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I’m not wishing them to lose money but frankly I don’t care how much profit Apple, or any other company for that matter, makes. A company can sell crappy product and make a ton of money while another makes a good product and can’t stay afloat financially.

In the 60’s and 70’s the big 3 auto companies figured out that they could skimp on quality and still make a killing profit wise. Until it finally caught up with them in the mid to late 70’s. Chrysler was basically bankrupt by the early 80’s.

Don’t use money as the sole barometer as to how good a companies product is.

That does not make any sense.
Good products sell, bad products don’t.

Very Bad analogy.
Nothing about it applies to Apple.
 
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Now I would like to know how much of that they are investing into R & D. And what their vision is of the future besides small upgrades and prices increases. I’m afraid to say I don’t think you will find much in the way of vision. Steve Jobs said it the best when he said Apple is about being at the crossroads where technology meets the humanities. It shows how smart Steve was and how intune he was with technology. I’m afraid Apple isn’t quite there anymore and they are slowly drifting away from there. That will cause their ultimate demise.
 
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Now I would like to know how much of that they are investing into R & D. And what their vision is of the future besides small upgrades and prices increases. I’m afraid to say I don’t think you will find much in the way of vision. Steve Jobs said it the best when he said Apple is about being at the crossroads where technology meets the humanities. It shows how smart Steve was and how intune he was with technology. I’m afraid Apple isn’t quite there anymore and they are slowly drifting away from there. That will cause their ultimate demise.
Steve Jobs is dead and maybe the company would flounder in 2018 under his leadership. Who knows such things?
 
Thank your for providing us with excellent examples of circular logic, internal inconsistencies, and self-fulfilling prophecies.
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Aside from profits, which barometer would you use to measure the success of a for-profit business enterprise?

A commitment to R&D, getting new people into your company and actually listening to their ideas, a roadmap for customers of current products so people aren't waiting for upgrades that may never materialize, and a commitment to quality for all aspects of your company. Apple maps has mostly caught up but it wasn't a good product when introduced. Neither was HomePod which was released months late and without the connectivity promised until Airplay2 arrived 5 months later. The iPhone X was also late, and the wireless charging mat promised still hasn't made an appearance. Apple TV was late to the streaming video market and it's remote is neither simple nor intuitive. Siri is slowly getting some of the abilities that Amazon and Google products have had for a year or more but Siri was released first, it should be Amazon and Google playing catch-up. iMacs with middle of the road (at best) graphic capabilities, laptop keyboards that are both fragile and prone to sticking, removal of ports of all kinds causing a cable filled Dongle Hell to replace the multiple ports that used to be standard, and finally the initial release of your new MacBook that was marred by performance issues until a firmware upgrade. That covers the last few years.

A company having a problem or two with a few of their new releases is understandable. Having serious problems with just about every device, upgrade or service you offer isn't. Apple doesn't need to match the lowest price around, but they do need to be seen as worth the money.
 
A commitment to R&D, getting new people into your company and actually listening to their ideas, a roadmap for customers of current products so people aren't waiting for upgrades that may never materialize, and a commitment to quality for all aspects of your company. Apple maps has mostly caught up but it wasn't a good product when introduced. Neither was HomePod which was released months late and without the connectivity promised until Airplay2 arrived 5 months later. The iPhone X was also late, and the wireless charging mat promised still hasn't made an appearance. Apple TV was late to the streaming video market and it's remote is neither simple nor intuitive. Siri is slowly getting some of the abilities that Amazon and Google products have had for a year or more but Siri was released first, it should be Amazon and Google playing catch-up. iMacs with middle of the road (at best) graphic capabilities, laptop keyboards that are both fragile and prone to sticking, removal of ports of all kinds causing a cable filled Dongle Hell to replace the multiple ports that used to be standard, and finally the initial release of your new MacBook that was marred by performance issues until a firmware upgrade. That covers the last few years.

A company having a problem or two with a few of their new releases is understandable. Having serious problems with just about every device, upgrade or service you offer isn't. Apple doesn't need to match the lowest price around, but they do need to be seen as worth the money.
I'm not sure if Apple needs your advice. That is not to say there is not room for improvement and in every company there is always room. But based on the way Cook has been leading apple, even if you don't like Cook, it's clear it's customer base is buying products.

Apple maps, why even open that Steve Jobs can of worms? Even if you can name some minor mis-steps Apple is doing well by every benchmark, except certain posters on MacRumors.

For my money, Apple's products are worth the money.
 
...removal of ports of all kinds causing a cable filled Dongle Hell to replace the multiple ports that used to be standard...

FFS, are we about ready to drop this 2015-era whining yet? This was an intentional design decision and not a flub or flaw in any way.

When I bought my ‘17 MBP, I went “Hmmmm” and spent maybe $50 on a USB-C to Lightning cable and a clever combo USB-A/C thumb drive. “Problems” solved.

Serial ports and parallel ports used to be standard. Now they are not. Meh.
 
Service revenue is never going to even approach iPhone revenues.

Well you may be right.

However, services growth was 31% or something YOY (Year over year for same quarter), so let's say it was 30% growth for 6 years, how much revenue would it be then? It would be big! Still not the same as iPhone revenues perhaps, but the point is that services revenue is growing fast! Tim Cook said that by 2020, services revenue would be double what it was in 2016. It's growing FASTER than that! Wow! 9+ Billion dollars from "services". Compare to other companies revenues, and compare to other companies revenue growth. Wow again!
 
Now I would like to know how much of that they are investing into R & D. And what their vision is of the future besides small upgrades and prices increases. I’m afraid to say I don’t think you will find much in the way of vision. Steve Jobs said it the best when he said Apple is about being at the crossroads where technology meets the humanities. It shows how smart Steve was and how intune he was with technology. I’m afraid Apple isn’t quite there anymore and they are slowly drifting away from there. That will cause their ultimate demise.

So you’re literally saying, “Apple is doomed”.

btw Apple’s on track to spend almost $14 billion this year on R&D.
 
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Steve Jobs is dead and maybe the company would flounder in 2018 under his leadership. Who knows such things?
Yea Steve Jobs is dead but he said exactly what you need to follow if you want Apple to be great. They are not following it and it shows. Apple would not flounder under Steve Jobs. He would not have gotten rid of some of Apple’s best innovations and he would not have let a product be released that was inferior to a prior Apple product.
 
Yea Steve Jobs is dead but he said exactly what you need to follow if you want Apple to be great. They are not following it and it shows. Apple would not flounder under Steve Jobs. He would not have gotten rid of some of Apple’s best innovations and he would not have let a product be released that was inferior to a prior Apple product.
By every measure one would measure the success of a company, Apple isn't floundering now. To me, it doesn't "show" as you put it.
 
The quarter was terrible compared with Huawei. Apple is in a standards battle not a marketing war. If Tim thinks the company can maintain critical mass when a competitor smashes them with a 40% sales jump, time to dust off the Gil Amelio Playbook.
 
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Yea Steve Jobs is dead but he said exactly what you need to follow if you want Apple to be great

He sure did. Here’s what he told Tim. Emphasis mine

“Tim Cook” said:
I asked him about different scenarios to understand how he wanted to be involved as chairman. He said, "I want to make this clear. I saw what happened when Walt Disney passed away. People looked around, and they kept asking what Walt would have done." He goes, "The business was paralyzed, and people just sat around in meetings and talked about what Walt would have done." He goes, "I never want you to ask what I would have done. Just do what's right." He was very clear.
 
So you’re literally saying, “Apple is doomed”.

btw Apple’s on track to spend almost $14 billion this year on R&D.
No I’m not saying that Apple is doomed. They have so much capital they will be around for a long time still. I’m saying that Apple needs to get back to what really makes Apple Apple.
 
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Man I want to buy stocks but I can't save up fast enough!!

There should be some reasonably priced ETFs that include AAPL in their holdings. Watch out for the FAANGs, though, if you are concerned about FB's future (FAANGs hold FB, AAPL, AMZN, NFLX and GOOG). Here's a list that I just found with a quick search. Be sure to check fees when comparing.
 
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