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Apple Is Outdated, Says Chinese Conglomerate LeEco CEO (cnbc.com) 245

An anonymous reader shares an article on CNBC: Apple is "outdated" and losing momentum in China, billionaire entrepreneur Jia Yueting told CNBC in his first international television interview. "Apple only has individual apps. This was the right choice during the first generation of mobile net, when CPUs [central processing units] and the mobile network speeds were not fast enough," Jia said. "However now we're moving into the next era of mobile internet, these problems no longer exist. Moreover, having separate apps just means great obstacles in the user experience. We hope to break down these obstacles. One of the most important reasons [for slowing sales] is that Apple's innovation has become extremely slow," he said. "For example, a month ago Apple launched the iPhone SE. From an industry insider's perspective, this is a product with a very low level of technology... We think this is something they just shouldn't have done. [...] The Watch hasn't cut it. And they're looking at content on the services side, on the iTunes side. We'll see how that works out. But definitely they need something to drive the next leg of growth." In some other Apple news, the company is expected to announce its first quarterly year-over-year revenue decline since 2003 later today.
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Apple Is Outdated, Says Chinese Conglomerate LeEco CEO

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @02:32PM (#51990855)

    What is this clown babbling about?

    • by Caesar Tjalbo ( 1010523 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @03:13PM (#51991133)

      Moreover, having separate apps just means great obstacles in the user experience.

      They've now invented EmacsOS for mobiles and think it's going to make people happy.

    • by Penguinisto ( 415985 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @03:35PM (#51991267) Journal

      It's simple - he wants to...

      1) make a super-wrapper app of sorts where individual apps become mere features within his wrapper.
      2) get a lot of attention by yapping about how the industry leader is "outdated" and that his naked money-grab is actually the new-shiny.
      3) sell API access to his wrapper.
      4) sucker some phone maker/carrier/etc into using his wrapper exclusively.
      5) ???
      6) Profit!

      Of course, no mention is made as to what happens when his baby gets a security vuln , crashes (taking everything else with it), or otherwise isn't regularly updated by the carrier or maker (because seriously, outside of a few corner cases involving flagship phones, when was the last time a carrier or maker ever bothered posting/pushing updates to an Android device?)

      • Didn't Microsoft try this years ago with Microsoft Bob? Big portal, just click on different parts of the room to access certain functions..... we know how that went over.....yawn.

        • by imgod2u ( 812837 )

          Arguably, Google Now is trying to achieve something similar with cards that tie-in to existing apps. It's not a bad idea but I think -- as with most things out of China -- there's a lot of ambition without appreciation for just how much effort and expertise it takes to get it working right.

      • by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @04:18PM (#51991567) Journal

        Well lets consider history for a moment. When the IPhone first came out there was no provision for third party native apps. The idea was it was all going to be essentially HTML5 + JS + [some custom Apple extensions]. Sure 'Apps' might run locally and be sourced from local storage but clearly the reason behind a design choice like that was to stage a move further in the direction this guys is proposing where apps are more cloud based. Guess what it turned out developers did not like and neither did consumers.

        There was a lot to like about the iphone in terms of hardware compared to what came before. Honestly it survived on the strength if its large, easy to use touch screen. Had it not been for that it would have flopped hard and iPhone would not even be a thing today. Apple saw the problem though and quickly and correctly did an about face, allowing developers to deliver fast, high functioning ObjC apps.

        This will be DOA because its not going to come with cool hardware we did not have before.

      • by AuMatar ( 183847 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @04:34PM (#51991683)

        Actually in Asia its very common to have a single super app rather than a dozen. One app will be your messaging, shopping, mobile pay, taxi hailer, etc. THey go in for all-in-one over there. So far the US and EU haven't followed suit.

        • Thank you, I've been trying to figure out what Mr. Yueting meant by "Apple only has individual apps." I have been assuming it was just a matter of phrasing that I was stumbling over. I take it, from your comment, that it would be fair to rephrase that comment as "Apple doesn't have an app that will try to do everything for you." I could see the logic if we had strong AI actually working. I'd love to be able to tell my phone to do the things I want and have it just work. With strong AI, it would be like ha
    • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @03:48PM (#51991357)

      What is this clown babbling about?

      He thinks the most profitable company in the world should stop what they are doing and do things his way instead.

    • by aaronb1138 ( 2035478 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @03:49PM (#51991371)
      The funny thing is I am getting used to hearing this special kind of rambling. It's an epidemic in dealing with nearly every IT or really any engineering resource in Southeast Asia, especially certain parts of China, all of India, and others. It appears to stem from two intellectual deficiencies. The first is big picture thinking. I've met plenty of engineers who were one trick ponies and couldn't even see how their expertise in X could be applied to Y, much less understood how their knowledge fit in the tapestry of technical architecture. The second is the need to fill time / space with words when they have nothing useful. A huge list of banal generalities spew out, either positive or negative based on what they think the audience wants to hear.

      The outsourcing movement has a couple more decades of rubber band-like hysteresis. Most companies that send technical services out to Chennai or Bangalore save their short term cash for 2-4 years, pay the CEO and CIO their bonuses, and then bring them back to the US as soon as they can get out of the contracts they've signed.
    • What many people here seem to be unaware of is that his company really is far ahead of Apple. Look no further than his choice of wardrobe [cnbc.com] when he made these comments. Apple would never do that [soyacincau.com]. Thought leaders, that company! Mark my words!

  • Did anyone else see the headline on a burgundy/red background for second?

    • Yeah, it's what a story looks like after its been approved for the FP, but hasn't quite posted yet. Back in the day, you could see them early with a subscription, but nowadays you need lucky timing to be able to catch them.
    • Re:Frosty (Score:4, Informative)

      by RavenLrD20k ( 311488 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @03:00PM (#51991029) Journal
      Congratulations, you got to drink from the Firehose. The Red Headline means the story hasn't made it to the front page except for subscribers. At least, that's what it used to mean. I think if you have a high karma level select future stories will be visible with the red headline as well (speculation only since I too occasionally see the red headlines but have never subscribed).
  • by Altus ( 1034 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @02:33PM (#51990865) Homepage

    The comments are about as logical and as coherent as his were.

    • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @03:05PM (#51991073)

      I had quite a hard time following why Apple is outdated, because of individual apps. Did he find a way to SECURELY have apps communicate with each other, without allowing rogue apps to mess with their phone?

      Not to sound like an Apple Fan Boy but Apple had a rather good (Not Perfect) security record with the iPhone and Apps. But there hasn't been too many wide scale problems much like how we have with PC's. A big part of this is the isolated infrastructure of the apps.

    • Possibly, but we're not billionaire CEOs of a Chinese tech company.

      The bar is set a little higher for him to make sense than we are.

      • by Altus ( 1034 )

        Michael Dell is worth 19 Billion apparently... Maybe its something about money like that that lets you say assinine shit and have people take you seriously. I'm afraid I will never know.

        • "Maybe its something about money like that that lets you say assinine shit and have people take you seriously."

          When you are powerful you say the thing that you want to be true as if it already were, and maybe your word carries enough weight to make it so. The more powerful you are, the further detached the things you say become from the way things currently are.

        • See the film "Being There" for an explanation.

  • by friesofdoom ( 3817155 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @02:39PM (#51990905)
    The way some of these "billionaire entrepreneurs" talk really makes me think that they got to where they are with pure luck and no knowledge or skill in the area they are involved in...
    • Every "entrepreneur" that I have met talks BS.

      I think it is that success follows from lofty goals.

  • And the other 10 percent are questionable.

    But that's just an objective measure from someone who was part of the first IPO wave of investors in China last century.

    Still true today.

  • http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/24... [cnbc.com]

    Jeans and black shirt. But then, how many industries exist based on copying Apple's design chops?

  • Translation (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @02:58PM (#51991013)

    Let me translate what he just said.

    "The old model includes local native apps in which freedom of security of data at the device level is a threat to the ruling class and totalitarian regimes; specifically in China. The new way is centralized back-end app that are dynamically updated, monitored, and content is controlled. Imagine having a back-end proactive spellcheck that removes all references to 'Tiananmen square'. It's a value-added bonus of conveniences that keeps citizens from breaking the law. This is how we can keep a more harmonious society with government control content through advanced technological paradigms.

  • Truthfully, these companies, like IBM, Apple, HP, GE, etc are their own worst enemies. Far too often they move their manufacturing offshore to China, giving up their technology to other companies in China all to boost their stock prices. Then when they fall due to competition, to boost their stock prices again, they will start to sell these divisions. Slowly, but surely, these MBAs such as Fiorina, are destroying American companies. Apple simply followed the same path by not only offshoring their manufactu
    • If Apple or IBM or HP or etc. really wanted to re-grow and become relevant, they would bring back manufacturing and keep their corporate secrets under their hat.

      Those same corporate secrets that Apple uses to produce smartphones that look like something from 6 years ago? The corporate secrets that produce desktop or laptop computers with the 3d graphics capabilities of a 10 year old PC (if that)?

      I keep getting told by a local fanboi that Apple users have better things to do with their time than play computer games. Important stuff, like getting onto /. and modding down any comments that cast Apple in a negative light. Like this one, which will be -5 troll in 5... 4

      • Those same corporate secrets that Apple uses to produce smartphones that look like something from 6 years ago? The corporate secrets that produce desktop or laptop computers with the 3d graphics capabilities of a 10 year old PC (if that)? You're so full of shit it's running out of your ears.

        • Those same corporate secrets that Apple uses to produce smartphones that look like something from 6 years ago? The corporate secrets that produce desktop or laptop computers with the 3d graphics capabilities of a 10 year old PC (if that)?
          You're so full of shit it's running out of your ears.

          What? Don't have mod points? Go grab your team of fanbois!

          Also, learn to quote.

      • by Wovel ( 964431 )

        Man, you are so much smarter than everyone else. Must feel great to be you.

        • Man, you are so much smarter than everyone else. Must feel great to be you.

          it is! Especially not using overpriced, fruit-themed toys!

    • Apple simply followed the same path by not only offshoring their manufacturing, but by giving it away. They own NOTHING of what is important.

      Really? You think the commodity manufacturing activity that can be done by low-skilled labor is the important part of an iPhone? China only adds about $6-8 of the value of an iPhone. The vast majority of the value is added in the US, by the designers and engineers.

  • Apple's current crop of products are reaching their mature phase, except for the Apple Watch (but that is still an unknown in the success area).

    .
    So what is Apple going to do in order to generate the substantial revenue needed over the next decade?

    Apple Watch - not enough revenue associated with it.

    AppleTV - oh please, the current iteration is a mess, with a horrible, buggy UI.

    Apple Car - Apple does not know the costs associated with being a car maker. Apple's enemies would love to see Apple get into t

    • Services!

      Yup, you'll be paying $1.00 a month to store your music in the cloud. You'll be paying $10 a month to listen to music. And whatever other services that Apple can think of (or copy, in order to monetize).

      • Services!

        Yup, you'll be paying $1.00 a month to store your music in the cloud. You'll be paying $10 a month to listen to music. And whatever other services that Apple can think of (or copy, in order to monetize).

        I'll tell you what: I generally dislike the idea of "You never own me" Music; but for $10 a month, having On-Demand access to 99% of the ENTIRE iTunes Catalog (not just what some Algorithm "thinks" I WANT to listen to!) anywhere I can grab an internet connection is pretty fucking sweet!

        • $10 per month is about 200% too expensive for that level of music service. But, like everything else Apple does, it is overpriced and Apple's customers seem to like, indeed seek out, being overcharged.
          • $10 per month is about 200% too expensive for that level of music service. But, like everything else Apple does, it is overpriced and Apple's customers seem to like, indeed seek out, being overcharged.

            Of course. Riiiiiight. For exactly WHAT "Level of music service" would YOU consider paying the princely sum of $10 per month?

      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Services!

        Yup, you'll be paying $1.00 a month to store your music in the cloud. You'll be paying $10 a month to listen to music. And whatever other services that Apple can think of (or copy, in order to monetize).

        Actually, that's what the CEO was arguing.

        He's saying Apple is outdated because the whole "device in your hand that does everything" model is outdated. Network speeds are up, so why not use the cloud to do your processing?

        That's his argument - that Apple is bad because they do everything on the phon

  • not entirely wrong (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Tuesday April 26, 2016 @03:08PM (#51991095)

    Mr. Yueting isn't wrong when he says "having separate apps just means great obstacles in the user experience" or when he writes says that "CPUs and the mobile network speeds" a sufficient for integrated systems. however, he is wrong when he implied that this design was only good for "the first generation of mobile net" because he has not mentioned perhaps the largest and most fundamental issue with third party software: security. right now, smartphone security is still arguably an oxymoron and unless you rectify the situation, you are going to have a fully integrated system of fully compromised software.

    when it comes to "smart" technologies, currently, the only winning move is not to play.

  • What is that supposed to mean, "Apple only has individual apps"? Are they supposed to have collective apps? Many functions crammed into one app? How difficult would that be to use? One app that contains your phone dialer, address book, calendar, calculator, notepad, web browser, email, text messaging, etc. That would be STUPID! Nobody would do that!
    • I suppose he means that. But aren't people also complaining about how Apple "controls" everything as well. Having a huge app would make that worse. I mean you the APIs access all the functions he mentions so if he wanted to write a monster do-everything app, he could. I doubt it will run okay on a smartphone. Now if he's looking a personal assistant like Cortana in Halo or Samantha in Her, it's going to take more processing power and power than a smartphone has.
  • The macpro is very out dated and at the same price for at least 2 years

  • Don't make me send the Axe Gang over there!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • > One of the most important reasons [for slowing sales] is that Apple's innovation has become extremely slow," he said.

    False. There are two reasons:

    1. The smartphone market is saturated, as I'm sure that assclown has noticed

    2. Apple has been on a tick-tock release... and they've been waiting to see what Android makers have been doing and copying them in recent years. Rumors indicate that at least one iPhone version is coming that copies Samsung's "Edge" designs, and other rumors are indicating the inclu

  • But good with money and knows the right people. Eventually thinks he has a clue about technology, and then says nonsense publicly, like this one here.

  • Why is this on Slashdot, other than clickbaiting?

  • The Chinese are just pissed off because a low-tech iPhone means there's not nearly as much cutting-edge tech for them to steal. ;-)

  • This was the right choice during the first generation of mobile net, when CPUs [central processing units] and the mobile network speeds were not fast enough," Jia said. "However now we're moving into the next era of mobile internet, these problems no longer exist.

    ..the fuck they don't, you brain-damaged buffoon. We still have massive limitations in battery. The only thing that's changed is that people are more tolerant of substandard crap because that's all they seem to be able to find, nowadays.

    There's a reason I don't buy chinese crap unless I'm specifically looking for some cheap widget that, if it breaks, I don't care about.

    Meanwhile, I went ahead and purchased a "low technology" iPhone SE. Why? Cause it's made with proven technology, it works, and it has a

    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      Only reason we have battery problems is the general public's stupidity.

      Make all phones 2X thicker and battery life would more than double. we could easily have the charge once a week battery life we had back in the flip Razr days.

      • Agreed. Wholeheartedly. I don't need a paper-thin phone. I need a phone that does the job. In the mean time, the iPhone SE at least a step in the right direction. Most of the same tech as the 5S, but with much newer and more power-efficient silicon, and they used the space they saved to include a slightly larger battery. (http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-se-vs-iphone-5s/)

        My usage pattern isn't particularly heavy, so take this with a grain of salt, but so far I am typically ending the day wit

  • A tiny, completely unknown company's self appointed CEO tries desperately to get noticed so he says something that is Fox news worthy....

    And Slashdot as usual bites and runs with it.

  • And Apple stock is down 8% in the after-hours market.

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