Has Apple Become an Innovation Zombie?

"I think is a reminder to everyone in business that you have to keep innovating and that to not innovate is to die" said Tim in an interview. As the hype of yesterday’s Apple launch event is now over, I could not help but think: has Apple become an innovation zombie with its new iPhone7 & 7 Plus? Let’s take a look at the event highlights and rate if they are a zombie or not:

The iPhone 7 & 7 Plus

Evolutionary? A yes. Innovation zombie? A definite YES! All that leaks you heard beforehand is true and sadly, Apple’s launch event did not take the iPhone a step further by even trying to make it more meaningful or ground-breaking. All that was mentioned was undoubtedly great features that only went on to improve what Apple’s iPhone already have.

Camera Features

Sure, the new 12-megapixel camera is something we have never seen on an iPhone before and we’ll never really know how good it is till we get our hands on it. But mind you, countless of other Android phones has done this so, this is definitely NOT a ground-breaking feature. Not to mention its new software will be made available to most iPhones with the next update. For now, it might be ideal to find out ways how to get the iPhone 7’s feature without needing to upgrade.

Apple’s No Headphone Jack

Revolutionary? A definite no. Though I personally believe going wireless is the future, Apple’s AirPods is nothing but gimmickry. What I saw from the launch event was Apple’s attempt to sell its Airpods by eliminating the headphone jack. A general consensus from the new Bluetooth earphone was that felt exactly like Apple’s wired earphone minus the wires. Glass half full; I appreciate Apple’s plans to further accelerate the wireless vision but Apple is an Innovation Zombie with this.

As rightly mentioned by Phil (Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing), Apple is courageous with this move as it would surely create much difficulty, danger, pain & fear with this move.

Super Mario Run & Other Features

Among the great surprises from the announcement is Nintendo’s entry into mobile gaming. Vowing never to enter this arena, Nintendo is somewhat contradicting their own words. Maybe something about Pokemon Go changed their stance in this. Though I am looking forward to try this out (with an Android!), I personally doubt they might stand out against countless other running games like Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Sonic Dash and many MILLION others!

Comparing with other greats phones within similar specs & pricing, the iPhone stands out only for its internal storage variety, rear & front facing cameras and probably with its improved durability against water & dust. But overall it is definitely not strikingly outstanding among the competition.

Should Apple still consider themselves innovative?

Topping The Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Most Innovative Companies list every year since it began in 2005, Apple was the thought leader & provider of innovations to peoples around the world. Nobody can dispute Apple’s ground-breaking innovations back in the days with products such as the first mass-produced Macintosh I & II, the first iPhones, iPod, MacBooks as well as great software like its retina display, iTunes, Siri, multi-touch and many others.

But that is the past and now towards the end of 2016, is Apple still innovative? Though BCG rates them very high (first) for the past years, take note they rank innovation based on:

• 60% of the ranking is influenced by 1,500 senior executives from a wide variety of industries around the world; voting on who they thought is the most innovative company both within and outside their fields.
• 40% of the ranking takes account of each company’s five-year growth in total shareholder return.

To sum it up, BCG’s methodology rates companies in a backward-looking point of view rather than its contributions for future innovation.

Forbes conducted a study on to rank forward-looking innovators and Apple ranks 282nd place. Not to mention that Apple ranks only at 11th place in the top companies by number of patents granted in 2015.

As I repeat Tim’s statement saying "to everyone in business, you have to keep innovating and not to innovate is to die". One wonders: is Apple dead now? Would Steve Jobs approve of Apple’s current level of innovation zombification?

I am Jeremy and am currently residing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My interests includes Formula 1 (Team McLaren), Badminton, Church (Kingdomcity), Music (Vocalist & Electric Guitarist) & values good relationships. Jeremy is interested in topics per