Synopsis
“Apple has failed to introduce new products recently and yet Google is launching a stream of products – This article looks into possible reasons.”

Apple recently bought “Beats,” making headlines around the globe and again put the company in the spotlight, triggering many debates about the future direction of the company. The overall verdict is that Apple may be losing its cutting edge advantage and have taken the routine growth route via acquiring companies like Beats and Topsy.

Whereas Google have lately launched many new products including Google Glasses, a self-drive car and Chromecast, which is a change from their traditional growth strategy under Eric Schmidt, when they successfully acquired companies like YouTube, Blogger and Android to expend their product range.

So, have Apple and Google gone into role reversal with Apple playing it safe to appease shareholders and Google trying to find the next big thing while their search engine algorithm has reached maturity?

Missing Steve Jobs or Playing waiting Game

I think probably the answer is yes, and we may need to accept the fact that without Steve Jobs’ drive, leadership and vision, Apple is lagging behind in introducing new products. Also, Apple might be playing waiting game this time, unlike in the smartphone launching war, where they took all the initiatives and then Google and Samsung copied those to build their own brands in that market.

Next Wave of Semantic Technology Not There Yet

Another reason for Apple to not to introduce new products might be the slow advancement in semantic analysis, which is going to help the next wave of innovation in smart gadget product lines. We still don’t have the technology to understand human emotions, graphics, speech and physical movements, and until we have a robust sentiment analysis algorithm, the next wave of smart phones, TVs, cars, watches, home or wearable technology may not be successful. The recent failure (or at best quiet response) to Google Glasses and Nike’s smart bands substantiates that argument.

Meantime Keep Cash Flow Momentum Going..

And in the meantime, until they are ready to launch a new product, Apple is doing what Google was doing seven or eight years ago, getting the momentum going by acquiring content and data companies like Topsy, and music content and hardware companies like Beats. Both acquisition will give content (plus data) to keep the cash flow rolling.

Google Needs to Find Next Big Thing after Search Engine Algorithm Peaked

On the other hand, as I mentioned above, Google have reached a stage where they have to find the next big thing after their search engine algorithm has peaked. Their efforts in social media (Google+ and Glasses) and mobile technology (Motorola mobility) are not reaping many rewards. They have therefore rightly gone the way of Apple in the late nineties, when Steve Jobs took over and launched multiple products like iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iMac. Google’s recent product lines includes smart glasses, cars, watches, tablets, to thermostats and smoke alarms (after acquiring Nest), and they are also venturing into the space program.

So What Could Happen Next…

Now it remains to be seen whether this role reversal becomes permanent or leads the two companies in completely different directions (Apple becoming retailers and Google turned into an R&D Company) or causes a fall from grace like Yahoo, AOL or Microsoft to certain extent!