Here’s why Apple can’t sustain their leading role. It’s complicated, but stay with me for the next two paragraphs and it makes sense. Let’s start off with an example of another key player to introduce the problem here, our friend from Redmond. Statement: Microsoft’s Office Suite business-model is outdated today. Here’s why: The initial version of Excel fulfilled the essential requirements for spreadsheet work. Then came updates to the software: Office ’97, 2000, 2003 etc. They added more and more functionalities to the application. The average user doesn’t need these functionalities at all, Excel started to offer advanced functionalities that were used by a niche market. One can argue that the managers focussed on innovation, rather then fulfilling market demand. This is an important issue, because it can potentially create a blindspot that can kill your company. Yeah, that sounds vague, but there is a point. Let me use two examples to prove it.
How Nintendo created a new market
Remember two things, Sony used to be a company that created new products such as the Walkman and Transistor radio. These days, Sony is sustaining existing innovations. Something that has brought the company to it’s knees.
Interesting fact: Financial times noted on 16th of September that Nintendo makes more profit per employee then Goldman Sachs. The reason for that was simple; While game-console competitors Sony and Microsoft were in the lead, they were aiming for more graphical power, amount of games and processor Speed. The battle for market share resulted in a dogfight on console specifications. Generations of consoles by the same guys, playing same rules, and eventually the same game. Everybody became similar in strategy. 
This development left Nintendo behind, with a decreasing market size. The company started to research different markets for their products, and came out with the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. They created a whole new market, making the competition irrelevant. (Blue ocean strategy)
Moral of the story is, that managers are always motivated to go up in the market. Nobody is motivated to defend the new and low-end markets. The result is a company that excels in their product’s capabilities but neglects the actual demand of the market. This creates a weak spot for ‘disruptors’, that make use of the opportunity to create new markets.
small new markets can eventually become big markets
The reasons of innovators and technology enthusiasts will be copied to followers. On the end, the majority of the people understands the product and uses it.
Why Apple shouldn’t listen to their customers
This made me think of a question on Macrumors: why do people hate the macbook air? The users criticizing the Macbook Air have a good chance to fit in the late majority’s perspective. The MBA is actually build for an under-served market at the moment. The product is not good enough in terms of performance, and improving the product is the key factor for success. For Apple’s side, the product is making small margins and is a high risk. When the product becomes better, the market demand will have increased as well. It is not the customer who should understand and drive customers behavior. The point of this is that management shouldn’t ask the customer if they like a product. They should keep an eye on new and their low-end markets, because If one smart entrepreneur sees market as opportunity to take it over, they will and can kill your company. Until now, Sony seemes to loose the battle while Apple currently stays ahead of the curve. Steve Jobs might have a visionary outlook, but Apple is likely to become the next Sony the day he resigns.
As a conclusion, all eyeballs on Apple will eventually create a blind-spot for them. This results in a potential marketplace for a new player on the market. This player will start consuming the easy, replicate-able markets at first. These markets are the markets with the lowest margin gains for Apple, since this are not their premium products. Apple will allow the player to consume that market, and might celebrate their higher margins by their next annual report. However, the new competitor will be able to create ‘backbone’ with the market, allowing them to emerge as a new player. This can create a direct competitor for Apple, with new innovative strategies. Enjoy your Iphone while it lasts!
Inspiration: Concept, example of Microsoft and Nintendo from presentation on Disruptive Innovation Frameworks by Hann Earl Kim.