[Joe Cieplinski on Apple’s current state][1]:

> Behind every one of these products is a brilliant idea. This is not a Ping situation, where Apple saw it had made a mistake and quickly cut it loose. Every one of these and many more could easily become world-changing, competition-killing features with the right amount of polish and some proselytizing. But Apple can’t do that if it starts to adopt a more Google-like “throw it all up against the wall and see what sticks” attitude.

You should take the time to read Cieplinski’s entire article as it is well stated. Yesterday when I [argued][2] for “new and shiny” my argument wasn’t for right now. I think many people construed what I said, as saying Apple needs to take immediate action (and for the record Cieplinski’s post doesn’t appear to have any relation to mine).

What I was truly saying is more nuanced: now is the time to start *thinking* about what is next.

That doesn’t mean stop improving what you have, but start targeting something new. Cieplinski’s right that Apple really does need to refine what it has — every company should always be doing that right up and until the day that product dies — but there is also a need to keep your eyes on the future. That’s why the OS X team is working on OS X and R&D is working on the future. There’s a need for both.

I would argue that right now Apple needs a few people thinking about grand visions, while the legion focuses on making what they have work better.

All consumers will see is the boring iteration stuff, but that’s what makes the grand visions so grand.

[1]: http://www.joecieplinski.com/blog/2013/03/30/hey-apple-wheres-the-fire/
[2]: http://brooksreview.net/2013/04/new-shiny-ooo-ahh/