Agreed. Somehow these "people" seem to know exactly what Steve would have done!?! Believe me, Jobs didn't act alone when he ran the company -- far from it.
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Microsoft Passes Apple to Become Most Valuable U.S. Company
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I feel the exact same way. I budget for making new purchases and while I can technically make the purchase, the amount Apple is now asking just doesn't feel right.
I order a Thinkpad L380 Yoga on Black Friday. Waiting for it to arrive but I'm looking forward to it. Earlier this year I built a Linux desktop. It didn't cost much, it's quiet and fast. I'm running Debian 9 and it runs amazingly well. I'm looking forward to trying the PC 2-in-1 since most of my time I spend with my iPad I have the smart keyboard cover on it.
I'll give Windows 10 a try but I'll probably put Linux on the Lenovo as well (assuming there are no driver issues).
Sadly, I paid LESS for the ThinkPad after taxes and shipping than the base model 2018 12.9" iPad Pro without accessories. If I can continue to do all the same work on it, then Apple will have lost a customer.
Yes. I mentioned in my other post, their current CEO has a great vision and is definitely taking Microsoft in the right direction. Ballmer was a poor choice for the company and I felt he ran it into the ground (metaphorically).
Funny how I've been considering switching back to Windows for a year or two now. I really don't want to, and hope I won't, but when it comes to computers, Apple has very few options, and all of them are extremely expensive.
No one is saying "well if you get a PC with similar specs as a Mac, it would cost the same" because it's no longer true.
Windows can be installed on anything, while macOS can only be installed on Macs, but then there is no such thing as an affordable Mac. There is also no such thing as a Mac with a good graphics card or a professional CPU.
If you want to do intense computing work, then Apple simply has no options for you. Their only true pro machine is 5 years old and cannot be upgraded. Their new desktop Mac Mini has no discreet GPU. The MacBook Pro is super expensive and won't perform like a desktop, and cannot be upgraded or even repaired. Their iMac Pro is super expensive and cannot be repaired.
Either make computers people need, or allow your OS to run on computers people need. Don't lock people into your ecosystem just to then keep raising the price and reducing the number of options.
Making money almost entirely from iPhones is a bad idea. These things come and go, there is little room for innovation, and really the only difference these things is what color they are. They are mostly all equal in the sense that they do the things a smartphone is meant to do.
No one is saying "well if you get a PC with similar specs as a Mac, it would cost the same" because it's no longer true.
Windows can be installed on anything, while macOS can only be installed on Macs, but then there is no such thing as an affordable Mac. There is also no such thing as a Mac with a good graphics card or a professional CPU.
If you want to do intense computing work, then Apple simply has no options for you. Their only true pro machine is 5 years old and cannot be upgraded. Their new desktop Mac Mini has no discreet GPU. The MacBook Pro is super expensive and won't perform like a desktop, and cannot be upgraded or even repaired. Their iMac Pro is super expensive and cannot be repaired.
Either make computers people need, or allow your OS to run on computers people need. Don't lock people into your ecosystem just to then keep raising the price and reducing the number of options.
Making money almost entirely from iPhones is a bad idea. These things come and go, there is little room for innovation, and really the only difference these things is what color they are. They are mostly all equal in the sense that they do the things a smartphone is meant to do.
Quite appropriate to this thread. Credits to @AngerDanger (I take full responsibility for posting this)
Nifty. I mean, I read Tim Cook's response when the stock hit a trillion as basically "well that's cool but it doesn't really matter". But I could be totally off base when I read that though. HAHA
Things used to be better in the 'old days', did they? :-\
You can't compare 20, 30 years ago to now. Apple products just 5 years ago were decent prices, but in the past couple years, Apple have hiked up prices significantly. People have a right to be fed up with the recent price rises. To a lot of people, the price hikes haven't been justified by new features.
Ultimately, the shareholders own the company. If they deem that the current executive team aren't suitably guarding their investment, then the execs will be forced out, and then you'll likely get someone in there that really doesn't share Apple's values that we all love - who really is just a bean counter. Probably offload 'bottom line irrelevant' divisions like Mac, and ultimately line Apple up for a buyout, as that's the big payoff most investors love.
Because every company has different business models. And you better believe Wall Street wangs Apple moving on the services train. One reason Apole’s market cap is down so much recently is because Wall Street is nervous about hardware sales.
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Just curious how market cap valuation at a point in time has any effect on Apple executives, day to day operations of the company or even long term product plans? If anything right now Apple is on a huge buyback spree. Warren Buffet too.
The most asinine comment I’ve ever read on Apple.
It’s impossible to sell Apple because right now no other company can afford to buy it.
Secondly, Apple already has a bean counter as the CEO.
Thirdly, you can’t offload the Mac division because without the Mac, there’s no more iOS, since the coding happens on the Mac.
As someone that has followed both companies for a long time this is no surprise. Microsoft has built a product line that is little impacted by consumers. Their Azure Services are #2 behind Amazon's AWS. And for both companies these services are highly profitable. Microsoft Office 365 has been a runaway hit letting users run connected Office products everywhere, and providing 1 TB of cloud storage. Then there is Windows which is licensed on over 85% of PCs in the world.
I have been long in both companies for decades, and will probably sell APPL shares buy more MSFT, and maybe some more AMZN
I have been long in both companies for decades, and will probably sell APPL shares buy more MSFT, and maybe some more AMZN
Maybe because Steve put quality over profit?
That aside, hard to say if Apple would have become most valuable US company as its natural course regardless of who the CEO was. Given all the mistakes of late (software security bugs, crappy MBP keyboard etc), I think so.
That’s not exactly a huge stretch. G Suite is crap. It blows my mind anytime I’m asked to use it.
GCloud is also crap. I’ll take AWS any day. Haven’t tried MS Cloud yet.
Interesting. In the last few months I’ve been working exclusively on Office365 rollout at work. And ya know, with all that Ms software, I’m mostly using MacBook Pro, iPads, and iPhone to do my testing. Best of both worlds - I’m happy with the Office 365 suite of apps on great Apple hardware.
So is this only going to get worse? Profit over quality and experience. Once they loose what makes Apple, Apple. Then no loyalty.
Probably correct, but that doesn't change the underlying concern. Apple is about quality products that integrate.
I'm currently working on a MacBook Pro (2017) and a Mac Mini (2014) with connectivity to/from an iPad (2017) and iPhone 8+. Data is backed up to a TimeCapsule. Working files are sync'd via iCloud. Photos and Home Movies are shared to an TV.
It's this unique approach to integration and handoff that is one big driver for buying into (and staying in) the Apple ecosystem. As Apple drops the supporting components (e.g. AirPort TimeCapsule) they begin to erode the usefulness.
During the final quarter of 1996, Apple's sales plummeted by 30 percent. Microsoft was the dominant computer company in the market.
As [Walter] Isaacson recalls in his biography on Jobs, a Fortune magazine story from that time said this of the company: "Apple Computer, Silicon Valley's paragon of dysfunctional management and fumbled techno-dreams, is back in crisis mode, scrambling lugubriously in slow motion to deal with imploding sales, a floundering technology strategy, and a hemorrhaging brand name.
Fresh off a partnership deal with Microsoft that injected Apple with $150 million, one of Jobs' first goals as CEO was to review the company's sprawling product line. What he found out was that Apple had been producing multiple versions of the same product to satisfy requests from retailers. For instance, the company was selling a dozen varied versions of the Macintosh computer. Unable to explain why so many products were necessary, Jobs asked his team of top managers, "Which ones do I tell my friends to buy?" When he didn't get a simple answer, Jobs got to work reducing the number of Apple products by 70 percent."
As [Walter] Isaacson recalls in his biography on Jobs, a Fortune magazine story from that time said this of the company: "Apple Computer, Silicon Valley's paragon of dysfunctional management and fumbled techno-dreams, is back in crisis mode, scrambling lugubriously in slow motion to deal with imploding sales, a floundering technology strategy, and a hemorrhaging brand name.
Fresh off a partnership deal with Microsoft that injected Apple with $150 million, one of Jobs' first goals as CEO was to review the company's sprawling product line. What he found out was that Apple had been producing multiple versions of the same product to satisfy requests from retailers. For instance, the company was selling a dozen varied versions of the Macintosh computer. Unable to explain why so many products were necessary, Jobs asked his team of top managers, "Which ones do I tell my friends to buy?" When he didn't get a simple answer, Jobs got to work reducing the number of Apple products by 70 percent."
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Apple was the most valuable company in the world two months ago. Nothing has changed since then. You have no idea how stocks work (there’s always variance) do you?
Firstly ,I have been an Apple fan for a long time now, converting from Windows. However I really admire what MS has done. Firstly, Windows 10 is the best Windows so far IMO although still not as good as MacOS. Secondly, I love what they have done with the surface line, showing Apple that it *could* be done when Apple said it couldn't. I would LOVE Apple to make a similar product - namely a tablet (or for that matter, a phone) that ran full MacOS and could connect to other devices via TB3, even an external GPU. This would have awesome value being a laptop/phone, a tablet, and could potentially replace a desktop or gaming machine.
They would never do this as they want you to buy all these things separately, at inflated prices no less.
They would never do this as they want you to buy all these things separately, at inflated prices no less.
Since when does Wall Street reflect customer satisfaction, profits or even reality?