It is worrying that a national economy can be so easily toppled by one multi-national. On one hand it shows how amazing Apple's impact is and on the other how fragile a national economy can be.
Being too comfortable in business is rarely a good thing and indicator that some change should be made, otherwise some external change will be the one to take advantage of the situation. For me, taking too few chances is as bad to taking too many. The difference is the time-scale of the impact: the former will probably hurt down the road, while the latter much sooner. In life you need to stay a bit uncomfortable, to be ready for the changes that may come.
For a government to have relied on only two businesses is worrying. A government should be investing in the future of its nation and trying to understand the changes and their potential impacts. Having an economy depend on too few pillars is a sign that someone is not doing their job or that someone is not taking the right risks.
I am not saying it is easy to get this right, but not allowing yourself to get it wrong will certainly reduce your chance of getting it right.
Can't wait to see this used as a reason to downgrade the stock again. /s
I think it's more China, exporting cheaper paper, that killed their paper industry. As for Nokia, blame MS and Google more than Apple.
No, I think it's true that the paper industry is tanking...but the reason is that newspapers and magazine sales are tanking... everyone is rapidly getting their news and entertainment on-line. iPads and Amazon readers are the go-to devices for a lot of people, but it's just not those devices, but laptops and desk computers too. It's a wired, wired,wired world!
As for Nokia, They shot themselves in the foot ... just like Microsoft, Palm, Blackberry/RIMM, et al. Everyone had the chance to do what Apple did in 2007, had they the foresight to do so, but turning out crap was keeping the lights on and everyone was content doing business as usual.
It's been said that Apple "bet the company" on the iPhone... it's equally true that MS, Palm, and RIMM also "bet their companies" on not seeing the train coming.
Although I love Apple - this guy does make a point. If anyone has not read Jaron Lanier's "Who Own The Future?" - it's worth your time. There won't be much for anyone to do in the future once all the jobs are destroyed for the middle class. Steve did make a dent in the universe, although I'm not sure he would have eventually been happy with what that dent did.
There is a new industrial revolution going on, which will eventually move most of the jobs out of manufacturing, just as the previous one moved 70% of the population out of agriculture. We need to figure out how to still have a middle class when most people's work is less essential. This isn't a problem caused by Apple, and won't be solved by dumping on them. I really don't want the solution to be that the government hires everybody to be in the military, because that's the only government spending that a lot of people think is a good idea.
It is not Apple's fault that Nokia sucks. And to blame a phone for your countries economic downfall is the most absurd thing I have ever heard!!!! How is no blame associated to Nokia for not being able to make an innovative product anymore?!!
Although I love Apple - this guy does make a point. If anyone has not read Jaron Lanier's "Who Own The Future?" - it's worth your time. There won't be much for anyone to do in the future once all the jobs are destroyed for the middle class. Steve did make a dent in the universe, although I'm not sure he would have eventually been happy with what that dent did.
If the people of the middle class don't do something now to change their future, they will end up like Nokia and really have no one to blame except their own inaction. All around the world there are people snug in their middle class life watching TV and burning through the opportunity to do what they need to do while there is time to do it. The future owes nothing to the past, but will be beholding to those who act in the present.
After everyone has jumped down this guy's throat, consider that he might not be blaming so much as explaining. Citing the iPhone and iPad as a kind of shorthand. Haven't many of us here for years trumpeted the iPhone as the Nokia (and everything else) killer? Add in Android and Nokia certainly was done in. As for paper, I'd be curious to know what proportion of total paper volume books, magazines, and newspapers account for as opposed to packaging and other non-reading paper products. Certainly, readable paper has taken a huge hit as newspapers, books, and magazines go digital (just got my last paper edition of MacWorld on Friday). But this tren was happening long before the iPad and it's imitators. Again, the iPad was just a convenient symbol for tis trend.
Cut the guy (and Finland) a little slack. It's a country with many limits both in size (population) and climate. Not easy to diversify.
While his comments aren't intended as an attack, they're still pretty laughable.
Nokia killed Nokia and Microsoft conducted the burial.
(Much the same can be said about Blackberry formerly RIM.)
As for the paper industry, that was a long forecast trend that predated the iPad and is practically present in every paper market worldwide. (Yet paper prices are still are on the increase.)
I think the lesson here is obvious. Putting all of one's eggs in one basket is asking for trouble. South Korea should divide Samsung, or wait for the inevitable bad leader/rainy day/surprise competitor to bring down both the company and the economy that is so deeply attached to it. Diversification inside a single company is an insufficient and dellusional kind of protection.
I gree. When i first heard that finland's economy was basically nokia i was blown away and i ask my self what if nokia goes down. (Well now i know haha) at the time no one could even imaging that nokia or even motorolo would fall so hard. But that is what happends when you dont diversify and keep on innovating. One thing that apple is aware of and is taking much advantage of. And i also find it very unprofesional for the primeminister to just blame apple for their problems. If you are not good at your job is not other peoples fault. If you cant keep up give the spot to somebody that can!
The fact that this non-story has picked up so much media traction shows the idiocy of the media world.. If Samesung was "responsible" for Finlands demise -- the media and Wall Street would herald such news.
Folks if you are still stuck in bend gate bliss-- this story should prove to you that Apple is the "hit" favorite..
What else is Apples fault? The war in Iraq? Syria?
No other company sales like apple! Point proven time and time again. Anything with apple in it will call attention! They just fallow the apple i mean the money ha!
It is unfortunate that the media is so rife with such poorly learned journalists.
To imply that the Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, blamed anyone for their current situation is ludicrous.
As anyone that can read a dictionary will tell you, to blame is to assign responsibility for a fault or wrong.
If anything, he was blaming his own country men, not Jobs or Apple. The demise of Finland's most lucrative sources of income was the introduction of superior technology. And for us to chastise Nokia, or for that matter RIM, for not countering with better operating systems; imagine what the world would look like today if one onlycountry, (with the exception of possibly one other), was allowed to build/refine jet engines.
But hell. Why not blame Apple. After all, the NRA blames the victims for not carrying a gun to shoot back.
Comments
It is worrying that a national economy can be so easily toppled by one multi-national. On one hand it shows how amazing Apple's impact is and on the other how fragile a national economy can be.
Being too comfortable in business is rarely a good thing and indicator that some change should be made, otherwise some external change will be the one to take advantage of the situation. For me, taking too few chances is as bad to taking too many. The difference is the time-scale of the impact: the former will probably hurt down the road, while the latter much sooner. In life you need to stay a bit uncomfortable, to be ready for the changes that may come.
For a government to have relied on only two businesses is worrying. A government should be investing in the future of its nation and trying to understand the changes and their potential impacts. Having an economy depend on too few pillars is a sign that someone is not doing their job or that someone is not taking the right risks.
I am not saying it is easy to get this right, but not allowing yourself to get it wrong will certainly reduce your chance of getting it right.
Can't wait to see this used as a reason to downgrade the stock again. /s
I think it's more China, exporting cheaper paper, that killed their paper industry. As for Nokia, blame MS and Google more than Apple.
No, I think it's true that the paper industry is tanking...but the reason is that newspapers and magazine sales are tanking... everyone is rapidly getting their news and entertainment on-line. iPads and Amazon readers are the go-to devices for a lot of people, but it's just not those devices, but laptops and desk computers too. It's a wired, wired,wired world!
As for Nokia, They shot themselves in the foot ... just like Microsoft, Palm, Blackberry/RIMM, et al. Everyone had the chance to do what Apple did in 2007, had they the foresight to do so, but turning out crap was keeping the lights on and everyone was content doing business as usual.
It's been said that Apple "bet the company" on the iPhone... it's equally true that MS, Palm, and RIMM also "bet their companies" on not seeing the train coming.
The part that you replied I understand. I just don't understand what it means.
Nokia and Stephen Elop s@#k stinky balls and that is suppose to be Apple's fault?
I think Nokia and lazy Finns should go back to make rubber boots.
...and kippered herring... don't forget the kippered herring!
Interesting . . . in one of his Twitter account pictures, he's settling into his new office while using . . . wait for it . . . an iPad!!!
He loves his iPad because it automatically syncs his schedule and contact data with his iPhone...
Yet Apple did exactly that with the iPhone.
Yet Apple did it in English. Not Finnish.
/s
For those of you who don't speak Finnish, allow me to translate: "We don't know how to compete with Apple, and also it's 2014."
Solip's one word quote of you was so cryptic that I thought I should continue the theme.
Although I love Apple - this guy does make a point. If anyone has not read Jaron Lanier's "Who Own The Future?" - it's worth your time. There won't be much for anyone to do in the future once all the jobs are destroyed for the middle class. Steve did make a dent in the universe, although I'm not sure he would have eventually been happy with what that dent did.
There is a new industrial revolution going on, which will eventually move most of the jobs out of manufacturing, just as the previous one moved 70% of the population out of agriculture. We need to figure out how to still have a middle class when most people's work is less essential. This isn't a problem caused by Apple, and won't be solved by dumping on them. I really don't want the solution to be that the government hires everybody to be in the military, because that's the only government spending that a lot of people think is a good idea.
Although I love Apple - this guy does make a point. If anyone has not read Jaron Lanier's "Who Own The Future?" - it's worth your time. There won't be much for anyone to do in the future once all the jobs are destroyed for the middle class. Steve did make a dent in the universe, although I'm not sure he would have eventually been happy with what that dent did.
If the people of the middle class don't do something now to change their future, they will end up like Nokia and really have no one to blame except their own inaction. All around the world there are people snug in their middle class life watching TV and burning through the opportunity to do what they need to do while there is time to do it. The future owes nothing to the past, but will be beholding to those who act in the present.
You've got it DJ. It is called collectivism. Socialist countries stifle competition and then expect to compete in the global economy.
Cut the guy (and Finland) a little slack. It's a country with many limits both in size (population) and climate. Not easy to diversify.
I gree. When i first heard that finland's economy was basically nokia i was blown away and i ask my self what if nokia goes down. (Well now i know haha) at the time no one could even imaging that nokia or even motorolo would fall so hard. But that is what happends when you dont diversify and keep on innovating. One thing that apple is aware of and is taking much advantage of. And i also find it very unprofesional for the primeminister to just blame apple for their problems. If you are not good at your job is not other peoples fault. If you cant keep up give the spot to somebody that can!
this thought tips the scale of not if, but when, do countries get surpassed as global powers?
When corporation are elevated to voting citizens by the governments, and voting citizens are relegated to being "consumers"...
No other company sales like apple! Point proven time and time again. Anything with apple in it will call attention! They just fallow the apple i mean the money ha!
[VIDEO]<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XnsK7wUP8RU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/VIDEO]
Actually, both the interviewer, and Elop, were acting like a-holes in this the clip...
It is unfortunate that the media is so rife with such poorly learned journalists.
To imply that the Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, blamed anyone for their current situation is ludicrous.
As anyone that can read a dictionary will tell you, to blame is to assign responsibility for a fault or wrong.
If anything, he was blaming his own country men, not Jobs or Apple. The demise of Finland's most lucrative sources of income was the introduction of superior technology. And for us to chastise Nokia, or for that matter RIM, for not countering with better operating systems; imagine what the world would look like today if one only country, (with the exception of possibly one other), was allowed to build/refine jet engines.
But hell. Why not blame Apple. After all, the NRA blames the victims for not carrying a gun to shoot back.