Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Out of Ideas

iOS7, perhaps Apple’s meatiest reveal during the conference, was similarly greeted with shrugs as critics took the new app designs to task. Notably, many of the icons were created by the marketing team, not the company’s designers. The market was similarly unimpressed with the presentation; shares finished down over 1% that day. But the bigger problem here is that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t need a new operating system — it needs new products.

On that front, consumers only have rumors to tease their imaginations, and plenty of ink has been spilled about potentially ground-breaking new products such as a full-screen smart TV or an iWatch. In December 2011, company supply chain sources said an iTV would launch by the summer of 2012. It’s now the summer of 2013, and the world is still waiting with no further clue. Similarly, the iWatch has been in the works for some time; the company originally filed a patent for a type of video display slap bracelet back in 2011. Sources have said the watch is due out by the end of 2013, but that promise seems less believable with the delays we’ve seen in the smart TV.

Foolish bottom line
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a technology company, not a beverage maker, and resting on its laurels is not a viable strategy for future growth. We need to see something new out of the Cupertino kids soon, or like Kodak before it, Apple may be nothing more than a beautiful memory.

The article Apple’s Out of Ideas originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Jeremy Bowman.

Fool contributor Jeremy Bowman owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Facebook.

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