crappletv

Total Rating:
0 / 0

9 Comments

    • Mon Sep 8th 12:39 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Nokia Is the Smart(phone) Bet - Barron's



      On Sep 08 08:41 AM Jon T wrote:

      > The mobile phone is dead.
      >
      > Long live the computer.

      So speaks the brit with the mouth. It's probably the other way round. The computer is dying, long live the mobile platform. But then you'd knoe since you are the expert with "credibility"... ROTFFLMFAO.
      View article »
    • Fri Sep 5th 13:45 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Apple: Steve and I Have Been Wrong
      @Jon T: The value of my comments, like yours, are worth precisely what you pay for them. This is the Web, learn how it works.

      It's a fact that Apple state an operating temperature. Go look at their site.

      It's a fact that Joel experienced issues with his unit whilst operating within Apple's recommended temp.

      What about that do you not understand?

      I know, it's political season, if *you* agree with your opponent, but it's embarrassing to *your* stance, attack.
      View article »
    • Fri Sep 5th 12:10 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Apple: Steve and I Have Been Wrong
      Quick, some *might* have said something bad about Apple.

      ATTACK THEM - NOW.

      You know that "Steve" wants you to.

      For all you fanboi dweebs telling him to buy an AC unit, try actually reading the article, Joel was well within the manufacturers operating limits.

      The MacBook Air was not robust, operating within the stated manufacturer's tolerances.

      Joel: this was a pretty cool article, right on the money.



      View article »
    • Wed Aug 27th 14:55 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      No Leadership from Apple Right Now
      >I do have a strong feeling that Apple is being held back by
      >the economic factors at the moment, and that they will burst
      >out soon and hit $250 - $300.

      I have a different feeling. Mine is based on the heresay of the apple employees that I regularly interract with.

      Apple is losing a lot of experienced talent at the moment and replacing it with less experienced talent.

      Apple has a significant number of senior engineers who are burnt out and rich enough from stock options, the RSU's that are coming online, and discounted employee stock purchase to not give a flying f*** about whether they contribute or not. It has a significant number of junior engineers who are not invested in the success of Apple via options or RSUs and are not further motivated by having engineers and mangers in leadership positions slack off.

      Apple has quality issues some of which are well publicized (MobileMe, iPhone 3G dropping calls, original iPhone software upgrade issues, iPod batteries, etc.), some of which are not.

      Apple has a great deal of uncertainty about it's leadership succession plan.

      The company has gone through a period of sustained growth, but this *has* affected the quality of it's products and services. All of these issues are liable to to have a retrograde effect on product quality, which in turn will become more of an issue in the coming couple of years.

      So $180 might actually be where it stays for a while. The company does not have the resources to continually move to new products without that affecting existing products. A great example of the effects of this are seen in predicted (by the company) vs actual release times: Leopard was significantly late due to a shift in resources to iPhone.

      So you can look at the charts, or you can look at the company. I'd suggest the latter will yield more clues about future performance.
      View article »
    • Fri Jul 25th 17:32 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Time to Stand Up for Steve Jobs
      Apple is very much a company entwined with the DNA of it's creator. I believe this observation is made in one of Steven Levy's books. The Walt Disney comment above is somewhat prescient, but not for the reasons the poster infers:

      >anyone remember Walt Disney? they said his company would die
      >with him. Apple isn't the Apple Jobs left and had to return to
      >rescue. He not only rescued it (and those of us who hung on
      >during the lean years) but built it into a huge, international
      >company with multiple products, enormously talented staff,
      >huge...HUGE profits and 'cushion' and no debt. there aren't
      >many companies as healthy as this one, with or without it's
      >visionary creator.

      But is that not the point? Look, after Jobs was fired by Sculley, Apple began a long painful decline, that culminated in 1996/7 with two quarters in a 3 quarter period, both with a $750 million loss. Bear in mind that in 1994, the company was at it's localized peak in terms of market share (the LC, IIsi and Classic enabled Apple to lower costs and drive for Market share). It was an $11bn corporation, within 2 years it was a sub $4bn corporation in terms of market cap.

      Levy speculated in his early 1990's history of Apple that the company ripped itself apart after the departure of Jobs, because in the absence of leadership, the senior managers all wanted to create fifedoms. The earthquake and subsequent delay to System 7.0 did not help and the Maxwell/Mac OS 8 debacle did not help.

      No one denies that SJ made one of the most dramatic turnarounds in US business history, but that is not the point, is it? Wall Street has jitters precisely because there is a precedent of Jobs leaving Apple at the top of it's game and the company ripping apart in the years afterwards.

      Walt left Disney and the company "survived". Survived is an interesting perspective, Disney more or less merged with Pixar, mainly because in it's "survival", Disney lost the plot on making the transition to new technology for the production of animated motion picture feature fims. Incidentally leaving one Steven P Jobs as Disney's largest shareholder.

      So to bring it back around Wall Street is scared that if Jobs leaves again, the constant growth of Apple will turn into decline, and the stock will be devalued. Which is exactly why, for Apple's shareholders, Jobs health is not a private matter.
      View article »
    • Fri Jul 25th 17:10 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Time to Stand Up for Steve Jobs
      Wow what a bunch of Fanboys.

      >Like most commentators, you're wrong; Steve Jobs' health IS a
      >private matter unless ill health is affecting his role in the company.

      When Jobs was sick, all of his direct reports were moved under Peter Oppenheimer. I would say that that "affects his role in the company".

      >Jobs did not conceal his cancer from the board. The board
      >concealed it from the world, because there was plenty of time
      >to make a succession plan

      That sounds a lot like concealment to me. Jobs is on the board, he materially affects the decisions of the board. You can't have it both ways.

      >it's just laziness to simply blame Apple. Have you for example got
      > HP printer drivers installed that didn't come with MacOS?

      Nope. It's not lazyness. It's a consumer product, full stop. I should not have to dive in and debug problems like this. Oh and by the way, this machine is as vanilla as they come. It's an admin machine, the only additional software on it comes from Apple (iWork). It's used for email, web browsing and keynote. Full stop. My work machine is a PC running ubuntu for software development. It's called coding, have you heard of it?

      >Steve Jobs does not "cultivate the cult of personality". He appears
      >only twice a year, and makes a very professional product focussed
      >presentation crammed with factual detail.

      Pray tell then why mainstream media refer to a "reality distortion field" at these events. Factual detail for a fanboy might also be seen as spin to an impartial observer.

      >axe to gring against Apple

      I have no axe to gring (sic) whatsoever, I'm just startled at the lack of objectivity in commentary about Apple. Google '+iphone +"2.0" +upgrade +problem' - around 215,000 hits, read mossberg's review of mobile me, Google '+macbook +graphics +chip +problem', again 275,000 hits. Are these people "lazy" too? No I think they are just trying to deal as well as they can with sub-standard product.

      Nope not grinding (I suspect that is what you meant) just observing.
      View article »
    • Wed Jul 23rd 10:39 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Time to Stand Up for Steve Jobs
      Correction:

      Cook is great at execution but could not be described as a businessman,

      He's a great businessman, I meant to write technologist.
      View article »
    • Wed Jul 23rd 10:35 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Time to Stand Up for Steve Jobs
      You're wrong.

      Job's health is not a private matter.

      He is the CEO of a public company, and reportedly has not reported major health issues to his board in the past during a previous health scare. If true, that's dubious ethics right there. As is the whole reported options backdating issue. If the market is skittery on his behavior, it's no wonder. There's been a deliberate lack of transparency into many aspects of Apple's business operations.

      Add to that an apparent lack of succession planning (tell me who you think could step in and replace Jobs from the current management? I'm not seeing anyone. Ive has never run an org larger than a handful of artists, Mansfield lacks vision, Cook is great at execution but could not be described as a businessman, Serlet has execution problems, Schiller is a marketer without the tech savvy, perhaps the only possibility is Fadell). A group of SVP's mainly promoted beyond their abilities. A lack of execution.

      For example iPhone 3G was a year after iPhone, one real tangible new feature (3G on a battery hogging infineon chipset), a $50 price bump $450 vs $400 with the $10 AT&T digital plan price hike. Have you upgraded an iPhone to the new software? That's been fraught with problems, and nothing in the press. Imagine if M$ or intel released such shoddy work.

      Macbooks are appalling in terms of quality. The one I'm typing this on does not sleep approx 20% of the time. Close the lid, go home, battery dead. Fans stuck on. Screen does not come back. Quality issues?

      Apple without Jobs takes a 50% stock price hit. Sorting succession will be a key issue. Execution ability will become a key issue (it's ignored currently).

      Therefore Job's health is no longer a private matter. He cultivated the cult of personality. He made this all about him. Them be the consequences.
      View article »
    • Mon Jun 2nd 18:11 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Is the End of the Cable Box Near?
      Hey AntiFUD, what planet are YOU on. Apple TB might have HDMI support but HD it is not. Most people's definition of HD is 1080i or 1080p. At 720p the AppleTV is best described as "DVD Resolution" but not really HD.

      Is AppleTV a dead product? Let's see if Apple announce a replacement at WWDC this week. If they don't it doesn't seem all that likely that it is worth spending time with.

      I've been an Apple die hard since 1986, but increasingly the company is losing the plot, at least for computers. Dell in a pretty box? Their quality is going down hill.

      For a reliable HD solution that works (and you can leave it in VMC mode) see the Sony Vaio VGX-TP25E/B. Dual Cable Tuners, HD recording from Comcast, DVD, CD, Photos, iTunes, internet tv, youtube, etc etc. Apple have a niche product in this space that doen't really work. Oh and place your hand on top of it. Feel the heat, baby? Anything that runs that hot for that long is likely not not last for the length of time most people expect consumer electronics to last, though Apple have set new standards with their disposable iPod's (battery dead? buy a new one). Yeah, very green.
      View article »
Loading...
Symbols:
Authors:
Quick Links:
Contribute an Article Become a Seeking Alpha Contributor

Transcripts

More Transcripts»