John Siracusa: Apple Turnover

From virtue comes money, and all other good things. This idea rings in my head whenever I think about Apple. It’s the most succinct explanation of what pulled Apple from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s to its astronomical success today. Don’t try to make money. Try to make a dent in the universe. Do that, and the money will take care of itself.

There's a famous saying that "what got you here won't get you there", which can be very good advice for both individuals and companies. As an individual employee, if I want to do more and become more successful, I can't just do what I've always done. I need to either do more or find ways to be more impactful. Similarly, companies need to adjust how they operate if they want to advance to the next level. I could definitely see why an Apple executive would think that it's naive for the Apple of 2025 to act like the Apple of the 90s and 2000s, and I can't argue with them.

The challenge is that "what got them here" is what made so many people like me love the company. We don't want Apple to change, and we can only raise an eyebrow at the quote, "there," that the company is trying to get to now. What do you do once you've sold an iPhone to basically every human being on planet Earth who could possibly want one? What's the next "there" for the company that's created the most successful consumer product of all time?

Here's what I asked nearly a year ago in Is this the slow decline of the Apple “cult”?

You don’t need Daring Fireball, Panic, ATP, Birchtree, or anyone else like us to be massively financially successful (just look at Microsoft and Samsung), but I do find it a bit sad to see Apple stroll down the road to being a totally heartless mega corp like the rest. Why does Apple feel it’s worth trashing their relationship with creators and developers so that they can take 30% of the money I pay an up-and-coming creator who is trying to make rent in time each month? This isn’t a hypothetical, I genuinely want to know. Is the goal to turn into Microsoft, because this is how you turn into Microsoft.

Microsoft has a great business, and they even do some really great stuff, but they're a different thing than Apple was on its rise.

Like I said in that piece last year, I still think Apple makes a lot of great products that are best-in-class and I'll continue enjoying for years to come, but the vibe has definitely shifted. I've been using Apple products since 1995, and Siracusa has been here at least a decade longer than me. Neither of us are prone to hyperbole "for the clicks", so I think it's notable when people like us are like, "hmm, things haven't been like this before." But like John, I don't think all is lost.

It’s springtime, and I’m choosing to believe in new life. I swear it’s not too late.