Benedict Evans

It matters that Apple’s new Siri will be late, and it matters more that Apple didn’t realise. Is it more than that?

People have been claiming that Apple has forgotten how to innovate since the early 1980s, or longer – it’s a standing joke in talking about the company. But it’s also a question. Apple changed the world with the Mac and the iPhone, but the iPhone will be old enough to vote this summer, and, as the saying goes, ‘what have you done for us lately?’ The shareholder version of this is ‘where’s the growth?’ As the company stands today, the iPhone has been flat for years, the iPad, Watch and AirPods that came after are flat as well, and the only growth comes from services – which is great for cash but mostly consists of milking the existing customer base, not creating something new.