Apple over?

There is almost every day some "negative" news about Apple. The "negative" is rather strange because any technology company would be more then happy with result like this. They are just not as positive as they could be. 

However if you lock under the surface there are some worrisome things; Apple is the brand for consumer centric products but now there are signs that Apple products turn into commodity; iPad Mini is a cheap version of the high quality iPad, iMac has retina and non retina display versions, maybe there will be a cheap iPhone. The product update cycle gets faster which may help staying ahead (I'm not convinced) but the new products won't be a "big thing" any longer. All these changes  make sense if we follow simple business logic but miss the essence of Apple; the feel of having something special.

It's almost impossible to produce something new every year but Apple should strive always for the best and stick out of the crowd as much as possible.

Maybe the times or excessive growth are over but Apple has a plenty of potential:

• Design: Now as Jony Ive has taken over design of iOS, OSX too we can expect that the user interface of Apple software will catch up with the hardware design and be even more fun to use as it's now.
• Apple TV:  yes TV can be reinvented and Apple is poised to do it. Every home has a television (some more then one) so the market is huge.
• Services: services like Siri are already a big hit but Apple has a chance to have much more by using it loyal customer base and closed ecosystem.
• Software: Apple is good on software (thing of iWork or iLife). By using traditional Apple strength of quality, design and usability it can turn into one of the largest software vendors

I think that the deep problem is that there are less and less things to reinvent. Apple had reinvented the computer, the Walkman, telephone, tablet computer, set top box and tablets. Not much remains except TV, home (kitchen) appliances and cars. Apple TV is on the horizon, appliances doesn't fit the Apple image and  the car industry is a very tough and low margin business. What remains? Boats? Personal robots? Fashion? Or something really new? I don' know.