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Eddy Cue Says He 'Disagrees Vehemently' With Those Who Believe Apple's Pace of Innovation Has Slowed

Monday October 16, 2017 8:35 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Just over a decade after the iPhone launched, and six years after Steve Jobs passed, some critics believe that Apple's pace of innovation has slowed. Unsurprisingly, Apple's services chief Eddy Cue doesn't share that opinion.


"I disagree vehemently with that and I think we've been incredibly innovative," said Cue, in a recent interview with Indian publication Livemint.

Cue pointed out that both the iPad and Apple Watch launched after the iPhone, while noting that revolutionary products take time. He also believes that Apple's work on Mac, macOS, and iOS has led the market.
Apple historically has a track record of coming out with industry-defining products, whether it's the Mac or iPhone or iPod. But over the past decade, there's a been perception that the pace of innovation and the pace at which Apple has come out with game-changing, breakthrough products has slowed somewhat. What do you have to say about that?

No way! First of all, the iPhone is 10 years old. That is the last decade. The iPad came after that and the Watch came after that. So, I disagree vehemently with that and I think we’ve been incredibly innovative. That doesn’t even take into account the work that has been done on the Mac, iOS and MacOS, from that standpoint where I think we’ve led the market. When you think of the products that we’ve built over time, you own a lot of them. And you just assume that every year was a new product. But it wasn’t. You can’t do revolutionary new products, every two months or six months or whatever. They take time.
The rest of the interview was primarily focused on Apple's roadmap for India, which Cue described as a "very long-term opportunity."

Cue said Apple is focused on three areas in India, including the App Store, Apple Maps, and a bundle of other services such as iCloud and Apple Music. Of note, he said Apple is "working on" bringing Apple Pay to India.
The digital payments business is widely being seen as the biggest battleground in India now and in the near future. What are Apple's plans on that front?

Our head of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey, is here with me. And Apple Pay is something that we definitely want in India. The challenge with payment mechanisms is that there isn't really a lot of global scale. You deal with individual markets at a time … but India is one of those markets where we hope to bring Apple Pay to.
Cue said Apple doesn't have an exact launch date to announce for Apple Pay in India at this point since it's not "a 100 percent" yet.

In the full-length interview, Cue also reflects upon the leadership styles of past and present Apple CEOs Tim Cook and Steve Jobs, and on Apple's increasing efforts to produce original content.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tags: Eddy Cue, India
[ 293 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

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djeeyore25
18 months ago
Apple is always on the cutting edge of innovation. For example, I never could have imagined a bluetooth option that stays on even when you turn it off.
Rating: 96 Votes
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Chrjy
18 months ago
He just has one of those faces you want to smack :D
Rating: 64 Votes
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NachoGrande
18 months ago
I'll Vehemently disagree with him. Higher prices for little advancement,.
Rating: 55 Votes
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davidwes
18 months ago
To me, Eddy Cue is the weakest link in this company and I don't understand why he is still here.
Rating: 42 Votes
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camnchar
18 months ago
Okay Eddie but how about some proof
Rating: 39 Votes
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spacebro
18 months ago
This is bad press if they have to say it.
Rating: 34 Votes
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vertsix
18 months ago
i don't think he'd agree anyway as he WORKS for apple

would be bad press
Rating: 27 Votes
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Xavier
18 months ago
Top Apple executive says that Apple is doing well with ________ .
Rating: 18 Votes
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stukdog
18 months ago
Ironically posted on the third anniversary of the last Mac mini refresh ('https://www.macstadium.com/blog/the-current-mac-mini-is-three-years-old/').

It's not that innovation isn't there, it's just spread too thin. Some projects are humming along while others spend years untouched.
Rating: 16 Votes
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DisNerd
18 months ago
You know, Eddy loves content creation so much. Why don’t he and Tim star in a real life Gilligan’s island reboot and leave Craig to run Apple. ;)
Rating: 14 Votes

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