Apple has no idea what’s next, so it’s just banging on the same old drum

If you want to witness a company that’s simultaneously in its prime and losing control over its own narrative, look no further than WWDC, Apple’s second-most splashy event of the year, designed to offer a glimpse of the future.

The annual developer event is a spectacle that I’ve watched live for almost a decade, but this year was different: it showcased a company that’s lost in the woods, playing the same old hits on repeat, in the same old format.

Not only was it painful to watch, it demonstrated that Apple doesn’t really have a coherent plan, or understanding, of where it should take its core platform, let alone the ones it’s tried to build around it.

It’s fine to have an off year, but what struck me was how… random it felt, and how little insight or forward thinking there was. Apple’s own platform advantages, company culture, and whatever else, seem to be pigeonholing its trajectory, driving it down a path that looks increasingly dated, and leaving me to wonder if the company is self-aware enough to see the shifting tide before it’s lost at sea.

Big, slow, yearly

Apple struggled throughout 2017 to ship flagship features it promised at WWDC 2017, including Airplay 2 and iCloud Messages, delivering them…