Further Signs Of Demand Weakness Now Hit The iPad Mini [View article]
"This is a win win situation for both and should have been done years ago."
No need when Apple products couldn't be kept in stock even at full price. Besides, the most successful products sold at say, Tiffany's, would never consider going downmarket all the way to Walmart unless they were having trouble moving their merchandise.
Further Signs Of Demand Weakness Now Hit The iPad Mini [View article]
The commentators above who appear so convinced that the latest Apple products appearing in Walmart discounted is a plus for Apple should consider working for the government and pumping the Bernanke "recovery."
And hopefully for them all of their investments aren't just just about hope and "close enough for government work."
Without Steve Jobs, Apple Is Without A Map [View article]
This all smells of GM which was for decades the most valuable and profitable company on the planet and considered synonymous with the peak of manufacturing expertise and "American knowhow."
The demonstrable end started in 1955 when an accountant rather than an engineer headed the corporation for the first time, followed within several years by non-engineers in all top positions. Cheapness, fake innovations, goofs, missteps and inability and unwillingness to confront competitive threats were the result of the resulting focus on short-term results with nobody willing or able to take the heat for tough, principled decisions to maintain long-term viability.
IT is a faster world, and decades will morph into mere years of great decline if Apple continues to lapse into the usual mold that human organizations devolve into of short-sighted and short-term decisions over the far more difficult maintenance of true quality and innovation that were achieved under Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs Era Officially Over, But Should You Sell Apple Stock? [View article]
"Tim has surely read Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged one of Steve's favorite books and considered to be one of his 'guides'....."
And Alan Greenspan was a disciple of Ayn Rand; what did that do to temper his career of servitude to the banker cartel and it's fiat paper currency? Maybe the biggest sellouts can be those who are have kept the subjects of their treasonous acts closer than their friends, a la the advice of Machiavelli.
Microsoft was once widely considered the very essence of cutting edge innovation. So was GM, for that matter. Who cares now? Settling for the conventional status quo is the norm for managers at the top, and because they happen to be in business does not make them entrepreneurs. At present these are the types who are presiding over the demise of the unique free market attributes that once propelled the US to unparalleled leadership in most categories, from Jeffrey Immelt of GE presiding over the President's laughable "jobs panel" to all the political, business and academic hacks who have given us the grotesque contortions and lies that are preserving the incumbent haves at the cost of mounting $trillions of debt without any prospect of taxpayer value in exchange.
Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur nonpareil regardless that he made mistakes. Obscenely overpaid, glorified managers are the stuff of which the present disastrous state of the US was built on. Sadly this is whose ranks Tim Cook now seems to be inclined to join.
Apple Has Already Won The Tablet Market [View article]
Agree with comments: An enlightening overview of Apple and a great article.
Interesting that Steve Jobs listened to vinyl and recognized it's uncompressed analogue integrity as a target worth shooting for in his digital products. As the article states, "angels cry when good music is downgraded through MP3 compression." Very reassuring for the future of recorded music that Jobs was concerned with this problem enough to attack it with his usual concern for the ideal. By way of contrast, even some major studios have been known to throw out their original archival multitrack master tapes in favor of adulterated 16-bit "CD-quality" reductions!
Sony unfortunately saw fit to introduce the first digital CD products it pioneered at 16 bits because the 24-bit true-fidelity product would have taken an extra year to develop and bring to market. Although Sony makes many excellent products, this is an illustration of the typical corporate bean-counter mentality. Perhaps the karma associated with the colossal damage Sony's approach did to music reproduction has contributed to that company's stagnation since.
Apple: Retail Store Revenue Growth May Be Declining [View article]
The article was illuminating and concluded that the stores are "very profitable," and "wildly better than most retail store chains." "Moreover, as biographer Walter Isaacson wrote: 'by creating buzz and brand awareness (the stores) indirectly helped boost everything the company did.'"
Hardly a hit piece. Apple stores hugely differentiate that brand from everything else and create a hugely positive experience that reflects extremely well on the brand. It's one of Steve Jobs many distinguishing unique and inspired moves that drove Apple to the top that will likely be slowly chipped away as the usual American corporate drones chip off a buck here, a cost saving there to pad management compensation at the expense of Apple's distinguishing qualities and eventually land it among the ordinary too late to correct.
Kind of the story of the entire US nation at present.
What Steve Jobs' Departure Means For Apple [View article]
Steve Jobs has had a vision every where he has been to enlist technology in ways that, as he puts it, are meant to "amaze."
It seems unlikely that the usual bean-counting American corporate drones won't find important places to cut for short-term gain that add up to a a far less amazing future for Apple. Only Jobs could prioritize resources and marshal promising ideas into reality the way he has.
No one else is likely to have the vision or the clout. Politically skilled CYA specialists in Apple, as in any major organization, are likely to have their way.
Apple: One Risk That Nobody Mentions [View article]
The article is exactly correct. Technical deterioration often shows in stock prices before the reason becomes obvious enough to reach most of us. Apple seems conservatively valued based on what we know. But they are in a business where they need to be at the cutting edge at all times and additionally dealing with legal threats from competitors.
"Examples of technical obsolescence are around us every day," and, "I just think that this is the one risk that no one mentions when talking about Apple," are prudent risks to weigh, especially in a company so dependent upon being at the forefront of technology.
Comparing Apple today to 1999's epic tech bubble over-valuations may not hold much value.
In 1987 during Japan's massive bubble, I read that the value of the Emperor's courtyard exceeded that of the entire state of California. I can't think how that applies in any valuations now.
Note that the US is following the same zombie bank bailout policies that have ruined Japan's economy since their leveraged economic party collapsed, so more depressed valuations generally are likely to follow in the US.
7 Reasons Apple's iPad Will Remain King of the Tablets [View article]
HP's tablet efforts with the Palm OS will be an interesting and crucial revelation of whether enough of a core of HP's once-proud culture of innovation has survived the Fiorina and Hurd onslaughts of business-by-the-numbers for bonuses.
Apple has come back in epic form from a similar, much shorter deviation since former CEO John Sculley but new HP CEO Leo Apotheker, if no Steve Jobs, has to at least accomplish the results of former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner who was able to rationalize and turn around IBM in the 1990's.
Does the 'iPad 2.5' in 2011 Make Sense? [View article]
Apple succeeds because of the inspirational leadership of Steve Jobs, which was highlighted by Apple's descent nearly to corporate business-as-usual under John Sculley from Pepsi. Steve Jobs has a vision of the use of technology to benefit people, not just to exploit a gimmick, temporary advantage or marketing ploy. Hence, as heyitistime writes, consumers who have enough to handle in their lives and their own areas of competence have learned to trust Apple to deliver an excellent, sometimes amazing experience when they buy it's products and services.
Sure, most large corporate managements in the US pay themselves as if they were geniuses, but they are usually mere administrators and managers of OPM and it's time they were compensated appropriately as such. They are mostly beneficiaries of inside baseball and CYA.
As in Pixar, Jobs has developed an inspired culture at Apple and the question will be how inspired his successors will turn out to be over time. Preferably this won't be a question for a long time yet.
Why 'Wave and Pay' May Catapult the iPhone Over Android [View article]
I think you are correct; Paypal is predominantly online and NFC technology may have little to do with that. Paypal is pushing a small business "virtual terminal" to accept fax, phone and online payments, but again, overlap would seem likely to be minimal. For awhile.
Paypal fees are high, so there is significant incentive for users to look for alternatives.
Why 'Wave and Pay' May Catapult the iPhone Over Android [View article]
Perhaps Apple featuring "wave and pay" will be the app that marginalizes Paypal, the only bright spot at Ebay.
Ebay has attempted unsuccessfully to ape Amazon with second-rate technology by driving away it's legions of unique small sellers while minimizing it's unique auction platform in favor of big-box resellers.
As a result, only Ebay's Paypal has shown growth for the past 3 years. With this prop removed, CEO John Donahoe's misguided policies on Ebay's marketplace may finally be revealed for the tragic mistake they have been and new management can finally begin to unlock the potential at Ebay.
Wherever Steve Jobs has gone, he has incubated cultures of inspiration, creativity and freedom in product creation. At Apple, then Pixar, then Apple again.
To lose Steve Jobs will eventually find Apple like, say, Disney, once a hothouse of creation but mostly since early days a more bean-counter-driven, by-the-numbers corporation. That's what Apple quickly became under John Sculley, former Pepsico CEO, post-Jobs I. And Detroit was once America's Silicon Valley, hard to imagine now.
American corporations, like most political entities without strong visionary leadership, fall prey to short-term thinking and leave long-term decline for someone else to worry about.
Political players will game the system and take over, absent a truly unusual culture. It may take time, but investors will need to be very wary post-Jobs of badge-engineered me-too products resting on Apple's hard-won laurels rather than on amazing merit and innovation. Hopefully this won't be necessary for a very long time.
Further Signs Of Demand Weakness Now Hit The iPad Mini [View article]
No need when Apple products couldn't be kept in stock even at full price. Besides, the most successful products sold at say, Tiffany's, would never consider going downmarket all the way to Walmart unless they were having trouble moving their merchandise.
Further Signs Of Demand Weakness Now Hit The iPad Mini [View article]
And hopefully for them all of their investments aren't just just about hope and "close enough for government work."
Without Steve Jobs, Apple Is Without A Map [View article]
The demonstrable end started in 1955 when an accountant rather than an engineer headed the corporation for the first time, followed within several years by non-engineers in all top positions. Cheapness, fake innovations, goofs, missteps and inability and unwillingness to confront competitive threats were the result of the resulting focus on short-term results with nobody willing or able to take the heat for tough, principled decisions to maintain long-term viability.
IT is a faster world, and decades will morph into mere years of great decline if Apple continues to lapse into the usual mold that human organizations devolve into of short-sighted and short-term decisions over the far more difficult maintenance of true quality and innovation that were achieved under Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs Era Officially Over, But Should You Sell Apple Stock? [View article]
And Alan Greenspan was a disciple of Ayn Rand; what did that do to temper his career of servitude to the banker cartel and it's fiat paper currency? Maybe the biggest sellouts can be those who are have kept the subjects of their treasonous acts closer than their friends, a la the advice of Machiavelli.
Microsoft was once widely considered the very essence of cutting edge innovation. So was GM, for that matter. Who cares now? Settling for the conventional status quo is the norm for managers at the top, and because they happen to be in business does not make them entrepreneurs. At present these are the types who are presiding over the demise of the unique free market attributes that once propelled the US to unparalleled leadership in most categories, from Jeffrey Immelt of GE presiding over the President's laughable "jobs panel" to all the political, business and academic hacks who have given us the grotesque contortions and lies that are preserving the incumbent haves at the cost of mounting $trillions of debt without any prospect of taxpayer value in exchange.
Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur nonpareil regardless that he made mistakes. Obscenely overpaid, glorified managers are the stuff of which the present disastrous state of the US was built on. Sadly this is whose ranks Tim Cook now seems to be inclined to join.
Apple Has Already Won The Tablet Market [View article]
"Tiptronic" is the name of the semi-automatic shifter, registered by Porsche.
Apple Has Already Won The Tablet Market [View article]
Interesting that Steve Jobs listened to vinyl and recognized it's uncompressed analogue integrity as a target worth shooting for in his digital products. As the article states, "angels cry when good music is downgraded through MP3 compression." Very reassuring for the future of recorded music that Jobs was concerned with this problem enough to attack it with his usual concern for the ideal. By way of contrast, even some major studios have been known to throw out their original archival multitrack master tapes in favor of adulterated 16-bit "CD-quality" reductions!
Sony unfortunately saw fit to introduce the first digital CD products it pioneered at 16 bits because the 24-bit true-fidelity product would have taken an extra year to develop and bring to market. Although Sony makes many excellent products, this is an illustration of the typical corporate bean-counter mentality. Perhaps the karma associated with the colossal damage Sony's approach did to music reproduction has contributed to that company's stagnation since.
Apple: Retail Store Revenue Growth May Be Declining [View article]
Hardly a hit piece. Apple stores hugely differentiate that brand from everything else and create a hugely positive experience that reflects extremely well on the brand. It's one of Steve Jobs many distinguishing unique and inspired moves that drove Apple to the top that will likely be slowly chipped away as the usual American corporate drones chip off a buck here, a cost saving there to pad management compensation at the expense of Apple's distinguishing qualities and eventually land it among the ordinary too late to correct.
Kind of the story of the entire US nation at present.
What Steve Jobs' Departure Means For Apple [View article]
It seems unlikely that the usual bean-counting American corporate drones won't find important places to cut for short-term gain that add up to a a far less amazing future for Apple. Only Jobs could prioritize resources and marshal promising ideas into reality the way he has.
No one else is likely to have the vision or the clout. Politically skilled CYA specialists in Apple, as in any major organization, are likely to have their way.
Apple: One Risk That Nobody Mentions [View article]
"Examples of technical obsolescence are around us every day," and, "I just think that this is the one risk that no one mentions when talking about Apple," are prudent risks to weigh, especially in a company so dependent upon being at the forefront of technology.
A Look at Apple's Market Cap [View article]
In 1987 during Japan's massive bubble, I read that the value of the Emperor's courtyard exceeded that of the entire state of California. I can't think how that applies in any valuations now.
Note that the US is following the same zombie bank bailout policies that have ruined Japan's economy since their leveraged economic party collapsed, so more depressed valuations generally are likely to follow in the US.
7 Reasons Apple's iPad Will Remain King of the Tablets [View article]
Apple has come back in epic form from a similar, much shorter deviation since former CEO John Sculley but new HP CEO Leo Apotheker, if no Steve Jobs, has to at least accomplish the results of former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner who was able to rationalize and turn around IBM in the 1990's.
Does the 'iPad 2.5' in 2011 Make Sense? [View article]
Sure, most large corporate managements in the US pay themselves as if they were geniuses, but they are usually mere administrators and managers of OPM and it's time they were compensated appropriately as such. They are mostly beneficiaries of inside baseball and CYA.
As in Pixar, Jobs has developed an inspired culture at Apple and the question will be how inspired his successors will turn out to be over time. Preferably this won't be a question for a long time yet.
Why 'Wave and Pay' May Catapult the iPhone Over Android [View article]
Paypal fees are high, so there is significant incentive for users to look for alternatives.
Why 'Wave and Pay' May Catapult the iPhone Over Android [View article]
Ebay has attempted unsuccessfully to ape Amazon with second-rate technology by driving away it's legions of unique small sellers while minimizing it's unique auction platform in favor of big-box resellers.
As a result, only Ebay's Paypal has shown growth for the past 3 years. With this prop removed, CEO John Donahoe's misguided policies on Ebay's marketplace may finally be revealed for the tragic mistake they have been and new management can finally begin to unlock the potential at Ebay.
What Happens if Steve Jobs Leaves? [View article]
To lose Steve Jobs will eventually find Apple like, say, Disney, once a hothouse of creation but mostly since early days a more bean-counter-driven, by-the-numbers corporation. That's what Apple quickly became under John Sculley, former Pepsico CEO, post-Jobs I. And Detroit was once America's Silicon Valley, hard to imagine now.
American corporations, like most political entities without strong visionary leadership, fall prey to short-term thinking and leave long-term decline for someone else to worry about.
Political players will game the system and take over, absent a truly unusual culture. It may take time, but investors will need to be very wary post-Jobs of badge-engineered me-too products resting on Apple's hard-won laurels rather than on amazing merit and innovation. Hopefully this won't be necessary for a very long time.