with gaming pedigree to build exclusive titles like Sega.

11. Licence the A-series chipset for TV manufacturers. Android TVs are slow devices with terrible menu systems. There is a lot of room to disrupt that market. Sony day one partner.

12. Resurrect the iPod as a high end lossless media player. Classic design, 2Tb storage, killer audio quality. $1000 price. 1m in sales day one.

13. Resurrect the Time Capsule but build it in to a HomePod. Huge marketing campaign about how ownership of data should be yours. Features iCloud mirroring and faster local backups. “Your data in your place.”

I definitely agree with you on #6 and #12. However I don't see 1 million in sales for an iPod at a $1,000 price point. I'd make it right around $500.

 

[Richu]

Step 1: Implement all the smart ideas from the armchair CEOs over at MacRumours.

Step 2: Rehire Cook for a turnaround after briefly disintegrating the trillion dollar company.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Ensure my retirement package matches Tim Cook’s.

 

[Rafterman]

I thought of another one: allow Apple DRM content, like TV shows and movies, to download and run on Android.

 

[Nudelpalm]

1. Simplify the product lineup
2. Upgradable pro-line of computers
3. A-chip in Apple TV
4. Focus on in-house software so good no one would like to get anything else (photo/video/audio editor and such)
5. Focus on getting the computers the preferred platform for large corporations (+1000 employees)
6. Bring back the shameless stealing of Braun-design

 

[avro707]

I’d make the Mac Pro again a serious workstation with outrageous maximum specs: bring back multiple Xeon CPUs as the maximum for it and bury the Cold War with nvidia so that folks can use current and previous Nvidia GPUs in their Mac Pros (in macOS rather than just Windows). Also upgrades being possible. I actually did buy expensive Mac Pro computers new, but the 2019 is my last one.

I’d probably pause further hardware development work into Apple Vision concept and see what the existing one does. I’m doubtful it - one of the more dubious ideas they had. Too costly and not enough people to buy it.

 

[clam zero]

I agree with a lot of the ideas floated here, and have a few more to offer:

- Move heavily into personal finance. Apple Card and High-Yield Savings are nice, but there's still plenty of room for them to explore in this area. I'd especially like to see a way to get slightly higher APYs at the cost of increased delays when transferring money.

- Work with game companies to turn the Mac into the best gaming platform it can be. It's possible to do this without abandoning the Mac's focus on beautiful, high-resolution displays and SoCs. I'd especially like to see Apple work with developers to make older games run natively and buglessly on Apple silicon; for some titles this could even extend to a macOS-exclusive remaster.

- Consider ways to engage more with the Apple community, especially with regards to public online communication. Permitting certain employees to be less formal and secretive could bring small but important benefits when it comes to product direction and quality assurance.

- As others have said, stop fighting every iOS regulation tooth and nail. Show the world that you're the good guys and you win consumers' wallets by out-innovating the competition.

- Diversify Apple TV+ content, or kill the service off altogether.

 

[chanchowancho]

1. Get to know all the major department heads throughout the company.
2. Run the company into the ground with my lack of business acumen or experience.

 

[concentricity]

Merit, yes, (and there is nothing to suggest that merit is the sole criteria at present), but different people have different needs.

A design that works well for affluent adult males works less well for others.

Personally, - and I'm a middle aged-woman - I find all of the current iPhones far too large, too unwieldy and far too uncomfortable in my hand; I will never buy one, and shall hold onto my (almost antique) - yet very portable - iPhone SE until it dies and can no longer be repaired.

Likewise, I'd kill for an excellent 12" computer; now, I cannot abide iPads, (I need to write, a lot, for my work), but most of the current range are - again too large, heavy, and unwieldy.

An extra pound or two in weight makes an enormous difference to someone such as me, and, while I value power, I also value reliability and portability.

I get what you're saying, and my wife would also kill for an up to date, smaller iPhone. But what you're saying about a laptop just isn't fair. The current 13" MBA is essentially the same size as the old 11" MBA.
Width: New: 11.97" - Old: 11.8"
Depth: New: 8.46" - Old: 7.56"
Thick: New: 0.44" - Old: 0.68" (it was thin at the front, but more than 50% thicker overall)
Weight New: 2.7lbs - Old: 2.3lbs

So, yes the 13" MBA is about 6 ounces heavier, and less than an inch deeper, while being thinner, and giving you a lot more screen real estate. It is not "an extra pound or two". And I'm sorry, but if 6 ounces (while providing actual use of multiple days) is a deal breaker for you, I don't know what to say, or how any company is going to serve you.

 

[newceoofapple]

If I were CEO to start I would do the following:

Firstly-they would have to pay me an insane amount of money.
Tim Cook is done. I am sure he knows it. If he doesn't I am going to say it. You're done Tim. He is a numbers guy. The vision is lost Tim. Thanks for everything you did sincerely. Retirement is a good thing! Jony Ive needs to come back.
Focus on Vision like Steve Jobs did
Remove multiple layers of Management
Allow employees to choose to work remotely or in the office
Reduce the amount of IPads, IPhones, Apple Watches etc etc
Reduce Cadence of Software Versions and focus on stability/security on all aspects.
Reduce Cadence of Apple Silicon Releases
VisionPro should have never been released. For Tim Cook to let that go out at the cost is absolutely astounding It is overpriced. Zuck is spot on this topic. I don't care about the amount of cash they have. It sends a bad signal to consumers and the industry.
Look at current products and relate them to health.
Apple Watch and Blood Pressure/Apple Watch and Blood Sugar
They spent way too much on an autonomous driving Apple Car to figure out they couldn't do it! They couldn't even get a wireless charger working! And then they lay people off or said they could apply for another job.
Create Services like a Telehealth as an option.
Release an Apple Bike or Treadmill
Siri is not working as well as it should. Make it a priority and include AI
Continue with better customer support with more technical and sales people
Create or purchase a company for Mobile Device Management
Bottom line: Profit is important but a great product should be the most important thing.

 

[applepotato666]

I'd get fired immediately. I think currently Tim Cook is overstaying because of the Vision Pro's outlook. It's not a product that will replace the iPhone in its current form. And I don't see Apple making something risky or groundbreaking right now. They just want to brand it as such. I'd want to give creatives and visionaries leverage and listen closely. And reconsider the value all products provide across all lines because currently the prices don't match the experience. 60 hertz on an 800 dollar phone, 8GB Macs at 1800 dollars, etc. Give Pros what we actually want because this is not it, and a lot of people around me are straight up leaving the Apple ecosystem in huge disappointment because of these things, and I'm up next. There's a lot Apple does right but almost as much is done wrong (from a customer satisfaction with the brand perspective that is, and I believe that's what matters in the long run)