“Like RIMM longs, considerable factions of AAPL bulls appear to be living in denial. In the process, they’re misdirecting their anger, sending scorn and contempt to me and other people who dare to even wax critical or, worse yet, long-term bearish AAPL,” Rocco Pendola writes for TheStreet. “Just look at the comment sections of articles I have written on on TheStreet and elsewhere. Folks are taking shots at me on Twitter. It’s all very theatrical. It would be funny if it was not so pathetic and misguided.”
“When you talk about Apple, particularly in forward-looking fashion, you really cannot have the conversation without placing considerable, even majority, focus on Jobs,” Pendola writes. “While some bulls will read this and recent articles and think otherwise, I love Apple. I own Apple products. I have lived in awe of how the company changed the world. I love Steve Jobs’s Apple. And Tim Cook is killing the Apple Steve Jobs created.”
Pendola writes, “I can say that I was alive when the greatest American company to ever exist was at the top of its game. Sadly, I will not be able to say that I watched a dynasty reign supreme for a considerable period of time. Apple will never become the corporate equivalent of the Montreal Canadiens throughout the 1970s and the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s. They’ll stop just short. And they’ll stop just short because Tim Cook, even if he does not know he’s doing it, is selling Apple’s soul.”
“From the moment Tim Cook took over, he reshaped Apple in his own name. He took steps that will render the company normal, if it is not already. He should have done everything he possibly could have to keep Apple weird,” Pendola writes. “Instead, Cook caved to shareholder pressure and issued both a dividend and buyback. And now, it looks like there’s a real possibility he’ll not only produce a mini-iPad, but an answer to the ultrabook in the form of a less expensive MacBook Air.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We disagree on the dividend. The time was right and Cook pulled the trigger. A dividend doesn’t hurt Apple in any way. As for the products, let’s save the histrionics for when Cook actually does something wrong, not when some “sources,” mind readers obviously, claim to know what he’s thinking, m’kay?
If paying the owners of the company a quarterly percentage, developing an 7.85-inch iPad, and/or debuting a less expensive MacBook Air are “selling Apple’s soul,” then more “selling,” and faster, please!
Related article:
Apple’s downfall is coming courtesy of Tim Cook – April 20, 2012
In my opinion, just that of a modest investor… Apple was opening itself up to a shareholder lawsuit if it didn’t do one of two things…. either pay a dividend or make a significant acquisition. Hoarded cash can make a company lazy and is not responsive to the shareholders. A dividend gives a return on the investment, or an acquisition helps the investment to grow.
+1 MDN’s take, it was time.
Apple’s core competency is not dividends or sizes of iPads; it is making great, innovative, well designed, easy to use products that make a profit. When they stop innovating and the design becomes convoluted, profit becomes a priority instead of the product, then we will know that they have lost their soul. The latest iPad suggests that is not happening.
As much as we all love Apple and love Steve Jobs, let’s not automatically anoint Tim Cook as a saint by being Jobs’ successor. It is possible for Tim or a subsequent CEO to do damage to Apple’s brand if they’re not careful (Gil Amelio, anyone?)
Right, but let’s not condemn the man based on rumor, speculation, and a dividend that’s not even big enough to decrease the cash balance.
The fact that he’s Jobs’s hand-picked successor should be enough to give the man the benefit of the doubt.
True, but there is still the risk of someone turning Apple in the wrong direction, whether it’s Tim Cook or one of Tim Cook’s successors. Don’t get me wrong, I hope Tim Cook does well. But I’m watching closely.
Gil did not damage the brand. He fixed a lot, helped save the company, and brought Steve back. You’re thinking of Sculley and Spindler.
I stand corrected. Thanks! (I just remember that Apple didn’t really recover until Steve came back.)
Do you think it was impossible for Jobs to do something to hurt the company? {besides dying} It wasn’t.
Rock boy Gonzalez, aren’t we a bit too pretentious and self important? Huh Rocky boy?
You ain’t nothin but a cheapskate gambler that bet on or against companies, you ain’t no investor, just a self promoting FUDster who OSes as an Apple lover to get the ear of Apple fans and scare them to feed your bets (ooooooooooh, shudder) what a miserable way to live, bet, gossip and innuendo…
Glad you think you know what Apple is up to and what ‘s in Cook’s mind based on rumors by all the Donkey boys before you Rocky Bendola.
Just remember that Steve Jobs, not once, publicly pooh poohed ideas of what Apple was planning just to throw the competition off ( iPod Video, iPhone and even ( “people don’t read books anymore”) electronic Readers. He also never had a problem responding to user feedback and reversing course in response, Rock Boy… Do you homework and earn your miserable keep.
Donkey boys come and go and so will you gambling boy, it takes a lot more than cheap guesswork to have substance…
Apple has always had it’s iCaled naysayers, join the ranks…
In Apple we trust, we know better
When Jobs said that he would not produce products of a certain category or size, it was because at the time he was speaking the factors was not right. But as time progressed, things changed. Jobs recognized this phenomenon, and he would reverse his stand as necessary. This is the stuff of a good leader. Anything can change – nothing is written in stone. If you want to stick to your stand despite changing circumstances, then you would be missing the boat. That’s why Apple is on top of the situation whereas its competitors are stuck in a rut and are losing their direction.
So true half the time he was throwing the competition off Apple’s trail. But he would always competently explain the reasoning behind his position. And his thinking was always rock-solid. Until something changed — a technology matured, the right ecosystem was in place, etc.
It’s also interesting how often Jobs got the big desisions wrong. with iTunes/iPods on Windows. With iOS apps. It was the clear-headed, but passionate back-and-forth with his team that allowed the right desist on to emerge.
What I said…
My point strengthens your argument. When I use the word “you” I am referring to the detractor in general.
Pendola is a f-ing douche!
Or, as Steve would say, a bozo.
+1
OSes= poses
The Street will let any shit head write and article and post it. The reason he gets the comments that oh so wound him is because he talks stupid shit, not because anyone is afraid to hear his crap.
I too believe Apple is becoming ordinary and Tim Cook is behind it. He wants to run it like his old profs said a large company should be run. Apple no longer leads but instead follows.
All that in just six months, eh, 3l3c7ro? Wow, and all in the space of two RECORD BREAKING quarters! Hmmm. Methinks you doth protest ‘way too much for a non-shareholder .
Thanks but I hold 3030 shares and think that Tim Cook is riding a wave that Steve Jobs set up. He has great insight as to how to run a public utility but no foresight as to how to “Think different”
In case you missed it, he was running the company MOST of the time when Steve was Sick.
In case you missed it, He is the one who streamlined, manufacturing, acquisition, warehousing and distribution. IE OPERATIONS into the profitable juggernaut it is.
In car you missed it, he was HAND PICKED by Steve Jobs.
So I really do not see why everyone is INTENT on slamming the man. He has and will continue to do just fine. He is NOT Steve, and he is going to do SOME things his way. Remember what Steve said? He didn’t want them to ask what he would do. He wanted them to forge their own way.
He clearly felt he had the team in place to take Apple forward, as usual there are shills doubting and second guessing him. I suspect in the end he was right, and the team will do just fine.
3l3c7ro is like a plain bagel all the way down to his silly wanna be 1337 handle. A poser of his caliber is nothing but a sheep. his 0p1n10n isn’t even his own and he doesn’t 3v3n realize it.
Other good points: he is not a salesbo!
Under Steves guidance, Tim stayed out of trouble and had many good ideas about profits but not a clue about engineering or design. This clodhopper will keep the company profitable right up to its downfall in 6 years. With no new products envisioned, Apple will become another Sony or Dell or Nokia.
Just because Tim may or may not have engineering or artistic vision, this doesn’t mean he’s incapable of putting people in place who do have such vision and trusting them. Scott Forrestal for instance and Johnathan Ive know these things have this sort of vision.
Steve Jobs pointed out how Microsoft was run by a salesbo and how it lacked vision. Tim should be a behind the scenes CFO and get a visionary as CEO. He would do well running GE but not Apple.
Tim is not a salesman. Steve worked with Tim for years and must have seen some kind of vision in him. It may not be an artistic or engineering vision but Steve saw something. Besides knowing how to run a business, Tim seems to know how to delegate things out (hes not a micromanager like Steve was). Being able to let other brilliant people do their job and knowing a good idea when yu hear one, is a great quality in a CEO and so far Tim seems to have it. How about you sit back and shut up and see how things unfold before you go running around screaming that the sky is falling?
pL41n bagel.
You may be right about the engineering and design, but thats why Apple has Jon Ive. You don’t think that Steve did all this on his own?
Look there was only 1 Steve Jobs, and now he’s gone but he picked these people to lead going forward. Time will tell all, but I know your wrong about apple being unprofitable in 6 years
Exactly. It’s amazing to me how many hacks like Pendola can find supporters for his histrionic nonsense, as if no one is capable of remembering farther back that 3 months.
I WANT a mini-iPad.
I WANT a cheaper Air.
Why Apple’s soul will be lost by filling out the range with these no-brainers, I cannot fathom.
It won’t. The iPad Nano (or whatever they call it) will be a success. They will be especially popular in elementary schools. Smaller hands and muscles will love it.
I want one for my car..
Cheaper Air is coming, though the article showed a lack of history. The “UltraBook” is a weak attempt at a mbAIR answer. I fully expect Apple to cut them off at the knees.
Oh brother. I agree the dividend was a mistake. But talk about histrionics, lets let Tim screw up before writing attention whoreing articles.
What the fail fails to realize is that Cook has made apples success under jobs possible.
Without the amazing infrastructure he put together apple would not have been able to make and distribute some many units.
We all hope that the vision remains even with jobs gone but that is only half of the story. They also have to execute and that is what Cook does better than anyone else in the world.
This asswipe publishes a hit article on Apple every other day. One of the dumberasses of Seeking Alpha. Don’t support him MDN.
I don’t know why I click on these stupid articles. I can tell from the title that it is wrong and pointless. I guess I just what to see if there is a modicun of truth to the article. And invariably when I find that it does not, I feel like Roz, on the TV show Fraizer, after she spends the night with Bulldog – disgusted with my judgement.
Tim Cook is the right man for the job. Steve Jobs picked Tim Cook as his successor and that is good enough for me. I bet on Steve.
I have read MDN articles forever. And I was in the computer industry when Apple had but the 11e, and then the Lisa. My whole adult career centered around selling Apple and Apple related products. I was here when Jobs was gone the first time and when he came back. Here is my take on the Tim Cook era. The moves discussed in this article except for the dividend are not even official yet. If they were, so what? They to me are brilliant and the one thing that Jobs did lack was the ability to proactively fight back when market share was being lost to the competition. Other than the patent wars, which I believe are pandemic in the cell phone industry, Jobs was really not concerned with what the competition was doing to pull share. Tim Cook is doing exactly what should be done. Let Ives handle the magical products and let the brilliant Tim cook handle the everyday business issues. Jobs decision to put those two in charge was for a reason. And that was to never lose the zany and innovative with Ives, yet keep the company on the highest trajectory possible business wise.
Those old enuf to remember Mac clones would kno where Apple is heading. Let’s brace ourselves.
Complete BS. The event that triggered the share dividend and buy back wasn’t Steve’s passing but the cash pile hitting $100B. Even if Steve was still running Apple they’d have still paid a dividend, they have to, it’s the share holders money not theirs. The headline grabbing “Apple to spend $45B on dividend and buy back” looks shocking until you factor in that Apple will earn well over $200B in the same period.
The $799 Macbook Air’s biggest rival is the new iPad not craptastic knock off Ultrabooks.
Will Apple make a sub 10″ tablet, who knows? If there is demand for it like the education market where kids already have smaller fingers that don’t need filing down then they will 🙂
Yes Steve said that 7″ tablets were DOA in the 2010 earnings call (note he didn’t say Apple tablets). He also said in a 2008 earnings call that “they didn’t know how to make a $500 computer that wasn’t a piece of junk” when they were working on the iPad and that every entry level iPad has been priced at $499. My advice to Rocco Pendola is to download The Who’s Won’t get fooled again and listen to it at high volume.
…and they still have enough money to buy T-mobile.
What a stupid dick. Why would a smaller 7.85″ screen iPod touch maxi be selling Apple’s soul? I’d buy one in a heartbeat. Let’s see you run a $100 billion turnover company, Mr Rotten Analyst.
Pendola is no more of an analyst than anyone writing comments on these boards. He’s been in several stocks I’ve owned, and if you’ve read one Pendola article, you’ve read them all. He specializes in manufactured sensationalism with attention-getting contrarian (read: idiosyncratic) viewpoints.
I’m surprised anyone outside the lowest common denominator Seeking Alpha gives him space.
If the dividend turns out to be a mistake the only way you can blame Tim Cook for it is if you new for certain that Jobs was 100% against it and that Tim Cook was effectively waiting for him to die before forcing his own thinking through. If that was the case, and Jobs remotely suspected Tim Cook would do such a thing he wouldn’t have recommended him as his successor.
I don’t think you can say there is a definitive, black or white answer as to whether a dividend was the best way to go – which is why Apple spent so long discussing it internally. In all likelihood there were probably people for and against it, who also saw advantages and disadvantages, and maybe it wasn’t something they felt they needed to commit to one way or another whilst Jobs was alive because he had better things to do.
A smaller iPad will have advantages, but Apple will judge it based on what it would do to existing iPad sales. If they sell 10m of them, but lose 10m sales of existing iPads then there’s no point. A 7″ (or so) iPad makes little sense on its own, but in a world where people now have multiple touchscreen devices, and are using them more and more often, there becomes more instances where differing sizes would become advantageous. If I’m using my iPad a couple of hours a week then having 2 makes no sense. If I’m using it 8 hours a day 5 days a week then I might consider it worth the expense of 2 to give me the convenience of a smaller factor for a portion of the time.
So many analysts see everything as right or wrong, as a success, or a complete failure. There’s so little subtlety in what they say or how they think.
Time will tell if Apple Bulls are living in denial. I never liked the so called logic of technical analysis or fake laws like the law of large numbers. it would be fun to republish this article after the earnings call in late Jan 2013. And it will be clear if this author is right or not.
Get used to seeing this folks.
The Steve Jobs era ended abruptly and permanently. Yet the world will change and Apple must and will change with it. With each and every change Apple makes you will see idiots writing about how Steve Jobs would never do such a thing.
Just focus on what Steve’s last recommendation was to Cook and Ives, “Don’t try to do what I would do, do what you think represents the best Apple can do” (or something to that effect).
I think Cook is doing exactly what Jobs asked him to do. Make the right decisions for the right reasons for the long term good of Apple.
Hear, Hear!
This guy is a complete idiot, sold Apple in the mid-300s if I’m not mistaken. He’s nothing but a click whore – he writes controversial articles about the most talked about stocks (AAPL, AMZN, NFLX, SIRI) because he knows people will click on them. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even believe most of the crap he writes.
The Steve Jobs cult members have forsworn the aluminum hats….again.
Not another company in the world that has more soul than Apple.
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1684.html
So the fact that Apple keeps turning in record breaking quarters whilst every other player is losing money or treading water in the largest recession since whenever, isn’t ‘weird’ enough?
ROTFLOL… this king of anal-ysts has no clothes.
And that’s apart from the staggering hubris of everyone else being wrong but him.