Apple Continues to Grow, But are they Rotting from the Inside out?

OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6, both debuted in 2012.

Once again, statistics continue to pour in reinforcing Apple's success both nationally and globally. According to the firm Canalys, Apple sold an estimated 23 million iPads and roughly 4 million Macs to account for nearly 20% of all PC sales with HP and Lenovo coming in second and third place respectively.

Reports continue to pour in that the iPhone and iOS are top phone and OS in the US once again. On top of that, Apple is continuing to have enormous success in the PC market because of the iPad. But there are deeper issues, issues that are unseen by the average Apple fan and user that should trouble those fans.

Everyone knows that the iPad, iPhone, and Mac line ups are great devices that are high quality. That part is well known. The downside to buying these great products are that you are getting software that is getting abandoned. And I say this lightly as I love OS X and iOS myself. But Apple at the current moment, is rotting from the inside out.

There is no secret that Apple's iOS has been slowly falling behind Android. The common argument against switching from iOS to Android is that Android is slower and full of Carrier/Company bloatware that can't be removed. While some of that is still true, I strongly encourage you to pick up a Galaxy S3 or a Note 2, you will see that Android is a fantastic OS and a viable option.

A lot has changed on the Android side, at least with Samsung phones, and they have been working extremely hard to change the mentality that Android is slow and clunky. Lets flip that and look at iOS, what has Apple done to really change iOS? What innovative features has Apple added to make iOS modern? Wireless Syncing? No. Notification Center? Came from Android first. Multitasking? Stale, unimaginative, and basic at best.

On the flip side of things, OS X has gone through some drastic changes in the past few years. In the last two iterations of OS X, Apple has been slowly changing the way OS X looks. Some people have been calling it iOS-ifying OS X and believe Apple is going to a unified OS between iOS-OS X. While there has been a perception lot of change, Apple has been getting by with the illusion of change when in fact they haven't changed much at all.

Look at the iWork and iLife software on OS X. When was the last time that Apple has updated iMovie or iPhoto other than to add iCloud? It has been roughly two years since the last update. Think about Aperture, Final Cut Pro. Has Apple done anything to vastly improve these? No. They have either done little with the software, or limited the functionality of them.

Apple needs to wake up, they need to realize that software is just as important to improve as the designs of their products. A great device is worthless unless that great device is backed up with great software. If Apple wants to continue to grow at a high rate, they need to take great care in rebuilding the software they seem to be neglecting.

So what do you think about iOS and OS X? Is Apple doing enough to keep up the innovation up on their software? Let us know on our Facebook page or on our Forum. Peace Apple Nation!