“Peter Thiel is a prescient investor and well-known venture capitalist. A technology icon, he’s a member of the Trump transition team, and will help shape tech policy over the next four to eight years,” John Divine writes for US News & World Report. “Thiel is also a man who thinks the age of Apple, the largest public company in the world, is over.”
“‘We know what a smartphone looks like and does,’ Thiel says. ‘It’s not the fault of Tim Cook, but it’s not an area where there will be any more innovation,'” Divine writes. “Thiel focused on the smartphone industry for a reason: iPhone sales account for an incredible 60 percent of overall AAPL revenue.”
“Cook is certainly aware of Apple’s crippling one-dimensional nature. Unfortunately, all of Apple’s attempts to do something new in recent years have failed miserably,” Divine writes. “‘The Apple Watch is looking like a failed product and has been surpassed by Amazon Echo as the device de jour, highlighting Apple’s competitive pressure from Google and Amazon at delivering intelligent cloud services,’ says Peter Yared, CTO of Sapho and former CIO of CBS Interactive.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s opinion, not proof.
Divine writes, “‘The reality is that the innovation days may be behind it – they are selling LG’s screens at this point rather than their own,’ Yared says.”
MacDailyNews Take: There’s an example of what we warned of when we wrote last month: “Apple ceding the display business damages the Apple brand. Apple does not lead in an essential personal computing component and other companies logos are destined to be in Mac users’ faces all day long. Not smart. Cook & Co. should reconsider their decision and make and sell Apple-branded displays. Direct profits aren’t the issue, ancillary profits are; smart executives like Cook should be able to recognize the power of perception.”
“Apple isn’t a growth company anymore. It got too big for its own britches, and too reliant on one product,” Divine writes. “While there’s little doubt AAPL will be a prominent blue-chip company for decades to come – its massive cash hoard alone makes this inevitable – whether it will ever thrive again is very much in doubt.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Poppycock.
Again, we believe Thiel meant that the age of iPhone is over, not Apple. Either way, he couldn’t be more wrong.
The iPhone age has many years left in its run and Apple, of all companies, has done it multiple times (Apple II, Mac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch) and, we’re certain, will do it again!
SEE ALSO:
Why Peter Thiel is wrong about Apple – January 13, 2017
Peter Thiel says the age of Apple is over – January 12, 2017
President-elect Trump meets privately with Apple CEO Cook, tells tech leaders: ‘I’m here to help you folks do well’ – December 14, 2016
Tim Cook, other tech elite attend tech summit with President-elect Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan – December 12, 2016
Tech investor Peter Thiel’s embrace of Donald Trump for U.S. President has Silicon Valley squirming – July 20, 2016
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel funded Hulk Hogan lawsuit to take down Gawker which outed him, Tim Cook, and others – May 27, 2016
An open letter from Apple co-founder Woz, other techies on Donald Trump’s candidacy for U.S. President – July 14, 2016