Jason Snell:

This is the eighth year that I’ve presented this survey to a
hand-selected group. They were prompted with 12 different
Apple-related subjects, and asked to rate them on a scale from 1
to 5 and optionally provide text commentary per category. I
received 55 replies, with the average results as shown below.

I took my time reading this, and recommend you do too. What a wonderful tradition. It really does capture the general consensus regarding the state of the company and its platforms and services.

I’ll post my full report card as a column tomorrow, but here are my observations after reading everyone else’s quoted remarks and grades:

There’s seemingly universal agreement that the iPad continues to suffer from a lack of attention and focus. The iPhone remains the iPhone: boring perhaps, but boring by being consistently great. The Mac is going strong in all regards, particularly hardware. The iPad, though, breeds frustration.
Stage Manager feels like a bust, both on Mac and iPad. But it’s the iPad where it was needed. Window management and side-by-side multitasking are solved problems on the Mac — for decades. Getting into “the flow” on iPad remains out of reach.
Apple’s hardware game is stronger than its software game.
AirPods are awesome.
HomeKit remains frustrating and confusing.

(Also, yes, in my comments praising the M2 MacBook Air and its midnight colorway in particular, I forgot about the black MacBooks sold from 2006–2011. Still it’s been a long time since Apple offered a dark laptop.)

 ★ 

Jason Snell:

This is the eighth year that I’ve presented this survey to a
hand-selected group. They were prompted with 12 different
Apple-related subjects, and asked to rate them on a scale from 1
to 5 and optionally provide text commentary per category. I
received 55 replies, with the average results as shown below.

I took my time reading this, and recommend you do too. What a wonderful tradition. It really does capture the general consensus regarding the state of the company and its platforms and services.

I’ll post my full report card as a column tomorrow, but here are my observations after reading everyone else’s quoted remarks and grades:

There’s seemingly universal agreement that the iPad continues to suffer from a lack of attention and focus. The iPhone remains the iPhone: boring perhaps, but boring by being consistently great. The Mac is going strong in all regards, particularly hardware. The iPad, though, breeds frustration.

Stage Manager feels like a bust, both on Mac and iPad. But it’s the iPad where it was needed. Window management and side-by-side multitasking are solved problems on the Mac — for decades. Getting into “the flow” on iPad remains out of reach.

Apple’s hardware game is stronger than its software game.

AirPods are awesome.

HomeKit remains frustrating and confusing.

(Also, yes, in my comments praising the M2 MacBook Air and its midnight colorway in particular, I forgot about the black MacBooks sold from 2006–2011. Still it’s been a long time since Apple offered a dark laptop.)

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