Apple’s next big thing – The Wall Street Journal
DUBLIN – After riding the Mac wave and then the iPhone wave, it's time for Apple to find its Next Big Thing. Analysts are agreed on that point. As smartphone sales growth tapers off and low-cost options come more and more into focus, it's clear that the iPhone is firmly in what my first-year business textbooks called the cash-cow phase of its life. The mobile devices are an enormously profitable line and generate giant wads of cash for Apple, but right now, that cash is mostly just lying around, occasionally used for a share buyback or a small acquisition, but ultimately doing no one any good. What Apple needs is something promising to invest in. Many believe that this something promising is Services – the fast-growing revenue line that includes Apple Music and other subscription services. But this article argues for something different: wearables. In some ways, it does seem like wearables – be they smart watches or augmented reality glasses – are the next logical step in tech. Yet so far, no one has really created the next must-have device. Nevertheless, if anyone can do it, it's Apple, and the this author's argument is an interesting one. – Felicity Duncan
By Christopher Mims
(The Wall Street Journal) We are entering the third age of Apple.A PC company first, and now very much the trillion-dollar iPhone company, Apple Inc. is evidently in search of its next big thing. Speculation about what that might be runs rampant every time a new Apple skunkworks project is revealed, be it a self-driving car, a health-care push or a pair of augmented-reality goggles.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___