Tim Cook to Attend Donald Trump's Tech Summit on Wednesday

[GigabitEthernet]

I really think you guys base ability to be a CEO on how well people are on stage.

It doesn't matter if Tim Cook is a product guy or not, as long as there are people at Apple who can make those decisions. But he must be innovative and an A player (at operations), or Steve Jobs wouldn't have let him head up the Mac team, and then operations, and then the entire company while Steve was on medical leave, and then the entire company permanently.

No one cared Steve Jobs couldn't code, because he had people to do that for him.

Apple isn't a one man show, it never has been.

The problem with Apple now is Tim runs it just like a standard business. He's sucked out all the innovation.

What made Steve such a great CEO was that he ran the CEO as a creative person and added innovation to it. That was evident with his presentations but that was only a part of it. Craig has seemingly had lots of good ideas if you research it and seems to want to innovate as Steve did.

Maybe not Craig but whoever it is, it must not be another COO or some other money-focussed person. They should stay as CEO and get a creative back as CEO because Apple is going to continue falling in its current state.

 

[Dmunjal]

Are you evaluating as a stock holder or a consumer of electronics? Those are two very different things.

Also, you don't need a CEO to lead in innovations. You need your CEO make sure the business is running smoothly and efficiently. And looking at things like repatriating money that is stuck overseas. I need Tim to be thinking about how to improve my returns on Apple stock, not thinking about how to fit a 3.5" drive or a tape drive into a Macbook pro. Let the design guys figure out product design.

You don't realize what a CEO needs to do. They're are multiple product teams building all sorts of things. Sometimes conflicting and overlapping products. It is up to the CEO or someone at that level to pick and choose which products to invest in and take to market.

This was the difference at Microsoft between Ballmer and Nadella. How else can you explain how quickly Microsoft was able to get products to market once Nadella took over? Because they were already there. They just conflicted with the Windows first strategy that Ballmer espoused.

Same reason that the Mac is dying on the vine and doesn't have a touchscreen. Because the iPad division is stronger and Cook can't or won't make the right call.

It's the exact reason a tech company needs a tech CEO, not a bean counter.

 

[ksnell]

I just don't get this argument by Trump sycophants. Objective evidence (remember that old thing) supports mainstream journalism; they cannot lie to you because they are regulated and you can fact check.

Unlike the fake news that pops on your "non main stream media" sites, which is regularly debunked and not believed by anybody with a modicum of intelligence.

But as soon as you brought up "main stream media", I knew you were looking to support your views with whatever "news" you could.

Good luck with your economy under Trump. He's already started lying to you. But you more than deserve to be deceived if you fell for the ********* he fed you.

You are correct in that you can fact check.

You should probably consider doing that once in a while with your "mainstream media."

 

[kobalap]

You don't realize what a CEO needs to do. They're are multiple product teams building all sorts of things. Sometimes conflicting and overlapping products. It is up to the CEO or someone at that level to pick and choose which products to invest in and take to market.

This was the difference at Microsoft between Ballmer and Nadella. How else can you explain how quickly Microsoft was able to get products to market once Nadella took over? Because they were already there. They just conflicted with the Windows first strategy that Ballmer espoused.

Same reason that the Mac is dying on the vine and doesn't have a touchscreen. Because the iPad division is stronger and Cook can't or won't make the right call.

It's the exact reason a tech company needs a tech CEO, not a bean counter.

Just because you stumbled into an Apple store one day does not make you somehow knowledgeable on how to best run the most valuable or second most valuable company on Earth. Nor does it make you knowledgeable on how product decisions are made in said company.

Out of curiosity, do you even know where Cupertino is? Or is your local mall the closest you have ever been to Apple's business operations?

 

[ackmondual]

I generally don't like Trump, but it was funny to see so many arrogant people fall, especially Clinton and her fans. The most experienced U.S. politician loses to a yahoo. The South Park team has to scrap an episode about Clinton's victory. And my "political expert" friends are going back on their promises to move to Canada.

Shouldn't make a difference. SP had Osama Bin Laden killed long before the US actually got him. And never mind it was Cartman and someone else instead of Seal team 6! (although to be fair, a surprising amount of content that they do has been based on real stuff)

For me, I enjoyed seeing Tim Cook actually having to address Apple's employees about the results of the election.

[/doublepost]
I'd be really surprised if he didn't care about trade issues. Like, if he didn't, I'd really wonder why he ran for president in the first place. He probably doesn't care about social issues, though. And business people are used to maximizing profit. Tim Cook will gladly cooperate.

I'm not expecting a guy who cheats contractors and is otherwise lousy with his business dealings to give a crap about the typical American worker either. I'd be glad to be proven wrong. TBF, I wasn't expecting Hillary Clinton to really make any meaningful changes either.

I agree with what was said on TV... a sit com no less (paraphrased)....
Did it ever occur to you that I could just make a fortune and just buy my way into politics?
"You need to go through school and work your way up. That way, you will care about the typical American worker and family!"

 

[Dmunjal]

Just because you stumbled into an Apple store one day does not make you somehow knowledgeable on how to best run the most valuable or second most valuable company on Earth. Nor does it make you knowledgeable on how product decisions are made in said company.

Out of curiosity, do you even know where Cupertino is?

I've lived in Silicon Valley all my life and have worked for 30 years in large tech companies. One in fact on the same property as the new Apple HQ. I bought my first Mac in college in 1984 and have followed them since. I think i know what I'm talking about.

I've been a product manager and this is how things get done. The CEO or a CxO equivalent has to make decisions like this all the time. Remember what Steve did when he came back to Apple?

 

[kobalap]

I've lived in Silicon Valley all my life and have worked for 30 years in large tech companies. One in fact on the same property as the new Apple HQ. I bought my first Mac in college in 1984 and have followed them since. I think i know what I'm talking about.

I've been a product manager and this is how things get done. The CEO or a CxO equivalent has to make decisions like this all the time. Remember what Steve did when he came back to Apple?

If you followed Apple all this time, you would then remember that Apple was in deep trouble the first time around given what a gigantic flop the Macintosh was. And it was the Apple IIe that paid the bills. All Jobs wanted to do was throw good money after bad into the Macintosh which would have effectively bankrupted Apple.

This notion that putting a touch screen on a Mac is somehow innovation is just utter nonsense - if you have ever spent 5 minutes in a usability study of any kind. The notion that decisions on what goes into a Macbook is driven by the product guys on the iPad team is yet another example of an internet expert pulling nonsense out of his butt.

 

[Dmunjal]

If you followed Apple all this time, you would then remember that Apple was in deep trouble the first time around given what a gigantic flop the Macintosh was. And it was the Apple IIe that paid the bills. All Jobs wanted to do was throw good money after bad into the Macintosh which would have effectively bankrupted Apple.

This notion that putting a touch screen on a Mac is somehow innovation is just utter nonsense - if you have ever spent 5 minutes in a usability study of any kind. The notion that decisions on what goes into a Macbook is driven by the product guys on the iPad team is yet another example of an internet expert pulling nonsense out of his butt.

I'm not saying that putting a touchscreen on the Mac is a good idea or not. What I am saying is that the reason they are not is not just because of usability. It is also to protect the iPad and its higher margins. The Surface Pro has hurt iPad sales. A touchscreen Mac would likely hurt iPad sales as well.

Steve made some strong product decisions when he came back. He addressed the overlap in the product line. That is something a CEO does. Tim Cook doesn't understand how best to make those decisions. Just like Ballmer didn't.

 

[Larry-K]

My garbage man is superior to Donald Trump. His getting elected has permanently tarnished the office of the POTUS.

Any place I can cast a ballot for your garbage man?

 

[73CortinaV8]

Let's say those Apple manufacturing jobs get moved to the US. Guess who is going to be doing them - yeah, robots in lights-out fully automated factories.

It is as simple as this: manufacturing jobs are never coming back to the US. If you can't see this coming, it is time to open your eyes. Hell, even the 3rd world will lose manufacturing jobs to robots.

Guess what also: any jobs in this country that can be automated will be automated. Automation is getting very good. I just saw a fully automated CAR OIL CHANGE GARAGE prototype.

But instead of changing with the times, 50% of this country is trying to cling on to the 1950s. I don't know why. It should be plain as day what's going to happen.

 

[Dmunjal]

Let's say those Apple manufacturing jobs get moved to the US. Guess who is going to be doing them - yeah, robots in lights-out fully automated factories.

It is as simple as this: manufacturing jobs are never coming back to the US. If you can't see this coming, it is time to open your eyes. Hell, even the 3rd world will lose manufacturing jobs to robots.

Guess what also: any jobs in this country that can be automated will be automated. Automation is getting very good. I just saw a fully automated CAR OIL CHANGE GARAGE prototype.

But instead of changing with the times, 50% of this country is trying to cling on to the 1950s. I don't know why. It should be plain as day what's going to happen.

How does Tesla do it?

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/...ion-in-fremont-next-to-existing-auto-factory/

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

This is on foreign income. They already charge for domestic income. Only one other country in the world does this. What else should we do with over $2T in cash stashed overseas? This is hardly a idealistic position. Stubbornness will get you nowhere.

This is the biggest red herring. The government gets plenty of tax revenue. All time highs.

Tax revenue would actually increase.

Depending on where you get your fake news, either corporations are taxed ruthlessly and are unfairly being preyed upon by the government, or the corporations are largely tax cheats and don't pay nearly enough taxes, and are soon to pay a hell of a lot less.

I subscribe to the latter option. I was told by my corporate accountant that I paid a higher tax rate for my corporation than the multinational down the street. WHY should they pay a lower rate than I do, when, if anything, they can afford to pay a higher rate! I got an into to the political interference in the tax code. He told me that the multinational down the road actually got a REFUND! And it was in the high 9 figures. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Because obviously they deserve it. I met one of their forensic accountants at a local bar, and they regaled me with all of the crazy and over the borderline crap they do on a regular basis.

No, corporations are NOT overtaxed. Not even close. They pay, on average, a fraction of their stated rate. Seriously.

It left me wondering if I should look for a different accountant, for about a half hour... I was proud to pay more taxes than the multinational. Someone had to...
[doublepost=1481589687][/doublepost]

Things don't work in Iraq because a certain president thought they had something that they didn't.

Actually things don't work in Iraq because it's more profitable for them to not work, and for certain corporations to be constantly paid to try to 'fix' it...

 

[Dmunjal]

Depending on where you get your fake news, either corporations are taxed ruthlessly and are unfairly being preyed upon by the government, or the corporations are largely tax cheats and don't pay nearly enough taxes, and are soon to pay a hell of a lot less.

I subscribe to the latter option. I was told by my corporate accountant that I paid a higher tax rate for my corporation than the multinational down the street. WHY should they pay a lower rate than I do, when, if anything, they can afford to pay a higher rate! I got an into to the political interference in the tax code. He told me that the multinational down the road actually got a REFUND! And it was in the high 9 figures. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Because obviously they deserve it. I met one of their forensic accountants at a local bar, and they regaled me with all of the crazy and over the borderline crap they do on a regular basis.

No, corporations are NOT overtaxed. Not even close. They pay, on average, a fraction of their stated rate. Seriously.

It left me wondering if I should look for a different accountant, for about a half hour... I was proud to pay more taxes than the multinational. Someone had to...
[doublepost=1481589687][/doublepost]

Actually things don't work in Iraq because it's more profitable for them to not work, and for certain corporations to be constantly paid to try to 'fix' it...

Corporations are undertaxed on domestic income due to tax loopholes. I'd like to remove them and go with a lower statutory rate.

But we're talking about foreign income which is not able to use these loopholes and would be taxed at the full 35% rate which is higher than most countries. That's why it sits offshore and is up to $2T and is unavailable to the IRS.

Better to have a small percentage of something than a large percentage of nothing.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Nice one Pinky.

Why a 'nice try'?

Paying taxes is the responsibility of ALL citizens, no matter how rich, or powerful they are.

George Walker Bush was the first president to cut taxes during a war. All of us are far to young to have experienced World War II. People took their spare change and bought 'war bonds' to help pay for the war. Corporations and even the rich knew that paying for the wars was everyone's patriotic duty, and now Trump comes along in a long line of cheats and liars and says that 'smart people don't pay taxes'.

That is the biggest indictment of the 'patriotism' at the heart of that lying creep.

People that love what this country stands for pay taxes. People that love what this country does for them pay taxes. Lying cheating vermin game the system to pay less taxes. Hell, Warren Buffett is worth more than Trump, and he is a founding member of a group of multimillionaires that urge people in their strata to pay everything they are owed, without games.

So, smart people don't pay taxes, and deserve to be punished for it...
[doublepost=1481590839][/doublepost]

I make no judgements on whether things are benign or not. All I am doing is calling a spade a spade. The executive team of any public company is accountable to it's shareholders. They will do what they can to maximize the current and future profits of a company in an effort to return an acceptable return on investment for its shareholders.

There are organizations whose primary objective is not to return a profit but rather to provide a service to people of need. If understand correctly, those are called charities.

But it wasn't so over-weighted to the shareholder in the past. The public good has to figure in the equation somewhere, or the corporation is in danger of becoming a parasite, feeding off of a 'host' to ensure it survives.

And one of the really troubling things about the 'future' is the very good likelihood that major functions of the government are going to be privatized.

You just said that the corporation is accountable to the shareholders primarily. So where do the 'customers' fit into that? Do they? Canada privatized their air traffic control system, and they continue to suffer occasionally with that relationship.

So, if politicians privatize government functions, the accountability changes from the 'customer' (We the people) to the nameless and faceless 'shareholders'. Where ever they are...

I'm not at all comfortable with that change in the relationship.
[doublepost=1481591060][/doublepost]

Corporations are undertaxed on domestic income due to tax loopholes. I'd like to remove them and go with a lower statutory rate.

But we're talking about foreign income which is not able to use these loopholes and would be taxed at the full 35% rate which is higher than most countries. That's why it sits offshore and is up to $2T and is unavailable to the IRS.

Better to have a small percentage of something than a large percentage of nothing.

But sense they already pay a fraction of the 'official rate', I can see the IRS wanting to get their money out of the 'hidden' money overseas. Essentially they are violating the law, and should be charged and fined for that violation, but since cash is 'speech' in today's brothel Congress, they can 'wag the dog', and are... How much of that money, repatriated, will end up in politicians hands. I wonder... CHA-CHING!!!

Cash and carry government. What all good democracies eventually die from...

 

[Dmunjal]

Cash and carry government. What all good democracies eventually die from...

Which is why the founders wanted a republic and limited government. Limits corruption as a side effect!

 

[Larry-K]

Why a 'nice try'?

Pinky,

Don't be defensive, "Nice One" does not equate to "Nice Try".
[doublepost=1481595261][/doublepost]

How does Tesla do it?
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/...ion-in-fremont-next-to-existing-auto-factory/

By losing money for all but two quarters out of five years.

 

[Dmunjal]

By losing money for all but two quarters out of five years.

Tesla is in growth mode (50% YoY for the past few years). They are very profitable (27% margins) on each car they sell but choose to reinvest their profits and then some on infrastructure expansion. No different than Amazon did in its early days.

 

[Larry-K]

Tesla is in growth mode (50% YoY for the past few years). They are very profitable (27% margins) on each car they sell but choose to reinvest their profits and then some on infrastructure expansion. No different than Amazon did in its early days.

That must be why all the analysts were shocked when they actually made money last quarter.

 

[Aluminum213]

I'm just trying to follow your logic, because it's leaping all over the place.

It's not, socialism doesn't work on a large scale. Much easier to manage in small European countries

And FYI, most of Europe is also going bankrupt

 

[Vanilla35]

I like that Trump is going to work. He could have just took a vacation and rested from his campaign. I am really impressed with Trump. Very refreshing compared to past presidents. He has a good work ethic and wants to do the right thing. He also has been known to change his mind on things if people are very upset with his decisions. He seems to listen at least. The tech companies may be able to provide the guidance he needs to help him implement positive changes.

Woah now, let's not write up a refreshing and positive thinking post. That is not macrumoresque

 

[HiRez]

I'm pretty sure Jobs would have let Trump come to him.

 

[Naaaaak]

This has got to be both humbling and humiliating for all these CEOs who campaigned so heavily against him. And I love it.

They all chose the wrong side and lost massive amounts of money shilling and fundraising for her. Time to kiss the ring.
[doublepost=1481618838][/doublepost]

Interesting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg not attending, and also not listed in the "not attending" column.

Cuckerberg is too busy censoring/banning conservatives on his site and calling any facts that oppose his viewpoints 'fake news'.

 

[thekeyring]

The problem with Apple now is Tim runs it just like a standard business. He's sucked out all the innovation.

What made Steve such a great CEO was that he ran the CEO as a creative person and added innovation to it. That was evident with his presentations but that was only a part of it. Craig has seemingly had lots of good ideas if you research it and seems to want to innovate as Steve did.

Maybe not Craig but whoever it is, it must not be another COO or some other money-focussed person. They should stay as CEO and get a creative back as CEO because Apple is going to continue falling in its current state.

But Tim Cook also ran Apple as COO. Steve may have held the CEO title and had the final say, but he basically just did what he wanted - right? & left the traditional CEO stuff to Tim Cook. Now it seems like Jony Ive holds the creative reins and Tim Cook is doing what he's always done, but with a more accurate title. He might now have the final say, but I can't see him saying no to Jony Ive (Steve's closest friend, by all accounts) and Jony Ive staying at the company for so long.

 

[rudychidiac]

I think Tim Cook must go home

 

[diamond.g]

Pinky,

Don't be defensive, "Nice One" does not equate to "Nice Try".
[doublepost=1481595261][/doublepost]By losing money for all but two quarters out of five years.

Tesla is in growth mode (50% YoY for the past few years). They are very profitable (27% margins) on each car they sell but choose to reinvest their profits and then some on infrastructure expansion. No different than Amazon did in its early days.

Tesla also purchased Grohmann Engineering, to further use of Automation, where they can.