By Matthew Gault<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I might finally buy an iPhone now that Apple has been taken down a peg.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n![\"Apple](\"https:\/\/images.unsplash.com\/photo-1673713234831-bff865b62328?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDR8fGlwaG9uZSUyMGNyYWNrfGVufDB8fHx8MTc5MzMwMTg1Nnww&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000\")
Photo by Joseph Sharp<\/a> \/ Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMy ears perked up when I heard Apple\u2019s new foldable phones were cracking<\/u><\/a>. I licked my lips when the company announced it\u2019s releasing a touch-screen laptop<\/u><\/a>. This was a company that once charged $19 for a polishing cloth<\/u><\/a>, asked $200 for a VESA mount<\/u><\/a>, and sold $700 wheels for the Mac Pro. Now it\u2019s borrowing tired ideas from its competitors and launching hardware its previous leaders rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe once dominant company is struggling to find its feet in an AI-driven post-Tim Cook world. John Ternus is the new CEO<\/u><\/a> \u2014 a 25 year veteran of the company with a track record of pushing harebrained hardware schemes like the much reviled Touch Bar<\/u><\/a> and lawsuit inducing<\/u><\/a> butterfly keyboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWith Ternus at the helm, I feel there\u2019s a good chance Apple\u2019s best days are behind it, that it will have to make do with less, that it\u2019s d\u00e9class\u00e9. Apple, blindsided by AI and relying on crowdpleasing hardware gimmicks, is downwardly mobile. It\u2019s in its slop era. The company that once asked consumers to \u201cThink Different\u201d<\/u><\/a> is now releasing hardware that\u2019s just like everything else on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\nApple is not adjusting to this new position well. AI boosters agree that Siri AI is awful. Apple HomeView is a $300 Apple Watch meant to replace the family hearth<\/u><\/a>. The iPhone Duo has only been out for a few days and all people can talk about is the cracks, yet Ternus is on the cover of Time Magazine this week holding the folding iPhone Duo and staring at the camera. \u201cThe other examples in the world felt kind of cheap and crappy,\u201d Ternus told Time<\/u><\/a>. Many people holding cracked iPhone Duos this week are learning just what (not) cheap and crappy looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFlailing from crackgate, Apple announced the launch of a touch-screen laptop, an idea Steve Jobs extensively tested and said \u201cdoesn\u2019t work<\/u><\/a>,\u201d an idea Cook once compared to combining a toaster with a refrigerator<\/u><\/a>. What\u2019s next? What if the toaster-refigerator folded? Ternus has been trying to make an 18-inch foldable iPad happen for years<\/u><\/a>. Maybe Apple will solve the screen cracking issues by then. Or maybe Ternus will continue to try to put a hat on a hat<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI have been waiting for this moment for more than a decade. I am relishing Apple\u2019s recent trajectory more than I should. I confess I harbor a secret and petty grudge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2010, when Apple released the iPhone 4 I was working as a floor manager at a Banana Republic in Dallas. I was interested in smart phones, of course, but Dallas is an expensive city and the iPhone was a luxury. I made do with my Motorola Razr<\/u><\/a>. But the suit-wearing middle management retail psychopaths that were my coworkers saw my lack of an iPhone as a weakness. It was not, as they say now, On Brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI had started at the store in the stock room, working my way up to manage the backroom before ascending to a coveted position on the sales floor. The other managers made it clear that a Razr was a \u201cbackroom\u201d phone and someone in a prominent position on the floor needed to be seen using an iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first, I was not told<\/em> to buy an iPhone. The message came in the form of subtle and not so subtle bullying deployed over weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cStill using that old phone?\u201d they\u2019d say.\u201cDidn\u2019t you get a raise?\u201d someone would ask a week later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTry not to use that thing<\/em> on the sales floor,\u201d one co-worker told me, pointing at my Razr. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to project a certain image here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe social pressure had the opposite of its intended effect. I resisted. Eventually one of the friendlier managers pulled me aside. He told me that my colleagues thought it was weird that I didn’t have an iPhone. He said I needed to buy one to fit in and he said the store could give me an advance on my paycheck to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My ears perked up when I heard Apple\u2019s new foldable phones were cracking<\/u><\/a>. I licked my lips when the company announced it\u2019s releasing a touch-screen laptop<\/u><\/a>. This was a company that once charged $19 for a polishing cloth<\/u><\/a>, asked $200 for a VESA mount<\/u><\/a>, and sold $700 wheels for the Mac Pro. Now it\u2019s borrowing tired ideas from its competitors and launching hardware its previous leaders rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The once dominant company is struggling to find its feet in an AI-driven post-Tim Cook world. John Ternus is the new CEO<\/u><\/a> \u2014 a 25 year veteran of the company with a track record of pushing harebrained hardware schemes like the much reviled Touch Bar<\/u><\/a> and lawsuit inducing<\/u><\/a> butterfly keyboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Ternus at the helm, I feel there\u2019s a good chance Apple\u2019s best days are behind it, that it will have to make do with less, that it\u2019s d\u00e9class\u00e9. Apple, blindsided by AI and relying on crowdpleasing hardware gimmicks, is downwardly mobile. It\u2019s in its slop era. The company that once asked consumers to \u201cThink Different\u201d<\/u><\/a> is now releasing hardware that\u2019s just like everything else on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apple is not adjusting to this new position well. AI boosters agree that Siri AI is awful. Apple HomeView is a $300 Apple Watch meant to replace the family hearth<\/u><\/a>. The iPhone Duo has only been out for a few days and all people can talk about is the cracks, yet Ternus is on the cover of Time Magazine this week holding the folding iPhone Duo and staring at the camera. \u201cThe other examples in the world felt kind of cheap and crappy,\u201d Ternus told Time<\/u><\/a>. Many people holding cracked iPhone Duos this week are learning just what (not) cheap and crappy looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flailing from crackgate, Apple announced the launch of a touch-screen laptop, an idea Steve Jobs extensively tested and said \u201cdoesn\u2019t work<\/u><\/a>,\u201d an idea Cook once compared to combining a toaster with a refrigerator<\/u><\/a>. What\u2019s next? What if the toaster-refigerator folded? Ternus has been trying to make an 18-inch foldable iPad happen for years<\/u><\/a>. Maybe Apple will solve the screen cracking issues by then. Or maybe Ternus will continue to try to put a hat on a hat<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have been waiting for this moment for more than a decade. I am relishing Apple\u2019s recent trajectory more than I should. I confess I harbor a secret and petty grudge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2010, when Apple released the iPhone 4 I was working as a floor manager at a Banana Republic in Dallas. I was interested in smart phones, of course, but Dallas is an expensive city and the iPhone was a luxury. I made do with my Motorola Razr<\/u><\/a>. But the suit-wearing middle management retail psychopaths that were my coworkers saw my lack of an iPhone as a weakness. It was not, as they say now, On Brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had started at the store in the stock room, working my way up to manage the backroom before ascending to a coveted position on the sales floor. The other managers made it clear that a Razr was a \u201cbackroom\u201d phone and someone in a prominent position on the floor needed to be seen using an iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, I was not told<\/em> to buy an iPhone. The message came in the form of subtle and not so subtle bullying deployed over weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStill using that old phone?\u201d they\u2019d say.\u201cDidn\u2019t you get a raise?\u201d someone would ask a week later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTry not to use that thing<\/em> on the sales floor,\u201d one co-worker told me, pointing at my Razr. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to project a certain image here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The social pressure had the opposite of its intended effect. I resisted. Eventually one of the friendlier managers pulled me aside. He told me that my colleagues thought it was weird that I didn’t have an iPhone. He said I needed to buy one to fit in and he said the store could give me an advance on my paycheck to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n