“Former chief operating officer of Microsoft, Bob Herbold, said in an article Monday that he doesn’t believe Apple has the vision and leadership that it once had and the ‘Apple era may be on its way out,'” Mark Knapp reports for Wall St. Cheat Sheet.
“Herbold said that Steve Jobs had what it took to lead the company in the right direction,” Knapp reports. “He named off several industry leaders that he thought fit the profile: IBM’s Lou Gerstner and Sam Palmisano, Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs, and of course the late Steve Jobs. Notably omitted from the list was Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook.”
Knapp reports, “In his opinion, the company could turn it around if it launches something revolutionary in the next 6 to 9 months, but otherwise, there may be little future for Apple as an industry leader.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wishful thinking from a former exec at a badly beaten company. Tim Cook has more leadership in his pinky than Microsoft has had for the last 13 years.
Herbold’s comments have been iCal’ed for future use.
that’s pretty pathetic…
And Steve Jobs said, ” Take Microsoft… They have no taste……… And I mean that in a big way!”
Just a thought.
en
LOL. That coming from a former member of beleaguered Microsoft.
LOL
Mr Bob Herbold had to complete his sentence ‘Apple era may be on its way out to join us Microsoft and me out here’.
Notably absent was Steve Ballmer…
Yes- ironic that the real truth is that the Microsoft era is over.
Bravely spoken from a proven loser who previously worked for an equally losing company. I love how just because these blowhard jerks can’t see what Apple is up to at the moment that they must be stagnating and failing… Until they aren’t! I really hope Apple does something jaw dropping soon just to put these Bozos, who have zero vision themselves and are as clueless as they come, in their place.
When it does happen… and it WILL happen, these said “bozos” will just discount it anyway… just like every other time. The incredible brilliance of Apple is that none of these so-called pundits won’t recognize the innovation for what it really is until well after the fact. This allows them to downplay the success, copy it, and then turn around and accuse Apple of “losing its edge”.
Pathetic
Does he have that recorded on his Zune?
Maybe he can use it as a wallpaper on his Vista or Win8 computer…
Bob Herbold is a Zuun-i-tic
He must know something… He step down form a looser company…
I’m confused- “step down, form a looser company?” How does one ‘step down’ and ‘form’ a company that is ‘loose’ as opposed to ‘tight?’…..
That’s the new public schooling for you, as they teach in 1st grade arithmetic: two plus dos be fo’.
Racist arsehole…
For the love of Gawd, forrestforrest, PROOFREAD BEFORE POSTING!
Goodbye,
Him better than sum! At least him use capital H, and put… between his sentences. And verb in right place, even if ‘step’ am not rite tense. Sum am much worse.
But pleeease, Americans, “loose” am your 42″ pants on your 36″ waist. Microscum am LOSER company. And sometimes I LOSE my keys.
Hello!
Bizarro Seamus
forrestforrest, at least I know, you must stay in character.
Of course gump would have misspelled.
Bob Herbold? His opinion means something? Really!
Not just stupid — we can get ‘stupid’ from any one of a wealth of ‘analysts’. But the delusional arrogance required to say this – wow! And from a former COO of THE lead company in the creation of the “dark ages of personal computing”. A company whose motto might as well be, “Make it barely good enough for the sheep. They’ll take it.” So delusional they put out the pile of rubbish that was Vista. Sheesh!!
How many revolutionary products has Microsoft come up with? How many revolutionary products has Apple released? What will another product in the next 6 to 9 months do for Apple that the other revolutionary products the released in the last few years hasn’t done to save it from being “on its way out”?
What a moron.
Since everyone keeps failing. The competition needs something else to copy from Apple- in hopes it can capitalize on something.
Didn’t we hear this same claptrap just before the iPod, iPhone, and iPad?
Prophesy is so fun.
And also after they were released… Doomed, I tell ya, Doomed! Oh, the Humanity! Oh, the terror!
Wait! Wait! The sky isn’t falling. Er, ah… We was wrong! We will now make our own MS-Zune, MS-PhoneyPhone and Hmmm, I wonder what else will Surface?
And sure enough looked what floated to the top of the MS cesspool. More MicroCrap!
Not that I have any feelings about this.
MDN. , may I ask why you even give this wanker broadband space? He is a waste of skin.
Microsoft, home of the tasteless and talentless.
Every other company on earth can seemingly make a product and suck every lost drop out of it with little more forward thinking and Wall Street doesn’t bat an eye.
When it comes to Apple, if they aren’t reinventing the wheel every two to three years they’re doomed!
And it’s actually sort of true, and I’ll tell you why: Because every other tech company on earth pretty much watches what Apple does and then mimics it with a cheaper version that costs very, very little in R&D (let alone blood, sweat and caffeine) and then peddles its me-too crap to millions of idiots who don’t know the difference while the media and courts look the other direction.
So, this ass clown might be half right. If only because the rules of what makes a company a solid investment are so different for Apple than the rest of the tech world.
Every other company also has an expansive line of products or services, and complex options. This serves two purposes. One size does not fit all, so you find the gaps in your target market- everybody-and gin up products to fill them. That way you reach more market segments. Wall Street likes that. The second purpose is to disguise your failures. Before you scrap them, move them back behind a display of your other merchandise. Wall Street is distracted by the other stuff and will let the failures slide. But Apple’s product line can be laid out on your kitchen table. If even one of them fails in any way, it stands out like a barn rash on an albino. This is why Apple is forever doomed. The narrow focus involves higher risk, frontal exposure, betting the deed on one horse. Every Apple product announcement is like D-Day. If Normandy isn’t taken every time, the Axis has won.
Hilarious. I remember back when these same guys said the same stuff about Steve when came back to rescue Apple. They all thought it was hopeless and that Steve wasn’t a real businessman. Now they worship him but think Apple’s doomed because he’s no around!
… or, maybe not. But I won’t be selling my AAPL shares any time soon.
There is NO question in my mind, though, that “the Microsoft era IS on it’s way out.”. When was the last time they saw a year-over-year share price growth? Or earnings growth? Or market share growth? Yet mutual funds still tout their shares!
maybe he WILL be correct… highly doubt that.
Sour Grapes. MicroCrap is out and has been out.
Well, if this nobody says so, then it must be true. Actually he’s in a long line of Apple doomsayers, so he certainly deserves his turn. Thank you, Mr. Herbold, for your expert opinion about all things Apple.
The voice of experience…
Idiot! MS is still around because of the Windows Gov Approved Monopoly!
I wouldn’t label Bob Herbold as ‘stupid’. You have a chance with a stupid person, but not an IDIOT – which is the proper label for this guy.
“Former Microsoft COO: ‘Apple era may be on its way out’”
Well isn’t this a case of the pot calling the gleaming stainless steel espresso machine black.
Retired general from the losing side continually recapitulates battles lost
Very Good Analogy!
You deserve a good star or four!
Speaking as an Apple fan for several decades, Herbold could be right, in the sense that the biggest nemesis now could be Samsung and not Microsoft.
Apple is too besotted with pandering to the needs of what makes money, i.e. the consumer customers. Too much dumbing down of iOS and OSX, e.g. no filing system in iOS. Rather than simplifying features and making features easy to use, Apple now deletes those features. That is not the same as simplification. That is dumbing down. Android and Samsung cater to the smart user. Apple caters for the village idiots who cannot figure out how to use a filing system.
For the above reasons, Herbold could be right. And I feel sad that some people who read this website have made Apple so much into their religion that they cannot even accept this as a possibility.
I don’t disagree with your points, although I’d have phrased them a trifle more charitably. It would not be a cakewalk for anyone following a high-wire act like the one put on by Steve Jobs. And few besides a zen master could resist the lure of certain profits—the textbook business motivation—even at the cost of losing loyal customers—by baptising in a larger pool.
And no one need feel sadness, or opprobrium, for fans stubbornly clinging to cherished memories of greatness. But you do both, showing that you are a rare realist among decades-long Apple fans, but one prematurely impatient with your slower cousins.
Herbold is undoubtedly right. No startup continues to expend amazing energy for decades, and build a cultish following (unless they are an acknowledged, tax-exempt religion). The instilled corporate culture should not matter, only the genuineness of the holy water.
It was only a dream, after all, and people should just wake up and smell the Folger’s coffee.
Wrong.
Filing systems are for – and are still available for – PCs, including those running OS X. Apple has removed easy access to power-user features to help the average stock clerk and beautician use iDevices without confusion. Apple is catering to “the rest of us,” (village idiots who cannot figure out how to use a filing system) which has been the goal all along. If you’ve been an Apple fan for several decades and you don’t get that, perhaps you need to rethink what “village idiot” means. Or maybe you’re just a troll. That happens.
MM’s comment was a breath of fresh air and should happen a bit more often on MDN
Answering with “he’s a troll” because he didn’t unconditionally praised Apple is just stupid.
Now about the the point he and you raised about file system.
Hiding power user functions (Like access to the file system) can (I’m not sure it is) be good for the joe user as it makes the global usage of his mobile device more accessible (That also is open to discussion).
On the other side Apple is not hiding them in a menu somewhere it doesn’t come in the way of a normal user… Apple puts an awfull amount of energy in simply locking these functions completely out. They do not want power users tu have such kind of access at all.
And sorry… But that’s really a pain in the a$$
Where’s the Apple TV? I kind of agree with this guy.
The Mini is a Retinaless piece of shit.
Maps was a disaster.
iMac launch terrible.
Final Cut, Mac Pro, iOS long in the tooth, slow marketing, no Apple TV in sight, on and on.
So, you read the shite written on the net and have decided that Apple is doomed. Interesting.
Some points:
1) Apple never said or even has hinted that it will offer an AppleTV (television)
2) The first edition of the iPad mini is the first edition. Because Apple advances improvements to its products based upon acceptance in the market, there will be improvements to the iPad mini.
3) Maps works great for many people, unless you read the flawgic that is espoused by the Gargle lovers. I personally have better results with Maps than I ever did with Gargle Map/Earth/Whatever.
4) One word for the iMac launch – it was great but when it started to come in all those colours, it was magical and the transparent one was just amazing. Oh, you mean this last update – two words (you seem to not accept in business vocabulary) MARKET DEMAND – they couldn’t keep up with both personal retail purchase demand and enterprise demand. Components take time to be manufactured. I suppose you wanted one for Christmas and mommy couldn’t buy you one. So sad.
5) Obviously, you don’t use the new version and updated Final Cut. MacPro will be updated this year, as promised – probably in June. sow marketing doesn’t even make sense (were you running out of demerol?). Please refer to comment 1 regarding your redundancy.
Oh and all on it own: please expand your vomit regarding: “on and on”… you can go back an look up crap from the flawgic purveyors.
Troll is too kind – wanker is more suitable.
Obviously you don’t have a clue about business, much less Apple.
Cheers.
I actually do have a clue about business and you sit in a basement.
1. Apple TV is a game changer. It’s a new market and they could be playing in it by now. It does seem delayed because we’re coming up on 1.5 years since Jobs’ death. Jobs stated in his Bio that he “cracked the TV”. It’s a pretty clear sign that they have been working on the TV and likely have it all figured out.
2. Who cares whether something is a first edition. To launch a new mobile product without a Retina screen at this stage when the rest are all Retina is just stupid. But I digress.
3. Maps was bad, it’s getting better. But it’s been rough. This is a fact. Apple (CEO Tim Cook) even admitted that Maps was substandard and that they were working on it.
4. Bullshit. It’s well established they just couldn’t get the yields they needed and it resulted in an irresponsible launch.
5. Obviously, I do have the new version of Final Cut. I don’t care about anything other than what Apple did to it and it’s been a bleeding mess for months. There’s been outcry over it and for good reason. Mac Pro hasn’t has a real update in nearly 3 years and is currently discontinued in Europe. It’s unacceptable.
You are completely delusional and it’s fun to watch bozo fanboys like you get blue in the face defending something that doesn’t actually care about you or your life.
On that note, try to live a life away from your cult.
Once he was COO of Microsoft now what is he doing? What has he done lately that we should care about his opinion on anything?
There is no station in life so lofty that the occupant cannot be a clueless assclown.
[note: assclown is the funniest word ever coined]