“I often feel that when it comes to Apple, there are those who use the iPod and therefore know that it is the king and won’t be toppled, and there are those who don’t use it and are always willing to think that competitors may get an edge on the iPod,” Jim Cramer writes for RealMoney.
Cramer writes, “I see a lot of things and hear a lot about the hardware and software that is going to win the living room. I thought they are almost all nonsense until I read about the iTunes-PC-to-TV device (nicknamed iTV).”
“I find all the other movie alternatives clunky. I like the one device, one clicker thing. I like the fact that everything is so easy to use and I don’t need some guy coming to my house to program a complicated remote. I expect it will be as easy as plugging my iPod into my Bose unit after I download music,” Cramer writes. “It’s the ease. It’s how much fun it all is. It’s how you can’t live without it. Which is why, in reality, Apple’s going higher.”
“I remain adamant that Apple may be one of those companies that has become, overnight, the new de facto standard. It is the must-own name for tech funds and generalist funds alike,” Cramer writes.
Full article here.
Steve Jobs gives sneak peek of Apple’s “iTV” wireless set-top box:
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The Guardian: Steve Jobs needs ‘a charisma download, Apple risks being left behind’ – September 13, 2006
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smart man
Nice of the analysts to catch up.
I’ve owned aapl since it was at $39 a share.
I’m up over 85% so far and lovin’ every minute of it!
7over– I got in starting around $17 before the split. Good times.
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Bose! Don’t make me larf.
Cramer is a smart man! He hit the nail square on the head!
There are those that realize Apple is the best choice out there. And then there are the NaySayers….too stubborn and/or set in their ways to try something new…alwayst hoping for a Microsoft option.
It took me a while; but, I realized that it is much more productive to have the computer work for me than the other way around!
Eventually, more will catch on….this is a nice wave to ride.
I got my AAPL years ago, when it was low. Im very happy with it and plan on being even happier in teh future.
Ok, yeah, so during this part of the keynote, i noticed somthing that not too many people did…I thought it was kinda funny…
Anyone pay attention to the scenes of the movies that were played during the iTV demo…??? The symbolism was remarkable…
Incredibles – Steve likes walking on water…making a Steve is Jesus refference is kind of a stretch, but there…
Pirates – A scene where a couple of guys take over while all of the mindless folowers just carry about their orders and jump onto their boat.
Movie Preview – Steve chooses a movie preview about a man who single handedly tries to get the public to rebell…
Is it just me, or are there some hidden messages during the iTV portion of the event…..
“Cramer: Apple’s ‘iTV’ all about ease-of-use; Apple shares are going higher”
<b>No shit sherlock!<b>
{Worth redoing for proper emphasis}
“Cramer: Apple’s ‘iTV’ all about ease-of-use; Apple shares are going higher”
No shit sherlock!
Cramer is so totally on regarding so many points. And we should be thankful the Apple haters (which include almost all of Apple’s competitors) have so little insight or understanding of Apple’s long-term strategy.
Having competitors who are so incompetent will only make it easier for Apple to execute its strategy because instead of having to react to someone else’s moves, Apple can effectively ignore them and just focus on execution.
Microsoft is a reactionary company. It only moves when it feels threatened. The famed “Internet” panic memo from Bill Gates in the 1990s prove how reactionary Microsoft is. And these days, everyone from Apple to Google to Linux fanboys have Microsoft spinning in a circle, trying to react to threats from all directions.
Apple, on the other hand, is a purpose-driven company. They have a vision of where to go and how to get there. Apple wants to chart new territory all the time, in clear open frontiers where no competitors are around (or at least, so primitive they can be ignored, like driving a modern day Lexus into the lot of a Ford Model T factory in 1910).
Apple is almost a $20 billion-a-year company. How many more years before it will pass another milestone, beating Dell in annual revenue and dwarfing it in profit? I, for one, cannot wait.
Loru –
While the Jesus parallel might be pushing it, I like your analysis. After all, what did the original Mac team do when they were competing for resources with the Lisa team? They flew a pirate flag over their headquarters. “It’s better to be a pirate than join the navy,” was how Steve phrased it at the time.
I’m going keep mum about the “mindless followers” part, though.
ron:
u got something against Bose?! u wanna take this outside?
Cramer is someone who only recently did an about face on Apple. The tides are turning.
Am I missing something?
The XBOX is actually a reasonably quality device.
If Microsoft can get movies downloaded into the XBOX seemlessly, (Like they do game updates for example) aren’t they just one good TV-based store interface away from being a pretty compelling alternative?
I hate MS except for XBOX by the way. And I am anti-Windows Media all the way; QuickTime is clearly superior.
I think much was made over ZUNE but people aren’t looking at what the XBOX might offer as a vehicle to both load the ZUNE and allow for movies to be stored and played.
:shrug:
Thanks, but I think I’ll keep my TiVo thank you.
“Cramer is someone who only recently did an about face on Apple. The tides are turning.”
Actually you’re way off there. I’ve been watching what Kramer has said about Apple for a couple years and he’s been pretty bullish on AAPL. There may be a moment where maybe he’s doubting his own advice, during those times when Apple seems to be in a product lull, but for the most part he has been very positive.
Most importantly he understands what kind of company Apple is, and those are the ones he calls Best of Breed. He gets it.
Is it true that microrubbish looses money on each xbox sold? This is not a simple soloution.
XBOX– you’re completely missing something because you see only through your own eyes. Example: my 70 year old Mom won’t buy an Xbox. She would by a Mac and related items (already 3 iPods, go figure). Neither will anyone I work with. All are educated, up and coming PhDs. They are busy with their lives and don’t want the hassle of fighting with. what is to them, a toy. They will, however, consider something that gets out of their way. Hence, two recent Mac converts this year.
This is what I have been shouting for years to the tech gurus who complain to me that Apple limits them too much– Apple makes tech approachable for practically everyone who ISN’T a techy. If you’re a techy, you may not get that. I don’t want to tinker and configure and cajole: I want it all to work, and work so well that it looks like I’m a techy! That’s what Apple does well.
I don’t want a CS degree. Most people don’t. Herein lies the paradox. While M$ and its ilk promise to lower prices to make tech more accessible, they slaughter the user’s ability to interface with it well. So, despite their claims, they stifle tech for the masses. Instead of everyone doing really cool stuff with it, most just do mundane tasks, if anything. But Apple– who seems expensive and “elite” to anyone who only takes a cursory glance– makes the average user seem to be semi-professional. That is really computing for the masses. That’s thinking different.
eric3452789864080122308
>u got something against Bose?! u wanna take this outside?>
Yeah, take it outside and drop it in the lake.
R,
Er, yuh. I’m on the Apple bandwagon, kid, since 1984 when I used a Mac at my first job. I bleed six colors. Don Crabb’s death date is in my iCal for observation. I still have my system discs all the way back to 7.
BUT…
You sound like you’ve never even used an XBOX> They are trivial to set up and use.
Let’s not be so loyalist as to have our heads up Steve’s butt the whole time, ok?
I was asking for discussion and speculation not a hyperbolic dogmatic diatribe.
Harumph!
If the iTV had blue ray or even a regular DVD slot and an internet browser then it could be the true center of the living room. If it had all this you could ditch your tivo, dvd, and media center pc. All this without any complex software(windows and osx). Before you say it, I now osx is not that complex to use but compared to the iTV it is.
There is nothing stopping Apple from making this a modular endeavor, too, which iTV is but only a component thereof.
(top of stack) — iTV for networking and OS/UI.
(another stack) — DVD player (and/or burner) with HD and blueray.
(bottom stack) — HDD RAID storage at various sizes; rip from cable/video input or save a stream.
Mix’n’match. Different specs and pricepoints.
???
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with and XBox– it’s just that most people won’t ever look at them because they’re marketed as gaming machines.
Without realizing it, you prove my point. You appear to see only how young people buy. The number of “grown” people looking at gaming machines isn’t as big as it seems when you’re in the crowd.
If you hadn’t thought of it already, while young people tend to spend a lot of cash, for the most part, they’re not as able to make purchases as older folks. The iPod is an example of this– purchases of the iPod started with adults, not kids. It was later that teens and young adults thought they had discovered something. It’s not the kids who spent the cash for the most part, it’s their parents. Don’t mistake Apple’s popularity with its newfound buzz– this is not entirely a young-driven phenomenon.
As for hyperbolic dogmatic diatribe, I have no defense. Wasn’t my intention. But let me guss: techy?
I can’t believe there are this many posts on this thread and no one has said it yet, so I will, “BOOOOOOOYYYAAAAAAHHH!!!”
bought at $23 and never looked back