Despite the amount of cash Apple has or the millions of iPhones that are sold, WallStreet holds all the cards. Back in 2011, they criticized Apple for not paying a dividend and buying back stock. WallStreet wanted a cheap iPhone. They later criticized Apple for having a closed system and the lack of a new product. So now Apple has spent over $100B on buybacks and dividends and WallStreet yarns! The only thing saving Apple is the fact they still have all that cash on the balance sheet. WallStreet is now harassing them to spend it on an acquisition. If Apple was to buy Tesla, WallStreet would immediately turn negative and say gas is less than 2 bucks...and nobody is buying electric cars. If they buy Netflix, all of a sudden... The monthly fee is not worth it. It is all a game.
If you can't take a long term view with Apple and can't stand a wild ride in the meantime, it's best you look to another stock.
That's just a silly comment. (1) You have no idea of whether he owns AAPL, and if so, how long he's owned his stock; (2) Your advice seems tantamount to telling him to buy high and sell low.
(1) That was meant as the general "you". Just advising that AAPL is not for the impatient and/or weak-hearted.
(2) I am trying to say don't bother buying AAPL to begin with unless you have patience and a bit of fortitude.
BS. Thats what Tim Cook wants to do but he doesn't know how to do it proper.
Tim Cook so far has pandered to wall street and its disgusting. Lets see. All those stock buybacks all those dividends. Precisely because Tim Cook hopes it will help the stock. Having lunch with Carl Ichan. Trying to position Apple as something it isn't. Get rid of this fool as CEO. I am tired of his kissing wall street. All of this and the company has lost a couple of hundred billion in value. Good job. So lets see has this helped the stock? Hell NO.
let me guess -- you're a "long-time" fan. love their products. but now you're...concerned. jobs is dead. innovation gone. did i miss anything, or is that about where you stand?
Let me guess something about you. Instead of adding to the discussion you're the type of forum poster who likes to degrade and pick on other forum members because you don't like their opinion. Am I right?
I have not read the prior comments, and look forward to doing so later today, but my 2¢ is that Apple has currently no narrative or vision to offer the market, and the market is making up its own. As it always does.
Cook just does not appear to be comfortable creating, managing, massaging, reinforcing such a narrative, and I think the Board is utterly useless/absent at this point (it's a bunch of mediocre people and has-beens anyway).
I find it particularly puzzling, given how passionate Tim Cook can be on matters that concern him personally. Why can't he bring the same passion to addressing his shareholders' genuine concerns? (And I am not talking about -- I could care less about -- the fly-by-nights and the drive-by shareholders here). Weird....
This is a great point and better stated than I could articulate. It's spot on. Tim Cook has passion for social issues. I just am not seeing him...ugh.....can't put my finger on it quite yet.
Here's one point I'll make....quick...what is Apple's current overall marketing theme?
<Crickets>
Remember Think Different? These were important messages that Steve personally massaged and proudly delivered. They said, Hey, this is Apple! Here's where we're going!
I'm not as down on Apple as it might read, but I think they could be shaping their vision and getting it out there. As long as we aren't going to have revolutionary products (which is fine...I get it), let's at least knock 'em dead every now and then with intelligent, ambitious iteration. I have high hopes for the iPhone 7. Everyone is thinking this is going to be a killer re-design. I sure hope so. Hope the other upgrades are around the corner. New CPUs have been out for a while...... iPad needs some love....
Some people think the earth is flat or the US didn't land on the moon. Explaining things to these people doesn't work because they won't see reason. So why should Tim waste his time with the financial market equivalent?
BS. Thats what Tim Cook wants to do but he doesn't know how to do it proper.
Tim Cook so far has pandered to wall street and its disgusting. Lets see. All those stock buybacks all those dividends. Precisely because Tim Cook hopes it will help the stock. Having lunch with Carl Ichan. Trying to position Apple as something it isn't. Get rid of this fool as CEO. I am tired of his kissing wall street. All of this and the company has lost a couple of hundred billion in value. Good job. So lets see has this helped the stock? Hell NO.
I disagree. Tim did not encourage buybacks and dividends to pander to wall street. And while proper share price up may have been a tertiary reason, most would argue that he did it because it was just a wise use of cash (well indirectly, as cash needed for credit). I.e. it was merely an exercise in investing and bringing financial value to shareholders.
Don't confuse the ends with the means.
In short, Tim does not pander to Wall Street. He's focused on running the company.
My Twitter feed is full of people in a panic with all these things Apple needs to or should have done so Wall Street wouldn't view them as a "hardware company". Just because Wall Street loves Google and Facebook right now doesn't mean Apple needs to become Google or Facebook or that they failed because they didn't try to become Google or Facebook 5 years ago.
This whole pivot to services is a bit baffling to me (even though yes I agree monetizing the install base is important). It seems like panic; Wall Street doesn't like hardware companies so Apple needs to stop being one. If this is all about predictability then people should push for Apple to become a 'devices as a service' company with services like Apple Music or streaming TV on top of that. Take the iPhone upgrade program and apply it to all of Apple's products. Trying to turn Apple into something it's not (an advertising or media company) is nonsense.
iTunes sucks. iCloud sucks. They have more resources than any company that has ever walked the face of the planet and they can't get software/services working well or grow at all.
What an utterly idiotic post.
jdnc123 is a voice of reason here and understands deeper issues going on with AAPL. However, members like anantksundaram do a real disservice to this forum by their childish insults, who need to take your rose-colored glasses off and stop pretending they are true experts. Making a lot of posts (anantksundaram has over 16,000) does not turn quantity into quality.
The analysts all seem reasonable here. Cook did well with the messaging overall, I think.
I'm not sure I agree. That supplemental services slide seemed a bit desperate to me, sort of like, hey we don't have an iPhone or iPad story to tell so let's pivot to services (even if the bulk of that services number is App Store and iTunes purchases). Also the comments about China don't really jive with what Tim said to Jim Cramer back in November. So either China in December and January totally took Tim and Luca by surprise or what Tim said back in November wasn't completely genuine.
The macroeconomic picture degraded very rapidly and no one saw this large overall worldwide market correction coming, at least so swiftly.
OK this retweet is really weird. Why would Tony Fadell respond to it?
I think it means zip. Zilch. Except for exactly what he says (i.e., he's very flattered).
Maybe the reason Apple didn't buy Nest was because Cook saw Fadell as a possible competitor/replacement as CEO. Cook got rid of Forestall too (MAPS and SIRI still suck years after Scott Forestal left). Best looking iPhone was iPhone 4 especially black glass back one. 5/5s ok. 6/6S is an over-rated yawn. That english bloke is quite over-rated.
Cook is not a product guy, Cook is not a service guy. He does not understand what makes consumers tick.
Cook is not in direct charge of products or services. He's not the marketing guy. He has people doing that who report to him.
Go away.
Give us a break - Cook is the CEO - he has end accountability for all those areas and the people Apple has hired to perform. If those people are not performing it is on him to replace them.
Tim Cook so far has pandered to wall street and its disgusting. Lets see. All those stock buybacks all those dividends. Precisely because Tim Cook hopes it will help the stock. Having lunch with Carl Ichan. Trying to position Apple as something it isn't. Get rid of this fool as CEO. I am tired of his kissing wall street. All of this and the company has lost a couple of hundred billion in value. Good job. So lets see has this helped the stock? Hell NO.
Nope, wrong. Nothing to do with pandering.
It was wise use of cash: to return value back to shareholders and to invest back into the company. Could part of the reason be to prop up share prices?....possibly, but that was a tertiary reason at best.
Yes It was the wrong use of language...
What I mean to say is Tim Cook seems to listen to wall street as to what to do with Apple's money.
He honestly must have felt pressure to do so.
He had lunch with Carl Ichan because of this exact issue.
BS. Thats what Tim Cook wants to do but he doesn't know how to do it proper.
Tim Cook so far has pandered to wall street and its disgusting. Lets see. All those stock buybacks all those dividends. Precisely because Tim Cook hopes it will help the stock. Having lunch with Carl Ichan. Trying to position Apple as something it isn't. Get rid of this fool as CEO. I am tired of his kissing wall street. All of this and the company has lost a couple of hundred billion in value. Good job. So lets see has this helped the stock? Hell NO.
let me guess -- you're a "long-time" fan. love their products. but now you're...concerned. jobs is dead. innovation gone. did i miss anything, or is that about where you stand?
Actually I have used Apple products since 1978... as for you...
what's the good FB story? they sell users to advertisers, that's it.
Apple is not in the advertising business so that means advertising is evil. I get it.
nope. you said Apple is failing to tell their story while other tech giants do better. So I asked you -- what's the Facebook story? you didn't say.
personally, I think that's all nonsense. the story for any of these companies is self-evident. Apple is a consumer tech company and has already explained their philosophy many times -- make insanely great stuff. crossroads of humanities & tech.
let me guess -- you're a "long-time" fan. love their products. but now you're...concerned. jobs is dead. innovation gone. did i miss anything, or is that about where you stand?
Let me guess something about you. Instead of adding to the discussion you're the type of forum poster who likes to degrade and pick on other forum members because you don't like their opinion. Am I right?
Hilarious really. But sad.
nope I just know a concern-troll when I see one. you aren't the first nor the last.
Apple has a huge pile of money it doesn't know what to do with. Tim needed to figure out what to do with the money, and when you look at all possible ways to invest it the best one is AAPL.
The stock buyback was just Tim putting excess money into the best available investment.
Comments
(1) That was meant as the general "you". Just advising that AAPL is not for the impatient and/or weak-hearted.
(2) I am trying to say don't bother buying AAPL to begin with unless you have patience and a bit of fortitude.
Does that make a little more sense now?
Hilarious really. But sad.
Here's one point I'll make....quick...what is Apple's current overall marketing theme?
<Crickets>
Remember Think Different? These were important messages that Steve personally massaged and proudly delivered. They said, Hey, this is Apple! Here's where we're going!
I'm not as down on Apple as it might read, but I think they could be shaping their vision and getting it out there. As long as we aren't going to have revolutionary products (which is fine...I get it), let's at least knock 'em dead every now and then with intelligent, ambitious iteration. I have high hopes for the iPhone 7. Everyone is thinking this is going to be a killer re-design. I sure hope so. Hope the other upgrades are around the corner. New CPUs have been out for a while...... iPad needs some love....
Don't confuse the ends with the means.
In short, Tim does not pander to Wall Street. He's focused on running the company.
This whole pivot to services is a bit baffling to me (even though yes I agree monetizing the install base is important). It seems like panic; Wall Street doesn't like hardware companies so Apple needs to stop being one. If this is all about predictability then people should push for Apple to become a 'devices as a service' company with services like Apple Music or streaming TV on top of that. Take the iPhone upgrade program and apply it to all of Apple's products. Trying to turn Apple into something it's not (an advertising or media company) is nonsense.
jdnc123 is a voice of reason here and understands deeper issues going on with AAPL. However, members like anantksundaram do a real disservice to this forum by their childish insults, who need to take your rose-colored glasses off and stop pretending they are true experts. Making a lot of posts (anantksundaram has over 16,000) does not turn quantity into quality.
What I mean to say is Tim Cook seems to listen to wall street as to what to do with Apple's money.
He honestly must have felt pressure to do so.
He had lunch with Carl Ichan because of this exact issue.
I don;t think you are being completely right.
Actually I have used Apple products since 1978... as for you...
personally, I think that's all nonsense. the story for any of these companies is self-evident. Apple is a consumer tech company and has already explained their philosophy many times -- make insanely great stuff. crossroads of humanities & tech.
so what's FB's compelling narrative?
The stock buyback was just Tim putting excess money into the best available investment.