“I was saddened by the timeline announced for shutting down CompUSA, but wasn’t in the least surprised,” John Dvorak writes for MarketWatch.
“As I have said in columns here and elsewhere, the idea of a computer megastore working is sketchy. Investors in Apple Inc. should pay attention,” Dvorak writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Thanks, but we’ll pass on advice from the world’s preeminent bloated gas bag who once stated, “The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a mouse. There is no evidence that people want to use these things.”
Regardless of the complete uselessness of his advice and his total lack of integrity, Mr. “I Bait Mac Users For Hits” plods on with, “I have been to CompUSA dozens of times and rarely found what I needed. The store cannot carry enough weird cables or esoteric tanks of printer ink; no one can.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple obviously can, you oaf.
Dvorak continues, “Competing with the Internet. Most savvy computer users shop for much of their hardware online. The Net works like a mall in a way that makes it hard to compete. Say you have some random item you need to find. A search engine will locate the one merchant that has it.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, John, and for Apple, 9 times out of 10, that would be Apple Store Online. How will Apple ever manage to compete?
Dvorak’s not done yet, “My concern is that the Apple stores are getting too big… It began these high-end stores with the spectacular glass-cube place in New York — an architectural delight on very expensive 5th Avenue real estate — and now has fancy new digs in the meatpacking district, incorporating a stunning, three-story glass staircase. While things are all working out for Apple during the iPod era, if there is any sort of slump the company will have to deal with what could be a herd of white elephants. It’s something investors need to monitor.”
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention for the heads up.]
Surely Apple investors are hanging upon John Dvorak’s every utterance. After all, this is the man who said in 1998, “Folks, the Mac platform is through – totally,” which, of course, means that AAPL has only multiplied about 25 times since John delivered his sage advice. Yes, Apple investors, especially those who listened to him in 1998, simply must love John Dvorak. More recently, the Round Mound of Unsound advised Apple to “Pull the plug on iPhone.” More great advice, John.
Newsflash: Apple knows what they’re doing and John C. Dvorak, as usual, knows nothing about Apple.
A few flagship stores in large cities is hardly “getting too big” and Apple’s retail store network is nothing at all like CompUSA’s was. Was. Apple’s stores generate over four times the sales per square foot of Best Buy, over seven times those of Neiman Marcus, and 66% more than Tiffany’s! CompUSA stores are currently generating liquidation sales; probably their best sales in years.
So, his rent was due.
Ahhhh what MDN said.
Dougless
Oaf! Good one. I tend to call him what he has so richly earned …. an asshat.
The contrarian indicator speaks……
How about the fact that Apple retail has given a few extra million in profits every year? Investors beware of what? This guy is trippin’.
Love the MDN takes. Dvorak is a tool. He cannot ever seem to form a logical conclusion.
Has that clown ever been in charge of so much as a lemonade stand?
Something tells me that a company that holds the record for sales per square foot in the entire retail industry doesn’t need Dvorak’s advice.
-jcr
Surely Apple investors are hanging upon John Dvorak’s every FLATULENCE
yea his rent was due, so he talks this way so he can get enough visitors to the site for advertising pay for clicks. thanks for the pr, he really is a charm of good luck charm for ying and yang balance.
Ummm who takes this guy seriously? Please see what he said back about the mouse on the Mac.
“The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse.’ There is no evidence that people want to use these things.” – John C. Dvorak, Feb 1984
to be honest – and as a firm mac user – i have to agree with at least the headline…
the computer market is different to any other – why are WinPC bricks and mortar stores not doing well?… because the market has become saturated. And online sales took over.
If Apple reaches a massive market share they will have saturated their own market… and their online store will be used by more people.
at them moment they are in a transitional phase – people are ‘coming’ to the world of mac – and thats why they need all the bricks and mortar stores – they are essentially a place to demo the machines…
but what happens 7 or 8 years from now?…
A Self-help guru once said, “Behind every problem lurks an opportunity.”
Now we all know John C. casts a large shadow, and behind that spherical umbra must be something besides methane. I say humor, for this guy has carved out a lucrative niche with hyperbole, wincing illogic, and hypergolic prediction.
I see great opportunity, indeed! Time to crank out a barbed site.
dvorak looking for a maximum number of page views. i suggest not posting anything about this idiot anymore and he’ll disappear.
I guess he missed the news that Apple is America’s most profitable retailer?
Here’s some advice: DON”T click… don’t give him the hits.
“My concern is that the Apple stores are getting too big…”
I seriously doubt that D’Forjack is concerned in the slightest about anything accept online profile.
He’s like Fake Steve making geographic mistakes, right? Got to be a joke! He’s talking about the most productive space in the entire history of retail.
Apple’s ability to do retail is probably the most unexpected jawdropping “think different” success in the company’s turnaround. People will be studying Apple stores for years if not decades to learn wtf they did RIGHT?
The only fly in the ointment is that Apple’s resurgence is overwhelming the stores. That’s the kind of problem investors dream of.
As Carl Howe points out, there are very few stores outside the US. One of Apple’s many huge growth opportunities that simply require decent business execution, expanding and tuning what clearly works.
He doesn’t understand retail and margin. Apple gets better margins on their own products.
Computers (Apple and PC) have terrible margins for retailers.
Software isn’t much better.
“Apple’s retail store network is nothing at all like CompUSA’s was.”
Yes, indeed, for Apple’s stores are making money hand over fist. Imagine a concept like that!
…world’s preeminent bloated gas bag who….
Toonie’s Take: Don’t be calling the kettle black.
…his total lack of integrity, Mr. “I Bait Mac Users For Hits” plods on with…
Toonie’s Take: Don’t be calling the kettle black. MDN baits regularly and has very little claim on integrity.
“While things are all working out for Apple during the iPod era, if there is any sort of slump the company will have to deal with what could be a herd of white elephants.”
Toonie’s Take: Good point.
I find Dvorak entertaining and sometimes enlightening….a lot like MDN.
Come on… does anyone else get Dvorak’s MO? Because to me it always reads like something from The Fountainhead – Praising with Faint Damnation. The silly little fruit company creates a store that he calls “Stunning”, then makes up some intensely stupid reason that it’s a bad thing.
Dvorak is having us all on, which is why he laughs when the hate mail starts rolling in.
Actually, I’m convinced that John Dvorak is really a Kuato.
The only person dumber or with less integrity than Dvorak is Rob Enderle…
I think that says it all…
CR
I told you. In the near future, the death knell will toll for Apple. It is only a matter of time before they become a thing of the past. No one is buying their crap anymore. The Shepherd and his flock need to wake up and see the light.
Their just isn’t enough people to support a obvious monopoly like Apple. How many cases for my iPod do I need. Well none, since I use a Zune.
@ ChrissyOne
Or maybe Dvorak’s a devotee of John Galt. Oh. Wait a minute. Dvorak would definitely end up on the wrong side of that equation! He has neither intelligence, nor ability. And no sense of comedic timing. But he’s got bathos nailed 8^P
“While things are all working out for Apple during the iPod era, if there is any sort of slump the company will have to deal with what could be a herd of white elephants.”
Clearly the solution is not to open any stores for fear that business might slow down one day. In fact, why bother making any products? What if there’s a slump? What then?