For a while now there’s been a suspicion among users of Apple phones that older models (ie, any model which isn’t the very latest one) are experiencing slow downs.

It produced one of those “dark” conspiracies that Apple was purposely doing this to people who had older models of their phones to essentially encourage them to spend their money on the latest models.

Apple outright denied this for a while, stating that if the phones are experiencing any lag in their processing it was due to other factors.  The phone’s processor was an older model and today there’s so much more processing that need be done.  Or perhaps it was related to the wireless services people were using, etc. etc.

Well, turns out the dark conspiracy wasn’t all that dark after all.  this article, by Ivana Kottasová and presented on CNN, pulls the curtains to reveal…

Apple: Yes we’re slowing down older iPhones

You know, as I sit here typing this line, I feel a sense of rage building in me that’s all too damn familiar.

I like Apple products.  I’ve noted this before.  I really like my iPad and use it quite a lot during the course of the day.  I love the Apple pencil and I love the artwork I can do on it.  I love the fact that I have my music available for me (I do not, however, use iTunes).  I love that I can see my films or read a ton of books I’ve purchased (again, none of this through Apple).

Further, I have an Apple iPhone 6 and I’ve had it for several years now and haven’t felt the need to upgrade at all.

Despite using these two Apple products, I’ve always been leery of the company.  As good as they are, under the reign of Steve Jobs I’ve always felt that there was a mentality of extreme capitalism at work within them.  Sure, they released some dynamite products, but there was always this claim that their products were so sophisticated and advanced and original which, of course, more often than not they weren’t.  Much of the functionality present in Apple products was created by other companies but, to Apple’s extreme credit, they managed to polish these products and make them just about as good as they could be.

But the Faustian bargain for those buying into the products is that you were expected to keep buying them, often being tempted only a year down the line with newer, better versions of something you already had.

I recall many years ago when the iPods were released and my daughters wanted them desperately.  I bought two of them for Christmas, the then lastest models, and my daughters were thrilled to death to get them.

But a month or so later and into the new year, it was announced a new version of iPods would be released and they, unlike the ones I just spent my hard earned money on, would have cameras on them to take pictures (natch) and which could also be used for video conferencing between people who had them.

I was livid.

As I said, I spent my hard earned money on a product Apple was at that time promoting the living hell out of when they knew full well that a better version of the same was about to be released.  They were essentially making suckers of their clients in the hopes of selling out whatever stock was left in their warehouses before it was discontinued.

But even before that, I was never impressed with their annual conference/sales pitch for their latest products.  In my eyes, it reduced Steve Jobs (who, until his death was the headliner) into essentially being a slick used car salesman.  Now, make no mistake: I was clearly in the minority here as many in the tech world and outside it tuned in eagerly to hear what was new.

Yet it felt to me like too much of a sales pitch and, thus, made me suspicious.

After Steve Jobs’ death, I wondered how Apple would survive.  Like or loath him, Jobs was Apple, and the success of the company was attributable -despite my personal reservations- to his hard work and salesmanship.

Today, it seems to me Apple as a company is either status quo or slipping slightly.  The technology they sell has reached something of a plateau and huge innovations (like that damned camera on the iPod) aren’t coming as fast as before.

Returning to the story linked to above, one can’t help but get angry at the idea that this massive, so damn profitable company may be resorting to tricks such as slowing older phone models down.  According to the article, Apple states that there is no nefarious reason for the slowdowns they initiated, that this has to do with the older lithium batteries that need to be treated differently or else the phone will shut off.  Or something…

Sure now.

If they’re so worried about how the lithium batteries function, why design a phone that doesn’t allow you to pull out and swap batteries?  I mean, if the battery is even the problem to begin with.

Because there are going to be a hell of a lot of people who are going to believe the slowdown is designed for one reason and one reason only: To get people frustrated with their older phones and make them want to spend money on the latest models.

In spite of my anger, truth be told I don’t see myself giving up my iPad at this moment, especially considering how new it is.  However, given the age of my phone, when the time comes and it needs to be replaced, and given articles like the one above, I’m going to think long and hard about whether I’ll replace my phone with another Apple iPhone.  In fact, at this moment I’d say the odds are low that I will bother with another iPhone.

And a few years down the line and when the time comes when I need to replace my tablet, there’s a good chance I’ll be looking around for alternatives there as well.

That is, if Apple continues down this particular road.

I’ve noted before how much I love new technology.  I’m always on the lookout for new products and love reading reviews of the same.

Not everything out there is worth buying, of course.  I can’t quite see the need to have, for example, this…

Don’t get me wrong, the “Family Hub” refrigerator may be a great product and all but…seriously, neither my wife nor I -together or separately- spend the sort of time in the kitchen area one would need to to actually use something like this.

For many years, Apple has been the golden child of technology.  Their iPhone, let’s face it, is THE phone to have for many, even though the Samsung models -and the big black eye they received with the Galaxy Note 7- are nonetheless is doing quite alright in terms of sales and market share, thankyouverymuch.

As I’ve also noted before, I’ve been around long enough to know that just because your company is big/huge now doesn’t mean you’ll stay there.

When I was very young, Atari was THE video game system.  Everyone had it.  Everyone loved it.  And for a while there it seemed Atari could do no wrong.

Until, that is, competitors came and stole Atari’s thunder with better products and games.  Atari, that dominant behemoth of the video game world, fell into disarray and, while the name still exists on certain products, the original company is long gone.

When smartphones started to come along, there was plenty of competition until one name rose above them all: Blackberry.

These phones were so popular that people dubbed them “Crackberrys” because one could not be without them.

Well, the Apple iPhone came along and Blackberry had no answer.  Eventually, the company folded and no more Blackberrys are being made

But as big a company as Apple has become, I’ve noted there are troubles brewing.  The death of Steve Jobs, the company’s co-founder and guiding light, certainly had to affect the company’s direction.  Yet the iPhones were still doing well and the iPads were/are pretty damn great products and even their computers were doing well–

–Until:

Apple’s newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports

When the reports of the newest MacBooks were released, I was, as I always am with new products, interested in reading what was new and interesting in them.  Turned out there was one thing, it seemed, worth mentioning: The newest MacBook Pro laptop had a…touchbar?!

This graphic shows you what the touchbar does.  It effectively offers you a touchable bar (duh) where you can put shortcut keys or emojis or whatever you want to aid in whatever you’re doing.

Frankly, I was bewildered.

It just seems so…minor…a thing to add.  What about making the entire screen touchable?  It’s not like that doesn’t exist already in so many models of computers like, say, the Surface…

I genuinely thought the new MacBooks would go the Surface route.  I mean, the iPad effectively is an intermediary already.  Why not go the full route with the MacBooks?

Yet this was not done.

But according to the above article, Consumer Reports was particularly bothered by inconsistent battery charge in these MacBooks.  Consumer Reports wrote (this is quoted in the article):

The MacBook Pro battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next.

For instance, in a series of three consecutive tests, the 13-inch model with the Touch Bar ran for 16 hours in the first trial, 12.75 hours in the second, and just 3.75 hours in the third. The 13-inch model without the Touch Bar worked for 19.5 hours in one trial but only 4.5 hours in the next. And the numbers for the 15-inch laptop ranged from 18.5 down to 8 hours. 

Yikes.

I mean, if you need your laptop for work and you can’t charge it and are expecting to get at least six hours of work in…its understandable if you’re very frustrated if 4 hours into whatever you’re doing the battery in your MacBook is down to nothing.  Especially if previously its given you 10 plus hours.

Apple remains a very big, influential, and admired company and there isn’t a reason (yet anyway) to think they’re about to go down like Atari or Blackberry did.  However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t danger.

They need to focus on improving their products and, frankly, making sure these types of glitches don’t occur again.

Otherwise, they may well join the ranks of the once mighty.

For the past I-don’t-know-how-many years when one talked about sophisticated and popular electronics, one of the first companies you mentioned in that respect was Apple.

But even the mighty Apple appears, at least of late, to be experiencing problems and this has translated to its stock recently losing ground.  What is the cause of these problems and is it a sign of bad things to come?  Paul R. La Monica for CNN.com explores these issues and possible ways the prestigious company can rectify its current difficulties:

What’s Wrong With Apple?

For myself, reading an article like this is seeing history repeat itself.  I’ve written several times before about the rise of the Personal Computer (PC) and the way I (and many others) back in the early days of home computers bought just about every new iteration of the PC because each was so much better than the model which preceded it (you can read the post here).  The end result was a super-hot marketplace where computer companies made fortunes on each new model, especially when it boasted faster and faster processors.

So too it would appear it is with Apple and their most popular product, the iPhone.

The iPhone was a watershed device, and that’s saying something considering how many cellular phone models were out there at the time of its unveiling.  Most were rudimentary but one stood out: The Blackberry.

You remember the Blackberry?  People absolutely loved that device and couldn’t be without it.  They loved it so much it was jokingly referred to it as a “Crackberry”.

A year or so after the release of the iPhone and despite attempts to modernize the product (including having color screens and touchscreen functions), the Blackberry was essentially done.  The smartphone of choice became the iPhone or something that rivaled it in terms of functionality.

While one can argue about just how “original” an iPhone is/was, Apple delivered a stable, beautiful product that many found hard to ignore.  Demand for it was through the roof.

With each new iPhone model released, we had more/better at our fingertips, not unlike those PCs of yesteryear.  Better processors, better batteries, better screens, better cameras, more gizmos.  You name it.

With each new iPhone model’s release, you would find incredibly long lines of Apple fanatics at those Apple stores waiting sometimes overnight to be the first to get their hands on those shiny new models when they were officially released.

And then, just like the PC, Apple hit its ceiling and the iPhone reached something of a plateau.

Look, I’m not saying there isn’t room for improvement.  One could always improve a phone’s batter or camera or get a still faster/better processor.  But the changes now, just as what occurred with the PC back then, are smaller and more subtle.  It’s been a while now since I’ve seen news stories about consumers waiting in lines overnight to be the first to get the shiny new iPhone model.  The fact is that the “old” model they have may be perfectly fine and they no longer need to get the newest version.

As I stated in that original PC article, following the release of the Pentium processor I realized the desktop computer I had was perfectly fine.  While I had been buying a new computer practically every year, I had my previous computer for over six years without needing to replace it.  Last year I finally did but not because I felt I needed an “upgrade”.  I did so because my old PC was starting to show signs of its age and glitching on me.  Because I need a computer to do my work, I decided to be proactive and get a new model before my current one suddenly died on me.

With the iPhone, Apple is trying to maintain peoples’ excitement for their new model phones but truly the changes are not all that earth-shattering.  If anything, one of their most recent “changes”, releasing a smaller iPhone like they used to have, appear regressive.

The ultimate arbiters of all things technological in my family, ie my daughters, love their iPhones and wouldn’t be caught dead without them in hand.  At one time they had a model 5 and, when the model 6 appeared, they were desperate to upgrade.  We did so and they’ve had the model 6 for close to a year now.  In that time, the model 6s has debuted and my daughters are keenly aware of it yet have absolutely no interest in upgrading.

They’re fine with what they have, just as I was fine with the PC I had for all those years.  Just as I suspect many iPhone users are fine with the model they currently have, even if it may not be the latest version of the iPhone.

Unless the next generation model iPhone, 7, really wows, I suspect we’ll not see those big lines to buy it.  At that point, Apple may have to find some other product to supplant the one that’s been, until recent times, their goose that lays the golden eggs.

I’ve commented before regarding articles about the slow-down in sales of desktop computers and, going hand-in-hand with this, the idea that desktop computers may be falling out of favor or *gasp* disappearing.

I’ve noted that I don’t believe that to be the case.  There are plenty of professionals out there (me included) who absolutely need a desktop computer to do all our stuff on.  In my case, writing, Excel, Photoshop, etc.  I have a Surface which allows me to do some of that stuff as well and also carry around an iPad which I use mostly to quickly check my email and do some web-surfing when I’m away from my main computer(s).

The thing about the desktop computer sales slowdown, in my opinion, lies in the fact that these computers have gotten too good.  There used to be a time when you had to upgrade your computer, often each year, because the new model was so much better than the previous model.  For the past five plus years, however, this is simply not the case.  The processors haven’t become significantly faster.  The operating systems haven’t needed significantly better systems.  Worse -at least for the PC makers- is the fact that these computers can last years without needing to be replaced.

Thus, there simply is no cause to buy a new one if you are happy with your “old” system.

Along those lines, there has been much speculation, following Apple’s “all time record earnings” reported last Tuesday, that the company may be, despite this normally good news, in decline.

Over on Slate.com Will Oremus goes into this:

Apple May Have Peaked in 2015

I believe Apple is experiencing (or is about to experience) exactly what the desktop computer market has experienced.  Apple’s growth, to my mind, was based on each year coming out with a significantly “better” iPhone or iPad or what-have-you and they have now reached a point where there is no significant innovation to be made upward.

Sure, their new phones may have some interesting new tweaks, but the reality is that this is all these new phones have: relatively minor tweaks.  In effect, people can hang on to their “old” phones much longer now without feeling the need to replace them and, as the article above notes, Apple’s bread and butter (and bottom line) relies on the success of their phones.

So if their phones have gotten to the point where people may not feel the need to replace them each year (thus bringing in staggering amounts of cash), will their profits not take a hit?  Add to that the fact that China’s market is falling and you have the very real possibility of Apple getting their first major negative news in a very long time.

The people who love Apple and their products may scoff, but I remember not so very long ago that people absolutely loved their Blackberry phones and wouldn’t part with them.  So  much so the running joke was that the phones should be called “Crack-berries”.

The mighty can, and have, fallen.

Hilarious (and foul mouthed) article by Kyle Wagner regarding yesterday’s Apple extravaganza:

A Layman’s Guide to the new iPhones, and Apple’s Other Crap

Perhaps its because of all these years of people genuflecting before the almighty Apple, but I get a chuckle whenever the proverbial worm turns (I suppose that’s a pun?).

Seriously, I use Apple products and see their value but I don’t get the crazed, breathless love some people have for the products.

If there is one constant in this universe it’s this: If you or your company somehow manage to climb to the very peak of the mountain and succeed beyond your wildest dreams, be weary.  Be weary because it is only a matter of time before you’re knocked from your perch.

Apple has led a truly charmed life these past few years.  What started in the very late 1970’s and early 1980’s as a fascinating home computer company that then floundered and nearly died with the rise of the PC and Microsoft only to become renewed with the iPod, iPhone, etc. etc. has now, apparently, reached that lofty king of the hill point…and it looks like the knives are being sharpened.

Yesterday, Apple had one of their big tech announcement events and, this time around, it appears it elicited more snark than “oohhs” and “aaahs”.

Why?

Perhaps in part this is due to the fact that many are catching on to Apple’s propensity to “borrow” (ahem) technological concepts already created/used by others and then make a big show of touting them as their very own.

Others may note that Apple has been doing this for years, yet fans of the company inevitably defend Apple by say something along the lines of “Yeah, but Apple took concept X and refined it to make it great!”

This line of thinking certainly worked for quite a while, but it seems as if the Emperor is finally being exposed for what s/he is.

In the case of yesterday’s event, one which I was curious about (I’m always interested to see what tech companies such as Apple have coming), I found reaction articles were generally muted.  Many fell along the lines of this one, written by Will Oremus for Slate.com:

All The Revolutionary Products Apple Just Announced, And Who They Copied Them From

The piece is well written and rather devastating in that it points out exactly what each “new” Apple product is…and what identical products are out there -some for years- that do the very same thing.

But the criticism may be the result of another thing, something I’ve felt for a bit now: We’re reaching something of a technological plateau where it comes to computers, phones, video gaming systems, and, yes, even software.

A couple of years ago people were writing about the “end of the desktop PC”.  I scoffed at these stories.  Sure, the sales of desktop PCs were indeed down, but I felt the reason for that was extremely obvious: The desktop PC had reached a technological plateau and there simply was NO NEED to trade in your old PC for a new one as the old one was perfectly good to use for many years.

As I noted in other blog entries, when PCs first came out, each new generation was a genuinely BIG step forward and made your older model look like crap.  In effect, you needed to upgrade to the next version PC because the version you had was so obviously inferior to the new version that was just released.

But a number of years ago desktop PCs hit a level that made them good enough to last many years and, suddenly, new versions weren’t all that different from the “old” ones.  You no longer had the need to trade in the old to get the new.

In my case, I kept and used my desktop PC for over six years (a lifetime in tech years!) without needing to purchase a new model.  Nonetheless, I recently wound up buying a new desktop PC but only because the old computer started to show signs of glitching.  Nothing super serious but it was enough to get me to buy a new PC because the last thing I needed to do was get ready to get to work on my PC and find it was dead.

My purchase, thus, was preventative in nature rather than because I needed the newest “thing”.

And what did I get?  My new desktop PC is a higher end big name brand and while it is faster than my old PC and I’m pleased to have it, I freely admit it isn’t a quantum leap above my six year old model.  Indeed, if the old machine hadn’t started showing problems, I would still be using it.

So returning to Apple, the company has this problem: They are one of the kings of the tech hill right now and they have to keep show people they deserve to stay there.  It wasn’t all that long ago, remember, when Blackberry was the king of the hill with regard to smartphones while today they’re essentially extinct.

So Apple continues having these technological “presentations” to get and keep people’s interest in their products.  But unfortunately for them, we’re getting to the point where there isn’t all that much out there to brag about.

The biggest technological advance to come, in my opinion, is significantly extending battery life.  But that isn’t a “sexy” tech to present.

So Apple trots out all these “new” programs and acts as if they’re just that.  Unfortunately for them, the buying public has become more savy, and thus an event that is supposed to get you excited for the next wave of Apple tech…leaves people noting just how unoriginal the material presented is.