Here's a challenge: name one innovative technology that Apple actually invented. Not that they own a patent to, but actually invented in-house and did not exist prior to Apple productizing and marketing it.
 

Is there one? 

bitflipper
Here's a challenge: name one innovative technology that Apple actually invented. Not that they own a patent to, but actually invented in-house and did not exist prior to Apple productizing and marketing it.
 

They invented rectangles with rounded corners.
 
What do I win? 

I don't think anyone's claiming that Apple invents things. There aren't that many genuinely original inventions around - the progress of tech has always been a serious of gradual development punctuated by a few revolutions here and there. Apple takes existing ideas, improves upon them and gets them into people's homes by making them accessible. Invention is only half the story. You could invent the most revolutionary piece of tech imaginable in your basement but unless you know how to commercialize it then it won't have an impact on anyone's life.

bitflipper
Here's a challenge: name one innovative technology that Apple actually invented. Not that they own a patent to, but actually invented in-house and did not exist prior to Apple productizing and marketing it.
 

 I think we're again assuming that Apple's user base is monolithic
.
 
Here's a bit from MacWorld, showing that some Mac user are actually aware that Apple didn't invent hot water.
 
"For its own part, Apple does not claim to have invented the personal computer or the smartphone or the tablet computer or lunar-based death lasers—oops, I’ve said too much. Rather, the company for years used the same boilerplate text at the bottom of every press release:

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.

These days at the bottom of an Apple press release you’ll find:

Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store…

That wording is not accidental. It doesn’t say Apple invented these things, it says it reinvented them. There’s a huge difference."
 
http://www.macworld.com/a...ing-not-inventing.html
 
If all that mattered was who invented what, we'd all be using Cubase. 
 
And come to think of it - Apple invented what Cakewalk proudly marketed as Skylight, first seen in Logic 8 (2007). ;)

I'm certainly not a Jobs fan... nor do I get the near "deity worship" (witness the movie) of Mac zealots.
That said, nobody cares more about the business than the guy who started it.
It's his vision, his blood/sweat/tears, his passion...
As great as the next CEO may be (business wise), he/she will never have that same level of attachment.
 
IMO, Apple impedes the use of their products to the point where I'm simply not interested.
ie:  If I want music on my Galaxy S6, I simply connect via USB and drag/drop whatever I want over to the the phone.
If I want to delete songs, I just delete them.  If I want to do the reverse, I just drag-and-drop from phone to PC.
Having to use iTunes when simple drag/drop is MUCH more convenient/streamlined is akin to traffic-engineers making use of "round-abouts" at every intersection.  

I doubt whether even Apple marketing can change the 3.5mm plug standard. Almost every single device that puts out audio to headphones, uses either 3.5mm or 6mm plugs. It would mean a retool for every single headphone manufacturer on the planet.
I'm not saying Apple won't change its products, just that it won't become a standard, just another propriety device. Only if they develop a device that the majority of people can't live without will they change something so ingrained. I can't see headphone manufacturers being too worried here.
Of course I have been wrong before. (Once in December 1985)

I agree with you Rebel, the free market decides the fate of products. Just ask Gibson about its 2015 guitars renovations.

rebel007
I doubt whether even Apple marketing can change the 3.5mm plug standard. 

Except that almost all manufacturers just agreed on the new USB-C standard, so that could still be where things go. 

Maybe I missed it in the thread somewhere, but I don't see where Apple has said they're going to CHANGE the 3.5mm headphone jack to something else.  I only see (and have heard on news reports now) that they are DROPPING it.
 
when I first heard Apple was dropping the headphone jack, it never entered my mind that they would try to change the jack to something else - my thoughts were that they'd just drop it completely and we'd be forced (if using Apple) to use bluetooth instead.  bluetooth headphones and microphones already exist - and this would boost that market.