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"Slow innovation, timid ideas, process over imagination, small-minded thinking, diminished ambition: these are the signs of an abandoned future."- Futurist Jim Carroll

So Apple had their big developer conference the other day. This is the event where they lay out their plans for the coming year and the future about software, hardware, and new lines of business.

And it seems it was an entirely ho-hum affair - essentially consisting of a new software design (that many are panning), scaling back their AI efforts, and introducing a few new features here and there, This is from the company that reinvented the phone, music, computer and other industries with bold visions, a fundamentally new technology that reimagined entire industries.

Apple finds itself trapped in what I call the "innovation plateau paradox" – having achieved such extraordinary success with revolutionary products like the iPhone and iPad that subsequent releases inevitably feel incremental by comparison.

Way back in 2014, I wrote a document - 25 Trends for 2025.

What was trend **#24** for 2025 on the list? I suggested this:

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Apple is delisted

Once one of the world’s most innovative, cash-rich, highly valued company, Apple enters a new phase in 2025 when it is delisted from most global stock markets.

Why?

Most industry leaders never survive; there is always someone with a better idea.

It’s the age-old rule of business: incumbency is not a guarantee!

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Tongue in cheek, my main point was that eventually, unless they keep relentlessly focused on creative innovation, every company eventually fumbles, makes mistakes, loses its mojo, and starts to fall behind. (Check out trend **#25** on my list from 2014 - it's kind of fun! And I did a full analysis of my prediction from 2014 in a post last December.)

That's where some people are pointing out how Apple seems to be drowning. Sure, it's had stunning innovation in the last few years, particularly with its staggeringly fast and extremely powerful new Mx-computer chips. But the rest? It's stumbled badly on AI, abandoned a long-running effort to get into the car industry, and failed with the mass consumer market launch of its VisionPro headset.

The real challenge isn't just about creating the "next big thing," but about maintaining innovative momentum when you've already transformed entire industries.

When it's one big announcement is something like "liquid glass," you have to wonder.
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Futurist Jim Carroll is working hard at working to make trend **#25** on his original 25 Trends for 2025 list (that he wrote in 2014) come true.

**#Innovation** **#Apple** **#Future** **#Technology** **#Stagnation** **#Disruption** **#Reinvention** **#Competition** **#Legacy** **#Evolution**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/06/decoding-tomorrow-your-daily-future-inspiration-innovation-sclerosis-slow-innovation-timid-ideas-process-over-imagination-small-minded-thinking-diminished-ambition-these-are-the-sig/

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