Apple's Four-Year Road Map

"Apple's

innovation is sputtering," Trip Chowdhry, the Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research, proclaimed

. "Why is [it] that Apple, the company that brought touch to phones and tablets, stopped just there and did not bring touch to notebooks and iMacs? Why is it that Apple brought high-resolution screens to…some MacBooks and not to all devices? High-resolution screens are a commodity today."

Chowdhry was providing a response to the company's first full year without Steve Jobs. He took issue with the departure of Scott Forstall, the former senior VP of iOS. "Our contacts speculate that Apple executive leadership may have rushed Scott Forstall to deliver products prematurely," said Chowdhry. "This may also indicate that Apple may be lacking a three- to four-year product road map, because if a roadmap existed, engineers would not be pushed to ship products prematurely -- especially when they are not fully tested." Chowdhry's comments spark an interesting debate about where Apple is headed over the next few years. During the company's most recent press events, senior executives unveiled a host of new products -- new iPads, new iMacs, new MacBook Pros and a refreshed Mac Mini. It was enough to make even the most optimistic analyst wonder if the company had saved anything for the next two quarters. Apple has gone all-in, pleasing some with its revised iMac (which incorporates the unique and promising Fusion Drive concept) while disappointing others with a fourth-generation iPad that some believe came too soon. Whatever the case, Apple seems to be on a mission to sell as many products as possible this Christmas. Still, it is not unreasonable for Chowdhry to question why Apple is not doing more. In all fairness, it may be too soon for the company to bring the Retina Display to all of its devices without raising the prices too high. Chowdhry knows this better than anyone. In June, he estimated that if Apple made a Retina Display television today, it would retail for a

. He also said that the price of Retina Displays should go down over the next five to seven years. This is

for Apple's four-year cycle. The company does not need to build a TV yet, but it does need to incrementally update its product line. Apple could have gone ahead and added the Retina Display to its iMacs. But if it had, the starting price would have been a bit higher than $1,299. During a bad economy, this would have made it harder for Apple to sell the computer. That was only one reason for Apple to wait, however. By postponing the Retina Display another year, it gives Apple another hyping point for the next iMac refresh. The same goes for any addition that people have been waiting for, including touch. Right now, Apple can afford to wait on this feature. It may risk a lot in the process (if Windows 8 takes off, Microsoft

could reduce Apple's market share), but that is a risk Apple is willing to take. In doing so, it ensures that the iPad -- which is already in the hands of 100 million consumers -- will continue to sell. iPad sales will come to a screeching halt the moment that Apple starts to add touch screens to the Mac platform. In doing so, the MacBook Air could quickly and easily become an incredible iPad-killer. It would be a lot more expensive than the iPad, but it would also allow users to do so much more than they can with a tablet. Instead of buying an iPad and a MacBook, consumers would simply buy a MacBook. Apple does not want to exist in a world where people lose interest in iDevices. It is not enough for consumers to upgrade their iPhones annually. Apple wants the world to own and frequently upgrade every product it manufactures. By stretching out the release schedule of its products, and by stretching the time in between important upgrades, the company hopes that it can continue to earn record-breaking profits. Thus, the next 12 months should involve the following product refreshes:

In 2014, Apple fans can expect another slate of upgrades:

By 2015, Apple should be ready to release the following enhancements:

In 2016, Apple will release yet another slate of upgrades: