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Apple Is 'Ungodly Well-Managed,' Billionaire Investor Says

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Apple has been lauded as "ungodly well-managed" by billionaire investor Charlie Munger, Yahoo Finance reports.

apple-park-drone-june-2018-2.jpg

In an exclusive interview, the Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman told Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer:
I think Apple is one of the strong companies and will stay a strong company. I think it's ungodly well-managed.
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Apple is now Berkshire Hathaway's largest stock holding, and the stake is a significant proportion of the value of the conglomerate holding company itself. In recent years, Berkshire Hathaway has sought to bolster its stake of Apple and other big tech companies such as Amazon. Munger emphasized that he is most impressed by Apple:
I judge the strength of the company based on how much the customers love it. And I've got zillions of friends who they'd almost part with their right arm before they'd part with their iPhone. That's a hugely powerful position to be in.
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Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett often praises Apple's success and, as of September 2021, the company owned 5.5 percent of Apple with 907.6 million shares.

Last month, Apple became the world's first company worth three trillion dollars. At its last earnings report, Apple reported quarterly revenue of $123.9 billion, an all-time quarterly record for the company. On a category-by-category basis, the company also set all-time quarterly revenue records for the iPhone, Mac, Wearables, and Services.

Article Link: Apple Is 'Ungodly Well-Managed,' Billionaire Investor Says
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/2022/02/18/apple-is-ungodly-well-managed/
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MakeAppleAwesomeAgain said:
Two days ago I posted on MR that Cook is the best CEO, and numerous people went bananas. I said it before, he's not a product visionary or genius, but he sent Apple into the stratosphere as a company.
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What I like to say about Tim and his influence on Apple is this:

Using a Mac used to feel like you were floating above the crap pile that is using technology (my objective view is that technology doesn't really make our lives better, it makes people money).

Tim Cook realized they could make a lot more money if they brought the quality down to the point where the Mac experience SITS at the top of the crap pile.

So it stinks more, but it's still the best choice.

The result: Way more profit.

I accept this, not because I like it, but because I have no choice.

EDIT: All in all, I actually think Tim Cook has done a really great job, and even though I said there was a quality reduction, in many ways everything is better now. Like others have said it's hard to know how much Tim Cook is involved in product design/development. I think in many ways Jobs had unrealistic expectations and goals, sometimes he got close or even nailed it, but there were lots of flops. When I say "Tim lowered the quality" I feel like it was a strategic move to help the company take a long approach to things.
I've never thought of switching to another platform, but no more than ever I'm so happy to be using lots of Apple stuff.
 
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Unggoy Murderer said:
But, I thought all of the experts on the Internet forums said that Apple was doomed?!
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Any time some says Apple has mistepped, someone else chimes in with sarcastic hyperbole to discredit it with "Apple is doomed". No one said Apple is doomed and that they're closing up shop. It's like Apple fans can't take criticism.

Apple is an amazing company. However, pointing out their issues or mistakes, helps them course-correct (ex. new MBPs with magsafe/ports). That is what makes them good.
 
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MakeAppleAwesomeAgain said:
Two days ago I posted on MR that Cook is the best CEO, and numerous people went bananas. I said it before, he's not a product visionary or genius, but he sent Apple into the stratosphere as a company.
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Tim is a visionary. Getting apple to where it is today in 11 years was no small feat.

He gave the people what they want. (And unlike the poster above who claims to use apple because it’s the best of the worst)
 
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In before the anti-Tim posts riddle this thread useless.

The egos here will never be able to admit a simple fact: Tim has done an amazing job growing one of the most successful businesses on the planet. And it was made that much more challenging following such an industry icon as Steve. But remember, Steve wasn’t looking for another Steve. He knew Apple needed more when he hand-picked Tim. And it’s clear, Steve was right.

You’d think as much as some applaud every decision Steve made that they would have been more welcoming and supportive of Tim. The anti-Tim sentiment is so bizarre.

Anyway, despite popular opinion here, from my perspective, Tim deserves a lot of credit for where Apple sits today.
 
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MakeAppleAwesomeAgain said:
Two days ago I posted on MR that Cook is the best CEO, and numerous people went bananas. I said it before, he's not a product visionary or genius, but he sent Apple into the stratosphere as a company.
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Yes. He is an incredibly good CEO; he excels at managing as nobody else does.

Steve Jobs was a products guy. He was a visionary. And he cared deeply about the products. He made products that would make him happy, and he had an incredible sense of design and ergonomics. Steve Jobs was absolutely against a stylus for the iPad and a touch screen for the Mac; he had strong feelings about this and never let those features into the final product. He put Apple's products at his sky-high standards and made the company really innovative.

Tim Cook cares about the company. He does not care so much about each product. He wants to make products that will make customers happy. He is not really interested in the features of a given product. He does not care whether the iPad uses a stylus or not. What he wants is to see the wheels turning. And that is what a company is in the end.

Although Tim Cook is not an innovative genius, his great management skills compensate for that. As a result of good management, Apple has more resources to invest in things such as its own chip. Tim Cook's Apple may not come up with the next iPhone or iPad, but it can make a better iPhone or iPad.
 
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FSMBP said:
Any time some says Apple has mistepped, someone else chimes in with sarcastic hyperbole to discredit it with "Apple is doomed". No one said Apple is doomed and that they're closing up shop. It's like Apple fans can't take criticism.

Apple is an amazing company. However, pointing out their issues or mistakes, helps them course-correct (ex. new MBPs with magsafe/ports). That is what makes them good.
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There’s quite the chasm between a misstep and the now famous “apple is doomed” meme.
 
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That's some bad English from Munger. "Ungodly" is an adjective. The phrase demands an adverb, which could be "ungodlily." The problem is that not all sources agree that there is such a word, and the second and more obvious problem is that it makes the phrase awkward.

Munger probably assumes that anything that ends with "ly" is an adverb, which is not true. He is a billionaire, so maybe he can just say it any way he wants. I don't have to like it though. That said, I have seen this quote on a number of articles now, not written by billionaires, and none of them has the presence of mind to [sic] him.

If I am wrong, perhaps an English expert here can correct me.
 
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BF1M said:
If I own 5.5% of a trillion dollar company, I’m going to tell you its the best thing since sliced bread even if we are killing baby pandas behind closed doors.
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I'm showing my age, but I thought clubbing baby seals was the benchmark for evil corporations.

Apple is clearly a well oiled money making machine. In this day of logistical challenges, I can't think of anyone to be better in charge of Apple than the master of logistics himself, Cook.

Now, that being said, I'm no Cook fanboy. I also didn't think the iPad was going to be anything (I once called it an iPod touch with a massive tumor) and that Steve Jobs was the devil incarnate for killing the Apple II.

So take my half baked idiotic opinions at their proffered face value.
 
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antiprotest said:
That's some bad English from Munger. "Ungodly" is an adjective. The phrase demands an adverb, which could be "ungodlily." The problem is that not all sources agree that there is such a word, and the second and more obvious problem is that it makes the phrase awkward.

Munger probably assumes that anything that ends with "ly" is an adverb, which is not true. He is a billionaire, so maybe he can just say it any way he wants. I don't have to like it though. That said, I have seen this quote on a number of articles now, not written by billionaires, and none of them has the presence of mind to [sic] him.

If I am wrong, perhaps an English expert here can correct me.
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[sic] is normally used to identify the incorrect spelling of a word in a written quote from someone, so the reader knows the original writer made the error, not the publication. I can't imagine it being used when quoting what someone said verbally.
 
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torontotim said:
[sic] is normally used to identify the incorrect spelling of a word in a written quote from someone, so the reader knows the original writer made the error, not the publication. I can't imagine it being used when quoting what someone said verbally.
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I have seen it used numerous times in news articles on spoken quotes, but if you are correct, they used it wrong. I am not aware of an official rule on this. I will look it up when I get the chance.

On spoken quotes, I have also seen articles change the original (I could hear the original in the videos) to correct errors to the intended words. I am not sure if this is an accepted journalistic practice now.
 
98 year old Charlie Munger has some "interesting" views on a number of issues.

- it is perfectly ok to build student dormitories in which none of the rooms have a window
- he compares bitcoin to a venereal disease
- stated that the gentleman in charge of a certain country when some students had unfortunate encounters with tanks was one of the world's greatest leaders

Probably best if Charlie moves into a "facility". Windowless to keep him happy...
 
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Ironic. I bought an iphone last year to see what all the fuss was about as my last one was an iPhone 4. I lasted about 2 weeks before I got annoyed with all the limitations and returned it. People might give their right arm, but thats only because they don't know better.
 
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WiiDSmoker said:
Maybe they could ungodly manage their software teams.
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Pardon the pun, but AMEN! As great as the hardware is, the software is their Achilles Heel... particularly with being able to preserve personal data for personal use. Why is it, when I upgrade from one Apple Watch model to the next one, that I cannot integrate that information into a single repository for myself?!

Why also does iTunes for Windows continue to be so damned clunky and unreliable after 20 years in existence?!
 
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CubeHacker said:
Ironic. I bought an iphone last year to see what all the fuss was about as my last one was an iPhone 4. I lasted about 2 weeks before I got annoyed with all the limitations and returned it. People might give their right arm, but thats only because they don't know better.
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The universe is against you with this viewpoint. 1 billion users don’t know better? That doesn’t track.
 
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Sharewaredemon said:
What I like to say about Tim and his influence on Apple is this:

Using a Mac used to feel like you were floating above the crap pile that is using technology (my objective view is that technology doesn't really make our lives better, it makes people money).

Tim Cook realized they could make a lot more money if they brought the quality down to the point where the Mac experience SITS at the top of the crap pile.

So it stinks more, but it's still the best choice.

The result: Way more profit.

I accept this, not because I like it, but because I have no choice.
Click to expand...


Quality feels the same to me.
But Macs are much better now, since using their own Chips. (While being cheaper for them at the same time)

Most of the things that went bad, were because of the "thinness" craze. Which they seem to be reversing and was mostly a design choice.

I also don't have more or less problems with the software than i did in the past. I think they are just broadcasted more these days, since "Apple" started generating more and more clicks.
 
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