Hypercritical

Apple’s 2013 To-Do List

February 2, 2013 at 10:39 PM by John Siracusa

I didn’t just lead Apple to a record quarterly profit of $13.1 billion on sales of $54.5 billion, so I don’t expect to be consulted. But were Tim to ask me, here’s what I would tell him Apple should do in 2013—in broad strokes, and in no particular order. (We’ve got people to work out the details—right, Tim?) This is not a fantasy wish list. These are things I think Apple can and should do this year. This list is not exhaustive.

Ship OS X 10.9. Last year, Apple announced OS X’s move to an annual release cycle. Lion was released in 2011; Mountain Lion followed in 2012. Two points may make a line, but it’ll take three points to fulfill this promise. As tired as I get just thinking about writing another OS X review, it’s time to do it all over again. (Big cat name optional.)
Ship iOS 7. Apple’s mobile platform started out way ahead of the competition, and it’s stayed ahead thanks to relentless iteration: six releases in six years. Apple can’t let up now. What’s left to do in iOS? Plenty.
Diversify the iPhone product line. There needs to be more than one iPhone. Selling models from previous years at a discount is no longer good enough. Apple can make more attractive phones at similar prices if they’re purpose-built using modern parts and processes. Margins may go down, but sales will go up. Apple has done this before, with the Mac, the iPod, and now the iPad. It’s the iPhone’s turn. Cheaper, smaller, bigger, or multiple combinations of these attributes—it doesn’t matter. Write it down, Tim: more new iPhones in 2013.
Keep the iPad on track. Ship some new, slimmer, faster, lighter iPads, just like everyone expects. Cheaper wouldn’t hurt either. The mini was a great start. Now ditch the iPad 2 and make a new model to fill that role, if necessary. (A larger, more powerful “iPad Pro” would also be great, but this year is probably too soon.)
Introduce more, better Retina Macs. The first Retina MacBook Pro had a GPU that could barely handle all the pixels it was asked to push. Burn-in was also an issue. This year, the available CPU, GPU, and display options should make the existing 13- and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros look like the first-generation MacBook Air: technical marvels, but also compromises that we’ll soon be happy to forget. Oh, and a Retina display on a non-laptop Mac would be nice too.
Make Messages work correctly. Apple’s iMessage service is rapidly approaching MobileMe levels of undesirable brand association. Fix it in 2013, or be ready for an iCloud-like rebrand/relaunch in 2014. Speaking of which…
Make iCloud better. iCloud beats the pants off MobileMe, but it’s still got plenty of room for improvement. Google should be the reliability and performance target. Decide which technologies and APIs under the giant umbrella term “iCloud” are working well, and fix or deprecate the ones that are not.
Resurrect iLife and iWork. Both application suites are in desperate need of some serious attention. The last new release of iLife was two years ago; iWork hasn’t had a major revision in four years. People still use these apps. Abandoning them is not an option (yet).
Reassure Mac Pro lovers. Fans of the Mac Pro did not get the new machine they wanted in 2012. After WWDC 2012, Tim Cook said, “Although we didn’t have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today’s event, don’t worry as we’re working on something really great for later next year.” As I’ve frequently noted, this statement is not a promise for a new Mac Pro, but merely for something that customers disappointed in the stagnant Mac Pro will consider “really great.” 2013 has not gotten off to a good start on that front, but the year is young. Wow me, Tim.
Do something about TV. After years of steadily ramping up its rhetoric, it’s time for Apple to put up or shut up about TV. Make an actual Apple TV set; allow third-party apps on a massively revised Apple TV box; buy Netflix; whatever—you decide, Tim. I agree, it’s a hard problem and a tough market. But it’s time for action.

Should be a cinch, right? Too bad there are only two items on this list that will help Apple’s stock price recover from its calamitous 35% drop over the past four months. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.