Throughout much of its other life , Apple made pressman . They were pretty good ! Hell , the original LaserWriter was a groundbreaking ceremony advancement in dwelling screen background publishing . finally , third - company printers with razor - thin profit allowance flood the market , and they worked fine with Macs , so it became a jester ’s errand for Apple to continue trying to make its own .
Apple Personal LaserWriter LS
Apple just should n’t hold on to everything it does forever , even if it ’s capable of work a proficient mathematical product . There comes a clock time when the company should re - evaluate the changing engineering landscape painting and trim the dead weight unit from its product lineup so it can concenter on new opportunity and reward what really act , just as it did with pressman andXserverack - mounted blade waiter .
Apple Personal LaserWriter LS
As Apple remain to grow into new areas ( like earpiece , streaming TV scheduling , and … car maybe ? ) , I meekly submit that it ’s fourth dimension to retire these five product .
AirPort routers
Believe it or not , Apple still sellsthree wireless router : TheAirPort Express , AirPort Extreme , andAirPort Time Capsule . The Express only plump for 802.11n and the other two reinforcement 802.11ac . When released , they offered competitive performance , but were held back by a frustrating want of circumstance with a really obnoxious interface .
Apple ’s AirPort Extreme is n’t a uncollectible router , but it ’s terribly out of day of the month .
Nothing has changed with these ware infive age . The Wi - Fi networking domain has since impress on to 802.11ad , and the new hotness is homemesh internet . If Apple ’s not pass to innovate in networking , it should just leave the market entirely .
Apple’s AirPort Extreme isn’t a bad router, but it’s terribly out of date.
In 2016 , it was bruit that Apple hadkilled off the wireless router division . With the importance of firmware update to router security ( especially the Time Capsule , which houses a net ton of your data ) , it seems irresponsible to continue sell three routers , two yr after the team developing them has been disband .
Frankly , routers were never really a good paroxysm for Apple ’s core competency : designing beautiful products that are easy to use . Routers are usually hidden away , and while they should be sluttish to set up , trouble-shoot the vast array of Wi - Fi enable products out there often necessitates accession to advanced setting . That ’s not really Apple ’s modus operandi .
I would make love to see Apple replace these routers with a new internet entrepot product . Instead of a router , Apple could make an low-priced , thickset , quiet , push - effective meshing attached computer storage ( NAS ) twist with hot - swappable driveway . It could store Time Machine backups , serve as a medium server , provide fast access to heavy data stores like video projects … all the things NAS boxes do today . Just plug away into your existing web via ethernet and you ’ve got a “ zero - shape ” way to store oodles of data point on your connection . Currently , the NAS marketplace seems to jump from “ hey this is basically just a USB hard driving ” to “ it’show bigand costshow much ? ” with few comme il faut option in - between . Apple could be the company to convince intermediate home users that a NAS fit into their life .
The iPod Touch is colorful, but aging its way out of relevance.
iPod touch
I know , I know … “ I love myiPod touch ! ” At the very least , it ’s an affordable way to give new kids an “ iPhone ” that is n’t really an iPhone , correct ?
But Apple clearly has no purpose of keeping the iPod bear on up to date . The current model has a really dated and crummy camera , a nearly four - year - onetime A8 processor , and a home button . That ’s proper , not TouchID , ahome button .
The iPod Touch is coloured , but aging its way out of relevance .
The Mac mini has vocal fans, but it has become a niche product that is neither competitive nor innovative.
It ’s like spending $ 200 to $ 300 for an iPhone 6 without any sort of cellular capability and no Apple Pay . Nobody wants their minor racking up a bunch of data charges , but it might be squeamish for them to have the ability to call you in an pinch , right ?
In the age of digital subscription music services , the need for “ iPod ” gadget to hold our music and run apps just is n’t there . And if you need a not - iPhone for your immature kids to apply apps , an affordable iPad is a much better choice . Even a refurbished old iPhone with a very circumscribed information plan would be a undecomposed theme ( if Apple would only get its paternal control sport up to speed ) .
Mac mini
TheMac minihas a small but vocal coterie of die - hard fans , many of whom seem to think it ’s a more democratic intersection than it really is . Die - toilsome Apple fancier are in love with the construct of a Mac they can buy for “ just ” $ 500 to use as a stream media server or accost up for their computer - illiterate parents to go over email . I get it . I just consider the Mac mini is a really poor expression of fulfilling those demand that , and that Apple clearly does n’t care about it much .
The Mac mini has vocal fans , but it has become a niche Cartesian product that is neither competitive nor innovative .
The Mac mini is old and overpriced . It ’s got an ancient processor , not enough random-access memory , and not enough storage . It ’s not even as low-priced as it seems once you start looking beyond the basic configuration and consider that you ’ll also need a keyboard , shiner or touchpad , and supervise to apply with it .
The iPad Mini meant a lot more when phones were smaller and iPad were heavier.
For those that want Mac minis to run as medium and depot servers , I subject that a novel NAS equipment would better service that purpose ( see AirPort routers , above ) , specially as Mac mini storage is so special in today ’s world of 1080p and 4 grand video . If what you desire is an affordable stall - alone Mac , I call up Apple should go one of two way : either give us something unfeignedly potent and modern ( an Apple interpretation of theIntel NUC ) or go the other room and innovate in portability .
Remember Intel’sCompute Stick ? That was a keen estimation that taper off out just before it have respectable . With Apple already so focused on wireless computer peripheral and cloud service , I think they could really make something of this idea .
I ’m not saying that I detest the Mac mini and all it digest for . I ’m saying Apple needs to either take it severely , delivering more introduction than just a simple spec protuberance , or drop it entirely . It ’s meter to fish or cut decoy .
iTunes has become the poster child for app bloat.
iPad mini
As we creep up on the third birthday of the iPad miniskirt 4 , the most recent iPad miniskirt , it ’s deserving call for the question : Who precisely is thisforanymore ?
When the iPad mini made its entry in 2012 , it made a lot of signified . The iPhone 5 , with its 4 - in show , was just too small for prolonged reading or telecasting watching . full-grown phone were not popular yet : the Galaxy Note was only a yr old and still a niche product . Phones were too low , and iPads were really big and heavy — too much to hold comfortably in one deal while reading an ebook .
The iPad Mini mean a muckle more when earphone were modest and iPad were heavy .
I love your product design, Apple, but a $200+ art book? Get over yourself.
But times have changed . All phones are much big now . TheiPhone 8 Plushas a 5.5 - inch exhibit ( the same size as the Galaxy Note II , free around the same fourth dimension as the iPad miniskirt ) . If you experience like you really need the iPad mini ’s larger 8 - inch exhibit , you might as well go for the full9.7 - column inch iPad , which weighs a destiny less than the iPad of 2012 and it supportsApple Pencil , further distinguishing it from the iPhone .
Apple only sells the 128 GB model of the iPad miniskirt 4 — a modest conceding for charging $ 70 more than the start price of themuchbetter 9.7 - inch iPad .
There is something to be said for having iOS devices at every conceivable presentation size , from 4 inch to 12.9 . But with telephone set let bigger and bezels getting small , this just is n’t a gap that really needs filling anymore . Reducing the overall size of it and weight of the regular iPad , without trimming the display sizing significantly , should be Apple ’s precedency from here on out .
iTunes
Yeah , you heard me : iTunes . iTunes has become a bloated , dumb , buggy , convoluted sight . It ’s a memory , it ’s a medicine management and playback app , it ’s internet radio , it ’s a podcast manager , it ’s a video player , it ’s a equipment handler , it ’s a level wax . What part as a simple music store now performs so many disparate single-valued function that it ’s crumbling under its own weight . It ’s prison term for iTunes to go .
iTunes has become the poster fry for app bloat .
I ’m not suggesting that Apple jettison all of iTunes ’ capabilities , heed you . I just suppose it ’s metre to supplant iTunes with a set of more focused applications .
Io supply a good floorplan for how to replace iTunes . It has fracture all of the iTunes features into : Music , TV , iTunes U , Podcasts , iBooks , and a very focus iTunes Store app just for purchase audio and video content .
On the Mac , Apple should break up iTunes into the same retinue of apps that have the same overall single-valued function , with the addition of a machine Manager utility program for execute local backups and freight firmware onto iOS machine . Apple could stash the utility program for add medicine to legacy iPod devices in the Music app ( perhaps surfacing it only when an iPod is connect ) . Apple does n’t require to repeat all of these apps on Windows — just Music , the depot , and the equipment Manager , really .
Not only would mirroring the iOS cortege of apps on Mac make it easy and more visceral to jumpstart between platforms , it would enable Modern Handoff scenarios that are n’t really potential today .
Given Apple ’s very ambitious foray intooriginal video content , the company is probably live on to need a more focused video recording app , anyway . On iOS and Apple TV , that may mean plainly rebranding and redesign the TV app , but on the desktop … well , the last thing iTunes necessitate is toalsobe the place you find what to see among hundreds of 60 minutes of original Apple programming . contented uncovering is already a bloated incubus in iTunes without supply yet another bed .
Killing off iTunes would doubtless be a heavy deal . Some sharpness - case feature film would likely go missing from the new apps , and hardcore fans would tweet about it non - stop . But there ’s elbow room more upside , with less harm to current substance abuser , than removing the headphone knave , and Apple had the “ courage ” to do that .
Honorable mention: Designed by Apple in California
This is such a small , niche product that it hardly seems worth mentioning . But if there ’s an image problem with Apple , it ’s that the company appears to have and overwrought sense of ego - importance . Some people find that Apple nurture an unearned sensing that it never makes a mistake , never produces any product that is anything less than a unflawed workplace of art .
I have sex your product invention , Apple , but a $ 200 + art rule book ? Get over yourself .
It ’s the kind of mental attitude that anyone who has ever used an Apple mouse can tell you is hilariously off - base . Should Apple learn to show a fiddling humility ? Perhaps . But it ’s not doing itself any party favour by producing anart ledger that costs $ 200 or $ 300(depending on the sizing ) that is nothing but page after page of pretty photos of its own product . No words , no “ this was our thinking behind these designs ” explanation .
Just a comically overpriced book that exists as if to say , “ our products are so amazing that simply looking at them will bring you and your familyhundreds of dollarsworth of joy ! ”
