I guess pushing up prices has been a good short term strategy - but there is no ‘killer’ or significant game changer product on the horizon. Both the original ipod and iphone (and to some extent ipad) were innovative products in their day, building on a backbone of high performance PCs - but in reality innovation has been lacklustre for the last 5 years.

And that isn't just true about Apple either. Microsoft haven't been exactly innovative apart from a few gui tweaks - buts it is probably harder for Microsoft as traditionally they haven't been a major hardware provider - albeit that changed slightly with the surface range.

I can't really comment on the gaming sector as computer gaming leaves me cold - but apart from VR/AR which I don't believe has really taken off, most ‘gaming’ products seem to have some spurious claimed enhancement ‘for gamers’ to justify a 15 to 25 percent hike rise. And when innovation in motherboards seems to be based on who has the flashiest RGB - you can see how desperate manufacturers are becoming.

All IMHO of course :)

peterb
I guess pushing up prices has been a good short term strategy - but there is no ‘killer’ or significant game changer product on the horizon. Both the original ipod and iphone (and to some extent ipad) were innovative products in their day, building on a backbone of high performance PCs - but in reality innovation has been lacklustre for the last 5 years.

And that isn't just true about Apple either. Microsoft haven't been exactly innovative apart from a few gui tweaks - buts it is probably harder for Microsoft as traditionally they haven't been a major hardware provider - albeit that changed slightly with the surface range.

I can't really comment on the gaming sector as computer gaming leaves me cold - but apart from VR/AR which I don't believe has really taken off, most ‘gaming’ products seem to have some spurious claimed enhancement ‘for gamers’ to justify a 15 to 25 percent hike rise. And when innovation in motherboards seems to be based on who has the flashiest RGB - you can see how desperate manufacturers are becoming.

All IMHO of course :)

gaming industry is in a dark place at the moment imo. This could be summed up as (mostly) corporate greed.

- GPU manufacturer, Nvidia is all about profits; bringing incremental updates, charging ludicrous price for their products and treating customers like idiots with their empty marketing blurb that never materialise in real world.
- Most games these days are build around microtransactions and addictive practises (commonly used in gambling), everything else (story, fun factor) has little to no importance. So you get these nice looking but boring and retarded games that look like carbon copy. Ubisoft, 2k, EA are the main corporations that are killing the industry with their cut throat greedy approach; buying off small developers and killing their ideas with their own corporate greed.
- VR is in diapers. Software just isn't there yet. Hardware is still basic.

There are some good games out there; Total War Warhammer, Life is Strange 1, Pillars of Eternity, Hellblade, Dirt Rally, Ori and the blind forest. But the amount of $rap out there that tries to just to get your money and giving you just an empty shell is enormous.

Gaming peripherals, albeit expensive definitely evolved in the last few years. mechanical keyboards of all sort, gaming mouse, gsync monitors with high refresh rates. and RGB bling.

The fact that companies like Apple report these immense profits is a clear evidence that we (as a society / human beings) are in a dark place too….Instead of spending our money on something of true value we are fooled with ‘cleverly’ designed marketing tricks (that very often push our prime basic instincts), giving away our hard earned money to billionaires who are laughing all the way to the bank. I'm sure there is a connection between people getting fed up with status quo (and turning right wing) and doing idiotic things like spending over £1k on a phone - on contract / loan when they can't really afford it or could use this money to improve their quality of life.

peterb
I guess pushing up prices has been a good short term strategy - but there is no ‘killer’ or significant game changer product on the horizon. Both the original ipod and iphone (and to some extent ipad) were innovative products in their day, building on a backbone of high performance PCs - but in reality innovation has been lacklustre for the last 5 years.

And that isn't just true about Apple either. Microsoft haven't been exactly innovative apart from a few gui tweaks - buts it is probably harder for Microsoft as traditionally they haven't been a major hardware provider - albeit that changed slightly with the surface range.

I can't really comment on the gaming sector as computer gaming leaves me cold - but apart from VR/AR which I don't believe has really taken off, most ‘gaming’ products seem to have some spurious claimed enhancement ‘for gamers’ to justify a 15 to 25 percent hike rise. And when innovation in motherboards seems to be based on who has the flashiest RGB - you can see how desperate manufacturers are becoming.

All IMHO of course :)

It's a shame but Steve Jobs was willing to take risks. The problem is the current people in charge are good money men but seem to be still running off Jobs legacy. It was him pushing to do certain things which is why Apple has become so successful and there was a risk involved.

At least for me in the past Apple launches were genuinely more exciting - maybe it's time for some new blood at the company?

Buying opportunity….

Moonister
- Most games these days are build around microtransactions and addictive practises (commonly used in gambling), everything else (story, fun factor) has little to no importance. So you get these nice looking but boring and retarded games that look like carbon copy. Ubisoft, 2k, EA are the main corporations that are killing the industry with their cut throat greedy approach; buying off small developers and killing their ideas with their own corporate greed.

No. You seem to have a slightly different slanted view on the world. A lot of publishers (distinction to be made) seemingly push for micro-transactions to be included, not always the form that those micro-transactions take. A lot of games developers hear the concerns of the community and try to limit those micro-transactions to purely cosmetic items, ones that can also be earned through playing the games.

Take Ubisoft as an example here, The Division launched without any micro-transactions while other publishers (cough EA cough) were knee deep in them. Micro-transactions were added into the game at a much later date, of which a majority of items could be earned by playing the game (and not even that hard to earn). Activision / Blizzard are another example, with Destiny 2. Again items could be earned by playing the game and those items were purely cosmetic, there was some backlash over the form of the cosmetics provided through micro-transactions and the model was adjusted shortly after launch. So not all the publishers can be held to the same standard as EA introducing game play orientated micro-transactions (Battlefront for example).

You have to also take into account that games tend to be supported for a longer duration than prior works, in part due to the multiplayer aspect of gaming. That infrastructure and the level of support required costs money. They have to find a balance between the costs of that, as well as the initial outlay for the average gamer buying into the game from the outset. If they can offset the initial cost with supporting micro-transactions, which when done right are not the devil incarnate, then that isn't a terrible way to go as it enables more people to play those games. Micro-transactions are a choice people have of supporting a developer, they are not a requirement.

Anyway, this is off-topic.

On the subject of Apple deciding to no longer provide unit sales going forward, it makes sense longer term to do so. “The sky is falling” scenarios and all that, when market saturation becomes a thing….

peterb
Microsoft haven't been exactly innovative apart from a few gui tweaks - buts it is probably harder for Microsoft as traditionally they haven't been a major hardware provider - albeit that changed slightly with the surface range.

Honestly I'd say MS have been pretty innovative of late, far more so than many other ‘tech companies’ who are basically just repackaging existing things into a new case, the issue however isn't innovation, it's being allowed to continue with it when it's started.

The person in charge is so focused on ‘cross platform’ rubbish they keep sacrificing their ‘new ideas’ and even their own OS (they kept giving better versions of their apps to iOS than their own mobile os…) and allow others to steal a march on them. MS were one of the first to come out with a decent and usable AR headset, and then basically just left it alone even though it had huge potential in medical and design fields, not to mention other sectors.

You can also look at the surface pro, arguably the best designed 2in1 tablet out there and many are ‘borrowing’ ideas from it yet they aren't pushing the ‘touch screen’ side of things because of the necessity to support old ‘work flows’ etc. Hopefully andromeda and core OS will help with this but it's been delayed supposedly.

It makes it even sadder when there's a lot of people that actually defend the price rises of apple products. Being a fan is one thing and choice is great, but I don't understand extreme loyalty to the point of encouraging consumers getting less for their money.