I totally agree with most of these points. In fact, I've published another piece a while back commending Apple for being like that on the hardware front. That way it does not often get people to buy half-baked, not really ready for mainstream use, needlessly expensive, products.
But software is another matter because it's fixable without being necessarily extra costly. One can offer people new software stuff that may not be absolutely perfect day one but can get there with a few updates. For better or worse we've been in this silent agreement with all tech companies being their beta testers for ages now. This is how Apple also delivers most of its stuff anyway: the list of iOS/macOS features that got there after several updates, or versions even, is long.
But we can't ask for features that are not conceived or implemented by others first? Why exactly is that?
See, this is a big part of the whole problem. This "oh, man, come on, this is how Apple operates" comment is not an answer. It doesn't cut it and it's not helping anyone. Yeah, I know that Apple is like that. I have used all of their products since forever and I have put up with that attitude for a very, very long time. I feel like I shouldn't anymore. Apple gets special treatment in so, so many things. It's time we stopped doing that.
Long story short: I do not believe that Apple has "hit a wall" on the software front. I do not believe that it cannot innovate on that front. I believe that it consciously won't because that way is more profitable. But this has become unacceptable. How rich should a company become before it decides to start giving back more to modern computing anyway?
I believe that Apple has become complacent because we let it. And we did that by not demanding more. That is all.
