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More on Apple's (AAPL -1.3%) shareholder meeting: With rumors of iWatches and new set-tops...

  • Wednesday, February 27, 1:08 PM ET
    More on Apple's (AAPL -1.3%) shareholder meeting: With rumors of iWatches and new set-tops swirling around, Tim Cook hints at new products. "Obviously we're looking at new categories -- we don't talk about them, but we're looking at them." Cook on Android's share gains: "There's a button or two we could press to make the most [devices] .... That would not be good for Apple." He boasts over half of Chinese/Brazilian iPad buyers are new Apple customers, and still thinks David Einhorn's suit is "silly." No word of a dividend or buyback hike. (live blog)
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This news story has 47 comments:

  •  
    The Einhorn suit is silly, I'm tired of that man.
    27 Feb, 01:12 PM Reply Like
  •  
    A lot of people are saying the same thing about Tim Cook
    27 Feb, 01:31 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Unfortunately he was just re-elected CEO. The man is determined to screw up the company. I fed up with Apple
    27 Feb, 01:34 PM Reply Like
  •  
    why don't you ask iCook why he bundle the proposals?
    did he and his people not know that is illegal?
    either they think they are above the law or they are ignorance and in either case it reflects poorly on iCook
    27 Feb, 01:39 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I really don't understand the discontent with Cook. Since he took over, AAPL started paying dividends and had the biggest quarter in the history of capitalism. Sure, he hasn't come out with a new product yet. But imo, there will be one by the end of 2013. I am long AAPL at these levels.
    27 Feb, 01:41 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I like him, and I trust him to run Apple. Sure he lacks in some qualities against Jobs, but has others. Perhaps Jobs was more innovative, but so what? Innovation comes from the culture and structure of Apple, not primarily from the CEO.

    Either I'm to dumb to understand or it's just some kind of crazy and disconnected herd mentality we're witnessing.
    27 Feb, 03:01 PM Reply Like
  •  
    @Matt Jonza - I completely agree with you. Cook is doing a fine job, people need to find some patience. Apple has much planned that will take the world by storm. You don't reinvent the wheel every year.

    I wish other companies were held to the same standard as Apple. Samsung just copies Apple. Microsoft is at least more original. But there stuff always misses as it tries to be everything to everyone. Google fires buckshot into the air and hopes something will stick. Their products are just vehicles to sell ads.

    For those that want to play the long game AAPL is the place to be IMO.
    27 Feb, 04:10 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Definitely lacking in the charisma department...but a hundred fold better than Balmer....
    27 Feb, 10:18 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I don't necessarily disagree with you MishaF- but the similarities to Gates/Ballmer are huge.

    Ballmer grew the revenues and EPS very well (300% in a decade) but the stock was flat.

    The difference of course is $AAPL did not begin with $MSFT's bloated valuation.
    27 Feb, 10:27 PM Reply Like
  •  
    scott trader-- if Tim Cook achieves the same revenue and eps growth over the next decade as Ballmer achieved with Microsoft, we'll all be insanely lucky and $AAPL will be easily $1200 a share in 5 years-- probably $1000 in 2-3.
    27 Feb, 10:28 PM Reply Like
  •  
    @ J Mintzmyer......I am not getting any younger beard is growing longer amd more gray hairs..... msft has done zero in thirteen years.....I cut and ran years ago.......msft has survived because it was the only girl at the dance....not because Balmer sings and plays like Paul McCartney...
    27 Feb, 10:37 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Agree $AAPL is harder to manage than $MSFT-- much more of a monopoly/moat in the latter.

    That said, looking at financial performance, $MSFT has done well the past decade. Those who invested in a bubble should be lucky to break even.
    1 Mar, 05:04 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Einhorn of Greenlight capital is obviously no dummy , holding close to 700 million dollars worth of Apple shares.....Discovery capital holds a similar valued position. They are not the largest though Tiger-and Coatue hold larger positions....Einhorns lawsuit is obviously in his own interest but may kick Apple in the ass to get the ball rolling faster.....as a shareholder of aapl shares waiting around for the next promised innovative technology is not enough.....I want to be paid to wait increase the dividend or buy back shares,,,,,old saying sometimes you have to do something even if it is wrong...
    27 Feb, 01:33 PM Reply Like
  •  
    wow Scott, that's an interesting statement coming from you! "... even if it is wrong."
    27 Feb, 01:45 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Hi Berylrb.....I have a good friend who seems to be stuck in ambiguity and procrastination......he talks about doing lots of things but never pulls the trigger and does anything.... he .works a 9 to 5 and hates it........I am sure, I am not the only one that may have a friend similar to this...anyway......lis... to him repeat he should do this or that to change his situation continuously becomes intolerable...maybe I am a touch intolerant but the aapl slide has been going on for 6 months with no perceivable actions by Tim Cook and company......I am growingly becoming intolerant.


    .long aapl products the best in class.....
    27 Feb, 01:57 PM Reply Like
  •  
    right on, ".long aapl products the best in class....."

    I would just encourage a little patience with management, we are still within the historic window for disruptive products yes?

    I know its been said ad nauseum but ...
    1998 iMac
    2001 iPod
    2003 iTunes/App Store milestones
    2005 Tim Cook COO, we often forget this eh?
    2007 iPhone
    2010 iPad

    I would suggest that there is no Moore's law for disruptive products regardless of what "traders" want.

    The hands down most disruptive company on the planet, in modern history, can only manage a new product every 3 or so years, I just don't see how armchair quarterbacks are getting this irrational exuberance that the timetable can be compressed any further? And this irrationality after a record year of R&D spending!

    2014 is the year the sleeping giant awakes! ... after that I'll be intolerant too!
    27 Feb, 02:08 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Well its been 3 yrs since last new product--- why don't they announce something --- after all they have spent a lot on R&D since 2010 ??????????????????????...
    27 Feb, 04:08 PM Reply Like
  •  
    @ berylrb - Well said.
    27 Feb, 04:12 PM Reply Like
  •  
    thanks rain city!

    @king999, well technically it won't be 3 years until September 17, 2013!
    27 Feb, 07:34 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I just returned from the shareholders meeting and was a little disappointed that there was no discussion of dividends, buy backs, splits or repatriation of cash. Nor was there any hint of when we would hear about those issues.

    Apple makes great products, masters supply chains, designs well, distributes with real style and really moves the dial on technology. They have not yet figured out how to deal with success. I suppose that like most things, they will measure twice and cut once.
    27 Feb, 01:37 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Yep, they need a financial guru to help them manage all that $137 BILLION to help the stock price, since the 35% drop from 706 in Sept 2012
    27 Feb, 04:10 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Apple can use all that cash to buy their own stock....to survive..
    27 Feb, 01:41 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I hope Einhorn and Greenlight Capital sue Apple. The comapny does not have a plan to return value to shareholders. The best Tim Cook can say is we are looking at new catagories. What? Is that suppose to make my investment payoff? In the mean time the stock has tanked and the company has lost billions of dollars in value. Is the plan another iPhone 5 fiasco?
    27 Feb, 01:41 PM Reply Like
  •  
    so you would prefer Cook say... oh we are going to come out with a TV sometime... and probably a watch too? That's not how you do business, especially if you are attempting to create a new product category. The announcement will come when the product is ready, no sooner.
    27 Feb, 01:44 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Funny. When I invest in a company I want those in charge to do what is best for the company, which does not always include telling me what's up their sleeves or giving me their profits. Traders are annoying. Apple is doing something besides twiddling their thumbs...if you don't believe it, sell your shares.
    27 Feb, 01:56 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Rather a few people have already, including most of the board.
    27 Feb, 02:59 PM Reply Like
  •  
    if you don't believe that sell your shares..

    yah that's real good for long aapl shareholders...obviously a lot have why stock price has toppled......I recently sold some later aquired shares at a loss...bought more Disney, American Tower, real D and even some facebook......every day was starting to feel like Groundhog Day the movie...recovered my losses in couple of weeks......


    long aapl


    sent from my wonderful Ipad.
    27 Feb, 03:08 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Well its been 3 yrs since new product thats plenty of time to develop one --- JUST DO IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    27 Feb, 04:12 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Who wants to sell with stock down 35% ????????????????
    27 Feb, 04:13 PM Reply Like
  •  
    not many want to sell with the stock down....but not participating in a decent market rally is giving me a Nostradamus moment...
    27 Feb, 05:43 PM Reply Like
  •  
    iCook should at least give a date when he will announce what he is going to do with the cash. So by that day he can if he want to just say nothing will happen or announce some plan. It is the uncertainty that keep the stock in limbo. Most people would want to just remove this discussion and move on.
    27 Feb, 02:03 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Unless you are clueless when you became apple shareholder, you knew apple is a cash hoarder. If the majority of the shareholders are happy with the way things are now, how is Einhorn? who has .1 percent, to tell the other 99.9 what to do?

    If you don't like the rule, leave, just like with banning "working from home" at Yahoo.
    27 Feb, 02:47 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Who needs the iwatch??? idont!!
    27 Feb, 02:58 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Great entree point for me. Thanks All.
    27 Feb, 02:58 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I hate apple stock. Yet I own it, because of the quality/style of their products. If Cook had bowed to einhorn's pressure, he would not have looked he ran the largest company in the world; he would have opened the door to any medium- to large- holders to obstruct running of the company.

    I'm hoping that if cook is measuring twice and cutting once, he is planning a cut in stock price to around 90 (5x) or 45 (10x) split, and based on what he did today, it will happen when he is not being publicly pressured to do it.
    27 Feb, 02:59 PM Reply Like
  •  
    While I don't know a hell of a lot about ivesting I do know that at one point in time Apple was a great innovative company that offered shareholders fantastic value. It now seems to be a middle of the road company with a CEO on a quick path to looking for a new job. Didn't we see this before in Steve Jobs absence?
    27 Feb, 02:59 PM Reply Like
  •  
    You can stick a fork in Tim Cook because he is done. Look for the upheval to begin when the stock price approaches $400 which it certainly will!
    27 Feb, 02:59 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Deep down I don't think management at Apple get too concerned about the current stock price of APPL. The main effect on Apple employees, executives or directors is the value of their stock and most are probably in it for the long haul.
    The main effect of the drop down in the current stock price is on the Hedge Funds or Pension Funds who bought near $700 and is now causing all the kicking and streaming. Wall Street is not warm to Apple which essentially ignores them, and most Analysts are only too happy to jump on any bandwagon that gets them them ink.
    27 Feb, 03:00 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Just sell the stock and move on. easier on your nerves!
    27 Feb, 03:11 PM Reply Like
  •  
    AAPL management should be focused on continuing outstanding product development, not on the short term moves of the share price. If you got greedy and bought in too high, that is your problem, not Tim Cook's.
    27 Feb, 04:03 PM Reply Like
  •  
    AAPL was a victim of their own success.

    Once everyone (I mean big money managers) has their fill of AAPL stock in their portfolio who else is left to buy the stock to move it up ?

    (I said same thing when AAPL was on it's way to 700 when I was bearish and now I'm bullish.)
    27 Feb, 04:09 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Huge vote against pay.... as I recall it was about 40% against on pay package.
    27 Feb, 04:27 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Bunch of cry babies.
    27 Feb, 04:54 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Imagine this: AAPL moves slowly from low $300s to $450 in about two years time. Nothing too dramatic. I think most longs would be pretty happy. Perhaps we are just looking at a bubble that burst and the anger of those who got greedy?

    Could it be that simple?
    27 Feb, 10:42 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Tim Cook, as CEO of Apple, might not care about shareholders' concern about its cash hoard. However, Tim Cook, as one of the directors on the board, has his fiduciary duties to realize shareholder value.
    28 Feb, 03:00 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I get a kick out of the commenters imploring Apple to just come out w/ the next revolutionary product and be done w/ it already so we can all become rich. It's not like Tim Cook can just walk into the revolutionary product/change the world building, snap his fingers and here comes the next big thing that no one had ever thought of before.
    28 Feb, 07:07 AM Reply Like
  •  
    hmmmm.....SJ said he cracked the code.......remember...
    28 Feb, 07:11 AM Reply Like
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