The Apple Beat: Apple's Year in Review

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

2014 was a momentous one for Apple. The company ramped up its leadership with a number of of key personnel, made its biggest ever acquisition with Beats and showed they were ready to compete in the supersized-smartphone  and wearables space by releasing the iPhone 6 Plus as well as previewing the Apple Watch. 

It was definitely CEO Tim Cook’s landmark year as Apple leader, the Apple Watch was the first new product category he launched and the event and succeeding hype and interest over the Apple Watch and what it can offer was notable. 

Apple also updated most of its product lines. It introduced a game changing 27-inch iMac that offers an industry leading 5K display, the first for a desktop (or commercially available monitor) anywhere. 

Last year also saw the release of the Mac Pro in an all new design, the interesting thing is that the 5K iMac might now make more sense to many potential Mac Pro users as it is cheaper and yet offers that astounding Retina Display. Could 5K Cinema Display be too far away?

The iPad Air 2 also pushed the envelope in terms of power and thinness plus features a new zero-gap design which means less layers between the display and the human eye. This small change resulted in a more stunning tablet that is the hands down winner in the market today in terms of power and portability at that size.

As far as the Apple’s most important product, the iPhone line was bumped up and not just in specs but also in size. Available in 5-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus models, the latest iPhones incorporated the best features of iOS 8 while making the handsets thinner and lighter than ever. 

The 64-Bit A8 processors still lead the race in desktop level architecture on mobile devices and while Androids have started to ship with similarly capable processor, apps in that competing marketplace are nowhere near being able to take advantage of the power and battery saving features offered.

The iPhone 6 Plus is the device that put Apple in direct competition with longtime rival Samsung who dominated the large phone market for more than three years now. The larger iPhone remains in high demand and in short supply, Apple can’t seem to make them fast enough. Samsung, which continues to supply various components for Apple devices, has seen a slowdown in smartphone sales and is reacting by cutting its product lines.

Apple also introduced larger 128GB storage capabilities across there iPhone line, the biggest in the industry and a nod to the reality that we’re all really carrying pocket computers now and not just communication devices.

In terms of software, 2014 was a huge year in unifying certain aspects of iOS and OS X Yosemite. Both desktop and mobile operating system retain their unique characteristics, codebase and feature set while sharing similar interface elements as well as the ability to seamlessly work together in concert with phones borrowing features from desktops and vice versa.

OS X Yosemite was made even more secure and more efficient with better integration to Apple’s iCloud as well as the ability to Handoff tasks, files and applications to iPads or iPhones (and vice versa). Yosemite can now also tap into paired iPhone’s cellular connectivity to take calls on the desktop or access data when Internet connectivity or WiFi is spotty.

These Handoff and Continuity features benefit users of both OS X and iOS devices and are the best incentive to upgrade to the latest hardware and software.

 Apple also made serious inroads into enterprise with its announcement that it would partner with IBM. The meeting of two giants offering enterprises secure and managed iOS solutions means that Apple’s focus on business and government has never been more focused even as its hold on education slipped a bit with Google’s cheap Chromebooks being picked by schools over iPads. 

The Apple Watch was one of the coolest devices I had the chance to see last year even if it was just running a loop of future functionality. Exquisitely designed and not unlike an expensive timepiece, the Apple Watch really brings a number of innovations. The way it interacts with the user is truly innovative yet subtle. I’m really looking forward to seeing the Apple Watch launch to market in 2015 as well as see how it is received. 

2014 also saw the end of the iPod Classic. Apple quietly retired the iconic media player, which was widely responsible for its resurgence as well as entry into the consumer electronics space. The reason for the Classic’s demise was that the components were no longer being made and with iPhones getting all the features of iPods plus larger than ever storage space, it made sense to cease making a device that few people were even buying.

Another Apple product that rode off into the sunset was Aperture, long considered the enthusiast and professional photographer’s toolbox, new versions of Aperture would no longer be developed and even Adobe, who makes the competing Lightroom product, took the opportunity to get Aperture users over to their platform. Good news is, a new Photos app will come in 2015 and will have many of Aperture’s key functions.

Apple’s leadership was in the spotlight more than ever before.  While companies like Google continued to see departures of key figures, Apple's been ramping up on Tim Cook penned a personal and groundbreaking (for a CEO) editorial on Bloomberg Business.

Senior VP for Design Jony Ive had a very public year. Aside from getting an unauthorized biography released, he made more interview appearances and even blazed through Fashion Week in Paris with new collaborator Marc Newson to show off Apple Watch. Longtime Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer retired and was replaced by Luca Maestri.

Acquiring Beats didn’t just land Apple a great cachet of headphones and a streaming music service, they now have Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) as part of their team and 2015 might see the first collaboration between Apple and these music impresarios. 

Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s new Senior VP for Retail and Online Sales made an early arrival at Apple and had an instant impact in the company’s important customer-facing global retail operations. Travelling extensively to lend her support to various product launches around the world. 

Ahrendts has a full plate heading into the new year with the emergence of mobile payments, improved retail and online merchandising and sales as well as continued expansion and innovation in the retail space.

Apple overcame some missteps in terms of OS update rollouts which introduced some issues for users. iCloud was also implicated in the big leak of celebrity photos and videos although it was determined that hackers used passwords and not a cloud hack to access the illicit material. Apple bolstered their security and suggested users employ two-factor notification when accessing their accounts.

2015 is expected to carry the momentum in terms of products and services for Apple and we should expect a lot of product updates and even new categories from the company that continues to push innovation in a number of hardware, software and services categories in consumer electronics and mobile.