Just curious.
Which are the important metrics you are using to come to the conclusion Apple is on a downward slide?

So what you are saying is Niterios is a plant perhaps?

Interesting.... I wonder if that is true for all Android devices or some Androids. I wonder why a company would say that their OS can be installed on Android devices when it can't???
Curious.
I thought there were some other Open Source OS options for Android devices I had read about. Is this not the case?

Selfish Ho's could be cool or they could be too narcissistic even while looking cool.

To a family in the slums of Brasil or some other places outside the US or Europe these are powerful devices.
$40 bucks gives people a way to finally have some computing power and tap into the worldwide info grid.

Should let your wife have your other iPad.
You can mount it in the kitchen for you and your wife to use for recipes and pandora.
Old iPad are perfect for mounting in Kitchens.

Seems like with tablets quickly approaching the $40 range they are almost a disposable commodity. I would expect Android tablets will quickly get to over 90% of the market in short order since everyone will be able to have one of these powerful little computing devices.

Sailfish OS based on Meego will soon be installable on Android tablets and phones. Bingo.

Yep Informative.

This whole experiment with maps likely became necessary when Google wouldn't give Apple the same functionality with the iOS version maps as they were giving to others. Perhaps, Apple already was working on Maps, but Google leaving Apple without a turn-by-turn solution perhaps pushed things along more quickly. Apple released an incomplete maps solution to be sure and paid a premium for it at the time, However, because they did release Maps when they did, they have had a couple of years with 200 million users adding to the pile of data to improve things. Google used to get this data from iPhone users to themselves which helped Google Maps become dominant. Now, Google is depending mostly on android users to add data and Google maps is not as completely dominant as they once were.

.and I wasn't thinking Maps was just "ok" in my area

I actually said this as well..key part being "places I am unfamiliar with"
"It is nice to be able to use Siri to find things while I am whizzing along in places I am unfamiliar with."

And Maps is pretty good not merely adequate. at least Maps has been good where I live and where I don't live, but have travelled thus far.
I only needed to submit a correction for one thing when maps first came out.
Haven't needed to submit another correction since.

Has their trajectory diminished yet? I was unaware of a decline of Apple at least currently. Thus far the trajectory continues to rise for now.

Certainly you are correct about Steve Jobs being Apple when he was there, but that doesn't mean that he was "It" and anything or anyone else spells impending doom for Apple. That is simply one possible outcome for which I currently see no evidence.

What evidence can you provide that apple is out of momentum? Certainly not sales or profitability.
What do you base your assessment on exactly?

Based on what I am seeing with a push into the Auto market, Apple can continue to make even more record profits and record sales of devices that it hasn't invented, but which it seems to be able to put together in a way that is pleasing to hordes of consumers.
So for the interim, I see the Auto market to keep apple sputtering along. Then I can envision some sort of push into the household automation market. After that I suppose Apple is doomed and will fade away, but until then I think they can still manage to go forward in their upward trajectory.

Is Apple Maps only to where everyone else was 5 years ago?
Is Google Maps only to where everyone else was 5 years ago?

I think the main complaint about Apple maps was that it had abysmal accuracy. This is no longer the case is my point.

As to technology being old. I guess all this tech is so 2009, if one says Apple's tech which does the same thing as Google Maps is backward. Perhaps there has been pretty much zero innovation in the intervening time.

So yes I suppose Current mapping technology is backward.

I don't recall Apple being near bankruptcy? They were a marginalized computer company with 15 billion in cash reserves around 1996 if I recall correctly. At the time they were still profitable, but they were continuing to lose market share. Also, Apple was primarily a computer company struggling to remain relevant and not the diverse electronics powerhouse the company is today. It took the return of Steve jobs and a refocusing on a different model to change Apples trajectory.

I couldn't say if Apples decline in market share was based upon a lack of innovation. Certainly the computer market was then and continues to be a wasteland of carnage with minuscule innovation overall. Innovation in computing was not really the order of the day back then or today.

Apple decline could be a predictable result of losing the titanic struggle of OS/GUI domination. To me, it is more amazing that Apple was able to profitably remain in the market when so many other companies failed. Without a shift to what they are doing now, they likely would have declined even further or been sold off as Wall Street kept saying needed to happen.

Innovation or lack thereof is not always a predictor of success or lack of it. The free market is a fickle thing. Apples success today is that they changed what they do and how they do it. Their model for pursuing their business seems to be what is thriving. It is the strategy that seems to have played out successfully and not any one particular product. This new tack has worked well for them up to this point. As to the future??? who knows. No company every remains on top for long.

Did I say adequate?
Seems to be the same as Google Maps roughly so perhaps not the same as everyone else 5 years ago. Basically the same as other options currently would be more accurate. unless all options are basically technologically backward by 5 years.

Did I say I was using Maps where I normally go?
I haven't had problems with Maps being wonky in places I don't normally go. Haven't missed a step and that is all anyone can hope unless I expect Maps to teleport me to where I want to go. That would be a nice new feature.

Perhaps your experiential anecdote varies.

Not forgetting anything.
Apple struggled to recover from the onslaught of the more open PC market.
They removed Steve and brought in a corporate guy to remediate the situation.
Apple declined much more and they licensed their OS in hopes of turning things around which canibalized their sales.
They brought Steve Jobs back he has some more ideas after being out in the woods starting Next and Pixar.
They closed their OS licensing and shifted to consumer products instead of computers.

Apple has been on an upward trajectory ever since. and they seem to have a formula of taking what they see in the market, repackaging, and exploiting the targeted market. Seems like cars are the next domino. maybe home automation will be the next one.