Apple,s 2016 report card, A for operations, B- for innovation
Apple,s 2016 report card, A for operations, B- for innovation:- Apple continued its winning ways in 2016, with one product that sold more units than any other competitor, the top-selling iPhone.
But the year was controversial, as the company angered longtime customers by removing popular features from products and falling further behind Amazon, Google and Facebook in innovation.
KTLA-TV tech reporter Rich DeMuro joined USA TODAY for a Facebook Live video chat, as we compared notes on Apple’s year. Click the link below to view our nearly 30-minute conversation.
“Apple didn’t blow us away with anything brand new, but they delivered on what they do best,” said DeMuro.
Or in other words, the new iPhone and iPads were the same old product with a new skin and a few new features. That said, I find the latest iPhone, the 7 Plus, to be Apple’s best ever, with water resistance and a terrific camera with two lenses. Two big issues didn’t get fixed, though: a longer-lasting battery and screens that won’t crack.
Grade: After a string of new products that were more updates than anything new, I give Apple a B- in innovation in 2016, with an A for running the company efficiently. DeMuro offers a C+ for innovation and A+ for operations. That leaves my grade at B and his at B+.
The company generated over $200 billion in revenue from the fourth quarter of 2015 through the first three quarters of 2016.
But it wasn’t an easy year for the company.
First Apple gave us a new iPhone without a headphone jack, saying it took courage to ditch the standard port we’ve grown accustomed to all these years.
Then it brought us new Macintosh laptops a few months later with a headphone jack, but minus all the accessory slots we pros live on such as an SD memory card slot to import photos, and videos and USB slots to plug in external hard drives and charge the iPhone.
source:-http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2016/12/30/apples-2016-report-card-operations-b–innovation/95969202/
