They can only make great products but not have a voice on important social issues?
IMO, being the most valuable company in the world Apple does have a responsibility to lead.
Lead how? According to what you believe is important? Like most companies Apple sells their products to a wide and diverse set of customers who don't all have the same beliefs and political viewpoints. As a shareholder I want Apple to make the best products and sell as many of them as possible. I don't invest in Apple so it's CEO can shove his political views in my face.
Oh, it was a larger, more broad-brush statement about the two of you, whose proclivities are fairly obvious (to a fair number of people) on this forum.
Lead how? According to what you believe is important? Like most companies Apple sells their products to a wide and diverse set of customers who don't all have the same beliefs and political viewpoints. As a shareholder I want Apple to make the best products and sell as many of them as possible. I don't invest in Apple so it's CEO can shove his political views in my face.
You have tens of thousands of publicly-traded corporations to invest in. No one is coercing you to invest in AAPL.
Again, companies change. My AAPL shares were purchased when someone else was CEO. If I didn't think that current Apple senior management team was as good as the old one, I would have dumped my AAPL investment.
You seem to base your investment on political views of the CEO. That's not a noteworthy investment strategy.
Stick your money in a place where you won't lose much sleep. But don't stick your money in a company whom you think can do better, if someone else is actually doing better. That's bad investing or more accurately that you're a poor judge of character.
Again, we will point to your ongoing habit of making bombastic statements, then cowering when confronted with the call to present evidence supporting your stance.
What does Apple's Beats have to do with a movie made by Spike Lee and why would they make a documentary about that?
I question Apple's motives here and I don't like Apple supporting the likes of Spike Lee and his agenda. He's one of the biggest hypocrites and racists around that walks in two shoes. I don't give two craps if he's black or whatever, he doesn't get any damn pass from me for his past comments and his actions.
Most recently he was complaining about how white people were moving into his old Brooklyn neighborhood.
Apple seems to be getting more and more political, pandering to leftist racist groups, kowtowing to wacky environmental groups, submitting to anti-golobalization lunatics and now they're making documentaries celebrating a movie made by a hateful little man with a constant chip on his shoulder.
Spike Lee is also the ignorant genius who tweeted out the address of George Zimmerman during the whole Trayvon Martin circus. It turned out that the address was false. Spike Lee put innocent lives in danger with his irrational hatred and his stupid actions.
I guess that it's ok for Apple to associate with and to celebrate movies made by such despicable characters, but we all know damn well that if it were anybody else who was equally as controversial who belonged to the "other" side, then Apple would probably have nothing to do with them at all.
I call BS on all of Apple's diversity talk. It seems to be an empty, meaningless slogan, as Apple is truly becoming more and more politically extreme.
I've said it before, but Apple should stay the hell out of politics, in my humble opinion.
I am not liking this new side to Apple that I have been seeing lately at all. This is just terrible.
I have to say I don't much care for some of the things Apple is doing lately myself such as pandering to the like of Jesse Jackson and such but so long as Apple keeps cranking out the groundbreaking, high-quality products they always have and such panderings don't affect quality or the bottom-line then I am ok with it for now.
There are definitely times I don't agree with the politics of Spike Lee. That said, he is an amazing filmmaker. Do The Right Thing was like a shotgun blast into public consciousness back in 1989. It was an amazing film then and it stands the test of time for me. Lee himself seems to want cut and dried answers at times in reality but many times his films admit the truth and show there isn't a clear path or just one solution.
Other great films of his that struck this amazing balance are "He Got Game", "Bamboozled" and "25th Hour."
I'm glad Beats/Apple has put this out there. No one would have raised an eyebrow if this was U2. They shouldn't care if it is Spike Lee. Everyone has their political views. Great films make you think and I don't have to agree with the politics of every musician at their music festival, every filmmaker they feature or every issue near and dear to the heart of their CEO or board to enjoy Apple products or enjoy Apple efforts in the artistic realm.
There are definitely times I don't agree with the politics of Spike Lee. That said, he is an amazing filmmaker. Do The Right Thing was like a shotgun blast into public consciousness back in 1989. It was an amazing film then and it stands the test of time for me. Lee himself seems to want cut and dried answers at times in reality but many times his films admit the truth and show there isn't a clear path or just one solution.
Other great films of his that struck this amazing balance are "He Got Game", "Bamboozled" and "25th Hour."
I'm glad Beats/Apple has put this out there. No one would have raised an eyebrow if this was U2. They shouldn't care if it is Spike Lee. Everyone has their political views. Great films make you think and I don't have to agree with the politics of every musician at their music festival, every filmmaker they feature or every issue near and dear to the heart of their CEO or board to enjoy Apple products or enjoy Apple efforts in the artistic realm.
As far as I know, U2 didn't make their name by posing as a Malcolm X wannabe or sowing race hatred and division. Spike Lee has also become a very sloppy filmmaker who has been coasting on his early films for many years.
What does Apple's Beats have to do with a movie made by Spike Lee and why would they make a documentary about that?
I question Apple's motives here and I don't like Apple supporting the likes of Spike Lee and his agenda. He's one of the biggest hypocrites and racists around that walks in two shoes. I don't give two craps if he's black or whatever, he doesn't get any damn pass from me for his past comments and his actions.
Most recently he was complaining about how white people were moving into his old Brooklyn neighborhood.
Apple seems to be getting more and more political, pandering to leftist racist groups, kowtowing to wacky environmental groups, submitting to anti-golobalization lunatics and now they're making documentaries celebrating a movie made by a hateful little man with a constant chip on his shoulder.
Spike Lee is also the ignorant genius who tweeted out the address of George Zimmerman during the whole Trayvon Martin circus. It turned out that the address was false. Spike Lee put innocent lives in danger with his irrational hatred and his stupid actions.
I guess that it's ok for Apple to associate with and to celebrate movies made by such despicable characters, but we all know damn well that if it were anybody else who was equally as controversial who belonged to the "other" side, then Apple would probably have nothing to do with them at all.
I call BS on all of Apple's diversity talk. It seems to be an empty, meaningless slogan, as Apple is truly becoming more and more politically extreme.
I've said it before, but Apple should stay the hell out of politics, in my humble opinion.
I am not liking this new side to Apple that I have been seeing lately at all. This is just terrible.
It's almost as if Apple were founded by a bunch of counter culture San Francisco hippies!
Well, it may be the case that the documentary was started before the merger, however Apple did approve of the release of the documentary. They could have sh!t-canned the project and let it die. Instead, they let it proceed to its conclusion, then green-lighted it for publication.
Yes, Apple is about great products, but how it gets people to buy those products has evolved. Remember, six years ago the iOS App Store had a handful of titles. When Apple debuted the iPod, there was no iTunes Store.
Content is a big driver for Apple product sales, so much so that iTunes/App Store revenue now is mentioned in the quarterly analyst conference calls. A few years ago, the iTunes/App Store revenue did not merit a dollar figure.
The Beats "Do The Right Thing" documentary reflects Apple's interest in creating in-house exclusive content. The ongoing UK-based iTunes Festival is another example of Apple creating exclusive content. Apple is no longer relying on third-party content creators to provide special material for Apple customers, they are doing it themselves.
I expect Beats management (Dr. Dre & Jimmy Iovine) to take full control over the iTunes Festival next year.
If they're staying on as Apple employees one would hope they have actual job duties and aren't just collecting a paycheck. And if Iovine and Dre were really worth $3B then we should expect the future of iTunes and Apple's music offerings to blow everybody away and be nothing like what's on the market today.
There are definitely times I don't agree with the politics of Spike Lee. That said, he is an amazing filmmaker. Do The Right Thing was like a shotgun blast into public consciousness back in 1989. It was an amazing film then and it stands the test of time for me. Lee himself seems to want cut and dried answers at times in reality but many times his films admit the truth and show there isn't a clear path or just one solution.
Other great films of his that struck this amazing balance are "He Got Game", "Bamboozled" and "25th Hour."
I'm glad Beats/Apple has put this out there. No one would have raised an eyebrow if this was U2. They shouldn't care if it is Spike Lee. Everyone has their political views. Great films make you think and I don't have to agree with the politics of every musician at their music festival, every filmmaker they feature or every issue near and dear to the heart of their CEO or board to enjoy Apple products or enjoy Apple efforts in the artistic realm.
As far as I know, U2 didn't make their name by prosing as a Malcolm X wannabe or sowing race hatred and division. Spike Lee has also become a very sloppy filmmaker who has been coasting on his early films for many years.
You seriously would suggest that U2 hasn't been coasting on the success of their earlier years? Their best selling album was The Joshua Tree from 1987 at 25+ million. Everything since then has been less with their latest taking several years to reach 5 million. That isn't to say they aren't successful but their heyday was decades ago.
U2 didn't make their name posing as a Malcolm X wannabe? They have certainly been political and over time have stripped anything controversial away from their songs. Their first big single was Sunday Bloody Sunday.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song by rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album War and was released as the album's third single on 11 March 1983 in Germany and the Netherlands.[2] "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted for its militaristic drumbeat, harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies.[3] One of U2's most overtly political songs, its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly focusing on the Bloody Sunday incident in Derry where British troops shot and killed unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders who were there to rally against internment (imprisonment without trial). Along with "New Year's Day", the song helped U2 reach a wider listening audience. It was generally well received by critics on the album's release.[4][5]
It's almost like they are asking people to.......fight the powers that be as in the abuse of power by authority. Though U2 just REACTS to it and asks how long it must go on without ever really addressing how such atrocities should end.
BTW, 1983 was a long time ago too. Their next single Pride (In the Name of Love) about Dr. MLK. I mean the themes being hit in the 80's were what they were and U2 were hitting them as well.
(PRODUCT)RED might even be criticized as cashing in on social consciousness without delivering a result or even much cash. I'd argue that is something U2 has done through their entire career.
Most recently he was complaining about how white people were moving into his old Brooklyn neighborhood.
Spike wasn't complaining of whites moving in. His issue is with them now dictating what long time residents can or cannot do. You're more than welcome to move in next door to me, but don't think for a second that I'm going to change my ways to placate you.
What does Apple's Beats have to do with a movie made by Spike Lee and why would they make a documentary about that?
I question Apple's motives here and I don't like Apple supporting the likes of Spike Lee and his agenda. He's one of the biggest hypocrites and racists around that walks in two shoes. I don't give two craps if he's black or whatever, he doesn't get any damn pass from me for his past comments and his actions.
Most recently he was complaining about how white people were moving into his old Brooklyn neighborhood.
Apple seems to be getting more and more political, pandering to leftist racist groups, kowtowing to wacky environmental groups, submitting to anti-golobalization lunatics and now they're making documentaries celebrating a movie made by a hateful little man with a constant chip on his shoulder.
Spike Lee is also the ignorant genius who tweeted out the address of George Zimmerman during the whole Trayvon Martin circus. It turned out that the address was false. Spike Lee put innocent lives in danger with his irrational hatred and his stupid actions.
I guess that it's ok for Apple to associate with and to celebrate movies made by such despicable characters, but we all know damn well that if it were anybody else who was equally as controversial who belonged to the "other" side, then Apple would probably have nothing to do with them at all.
I call BS on all of Apple's diversity talk. It seems to be an empty, meaningless slogan, as Apple is truly becoming more and more politically extreme.
I've said it before, but Apple should stay the hell out of politics, in my humble opinion.
I am not liking this new side to Apple that I have been seeing lately at all. This is just terrible.
It's a documentary, not a manifesto.
And the idea that a company is becoming "extreme" by adopting an "empty, meaningless slogan" is entertaining. If it's so empty and meaningless then what's the big concern?
I know a few people on this forum NEED to watch this film.
Not going to mention names.
This Beats deal is really making a ton of sense now.
Diversity and now this. Great job Tim Cook. CEO of the year for 2014
Diversity is a code word for ethnicity. The report Apple released should be called the ethnicity report as diversity is reflected in a lot of different ways than race.
As far as I know, U2 didn't make their name by posing as a Malcolm X wannabe or sowing race hatred and division. Spike Lee has also become a very sloppy filmmaker who has been coasting on his early films for many years.
Inside Man and Miracle at St Anna were both pretty good, but Oldboy was absolutely horrendous.
What does Apple's Beats have to do with a movie made by Spike Lee and why would they make a documentary about that?
I question Apple's motives here and I don't like Apple supporting the likes of Spike Lee and his agenda. He's one of the biggest hypocrites and racists around that walks in two shoes. I don't give two craps if he's black or whatever, he doesn't get any damn pass from me for his past comments and his actions.
Most recently he was complaining about how white people were moving into his old Brooklyn neighborhood.
Apple seems to be getting more and more political, pandering to leftist racist groups, kowtowing to wacky environmental groups, submitting to anti-golobalization lunatics and now they're making documentaries celebrating a movie made by a hateful little man with a constant chip on his shoulder.
Spike Lee is also the ignorant genius who tweeted out the address of George Zimmerman during the whole Trayvon Martin circus. It turned out that the address was false. Spike Lee put innocent lives in danger with his irrational hatred and his stupid actions.
I guess that it's ok for Apple to associate with and to celebrate movies made by such despicable characters, but we all know damn well that if it were anybody else who was equally as controversial who belonged to the "other" side, then Apple would probably have nothing to do with them at all.
I call BS on all of Apple's diversity talk. It seems to be an empty, meaningless slogan, as Apple is truly becoming more and more politically extreme.
I've said it before, but Apple should stay the hell out of politics, in my humble opinion.
I am not liking this new side to Apple that I have been seeing lately at all. This is just terrible.
This is a company (Apple) that has made billions off of the entertainment industry and has plans to make more in the future so it's a clear business strategy. As for not supporting Spike Lee because he's racist, well I guess you must not support the founding principles and "fathers" of the country you more than likely benefit from because it's pretty racist itself...smh
I tried Beats Music for a while and was unimpressed. The only draw was that I could use my iTunes Store credit. The app has been laggy and on numerous occasions has skipped tracks midway through a song, very frustrating when you're getting into the groover of a workout.
I agree with the commenter earlier in the thread who wrote about Apple's weird appeals to leftist groups. I know that Steve Jobs and I probably had little in common politically, but he never made politics (especially racial politics) part of Apple's marketing plan. The apocryphal quote attributed to Michael Jordan comes to mind "Republicans buy shoes also".
I'm disgusted by Tim Cook's disappointment at Apple's diversity numbers, apparently there are too many white men working for Apple. I dislike Spike Lee, I think he's a weasel who hates white people. I have no interest in supporting black pride events like what's depicted in this video. More power to you if you want to, I've cancelled my Beats subscription. I think the 11,000 songs (30 days of music) in my iTunes library should keep me occupied for a long time.
And exactly how does this expand it's brand by associating itself with the racist hypocrite Spike Lee? He who ranted against gentrification in Bed Stuy last spring while living in the Toni upper white east side of manhattan? Encouraging residents to fight back against white gentrification. How does this help their brand? Or Apple's?
Comments
Let's see Samsung copy that.
Lead how? According to what you believe is important? Like most companies Apple sells their products to a wide and diverse set of customers who don't all have the same beliefs and political viewpoints. As a shareholder I want Apple to make the best products and sell as many of them as possible. I don't invest in Apple so it's CEO can shove his political views in my face.
You have tens of thousands of publicly-traded corporations to invest in. No one is coercing you to invest in AAPL.
Again, companies change. My AAPL shares were purchased when someone else was CEO. If I didn't think that current Apple senior management team was as good as the old one, I would have dumped my AAPL investment.
You seem to base your investment on political views of the CEO. That's not a noteworthy investment strategy.
Stick your money in a place where you won't lose much sleep. But don't stick your money in a company whom you think can do better, if someone else is actually doing better. That's bad investing or more accurately that you're a poor judge of character.
Again, we will point to your ongoing habit of making bombastic statements, then cowering when confronted with the call to present evidence supporting your stance.
What does Apple's Beats have to do with a movie made by Spike Lee and why would they make a documentary about that?
I question Apple's motives here and I don't like Apple supporting the likes of Spike Lee and his agenda. He's one of the biggest hypocrites and racists around that walks in two shoes. I don't give two craps if he's black or whatever, he doesn't get any damn pass from me for his past comments and his actions.
Most recently he was complaining about how white people were moving into his old Brooklyn neighborhood.
http://time.com/10666/spike-lees-racism-isnt-cute-m-f-hipster-is-the-new-honkey/
Apple seems to be getting more and more political, pandering to leftist racist groups, kowtowing to wacky environmental groups, submitting to anti-golobalization lunatics and now they're making documentaries celebrating a movie made by a hateful little man with a constant chip on his shoulder.
Spike Lee is also the ignorant genius who tweeted out the address of George Zimmerman during the whole Trayvon Martin circus. It turned out that the address was false. Spike Lee put innocent lives in danger with his irrational hatred and his stupid actions.
I guess that it's ok for Apple to associate with and to celebrate movies made by such despicable characters, but we all know damn well that if it were anybody else who was equally as controversial who belonged to the "other" side, then Apple would probably have nothing to do with them at all.
I call BS on all of Apple's diversity talk. It seems to be an empty, meaningless slogan, as Apple is truly becoming more and more politically extreme.
I've said it before, but Apple should stay the hell out of politics, in my humble opinion.
I am not liking this new side to Apple that I have been seeing lately at all. This is just terrible.
I have to say I don't much care for some of the things Apple is doing lately myself such as pandering to the like of Jesse Jackson and such but so long as Apple keeps cranking out the groundbreaking, high-quality products they always have and such panderings don't affect quality or the bottom-line then I am ok with it for now.
There are definitely times I don't agree with the politics of Spike Lee. That said, he is an amazing filmmaker. Do The Right Thing was like a shotgun blast into public consciousness back in 1989. It was an amazing film then and it stands the test of time for me. Lee himself seems to want cut and dried answers at times in reality but many times his films admit the truth and show there isn't a clear path or just one solution.
Other great films of his that struck this amazing balance are "He Got Game", "Bamboozled" and "25th Hour."
I'm glad Beats/Apple has put this out there. No one would have raised an eyebrow if this was U2. They shouldn't care if it is Spike Lee. Everyone has their political views. Great films make you think and I don't have to agree with the politics of every musician at their music festival, every filmmaker they feature or every issue near and dear to the heart of their CEO or board to enjoy Apple products or enjoy Apple efforts in the artistic realm.
As far as I know, U2 didn't make their name by posing as a Malcolm X wannabe or sowing race hatred and division. Spike Lee has also become a very sloppy filmmaker who has been coasting on his early films for many years.
It's almost as if Apple were founded by a bunch of counter culture San Francisco hippies!
There are definitely times I don't agree with the politics of Spike Lee. That said, he is an amazing filmmaker. Do The Right Thing was like a shotgun blast into public consciousness back in 1989. It was an amazing film then and it stands the test of time for me. Lee himself seems to want cut and dried answers at times in reality but many times his films admit the truth and show there isn't a clear path or just one solution.
Other great films of his that struck this amazing balance are "He Got Game", "Bamboozled" and "25th Hour."
I'm glad Beats/Apple has put this out there. No one would have raised an eyebrow if this was U2. They shouldn't care if it is Spike Lee. Everyone has their political views. Great films make you think and I don't have to agree with the politics of every musician at their music festival, every filmmaker they feature or every issue near and dear to the heart of their CEO or board to enjoy Apple products or enjoy Apple efforts in the artistic realm.
As far as I know, U2 didn't make their name by prosing as a Malcolm X wannabe or sowing race hatred and division. Spike Lee has also become a very sloppy filmmaker who has been coasting on his early films for many years.
You seriously would suggest that U2 hasn't been coasting on the success of their earlier years? Their best selling album was The Joshua Tree from 1987 at 25+ million. Everything since then has been less with their latest taking several years to reach 5 million. That isn't to say they aren't successful but their heyday was decades ago.
U2 didn't make their name posing as a Malcolm X wannabe? They have certainly been political and over time have stripped anything controversial away from their songs. Their first big single was Sunday Bloody Sunday.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song by rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album War and was released as the album's third single on 11 March 1983 in Germany and the Netherlands.[2] "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted for its militaristic drumbeat, harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies.[3] One of U2's most overtly political songs, its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly focusing on the Bloody Sunday incident in Derry where British troops shot and killed unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders who were there to rally against internment (imprisonment without trial). Along with "New Year's Day", the song helped U2 reach a wider listening audience. It was generally well received by critics on the album's release.[4][5]
It's almost like they are asking people to.......fight the powers that be as in the abuse of power by authority. Though U2 just REACTS to it and asks how long it must go on without ever really addressing how such atrocities should end.
BTW, 1983 was a long time ago too. Their next single Pride (In the Name of Love) about Dr. MLK. I mean the themes being hit in the 80's were what they were and U2 were hitting them as well.
(PRODUCT)RED might even be criticized as cashing in on social consciousness without delivering a result or even much cash. I'd argue that is something U2 has done through their entire career.
Spike wasn't complaining of whites moving in. His issue is with them now dictating what long time residents can or cannot do. You're more than welcome to move in next door to me, but don't think for a second that I'm going to change my ways to placate you.
What does Apple's Beats have to do with a movie made by Spike Lee and why would they make a documentary about that?
I question Apple's motives here and I don't like Apple supporting the likes of Spike Lee and his agenda. He's one of the biggest hypocrites and racists around that walks in two shoes. I don't give two craps if he's black or whatever, he doesn't get any damn pass from me for his past comments and his actions.
Most recently he was complaining about how white people were moving into his old Brooklyn neighborhood.
http://time.com/10666/spike-lees-racism-isnt-cute-m-f-hipster-is-the-new-honkey/
Apple seems to be getting more and more political, pandering to leftist racist groups, kowtowing to wacky environmental groups, submitting to anti-golobalization lunatics and now they're making documentaries celebrating a movie made by a hateful little man with a constant chip on his shoulder.
Spike Lee is also the ignorant genius who tweeted out the address of George Zimmerman during the whole Trayvon Martin circus. It turned out that the address was false. Spike Lee put innocent lives in danger with his irrational hatred and his stupid actions.
I guess that it's ok for Apple to associate with and to celebrate movies made by such despicable characters, but we all know damn well that if it were anybody else who was equally as controversial who belonged to the "other" side, then Apple would probably have nothing to do with them at all.
I call BS on all of Apple's diversity talk. It seems to be an empty, meaningless slogan, as Apple is truly becoming more and more politically extreme.
I've said it before, but Apple should stay the hell out of politics, in my humble opinion.
I am not liking this new side to Apple that I have been seeing lately at all. This is just terrible.
It's a documentary, not a manifesto.
And the idea that a company is becoming "extreme" by adopting an "empty, meaningless slogan" is entertaining. If it's so empty and meaningless then what's the big concern?
Diversity is a code word for ethnicity. The report Apple released should be called the ethnicity report as diversity is reflected in a lot of different ways than race.
Good point, however, I remember when Jobs called Jesse Jackson out when he questioned Apple's hirings.
Inside Man and Miracle at St Anna were both pretty good, but Oldboy was absolutely horrendous.
Diversity is a code word for ethnicity.
Not really. You also have gender diversity; and equal rights across age, sexuality and disability barriers are often grouped under diversity.
This is a company (Apple) that has made billions off of the entertainment industry and has plans to make more in the future so it's a clear business strategy. As for not supporting Spike Lee because he's racist, well I guess you must not support the founding principles and "fathers" of the country you more than likely benefit from because it's pretty racist itself...smh
I agree with the commenter earlier in the thread who wrote about Apple's weird appeals to leftist groups. I know that Steve Jobs and I probably had little in common politically, but he never made politics (especially racial politics) part of Apple's marketing plan. The apocryphal quote attributed to Michael Jordan comes to mind "Republicans buy shoes also".
I'm disgusted by Tim Cook's disappointment at Apple's diversity numbers, apparently there are too many white men working for Apple. I dislike Spike Lee, I think he's a weasel who hates white people. I have no interest in supporting black pride events like what's depicted in this video. More power to you if you want to, I've cancelled my Beats subscription. I think the 11,000 songs (30 days of music) in my iTunes library should keep me occupied for a long time.