Apple well-positioned to race forward while Jobs sidelined

[AppleInsider]

Customers won't stop buying products from fundamentally sound Apple just because its luminary is taking a breather on the sidelines, investment bank Piper Jaffray argues in a new report issued Wednesday evening.

"We believe that during Jobs' absence, Apple's sales will be unaffected," analyst Gene Munster told clients in a memo reacting to this afternoon's announcement that Jobs has elected to take a medical leave of absence from his day-to-day leadership role at the Cupertino-based company through June.

"More importantly, we believe the pace of innovation will remain solid, driven by key product-minded executives," he continued.* "From an operational perspective, we expect [chief operating officer Tim] Cook to maintain the same standard of excellence that he demands as COO."

Tim Cook*was hired away from Compaq by Steve Jobs in March 1998.* For one month, Cook filled in as CEO in 2004 while Apple co-founder Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer. *As chief operating officer, Cook is responsible for Apple's worldwide sales and operations, including supply chain management as well as service and support. *In this YouTube clip, Cook can be seen talking about the Mac product lineup at last October's notebook*event.



Munster believes that, regardless of Steve Jobs' health, investors should start thinking about what Apple would look like under the "capable" Cook.

"While the iconic leadership of Steve Jobs cannot be fully replaced, we believe his core attributes as a CEO, operationally and with products, can be replicated," Munster wrote.* "Cook provides the operational expertise for the company, which would serve him well as Apple's CEO."

Apple industrial design chief Jonathan Ive*and several software developers have played a "key role" in designing the "innovative technology" that has been driving Apple sales recently, Munster noted.* "Together, we believe that Cook and the other leaders at Apple can effectively replicate the elements of Steve Jobs' leadership that have been critical to his success as CEO."

The face of Apple COO and interim CEO Tim Cook

According to Munster, Jobs himself has put a lot of thought into building a talented*executive team*capable of leading the company forward.

"The company is led largely by [Cook], chief financial officer*Peter Oppenheimer, and ten Senior Vice Presidents who share a collective track record of consistently outpacing their competitors in terms of hardware and software innovation coupled with robust product marketing and financial discipline," he wrote.

Munster maintains both his Buy rating on shares of AAPL and his price target of $235.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Sabon]

While there is someone the run the company financially and can follow through on what Steve Jobs has put into place...
While there is someone who can do the industrial design...
While there is someone that can do the keynotes...

Who is there to tell them what products to produce? That is where Steve Jobs came in and made sure they did their jobs.
Hopefully I don't have to worry about it for a long time.

[amac4me]

From a NY Times article titled Apple’s Chief Taking a Medical Leave:

Two people who are familiar with Mr. Jobs’s current medical treatment said he was not suffering from a recurrence of cancer, but a condition that was preventing his body from absorbing food. Doctors have also advised him to cut down on stress, which may be making the problem worse, these people said.

[dagamer34]

I'd be more weary about Apple's long term prospects, dipping into markets they really shouldn't. Even though such products would sell well in the beginning, too many investments will spread the companies brand too thin, and it only takes one bad product to be forgotten.

[kjgienapp]

This has nothing to do with the article but it freaked me out that there are Pystar google ads on Appleinsider... Anyone else?

[merdhead]

Obviously, but what they will be missing is someone who can make big calls that go against the grain with keen judgement and someone who can negotiate with authority. No-one else can do these things.

The keynotes are totally unimportant (except for fanboys). The industrial design is mostly Jon Ives and his team. And so on for most other things.

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by amac4me

From a NY Times article titled Apple’s Chief Taking a Medical Leave:

Two people who are familiar with Mr. Jobs’s current medical treatment said he was not suffering from a recurrence of cancer, but a condition that was preventing his body from absorbing food. Doctors have also advised him to cut down on stress, which may be making the problem worse, these people said.

It might not be cancer, but the two are totally unrelated? Anyway, it doesn't matter if cancer kills him, a complication or an unrelated disease. If he's taking 6 months off, its serious, even if it's a cold.

[monstrosity]

Well, lets hope he is a better leader than he is a looker.

[Phong]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Customers won't stop buying products from fundamentally sound Apple just because its luminary is taking a breather on the sidelines, investment bank Piper Jaffray argues in a new report issued Wednesday evening.

Really? Glad we got that out of the way.

Now maybe analysts can ponder whether customers will stop buying products because Apple doesn't update them. I mean, 18 months. There isn't a bigger story happening right now.

[monstrosity]

Originally Posted by kjgienapp

This has nothing to do with the article but it freaked me out that there are Pystar google ads on Appleinsider... Anyone else?

I havent noticed those adverts. Bizarrely for me the main advert displayed on applinsider for the last week features a friend of mine whom I had an argument with only the week before.
I feel like I'm being stalked by him, my favorite website has his face plastered all over it, its a little weird.

[nvidia2008]

Well, the big story is that the analysts are scrambling like crazy to prevent the stock from bombing even more this year.

[SkratchBoard.com]

We feel the same way here at SkratchBoard.com. In the short-term, nothing will change. The larger question will be around who will be the next person to lead Apple to its next revolutionary product.

iPods, iTunes, iMacs and iPhones are nothing short of revolutionary. We wish Steve the best.

- SkratchBoard.com

[paxman]

Originally Posted by Sabon

While there is someone the run the company financially and can follow through on what Steve Jobs has put into place...
While there is someone who can do the industrial design...
While there is someone that can do the keynotes...

Who is there to tell them what products to produce?

That, and the 'pain in the arse factor'. You know, the person willing to insist that something isn't good enough in the face of cost / science/ time. Willing to shelve a project because the product didn't meet the expected standard. Willing to lay down impossible targets and refuse compromise. 'Willing' is the wrong word - 'capable', perhaps, or 'driven'. It takes a special person with a huge amount of 'pain in the arse'-ness. Mixed with a large dose of arrogance, self confidence, and 'don't-give-a-shit-what-you-or-anybody-else-thinks', as well as intelligent market focus, and a highly developed degree of end-user insightfulness. I get a feeling that Jonathan Ive shares many of those qualities, but I don't know for sure.

[paxman]

Originally Posted by monstrosity

Well, lets hope he is a better leader than he is a looker.

Hah - judging by your name, you're just jealous!

[ascii]

I don't see how they are well positioned. Their computer hardware designs are starting to look stale, Microsoft is starting to make a comeback from Vista, Palm is making a comeback with the Pre. They have possibly missed the boat on Netbooks.

I am not saying things are bad for Apple, they clearly are not, but they are more "under seige" than they have been for quite some time.

[SpamSandwich]

Everyone knows that Steve is the face of Apple, when you get down to it and his presence has been responsible for the incredible growth of the company in recent years. There have only been a few such people in business... Walt Disney, Steve's hero... Steven Spielberg... you get the point. There are no other such faces at Apple at this time without Jobs. He broke the mold (and recycled the aluminum).

[mrjoec123]

Originally Posted by ascii

I don't see how they are well positioned. Their computer hardware designs are starting to look stale, Microsoft is starting to make a comeback from Vista, Palm is making a comeback with the Pre. They have possibly missed the boat on Netbooks.

I am not saying things are bad for Apple, they clearly are not, but they are more "under seige" than they have been for quite some time.

I couldn't disagree more.

Microsoft is never coming back. They are retreating further and further with each passing year. They just gave up on the Zune. Windows Mobile is completely dead, now that Palm will stop making Treos. Office is not nearly as significant a product as it used to be, and will continue to decline as better alternatives continue to be noticed by companies. Windows 7 is Vista with slightly less crap in it.

Microsoft is the one that is not well-positioned. It has no apparent product to make up for the loss in Windows and Office sales over the next few years. Every other venture the company has tried is losing money. (Yes, that includes the X-Box.)

Palm shot itself in the foot a long time ago by taking so long to get the new OS out the door. They had to start selling Windows Mobile devices to survive, for crying out loud. Now, they finally produce a decent-looking OS, but it will fail. First, Palm no longer has many loyal customers. Second, the Pre copies the iPhone a great deal, but will cost more. Why pay more for a copycat when you can get the genuine article for less? Third, the iPhone has a giant consumer base already, and thousands of apps already selling. It's an ecosystem. Palm is jumping back into a race it started two years too late. Maybe, maybe they can kill Android, since the G1 is obviously getting no love. But Blackberry and the iPhone are ruling that market for a long time.

iPod still has no competition. iTunes has no competition. Amazon had plenty of time with no DRM to catch iTunes, and failed miserably. Now that iTunes has no DRM, Amazon stands almost no chance of taking market share from Apple.

The only place where Apple could screw up at this point is the Mac, but even Mac sales are doing better than ever.

And let's not forget the billions in cash Apple is sitting on, spending on R&D at a time when everyone else is struggling to keep profitable.

I don't know many companies that are better positioned than Apple at this point.

[Sector7G]

Originally Posted by ascii

I don't see how they are well positioned. Their computer hardware designs are starting to look stale, Microsoft is starting to make a comeback from Vista, Palm is making a comeback with the Pre. They have possibly missed the boat on Netbooks.

I am not saying things are bad for Apple, they clearly are not, but they are more "under seige" than they have been for quite some time.

This the most ridiculous post iv ever read! hardware designs are looking stale??? the new macbooks that are the best looking notebooks out there. please show me where you have seen a better looking one. where is any evidence vista is making a come back?? and palm hasn't even sold a pre yet and when they do its not even GSM so all of sprints 30 customers world wide can own one. you clearly have no idea what your talking about.

[Janus]

Originally Posted by mrjoec123

Windows 7 is Vista with slightly less crap in it.

I downloaded the beta and I use it a good deal now. Aside from the daily BSOD, it's a very well-done OS and I actually think the bastard love-child of Dock and Taskbar (Dockbar?) works better than the OS X Dock for serious multitaskers. I'm a life-long Apple user, but Windows 7 is the first Windows that I feel is "good enough." Given the growing price differences between Macs and PCs, I won't be able to recommend Macs to people with the same enthusiasm I used to. And if current price trends continue (unless Apple does something great with 10.6 or 10.7), my next computer down the line may very well be a VAIO or a ThinkPad.

Palm shot itself in the foot a long time ago by taking so long to get the new OS out the door.

Gee, sounds kind of like Apple a decade ago... companies can turn around and Apple can choose to ignore them at its own peril.

The only place where Apple could screw up at this point is the Mac, but even Mac sales are doing better than ever.

And that's where Apple is screwing up the worst by refusing to make computers at prices the current recession market will bear. It's great that Apple can brag of huge "revenue share" but developers don't sit around and think "oh wow, their revenue share is huge," they think "how many computers are out there?" And it was hard enough to convince cash-strapped schools to buy $1299 Macs compared to $999 PCs, but when the PCs are $599 or even $499? Let's just say it's a tough sell for Apple Account Executives right now, who have spent so much time extolling the virtues of 1:1 educational computing (1:1 ratio for students and computers, ie computers for all) to try and tell their clients that 1 Mac is worth 2 Dells in a 1:1 environment. Yes, Mac sales are doing better than ever, but that sales momentum has been crushed along with the American economy.

And let's not forget the billions in cash Apple is sitting on, spending on R&D at a time when everyone else is struggling to keep profitable.

We could say the same things about Pan Am, AT&T Corp, Polaroid, Ford, GM, Chrysler once upon a time...things change for these companies, and precisely because of narrow-minded fat-and-happy thinking like this.

Hey I love Apple. I was an Apple Campus Rep in college, and an Apple summer intern. I'm typing this on a nice new unibody MacBook and I have the 2G and 3G iPhones. I'm not a hater. I'm criticizing Apple because I want them to do well, I need them to do well so they can keep making new products and features, attracting new developers into the Apple ecosystem, expanding the market and improving my digital life. Heck to a large extent I even love the ridiculous "screw you I'm awesome" showmanship of His Steveness.

But lately--I don't know why--Apple has gone too far. I certainly HOPE they have something great cooking in their labs, because right now their corporate intransigence has grown just as the gap between their products and their competitors has shrank (iPhone vs WinMo is a no-brainer, but iPhone vs Pre changes things. And OS X vs XP+Vista is another no-brainer, but Windows 7 has effectively closed the gap as far as most would-be Windows deserters are concerned). If this is the fault of Steve Jobs, then it is time for him to go anyway. Maybe get someone whose computer usage habits are a bit more 21st century, who would (for just one example) realize that a smartphone shipping without an IM app included is ludicrous.

[ouragan]

According to Munster, Jobs himself has put a lot of thought into building a talented*executive team*capable of leading the company forward.

"The company is led largely by [Cook], chief financial officer*Peter Oppenheimer, and ten Senior Vice Presidents who share a collective track record of consistently outpacing their competitors in terms of hardware and software innovation coupled with robust product marketing and financial discipline," he wrote.

Munster maintains both his Buy rating on shares of AAPL and his price target of $235.

It is unrealistic to predict a $235 price target for the shares of Apple within the next 12 months because Apple is a company with a falling market share that failed to realize that price and features matter when buyers decide to buy a computer.

Tim Cook is a good choice for an acting CEO, but he needs the freedom from the Apple Board of directors to rectify the problems that keep Apple from offering computers with competitive features at a reasonable, competitive price. Unless and until Apple can offer its computers for a lower, competitive price, with a competitive microprocessor like the Core i7, it will disappear from the market.

The Intel Core i7 quad-core desktop microprocessor was officially introduced on November 17, 2008. See:

Intel unleashes Core i7, beats itself @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40213/135/

Core i7 PCs launch with prices from $1250 to $13,000 @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40227/135/

[RichL]

Originally Posted by kjgienapp

This has nothing to do with the article but it freaked me out that there are Pystar google ads on Appleinsider... Anyone else?

Better that than the Mormon ad I was seeing a couple of weeks back!

Munster maintains both his Buy rating on shares of AAPL and his price target of $235.

Rule one of being an analyst: Either paint a picture of Apple being doomed or Apple being blessed by God himself. No-one will read your report is you say that they're doing kinda OK.

[webraider]

People are concerned more about the health of company more than the health of people. Steve Job's life may be at stake and all that's news worthy is .. how is Apple going to make it. This is exactly why are society fails.. it's too greedy and only interested in money.

[iReality85]

Originally Posted by mrjoec123

Windows 7 is Vista with slightly less crap in it.

This coming from a person who probably hasn't even downloaded the beta. Granted, I haven't downloaded the beta, but unless you can sucinctly state what it is about Windows 7 that makes it "Vista with slightly less crap," other than some appearance similarities, you only make youself look like a fanboy blowhard. That, and the Win7 beta has only been out a week. Give MS some benefit of the doubt.

Its hard to say where Apple will go after Steve. History is rife with examples of companies that, after their great CEOs wane or leave, wander off course, their products become less innovative, and their goals more diluted. In fact, I believe Apple was once one such company, until the return of the Steve. Apple is in a good position with many resources and great products, but it is up to them how they manage and leverage those advantages.

[ncee]

And heaven forbid, but has Steve and crew got something up their sleeve?

Will there be a BIG announcement on some New and Exciting products, while Steve is gone, and more when he's gone. Will this be how they convince folks there is life at Apple after Steve is gone?

It would kind-of suck, but would surely relax folks (stock holders).

If there is going to be "another" SJ's, then this would be great way to bring him / her into the world and public eye.

Quote: (from Skip)

"No one is irreplaceable, but some will be missed more then others"!

S

[Eric The Boy]

I like Apple, from the MBP to the iPhone etc. I buy all the new cool stuffs

butt....

Apple disappoints me since last december I lost almost 50% of my assets put into Apple. It seams that most of the news are bad news & I start to get tired of it.

It is time to get some value back to the shareholders soon...

[Baron von Smiley]

I used to be an investor in Apple, but I got out awhile ago and sold my stock for two reasons. One was that I didn't like the fact that the stock could surge or sink based on the health of one man. Secondly, Apple has a problem telling the truth.
Now true, sometimes Apple lies for misdirection, as in "We have no interest to add video to the iPod" or "We have no interest in make a phone."
But this whole thing with Steve's health just takes the cake.
First he appears gaunt and sickly, but the official word is that he's fine. The press sticks to it and says that he looked really bad, and Apple says that he had a common bug. Then it comes out that he had surgery again, but he's fine. Then he skips Macworld, but it has nothing to do with Steve's health. Then Steve says that it was his health and it's a hormone imbalance and the cure is rather easy. Now it's more serious than that and the cure isn't that easy.
They have been deceitful at every turn. It's ridiculous. And the analysts seem to eat it up. Gene "Fanboy" Munster is always saying that it's a time to buy Apple. I love Apple products, but I fear where this company has been heading the last couple of years. I just hope Steve can take some time off and finally recover. Maybe the company will be a little more truthful after this is all over.

[monstrosity]

Originally Posted by ouragan

Apple is a company with a falling market share that failed to realize that price and features matter when buyers decide to buy a computer.

oh for god sake, lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill. Apple dropped a percentage point due to the popularity of the low margin netbook for one quarter. Whoopty doo.

Lets not forget that the iphone should be considered a computer (as that is where the future of persoal computing lies), which case they are significantly UP.

Also, do you really think Apple are sat on their collective asses doing nothing? Right now they are going through a transitional period with new chips and various other technologies on the way, I'm fairly certain they will release a netbook, and when they do it will blow everything out the water and rocket past the 10% barrier.

There is no point in releasing an 'and me' netbook or any other product just because a few armchair analysts say so, otherwise they would have wasted resources developing a computer which will be refreshed within 10 months forsaking the 'wow' factor that an out-of-the-blue superior product would bring.

[Adjei]

Originally Posted by janus

i downloaded the beta and i use it a good deal now. Aside from the daily bsod, it's a very well-done os and i actually think the bastard love-child of dock and taskbar (dockbar?) works better than the os x dock for serious multitaskers. I'm a life-long apple user, but windows 7 is the first windows that i feel is "good enough." given the growing price differences between macs and pcs, i won't be able to recommend macs to people with the same enthusiasm i used to. And if current price trends continue (unless apple does something great with 10.6 or 10.7), my next computer down the line may very well be a vaio or a thinkpad.



Gee, sounds kind of like apple a decade ago... Companies can turn around and apple can choose to ignore them at its own peril.

And that's where apple is screwing up the worst by refusing to make computers at prices the current recession market will bear. It's great that apple can brag of huge "revenue share" but developers don't sit around and think "oh wow, their revenue share is huge," they think "how many computers are out there?" and it was hard enough to convince cash-strapped schools to buy $1299 macs compared to $999 pcs, but when the pcs are $599 or even $499? Let's just say it's a tough sell for apple account executives right now, who have spent so much time extolling the virtues of 1:1 educational computing (1:1 ratio for students and computers, ie computers for all) to try and tell their clients that 1 mac is worth 2 dells in a 1:1 environment. Yes, mac sales are doing better than ever, but that sales momentum has been crushed along with the american economy.


We could say the same things about pan am, at&t corp, polaroid, ford, gm, chrysler once upon a time...things change for these companies, and precisely because of narrow-minded fat-and-happy thinking like this.

Hey i love apple. I was an apple campus rep in college, and an apple summer intern. I'm typing this on a nice new unibody macbook and i have the 2g and 3g iphones. I'm not a hater. I'm criticizing apple because i want them to do well, i need them to do well so they can keep making new products and features, attracting new developers into the apple ecosystem, expanding the market and improving my digital life. Heck to a large extent i even love the ridiculous "screw you i'm awesome" showmanship of his steveness.

But lately--i don't know why--apple has gone too far. I certainly hope they have something great cooking in their labs, because right now their corporate intransigence has grown just as the gap between their products and their competitors has shrank (iphone vs winmo is a no-brainer, but iphone vs pre changes things. And os x vs xp+vista is another no-brainer, but windows 7 has effectively closed the gap as far as most would-be windows deserters are concerned). If this is the fault of steve jobs, then it is time for him to go anyway. Maybe get someone whose computer usage habits are a bit more 21st century, who would (for just one example) realize that a smartphone shipping without an im app included is ludicrous.

yawwwwwwwwn

[Adjei]

Originally Posted by iReality85

This coming from a person who probably hasn't even downloaded the beta. Granted, I haven't downloaded the beta, but unless you can sucinctly state what it is about Windows 7 that makes it "Vista with slightly less crap," other than some appearance similarities, you only make youself look like a fanboy blowhard. That, and the Win7 beta has only been out a week. Give MS some benefit of the doubt.

Its hard to say where Apple will go after Steve. History is rife with examples of companies that, after their great CEOs wane or leave, wander off course, their products become less innovative, and their goals more diluted. In fact, I believe Apple was once one such company, until the return of the Steve. Apple is in a good position with many resources and great products, but it is up to them how they manage and leverage those advantages.

We heard the same crap before Vista was released but look what we got with it, in fact I'm tying on a Vista machine right now.

[tomkarl]

Originally Posted by iReality85

Give MS some benefit of the doubt.

[FuturePastNow]

If they want to race forward, they need to replace all of their obsolete desktop computers and expand into more of the market.

[breeze]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Customers won't stop buying products from fundamentally sound Apple just because its luminary is taking a breather on the sidelines,[/url][/c]

Does anybody remember how Akamai was written off when it's founder died? Lookup the hit it took only to still be the leading and unsurpassed company in technology for content delivery.

The predictions and doubts about his successors by ignorant loud mouth tech press idiots was just as bad.

Well Akamai surged and still reigns, as will Apple.

Steve jobs may be sick and smartly is reducing stress by getting out of the front lines, but he stilll has a brain vision and say in what Apple will focus on and develop and Apple still has that + a team of like minded pros that can each outperform any peer in the industry.

[minderbinder]

While I agree that Jobs's health probably isn't going to make a difference in how much product the company sells and how much money it makes, with several products way overdue for updates, and apple doing such a poor job of addressing the lower end of their product lines (particularly considering the current economy), I don't see them as particularly well positioned right now.

But that is something that can and should be fixed, and it's necessary they do it ASAP.

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by mrjoec123

They just gave up on the Zune.

What are you referring to?

[e1618978]

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

Well, the big story is that the analysts are scrambling like crazy to prevent the stock from bombing even more this year.

Not really, they are doing their best to sink the stock with crazy low earnings estimates.

[aderutter]

As a (v.minor) share holder I'm not worried at all.
In fact Apple shares are the only ones I'm happy to hold long-term right now.

[infinitespecter]

Originally Posted by minderbinder

What are you referring to?

From Financial Times:

"Asked if Microsoft would counter with a “Zune Phone”, Mr Ballmer said: “You should not anticipate that.” He added that the company would stick to its strategy of developing software to support a range of mobile devices. That suggests that, if there is a future for Zune, it lies in planting the software and online service linked to the player in other devices."

[FuturePastNow]

Originally Posted by infinitespecter

From Financial Times:

"Asked if Microsoft would counter with a “Zune Phone”, Mr Ballmer said: “You should not anticipate that.” He added that the company would stick to its strategy of developing software to support a range of mobile devices. That suggests that, if there is a future for Zune, it lies in planting the software and online service linked to the player in other devices."

So they're not making a Zune phone. Whoop dee do

[vinea]

Originally Posted by Janus

I downloaded the beta and I use it a good deal now. Aside from the daily BSOD, it's a very well-done OS and I actually think the bastard love-child of Dock and Taskbar (Dockbar?) works better than the OS X Dock for serious multitaskers.

Win7 is nice. Of course it's what Vista should have been more like at launch.

I'm a life-long Apple user, but Windows 7 is the first Windows that I feel is "good enough."

Jeez, 95 was good enough for 90% of folks in comparison the MacOS. Apple's largest UI advantage was against Windows 3.1.

Given the growing price differences between Macs and PCs, I won't be able to recommend Macs to people with the same enthusiasm I used to. And if current price trends continue (unless Apple does something great with 10.6 or 10.7), my next computer down the line may very well be a VAIO or a ThinkPad.

Enjoy. The price delta between a MB/MBP and a VAIO and ThinkPad aren't all that much. Even between the Inspiron 13 and a MB aren't all that great.

Gee, sounds kind of like Apple a decade ago... companies can turn around and Apple can choose to ignore them at its own peril.

Until Steve came along. So the real question is whether his corporate culture will last.

And that's where Apple is screwing up the worst by refusing to make computers at prices the current recession market will bear.

That would be returning to the bad old days. Apple cannot compete on price. You're asking it to compete against other companies' strengths. That's a big losing proposition.

It's great that Apple can brag of huge "revenue share" but developers don't sit around and think "oh wow, their revenue share is huge," they think "how many computers are out there?"

And mindshare. But in terms of market size, Apple is "big enough" and growing larger.

And it was hard enough to convince cash-strapped schools to buy $1299 Macs compared to $999 PCs, but when the PCs are $599 or even $499? Let's just say it's a tough sell for Apple Account Executives right now, who have spent so much time extolling the virtues of 1:1 educational computing (1:1 ratio for students and computers, ie computers for all) to try and tell their clients that 1 Mac is worth 2 Dells in a 1:1 environment. Yes, Mac sales are doing better than ever, but that sales momentum has been crushed along with the American economy.

The TCO is lower for the Mac. We have both macs and PCs and our mac group is 4 guys. Our PC staff is much much larger.

But lately--I don't know why--Apple has gone too far. I certainly HOPE they have something great cooking in their labs, because right now their corporate intransigence has grown just as the gap between their products and their competitors has shrank

Corporate intransigence? Yeah, sky falling...Apple is teh doomed.

(iPhone vs WinMo is a no-brainer, but iPhone vs Pre changes things.

Changes what? Be concise.

And OS X vs XP+Vista is another no-brainer, but Windows 7 has effectively closed the gap as far as most would-be Windows deserters are concerned).

Would-be windows deserters leave the platform for a variety of reasons and frankly that gap has never been all THAT wide from a UI perspective.

From an OS perspective, it's Windows vs Unix. At the core unix is better, it's just a pain in the ass to use. Until now.

From an application perspective, the OSX apps are more elegant and typically have better workflow.

If this is the fault of Steve Jobs, then it is time for him to go anyway. Maybe get someone whose computer usage habits are a bit more 21st century, who would (for just one example) realize that a smartphone shipping without an IM app included is ludicrous.

Yah, okay. Maybe we should make you iCEO?

[e1618978]

Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

So they're not making a Zune phone. Whoop dee do

"if there is a future for the zune" - it was an answer to a question about Balmer throwing in the towel on the Zune (and not just as a phone), which he has.