Innovation is Missing

There is a big difference in being led by Steve Jobs, and now Apple is showing how much they miss him.

Current Apple CEO Tim Cook was never the innovative genius Jobs became.

Cook was just good at getting Chinese factory workers to finish the latest iPhones and nothing more.  

The company hasn’t revealed a “killer app” or a new earth-shattering technology since the Jobs’ iPhone came out.

Cook has used his tenure at Apple to milk profits from the Apple store, iterate on the iPhone, and make sure nothing breaks inside the company.

I would consider there's nothing he has done in a different direction and he has just taken what was already built and then optimized it for profits.

That’s great until it’s not.

It’s mid-way through 2022 and next month will mark exactly 15 years since the first iPhone came out, and the most exciting update from the latest Apple developers conference to the next iPhone is a customizable lock screen.

That’s where we are at with Tim Cook – diminishing returns from technological innovation.

The lack of innovation will start to turn into a massive cancer for Apple because they won’t be able to justify charging $1,000 for a smartphone with no improvements.

Might as well just stick with the one you have and update the battery or downgrade to something similar.

The lack of innovation also allows Android phones to encroach on Apple’s moat.

That inflection point isn’t far off.

The other groundbreaking update is the ability to unsend iMessages.

This unimpressive update really is yesteryears technology, and the question should be asked to as why this wasn’t already available.

The next update is the function of scheduling emails for the future.

This is hardly an innovative feature, and this technology has been around for quite a long time.

The biggest headscratcher Cook delivered to Apple investors was Apple’s foray into short-term loans in Apple Wallet.

This year, Apple introduced a buy now, pay later feature called Apple Pay Later.

Apple has been adamant about how it plans to stay above the low-level businesses.

They don’t want to go into the scummy type of cash flow projects like selling data and so on or pawnbroker (or do they?)

Well, this is almost the same level.

Buy now, pay later is akin to payday loans, but interest isn’t charged on these loans unless payments are late.

The exorbitant interest rates kick in and consumers will find themselves in big debts to Cook’s company.

They are now a de facto debt collector.

I never thought Apple would sink this low, which reflects the dearth of new revenue drivers.  

The other updates also smack of desperation, like different ways to control notifications and “use your iPhone as a webcam.”

More surveillance technology and nitpicking in controls are not what I define as top-level innovation.

Investors must question what Cook is really doing wrong.

Cook has essentially had 15 years to bring to market the next killer product and surely, he’s had teams in the office to figure something out.

Perhaps he didn’t want to spend the CAPEX.

Nothing has materialized and Apple consumers get new lock screens and updated notification control.

I would encourage consumers to take advantage of the diversity and superior price points of PCs and Android smartphones.

The stock is down almost 30% from its high and if oil is elevated which exerts pressure on high interest rate expectations, I can’t imagine there is a ton of upside in the stock short-term.