Innovation is not proportional to money spent David 29 comments Latest by Greg

TheStreet.com tells us that Apple’s relative spending on R&D has been declining for the past five years. They quote analysts running scared that Apple is “approaching minimal levels”. Hu?!

When has innovation ever simply been a function of money spent? Which of the big two operating system companies are most often characterized as pushing the envelope and who spends the most on R&D in dollar amounts? (hint: they’re not the same)

Innovation more often than not comes from constraints. From not being able to blow billions without immediate needs for returns.

One of the first things Jobs did when he returned to the helm at Apple was to slaughter the unprofitable product lines and focus the ship. Not launch a ton of initiatives on top of what was already there.

So Apple, please don’t change a thing. (Not that I think you would just because you don’t fit into the spreadsheet of a few analysts).