Apple Has “Amazing” Stuff Coming, Says Cook — But Not Until Fall
“Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services that we can’t wait to introduce this fall and throughout 2014,” Cook said Tuesday in an unusually bald bit of expectation setting. Translation: No next-generation iPads and iPhones until at least September.
Disappointing news for folks who had been expecting a new iPhone (or iPhones) in June, and for Apple’s easily rattled shareholders. No substantial new products until fall means Apple will have gone nearly a year without a major update to its portfolio. That doesn’t bode well for sales. And perhaps that’s the reason that Apple’s guidance for the June quarter appears weak.
But, come fall, things should get interesting. And on this point, too, Cook’s remarks are worth noting. “We remain very optimistic about our future,” he said. “We see great opportunities in front of us, particularly given the long-term prospects of the smartphone and tablet market, the strength of our incredible ecosystem which we’re planning to augment with new services, our plans for expanded distribution and the potential of exciting new product categories.”
Exciting new product categories.
That’s an unusually explicit hint coming from Apple — one designed to stoke expectations. Cook isn’t talking about a new iPad or Mac. He’s talking about an entirely new product line, or rather, entirely new product lines; the word he used is “categories,” plural.