Here's Why Apple Is Likely To Miss The Next Big Thing, According To Former Apple CEO John Sculley
Oct 18, 2014, 00:27 IST
Experience a unique interview with John Sculley led by Steven Levy, Founder of Backchannel, at . Reserve your seat now »SAL VEDER/AP/dapdJohn Sculley with Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve WozniakJohn Sculley, the former Apple CEO who's probably better known for playing a role in ousting Steve Jobs from the company in 1985, doesn't think Apple is likely to come up with the next big tech innovation.
He thinks it'll come from another company instead, such as Google.
"The likelihood of [Google] getting something really big is probably higher than someone like Apple, who stays the course and just gets better and better at what they do," Sculley said in an interview with Fortune Magazine on Thursday.
Sculley said great innovations typically come from companies that don't have to deal with the type of high expectations Apple has to all the time. He says Google, with its self-driving cars and space travel projects, is in a better position to experiment with such innovative products. "They [Google] understand that if you don't take risks and try new things then you'll miss the future."
Sculley seems to have a point in saying Apple's innovation cycle is slowing. When a company reaches the size of Apple's - over $150 billion in sales and $585 billion market cap - it becomes extremely hard to consistently churn out new innovative products. Billionaire investor Peter Thiel had the same thing to say about Apple, when he told Business Insider, "Apple is at a point where it's much more focused on scale than on doing new things."
But that doesn't mean Sculley holds a bearish outlook on Apple as a company. He only had good things to say about Tim Cook's team at Apple during the interview, as he said, "They have continued Steve Jobs' legacy of no compromises on the product. The company's really well led, so I only have praise for Apple."