“Yes, I have heard all the good guys (long only crowd) make excuses for Apple’s terrible performance this year to date,” Jay Somaney writes for Forbes. “Yes, Tim Cook and Eddy Cue and Jony Ive said that this is Apple’s year like they said last year was and the year before (all the while selling tens of million in stock options, if not hundreds of millions). Yes, wait until next year for an Apple TV set (now forgotten). Yes, wait until a few years for the iCar.”
“So what do Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page & Sergey Brin have that Tim Cook does not?” Somaney writes. “All the guys are absolute tech geniuses, including Tim Cook, but with one exception: Tim Cook is not a Wall Street-friendly CEO and does not and can not impress Wall Street.”
“Look, Tim Cook might be an absolute Mahatma Gandhi of a human being but he does not seem to be the right person to lead the biggest and one of the most technological savvy companies in the world. Can you imagine where Apple would be were it not for the biggest share buyback in corporate history?” Somaney writes. “I shudder to think.
“So, until things change at Apple or Tim Cook changes or shows us something meaningful or maybe makes a meaningful Wall Street-savvy hire, share performance of the biggest and probably one of the top global brands in the world more than likely could/will continue to underperform. Meanwhile Tim Cook and company will continue cashing in their tens of millions and hundreds of million worth of options that get vested and we shareholders will continue to stand by and watch passively,” Somaney writes. “Well, yours truly has chosen not to stand by nor watch passively.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, Somaney’s article is all about Apple’s stock being stuck/mired, as it were, not about two real issues that Tim Cook should really consider:
1. A continuing string of obviously botched product launches (outlined here).
2. Looking like you’re more concerned about anything other than correcting a continuing string of botched product launches.You can traipse about the globe, issue open letters, and show up on TV shows promoting what should be personal issues in the name of Apple Inc. if, an only if, Apple Inc. is performing optimally. When you have no iMacs for Christmas, no iPad 2 units for months after launch, no Apple Watches for even longer (that greatly diminishes pent-up enthusiasm from potential customer excited to buy the product), release Maps that immediately become comic strip fodder, serve up half-baked Apple TVs without even compatibility with your own Remote app, release iPad Pro without having its Apple Pencil or its uninspired, poorly-reviewed so-called “Smart” Keyboard available for over a month, etc. then every single time you climb atop what some might see as your sanctimonious soapbox flying the Apple flag, your commitment to your actual job will be questioned. Cook sets himself up for blowback.
My job is to say when something sucks rather than sugarcoat it. – Steve Jobs
Cook can promote his personal issues and likely even get away with doing it as “Apple Inc.,” but only when Apple can execute product launches properly with (1) products that are more fully realized, tested, and worthy of the Apple logo and (2) adequate supplies to satisfy at least some significant portion of demand. Beta-esque devices and a bunch of promises just don’t cut it.
Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles. — Steve Jobs
We believe that Steve Jobs spent an extraordinary amount of time with each product, actually using them, identifying problems in usability and having them addressed. We believe Jobs certainly would have, for one example, tried to open and set up an Apple TV from scratch himself, at home, and found the username/password input lacking and immediately turned to his iPhone or iPad to run the Remote app, so he could have access to a real keyboard. When he found Apple’s Remote app did not work with the new Apple TV, he’d ask the person responsible (likely at 2 am, intentionally), “why the fsck not?” Then the app would be coded and tested and ready to go along with the Apple TV release. Certainly the ability to pair a Bluetooth keyboard would be there at launch as well.
With Tim Cook, we get the feeling that he was too busy doing other things to bother really testing the Apple TV beyond what Apple employees had set up for him to quickly try out. Of course a pre-setup Apple TV would seem acceptable for launch to Cook. There’d be no text to input. Voila, “it just works!” And, of course Apple employees would set up the Apple TV to look/work as best as possible when showing the boss their work. Who wouldn’t? So, how would Cook know that Apple TV needed more polishing before it was worthy of release unless he took the time to do what we believe Jobs would have done?
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. — Steve Jobs
As far as AAPL stock goes, Wall Street is unpredictable, however a CEO who is perceived as if he cares about anything more than correcting a continuing string of botched, half-assed product launches is simply not a recipe for a rising share price.
Bottom Line: Tim Cook is generally an excellent CEO. One of, if not the best, CEO in the world! His job is massive and thankless. He’s got an impossible act to follow. He just needs to make sure, himself, personally, that the products are working well and that they are ready to go for launch with even marginally adequate supply. If he does that, he’ll have the leeway, indeed the privilege, to use the Apple brand to promote pretty much any cause he desires.
If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow. — Steve Jobs
SEE ALSO:
At Apple, it seems as if no one’s minding the store – November 13, 2015
Publishers underwhelmed with Apple News app – November 13, 2015
Apple’s joyless iPad Pro launch: WTF are the Apple Pencils and Smart Keyboards? (4-5 weeks away) – November 12, 2015
Apple’s best days are behind it or something – November 7, 2015
Apple TV 4 is a beta product and, if you bought one, you’re an unpaid beta tester – November 5, 2015
Apple Watch has arrived for just 22 percent of preorder customers – April 28, 2015
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Tim Cook’s mea culpa: iMac launch should have been postponed – April 24, 2013
Tim Cook open letter: We fell short with new Maps app; we are extremely sorry – September 28, 2012
With obtuse iPad 2 launch, Apple fails to delight 49,000 customers per day – March 21, 2011
[Attribution: Drudge Report. Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
What really surprises me is how much money Apple has spent on share buybacks that should, theoretically, increase the price of shares. And they don’t seem to have had any effect. So Apple’s just burning money. That doesn’t seem like a savvy choice by a CEO.
But we don’t know what AAPL’s price would be today if they hadn’t bought the stock.
Double the dividend and eliminate buybacks which are a waste. If investor’s can’t see how strong Apple is in comparison to Amazon, Google, or Netflix over the long term well it’s their problem. Long since 2005.
If you bought AAPL for dividends of a couple of percent and think that doubling them to just over 3% is a good deal then you have no idea about investing and should put your money into municipal bonds and get out of the market. You are not even keeping up with inflation!
No need for lessons here, I did not buy AAPL for the dividend, it is a bonus, here is why i bought:
11/29/2004 Long +2,214.89%
any questions?
So doubling my annual Apple dividend from $20,000 to $40,000 would be bad for me? No, I can’t sell it because capital gains tax would take 80%. I bought AAPL at $6, seven splits ago.
Tflint–Would you care to splain how capital gains tax would take 80%?
Still waiting for an answer Tflint. Surprising that someone with @$1M in unrealized LTCG wouldn’t know the tax consequences of a sale.
Yeah, I’m not so lucky as these other guys (though I had Apple pre 2001 crash – had to sell). But I bought in at 55 – 85 and 120 pre split – so average cost is $86 presplit – or $12 post split. The dividend is just a bonus that happened along. And I’m happy. It is significant $ per year, and I’m hoping to doubles by the time I retire,
I agree – forget the buybacks. Return all the FCF back as dividends!
I’d have felt better if Apple had added that $140 billion worth of cash spent on buybacks to Apple’s current $205 billion stash. At this point it appears the $140 billion is gone and Apple has nothing to show for it. I wouldn’t have cared if Apple spent a good portion of that $140 billion on goodwill projects in the U.S.. At least Apple might have gotten some good press out if it. What’s done is done and nothing is going to change. What ifs and could haves are useless to think about.
I second that. Apple could open classes for youths in the ghettos and communities for poor and underpriviligied, keeping them off the streets and doing something to promote their future. Their are brains there goin to waste that we don’t know what great achoevements they could accomplish. For Apple it would amount to peanuts and only the goodwill would be enormous.
The “youths” would have to want to be there, and based upon my direct experience in a similar school program, that is the problem. If they don’t want to be there………………
I’ve been saying for years that Tim Cook is an incompetent who has absolutely no business running Apple.
His sexual orientation has nothing to do with it either, and the only reason we discuss it is because HE drug it into the public forum.
In fact, some people may now hate gays just because of him!
Rarely does an incompetent, mistake prone, CEO leading a large company come around who completely f*cks up every single thing he touches. It happended at Microsoft first and unfortunately it has now struck Apple.
They should have fired this guy 3-years ago!
All we can do now is bury our heads in the sand and wait for more carnage.
“With Tim Cook, we get the feeling that he was too busy doing other things…”
Did anyone replace Tim Cook when he replaced Steve Jobs. Maybe that’s the problem. He’s too busy.
Does this mean Wall Street wants to pick Apple new CEO?.
Wishful thinking: Homosexuality is the new ‘black’ – and just as bulletproof against the truth about their failures.
And when you count a POTUS as a boyfriend, double the immunity.
handsomesmitty = racist homophobe
But he’s not wrong…
@notsohandsomesmitty
Broken mirror?
It would likely be much worse without the buybacks.
Cook needs to get off his “sanctimonious soapbox.” That’s not his job. He needs to focus on doing his actual job. You don’t launch a product as important as Apple Watch with no supply. You don’t launch a product as important as iPad Pro without its stylus and keyboard. You don’t launch Apple TV without even having your Remote app compatible. These are all obvious, amateurish screwups that Jobs’ Apple would have never allowed to happen.
Superior Being’s post is excellent. Hit the nail on the head.
Oh, I forgot about Antennagate. Was that Cook? No. After every product launch there are things Apple learns to do better and does. Keeping secrets causes supply issues, but I like the surprises. I look forward to getting an iPad Pro when they are easily available.
Or hockey-puck mouse. Or G4 Cube… Or MobileMe… Had Steve not prematurely died, who knows how many similar screw-ups would he had been responsible for…
Personally I didn’t know it is such a big deal that there is not enough of the product to go around.
Personally I feel that the quality of the product is more important and can you fault the AppleWatch or the Pencil, etc.
if there is a drop in the quality and the user friendliness then I worry for Apple.
Mmmm, perhaps I am not a perfectionist but I do appreciate well made products that seem to last forever.
As I mentioned in many blog if you can do better why not write to the board and offer your ideas and then replace Tim Cook.
Btw words are cheap and on hindsight one’s vision is always perfect.
Consider TC gone in Febr.16
1) Buy backs are never burned money: Your earnings per/share have gone up because of them.
2) Buy backs don’t necessarily increase share price immediately: A buy back means you own MORE of the company but the company now has LESS cash. So the effect on stock price is not always immediate.
Bingo! This is absolutely correct and further more it makes much more sense for Apple to buy the stock when it’s undervalued.
Apple has to get their act together under Tim in the software side of products…
Besides, who else in the tech offers such a integrated experience… Who?
Little correction; “Apple terrible performance” must be translate into Apple’s best year ever… EVER!
We are just Mac fans and zealots complaining about perfection…
They are just paid ANAL-yst to overshadow the tech giant in order to make believe there are alternative…
El Capitan is the first OS update that I’ve not installed ASAP since I began using Macs in 1996. I’m still reading about many, many problems with 10.11 that preclude me from installing it. Tim Cook should concentrate on “i” devices and let someone else handle desktops. I wouldn’t be sad if Mr. Cook left.
My experience with El Capitan is that it’s better and more stable than Yosemite or Mavericks. If you want to find people who’ll complain about 10.11, I’m sure you can find them, just like with every other Apple OS or hardware product. Rather than make broad, sweeping criticisms, it’s better to write about specific issues. I can’t think of one bug / problem I’ve had with El Cap, and I’ve been running it since the first public beta.
How’s Safari been for you? That’s the only,place I seem to be having problems right now.
Safari’s been running fine. No issues.
I respect your opinion, TM, so I’m curious as to what your Safari problems are. Although my mini has El C, I mostly use a ML partition so I haven’t noticed anything.
My wife’s mini is running only El C and has had some Safari issues with a particular site she’s a member of. They re-did their site not long ago, and had some technical issue that caused a planned video conference to fail. Also, trying to get to the site on a iPad usually gets “site cannot load due to too many redirects” messages. I think they may have coding issues, but that’s just my non-techical opinion.
Just glitches. Safari hesitates here and there, on different sites, sometimes quits. Sometimes it will hang up. I have to crash it.
Same here, generally slower.
I use Firefox also for compatibility on my job. Beginning to like it for performance reasons. Could see going there most of the time.
10.11 does have some bugs, and it has fixed some of Yosemite’s. But it’s slowly losing the “Mac feel” that Mac OS has always had.
WTF does that even mean? the “Mac feel’ that Mac oS has always had?
Bought my first Mac in 1985. I’ve seen the Mac GUI and OS change countless times. It’s always had problems. It’s software. Don’t like it? Buy Windows.
But Apple is supposed to be the best that it can be, that is what we have always been told, and what most of us have believed, in my case since 1982………….but not nearly so much in the last 3-4 years.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again. FIRE Tim Cook!
Who should replace him?
A man.
Saying Tim Cook is not wall street friendly is only relevant if Steve Jobs was – and I don’t think anyone would say that he was.
Oh, but Steve Jobs was “Wall St. friendly” precisely because he did what MDN describes. With Jobs, it was ALL ABOUT THE PRODUCT. Cook seems to care more about “global warming” and transvestites’ rights or whatever than about Apple’s products and, even worse, he promotes his personal agendas under the Apple brand that Steve Jobs built, while cheapening it with poor launches of unpolished products, software, and services.
If you know what you are doing within your own company, Wall Street will be friendly to you because they want performance…..and so do your stockholders..so if Steve Jobs didn’t seem overly friendly to them, it really didn’t matter. I think if Steve were still there, warts and all, the stock would be higher and more customers would be happy. I know I would be since I make my living from OSX.
mxnt41: So true about SJ’s WS friendliness. I’d even say, he really didn’t give a F. He had other things on his mind…remember he was consumed, maybe neurotically, about maximizing his time-to achieve something…to do/make the best. TC has an excellent biz mind, but he doesn’t have the Other part. He’d do well to leave his Mahatma Gandhi-ness at home. Whether it’s Apple size, which must be hard to control, or TC’s including his humanist tendencies as CEO, I don’t know, but there are and have been significant issues cracking Apple’s solidity.
iOS is getting more and more complicated for “normal” users!!! Even I have been “Apple Fan” since the Macintosh SE in the early 80’s and had every iPhone since the first one, I am getting more and more busy helping friends and family to set up their iPhones and iPads because they just give up!!! It is not “Apple-like” any more, it just works no longer.
There should be 2 versions of iOS (or two devisions of the set-up) One as it is now and one “easy setup” for newcomers and retired people) (I am 73 myself!)
Best regards from Denmark
Peter Glunz – http://www.applejuice.dk
Or as I said years ago after Steve had been gone for a while, “it feels like no one is walking the halls at Apple, looking at products and saying this is a piece of shit.” It feels as if no one is actually using new products within Apple.
Perhaps, after all is said and done, the quality that Apple is missing in it’s CEO is the one everyone seemed to dislike in Steve. I.e. his capacity for being a complete ass on occasion. I suspect no one is afraid to ride in an elevator with Tim.
Apple seems desperate to do something, anything that can capture the imagination of the public. Make a watch, make a car. If the car doesn’t work what next? A personal helicopter?
And Tim… Poor guy. One day he’s out asking why anyone would buy a personal computer, and the next he’s telling everyone that Apple will be making the conventional personal computer for the near future. That doesn’t sound like a man with a vision. Certainly not a tech genius.
Stop the bullshit. While not perfect, Apple does a great job launching and selling products. As a long time (and quite well remunerated) AAPL stockholder, the worst drops have occurred under Steve Jobs second coming. No one in their right mind suggested that he be replaced again. The Value of AAPL has gone up and down, because Wall Street analysts are dumb as posts and know nothing about why Apple is different than other companies. Record quarters are rewarded by falling stock prices, fearing the record is the peak marking the end. A 200 billion dollar plus cash surplus is seen as a negative, not as the hedge against failure that it truly is. Stock buyback is a negative, because AAPL is running scared or something. Cook’s brilliant playing off of one supplier versus another is ignored, while clueless financial advisers not supply chain fluctuations. Day traders are pissed and whine that Apple is unpredictable and too too volatile.
Apple does better job by far than anyone else it is not even close.
I’ve probably seen a dozen articles complaining about the Apple Keyboard and Pencil not being available for the iPad Pro upon launch. Everyone complained it was a big fail.
On the other hand it was claimed the Surface Pro 4 was only available in limited configurations, but little was written about it by bloggers. Same goes for the bendability of the Next 6P smartphone. It also bends but there’s no outcries reaching iPhone Bendgate proportions.
Apple seems to garner a lot of bad publicity. Maybe Apple is expected to be perfect and anything less is considered failure.
Michael, talking about stock price as it relates to CEO isn’t always pertinent…see Amazon. The issue related is related to products. Using your word, “drops,” TC has been involved in A LOT more more product drops than SJ and SJ was involved in A LOT more new product introductions. With anticipation long been an Apple marketing tool and under SJ’s tenure, fulfillment of the anticipation was much more successful. Even in the operation realm, TC’s undeniable skill, has shown gaps.
Yes, yes, there will be voices like Danox’s, but it’s those kind of voices and thinking that Apple doesn’t need. The standard isn’t the competitor (see Samsung, or?). This is a conversation is about excellence, not comparisons.
It sure seems like someone at MDN woke up on the wrong side of the bed–dragging up something from the dregs of Drudge written by a hedge fund malcontent trying to place the blame on anyone but himself for his poor performance of late. Other hedgies haven’t done well this year either but haven’t been such babies. The Macalope had a better perspective about Forbes’ contributors like Somaney and those of his ilk:
“Pundits have all the object permanence of newly born infants.”
Concerning the iPad Pro, while I like it very much, I know the fact that it plays 2nd fiddle to the iPhone in features like 3D Touch, fast fingerprint recognition, and camera are just so they can be added to the iPad Pro 2 or something. I think we’re a bit tired of that product release methodology.
Agreed!!! I don’t buy first gen products from Apple, period. I’m always disappointed when the second gen arrives with all the features I really want / need.
iPad is prime example. Still using my iPad2 I bought the first week of it’s release. Almost 5 years, just now getting ready to replace because of poor Safari performance.
I wanted to buy Apple watch for this Christmas coming, but it’s best if I wait for next generations.
I don’t see any sense in waiting on the Apple Watch, contrary to the “don’t buy first-gen Apple products” advice. It’s main benefits are activity tracking (standing, exercise and calories) all the time, not just when working out, and notifications (I use it for text messages, Facebook messages, I turned off Email which I think would be pointless on a small screen/limited ability to reply). The next Watch will be thinner, but the current one is just fine in size. I doubt they’ll be able to double the battery life so you’ll still be charging it every night, not that that’s a big deal. The processor will be slightly faster so there will be a little less lag when opening apps, and the heart rate monitor will probably be more accurate, but I don’t expect any dramatic improvements. Go to the store, try one on, buy one and return it within 2 weeks for a full refund if you don’t like it. This is one of those products you have to live with for a while to understand its benefits. Reviews don’t do it justice.
People ridiculed others for using the iPad as a camera. Tech sites made joke about it. Now that the iPad Pro doesn’t have an iPhone quality camera it’s somehow a big fail on Apple’s part?
I read once that the time to get out of a stock is when the company gets a new office. Everyone is more worried about what their new desk will be like and who it will be next to than what they are being paid for.
Then I guess you’ll be selling your Apple stock. If not STFU.
So Forbes is concerned that Apple isn’t Wall Street friendly? Why do you think Apple has been buying back its shares? The more of Apple that Apple owns, the less they have to care about what Wall Street says. It’s not about propping up a stock price. It’s about keeping a bunch of investors from ruining yet another good company.
MDN is correct in stating that product rollouts really do need to get better. No quarrel with that. But Forbes isn’t weeping for Apple. They’re weeping for Forbes.
I’m really disappointed that MDN would reprint/link to garbage from the Forbes Contribuitor network. For shame.
The Forbes Walking Dead Network – give me a break!!!
I can barely remember when Forbes was relevant and somewhat respected. How soon will we be saying the same thing about MDN with reprints such as this?
Tim Cook is not the problem. Idiots that write stupid articles are the problem. Tim Cook has improved Apple is so many ways and the profits have also improved. The only problem are the anal-ists stuck in the 90’s that keep repeating the same old doom and gloom is right around the corner B.S.! That is why the stock is stuck where it is. They are repeating the same old the iPhone sales have peaked story every year for the last 5 years at least and every time sales have past record levels. And this last quarter the new phones weren’t on sale yet, it was all the older phones still. Everyone keeps blaming Cook yet what I see is only the Anal-ists making up crap and lowering Apple’s stock with no facts to back any of there B.S. It keeps happening every year and every quarter they keep looking for that doom.
Wall Street wants to replace Tim Cook. It wants to pick and choose its own man. That’s all there is to it. WS won’t let AAPL rally until they got what they wanted. Nothing Apple does is good enough to WS.
Nothing is wrong with being a gay activist or trying to be a worthy humanitarian, but if that’s where Cook’s heart is, then he needs to step down from running the company. The guy is clearly abusing his title to push his personal agenda and being distracted from doing his job.
NothIn is wrong with his activism other than half of the US population being disgusted with it that is.
HALF?
Despite their blaring media presence, homosexuals make up less than 5% of the population.
Paul and Difired–let me guess, Mississippi, or Alabama?
Yes, there is something wrong with that.
There’s a LOT wrong with them creating the AIDS crises and then making Red products so customers can finance medicine to fight it.
WTF??
There’s also a LOT wrong with bleating about human rights while making products in China, where the people’s rights are abused daily.
Record profit numbers.
All I see here are the usual Limbaugh scumbags who are anti-gay. Grow up.
The problem with Apple’s stock is NOT Tim Cook, nor is it Apple’s performance. The problem lies, clearly, with Wall Street’s traders. We often hear, “They just don’t understand…” No. Wrong. The real issue is Wall Street and the DayTrader mentality. You can’t belong to this group long before you realize the ONLY way to make money is to be among the first to buy whatever everyone else is going to buy (before the price goes up). And, the ONLY way to minimize your losses is to be among the first to sell whatever everyone else is going to sell (before the price goes down). Folks, the net result of this is the Traders are not watching Apple. They just don’t care about Apple. Instead they are watching each other. And, like a herd of sheep (or Lemmings) when they hear a loud noise to the North, they jump-up and run toward the South. Why? Because they know (from experience) that all the other traders will be doing the same thing and they need to be among the first — thus becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. They are in it to make money, and this is how they do so. The stock market is no longer a bellwether of our economic health, let alone the leader of our economic health. It’s a business like any other. The only real blame one might attach to them is their arrogance in insisting Apple, Tim Cook or anyone else must do things to impress them. This is them believing their own propaganda.
I lean towards what b9bot said about the idiots that write these articles.
” Tim Cook is not a Wall Street-friendly CEO and does not and can not impress Wall Street.” – Heck that’s not a problem, that’s a feature. The values of whore street and that of Apple are not really compatible.
Here’s another lack of rational thought showing up in Jay Somaney
“So, until things change at Apple or Tim Cook changes or shows us something meaningful or maybe makes a meaningful Wall Street-savvy hire, share performance of the biggest and probably one of the top global brands in the world more than likely could/will continue to underperform.”
Jay Jay Jay, there is other option, that things might change at Wall street. Not very probable of course but it’s still an option. Gosh can you imagine whore street waking up one day with integrity? I can but then again I’m an Apple user, and an optimist.
Let reform Wall Street, WS holds so much powers. Power is in the hands of the RICH. I doubt nobody could reform WS!.
What amazing insight. The only remaining question is why it took so long to realize what has been in front of us for as long as the insufferable, weak, and clueless CEO has been sitting at the head of the Apple table. NOTHING is going to change as long as he’s occupying it. With his incalculable wealth, you have to ask why is he bothering to continue. Maybe his dark side is that he likes building his personal wealth beyond imagination while the rest of the AAPL investors suffer and suffer and suffer.
Spending your time trying to manipulate your stock rather than spending time creating and producing great products that consumers really want is the worst thing any CEO can to. Jay Somaney is a narrowly focused idiot.
But that seems to be the sole criteria for a “worthy” CEO in the twisted Bizarro World, Neverland reality that Wall Street and the stock market inhabit.
You know… the one where cause and effect have no correlation, and profitability has no bearing on stock price.
I’d imagine being CEO really is an incredibly tough, thankless job, requiring that you make too many people happy. If I had to choose three jobs I would never want to have they would be President of the United States, Mayor of New York City, and CE”O of Apple.
This article is a crock and just another one aimed at the same stock manipulations as all the other Apple is doomed articles. If Cook was voted top CEO five years running, it would have zero effect on the stock price which is just a WS game.
MDN take…reactionary schoolboy_with_ants_in_pants unrealistic
rubbish tailored to pander to MDN’s business experts. Pffft
Short sighted article.
If not Tim .. Who?
Instead if worring about Tim being the problem .,,, worry about what will happen if he leaves..
Immidiate massive crash of the stock.
Most desisons the author is complaining about are group desicions with the other geniuses in their field at Apple.
Tim is a delegator.
As for tye stock buyback tgey just reaffermed thrur confidance in the program.. I choose to believe they are not stupid.
Maybe once the negative narrative changes and more long term confidance seen by the market… The buyback effects will be more apparent.. Lets wait and see !
As for botched releases.. It worries me too. And i have been writting apple Many time.
I dont know whats going on..that is Tims area of expertise ,efficient operations and supply chain management. Yet we have issues..
Maybe its the result if the massive unprecedented growth at Apple.
Maybe we have to be a bit more lenient till things stabilize.
Last person happy with the screwups would be Tim himself.
A perfectionist in his own right.. Perfectionist who turned Apple in to the super efficient profitable company it is !
And authors sarcastic remark about Tim, Ive, Eddy mentioning each year as apples biggest is a joke and an excersise in pure ignorance.
Apple has broken records every year.
Im counting on another record in 2016..
Please forgive the Typos…
If not Tim, who?
A man.
Let’s start with that.
Generally, people who make those type of comments are the ones who have the most serious issues. You might want to get some help, FFS.
I’ve been a Mac user since System 7.5.5 was released. I have been through the ups and downs with Apple. Honestly, I think Tim Cook needs to go. Here are my reasons:
1. The released version of OS X and Apple apps are usually half-baked, even more so since Steve Jobs is no longer at Apple.
2. Hardware releases are not properly tested before release to manufacturing. Too many hardware defects IMO.
3. For the love of God, why is there no “headless Mac” for prosumer/professional users? I don’t want a bloody “garbage can” Mac Pro that can’t be updated. I had the first Mac Pro – that computer lasted me over five years. Been waiting for a proper replacement of it, but I’m still waiting. :/
4. OS X and iOS split personalities. I think Apple’s approach to the future of the OS X and iOS are completely wrong. Whether you want to admit it or not, Microsoft is actually on the right path here IMO. All new Windows 10 applications adjust the GUI depending on what platform they are operating on. I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t take this same approach. It’d be much easier for any Mac/iOS developer. From a consumer standpoint, it’s a pain in the ass having to buy the SAME application for OS X and iOS when they are functionally the SAME. That costs me more money in the long run, which is something I’m getting really tired of.
5. Apple hobbles the new 27-inch iMac, and the 21-inch version even more so. I was considering purchasing a new iMac, but I don’t like the fact that Apple hobbles the system with 5400 rpm hard drives. Really Apple? Why are there no 7200 rpm hard drive options including NEW 6 TB options? If I could get a 6 TB 7200 rpm HDD from Hitachi in there I’d be happy. What are my choices? The Mac mini is hobbled since the last release, which has not yet been updated. Again, Apple needs a proper “headless Mac” – been saying this for years.
6. I have to agree with my wife on this. The iMac’s design is a dead end. Ive no longer cares about the iMac. He’s only into iDevices now. :/
I could go on and on…
Suffice it to say, I’m looking at building a Hackintosh computer soon. With current ASUS and Gigabyte motherboards NO hacked drivers are needed to create a proper “headless Mac” computer. You can install OS X right out of the box. With a Hackintosh I can install the hard drives (7200 rpm) or solid state drives I want (i.e. 2.5-inch, 2 TB Samsung SSD). Also, why is there no Thunderbolt 2 5K monitor from Apple? It’s badly needed IMO. There are excellent monitors out there for this Hackintosh I’m going to build. I want to be able to choose my own video card. Can’t do that with Apple’s hobbled choices. I want more than 32 GB of RAM. I need it for all the multitasking I do. 64 GB is the sweet spot for me.
I’ve been running Windows 10 Pro on my MacBook Pro (mid-2012) along with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, and the latest major update just made Windows 10 Pro so much better. By building a Hackintosh I will have the best of both worlds, something that I find quite appealing. I will no longer be tied to Apple’s stupid decisions when it comes to Mac hardware. Since Apple does not want to build a proper “headless Mac” maybe they should license OS X (since they took the “Mac” out of the OS names) and let other manufacturers compete to bring out a “headless Mac” that can run Windows 10 too.
I have one final thing to say about Tim Cook… This guy is not who should be running Apple, and he needs to go now. Doesn’t he realise that the content for his precious iDevices are made with Macs? WTF Apple! You are killing yourself by not keeping the Mac as the prominent product – as it should be. The Mac is Apple’s soul, and without it they are just another device manufacturer. :/
And the bugger dropped Aperture, best photo application on the market! Now we have Photos, a big shoe box in the cloud. Bring back Aperture. Lightroom is terrible. If it scares you, you have a problem.
And the bugger dropped Aperture, best photo application on the market! Now we have Photos, a big shoe box in the cloud. Bring back Aperture. Lightroom is terrible. If it scares you, you have a problem. I will not buy another Mac if it won’t run Aperture. Just bought two so they would come with Yosemite, last OS for Aperture 3.6.
Apple’s terrible performance this year to date
HAHAHAHAHAHA! OMFG are there stupid people on WallNut Street. Just STFU analcysts.
Meanwhile, as I pointed out commenting on another article today regarding Apple’s myriad bumbling actions this past year, as MDN pointed out above:
This is a clear sign, part of a set of consistent signs, that Apple has gotten too big for its current management and has lost, that BIG word Steve Jobs always used, FOCUS.
Seen it before. JUMP on that sucker Apple and tame it again!
MDN quoted exactly what I needs to be said:
If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow. — Steve Jobs
Oh and just smile when the TechnoTards of WallNut Street blether on about that of which they know NOTHING.