Apple hardware has nowhere to go

Apple has long sold products based on advanced design.

But now Apple has a problem: there is very little space to advance. The iPhone is "done" -- it is as good as it is going to get. This week's announcements about new iPhones were, in brief, all about the cameras. There were some mentions about higher-resolution screens (better than "retina" resolution, which itself was as good as the human eye could resolve), longer battery life, and a new color (green).

The iPhone is not the only product that has little "runway".

The MacBook also has little room to grow. It is as good as a laptop can get, and competitors are just as good -- at least in terms of hardware. There is little advantage to the MacBook.

The Mac (the desktop) is a pricey device for the upper end of developers, and a far cry from a workstation for "the rest of us". But it, like the MacBook, is comparable to competing desktops. There is little advantage to the Mac.

Apple knows this. Their recent move into services (television and music) shows that it is better to invest in areas other than hardware.

But how to keep demand for those pricey Apple devices? Those shiny devices are how Apple makes money.

It is quite possible that Apple will limit their services to Apple devices. They may also limit the development tools for services to Apple devices (Macs and MacBooks with macOS). Consumers of Apple services (music, television) will have to use Apple devices. Developers of services for the Apple platform will have to use Apple devices.

Why would Apple do that? For the simple reason that they can charge premium prices for their hardware. Anyone who wants "in" to the Apple set of services will have to pay the entry fee.

It also separates Apple from the rest of computing, which carries its own risks. The mainstream platforms could move in a direction without Apple.

Apple has always maintained some distance from mainstream computing, which gives Apple the cachet of "different". Some distance is good, but too much distance puts Apple on their own "island of computing".

Being on one's own island is nice, while the tourists come. If the tourists stop visiting, then the island becomes a lonely place.