I don't understand how a company with much less revenue and profit (and money in the bank) can be worth more than Apple?
Stocks are about the future. You can't make money if a stock isn't going to grow in value. Unfortunately for Cook, he took over a company whose stockholders had come to expect constant innovation and market growth.
So whereas Jobs in his latter years was in his "
I will spend every penny we have to defeat Android" mode, Cook is apparently in a "
I will spend more and more trying to figure out the next big thing" mode.
R&D spending, while still small revenue-percentage-wise compared to other companies, has been rising quite a bit under Cook. Acquisitions seem pretty constant, in all sorts of fields. Rumors persist of "secret" projects like cars and VR. Until something major is created, smaller changes like upping display sizes, adding more models, removing headphone jacks, 3D touch and adding fashion touches, are used to fill in the stockholder-woo gap.
Hmm. That sounds a bit like the previous post-Jobs era.
I think Apple needs focus. I don't know who can give it. For example, to me, the Apple Watch is the sum of Tim Cook and Jon Ive, minus Steve Jobs, in a microcosm. It has no clear single focus. Instead, Apple put in every feature from call answering to little apps. Personally I like that, but if a different company did it to the same extent, it would be rightfully called "t
hrowing everything against the wall to see what sticks."
Just my thoughts. I feel kind of sorry for Cook. He's been trapped by unrealistic expectations. OTOH, I think a short downturn will help him in the long run, because it will temper those expectations.
