Apple's building this new campus and buying up real estate in SV like crazy. For FY16 Apple's cap ex spending is expected to be $15B. That's a lot of real estate buying and cap ex spending for a so-called one trick pony that's doomed unless it pivots to whatever's the flavor of the month on Wall Street.
You got that right - especially number 2. The bigger Apple has gotten (and particularly in the post-Jobs era), the more complicated and buggy their products have become.
Complete horse-shit. I've been using Apple products for a long time. No, they're not "buggier". They just have 10X the features and 100X the userbase, so obviously 1000X the whining and bitching. There isn't a shred of evidence to suggest anything is empirically buggier, except that for every person who complained online 10 years ago, you now have a thousand. That's what happens when you sell 13,000,000 devices in a single fucking weekend. I can't even recall the last time my Mac crashed or had an issue, and that never used to be the case. As for my iPhone/iPad, they're rock solid, and infinitely more useable and flexible than they were only a few years ago. Try again.
For the first 18 months of my owning my MBPR, It would just freeze - not even a blue screen of death or the grace to display a kernel panic screen. Sometimes this would happen twice a day or twice a week or sometimes a couple months without. The problem was of course OSX. How do I know - because it finally got fixed with a late Mavericks update. I had something like that occur only a couple times in almost 9 years of daily use of a Powerbook Ti.
Speaking of which. In the photo below is the power plug for that venerable machine. I'll say it again - nigh on 9 years of daily use. Contrast that with the POS cable Apple supplies with the MBPR. The first one pictured is the original. I am always amazed at peoples wondrous stories of walking into Apple Stores and having the kind dudes not only replacing user broken parts like smashed screen without charge, but then also replace almost every other component voluntarily including MBs. It must be something you only get in the US.
That first plug was after just 18 months of use. Apple wanted to f*****g charge me for the service call just to talk with them. I had to threaten small claims court action just to get to talk to someone without being charged for the call. Then they had the cheek to say it wasn't covered as it was past the 12 month warranty. I had to point out that under EU law I had at least a 2 year warranty. I did get them to send me a replacement, but it shouldn't have taken threats of legal action and shouting.
The third image is of the replacement plug, 18 months or so on. Underneath the tape is the same shít. That's Apple quality and attention to detail for you post iOS.
Bullshit. 90% of Google's revenue is advertising. That hasn't changed. Wall Street got all nervous in 2013 when Samsung was the bogeyman. Now everyone is panicking saying Apple has to pivot to so-called services because Wall Street doesn't like hardware companies and iPhone growth is slowing. More bullshit. And how do we know Apple's not working on diversifying? Just because Cook doesn't tell us what's in the pipeline doesn't mean it's empty.
These people are insane man. Google spends ~$3 billion on R&D, while Apple spends 3x more at $9 billion, yet he says Cook "refuses to invest into the company..." Google will freely say how much they spend at wall-street conference calls. We could only ever know how much Apple spends because of the required SEC filings. Google will freely announce to the world what they're working on. We can only infer what Apple may be working on by their required FCC patent filings. Google's PR stunt has truly fooled this guy.
Google have yet to turn many, if any at all, of their projects into innovations, instead continuously relying on smartphone users viewing ads on the Web, YouTube, or any other ad placement mechanism. But If you remove the iPhone, all of Apple's other products combined still makes more money than the entire Alphabet company. I would say it is Google who is dependent on ads.
I hate the whole "narrative" thing but I think that's what we're seeing here. Cook was getting a lot better on these earnings calls but this last one wasn't great IMO. Too much focus on FX and then sort of this weird pivot to services. There's obviously a story to be told there but it seemed like more of a panic because guidance wasn't going to be great rather than a well thought out new narrative on the company. There was nothing on the Q4 call to suggest we'd get this services meme in 2016.
If the company is going to be focusing more on services they're going to have to get a lot better at them. I don't think Eddy Cue is the right guy but I also don't see him going anywhere. As I've argued before what I'd like to see Cook do is split up Cue's role even more. Let Cue focus on content (iTunes, Music, TV, News) and Pay and bring someone in to run Apple's cloud business, maps, Siri, whatever work they might be doing in machine learning and AI. I think Cue's plate is too full and Apple's services are suffering as a result. And if Cue still has responsibility for Apple's pro apps perhaps move those under Schiller. I think something like that would go a long way to giving people a bit more confidence in Apple's services.
So let me get this straight... Apple sells real products and Google sells advertising. Apple posts $76B in revenue and Google posts $21B, yet Google's market cap is higher than Apple? A tad bit over-valued are we?!?! That's Wallstreet for you. Now you know why most people consider investing in Wallstreet as simply gambling.
Google will never live up to expectations. Period. It can't happen. It's absurd to punish Apple because Wall Street can't belive a tech company can be the most profitable ever and then betting that other one, totally dependent of ad revenue can beat it big, because to give it that valuarion well in advance of beating Apple revenue, not of this year, but for at least three to four years ago, and to beat its cash reserves they can only be betting that those guys will grow forever and earn at least double of what Apple can earn in a sustainable basis. Its impossible to achieve, so be prepared for the next Goigle miss. They got it in the past, they will got in the future. That will be a big crash.
Google's annual revenue is the on average Apple's Quarterly Revenue. It would have to increase one hundred percent for 4 years just to match Apple. Plus Apple beats them in profit margin once again with 40% compared to 38. Which for a software company that is not good at all. Google's rise is because of the big miss from last year and the misses during this one on revenue. The odd part is Apple's stock as of yesterday was up 34.6% over the last 52 weeks and Google was up 35% over the same period. Where was the crying about their lack of stock performance all year while Apple has been getting trounced.
So let me get this straight... Apple sells real products and Google sells advertising. Apple posts $76B in revenue and Google posts $21B, yet Google's market cap is higher than Apple? A tad bit over-valued are we?!?! That's Wallstreet for you. Now you know why most people consider investing in Wallstreet as simply gambling.
This is the trouble with the share market ponzi-scheme - If a companies income isn't distributed to shareholders - the only 'value' a company has is what someone in the future 'thinks' the value is, which in turn is based on their hope that someone else in the future will think someone else in the future..... The value is an arbitrary intangible. A company that pays out a decent proportion of it's earnings to it's shareholders has a far more tangible value.
This is a solid lesson to Apple - that the Market doesn't only care about how much money you are making. It is bothered a lot more about the sustainability of how much money you are making. And Apple, with its own policies, is the prime reason why doubts arise about sustainability. Apple is, with its own policies and behavior responsible for the feeling that the moment there is a decent alternative, people will migrate in droves to that alternative. It is another matter whether those doubts will ever become real, or whether people will ever migrate to the alternatives - as long as Apple doesn't amend its ways to reduce such fears, the market will assume this.
Kind of similar to what happened with Windows - where the alternative wasn't even decent!
Are you this violent now with Alphabet, since that company is considered more financially successful?
Good job Tim Cook. You've done something I thought was impossible. Make me think Google's future is brighter than Apple's.
Google's stock future is brighter right now, not the company. I'm actually glad Apple doesn't give a crap about what Wall Street thinks. They make more money and better products that way.
Just sold a ton of my shares. I won't buy a single share back until Cook is fired.
It is unforgivable that a company can lose $250 billion in market cap TWICE in 3 years during a Bull market.
I still hold 900 shares, but hold little hope for it. I'm just going to collect dividends. Hopefully in a few years Cook is fired and we can get the old Apple back.
I'm thinking of using the cash from selling Apple to buy Google. I hate Google the company but it is painfully obvious they know what they are doing. This is investing. This is not charity. I buy stock to make money, not cheer lead. Google is just so much smarter than Apple at this point it hurts.
Good job Tim Cook. You've done something I thought was impossible. Make me think Google's future is brighter than Apple's.
Your financial loss (or imminent) regarding Apple has nothing to do with Apple's actual success. Irrational market forces got the better of your shares. These forces aren't today a reflection of actual success, innovation, or any other slogan currently in vogue, no matter what they happened to reflect, for instance, ten years ago.
This is not ultimately Cook's problem. And it's in the *making* of it to *be* his problem that will cause Apple to lose its way.
I'm sorry about your shares, but you needn't be as irrational as the present market forces, over which, demonstrably, Appls has next to no control.
The best thing for Apple right now is to simply stay the course, allow Ive and co. to do what they do best, and keep nailing the basics.
Apple already conveys what it wants to be in 2, 5, and 10 years out. It does it clearly and simply.
1. Apple wants to make the best products it can make that enrich and improves people's lives.
That is so simple. Apple is not focused on profits. Apple is focused on product.
2. And Apple's product development is simple too: To iteratively and gradually improve its products.
Apple has only a few product. It will never have the number of products its competitors has. Apple is simply more laser focused.
3. And Apple doesn't do revolutionary products except rarely. Apple always does incrementally upgrades products it has.
That is what Apple will always be.
Apple does not convey anything for that period ahead or even less. Others don't do much either, but they do more for sure.
1. It's quite opposite. Apple cares about short term profits too much which omits them greatly in taking bigger market share and really be what they claim to be: service company. Lower market share also means much less development in service sector. At the same time people are whining about how Google sells only one product it wouldn't hurt noting that the only service Apple does nowadays is reselling IP. They stopped selling it's own software and they failed miserably with mobile ads. On the other side Google sells it's click cash in so many different ways and streams that it is really hard to talk about one product, not to mention that all they need to do from time to time is wind up frequency of ads on their most popular monopolised channels and off you go! And they are far from full whack here... Not to mention, that they've barely scratched the surface of IP reselling...
2. Wrong again. Apple created 3 new product categories just in previous decade. Perception about Apple is much different than that and people don't like it to change to be like you described. Look at the car manufacturers. The most successful are the ones that created new product categories, not the ones that have simply improving existing. Apple is also not laser focused any more. Not even with products. Beside traditional personal computing they'd introduced 2 handheld product categories, tablet. living room device with its own integrated platform and watch. Compare this to other IT hardware manufacturers. It also offers quite a broad range of products in all main categories, especially notebooks.
3. Again: Apple created at least 3 new product categories just in previous decade (iPod, iPhone, iPad, add Apple TV, perhaps). At least two in decade before (Newton, iMac), not to mention large steps in innovations in "standard categories", like notebooks. At least 3 in decade before (Mac, DTP, GUI, not to mention loads of huge increments all over categories, especially in software and always recognising correct hardware trends and support them in early stage like, SCSI, USB, Wifi, Bluetooth, just to name few...) and one simple breakthrough product category in the first decade of its existence. What's going on after 2010 is not what Apple was. Beside the absence of new products it takes the ages to do a relatively small steps ahead in area of services offerings. So, completely wrong here: we are used to Apple to create revolutionary products and market and customers expects them to always be like that.
"Apple cares about short term profits too much which omits them greatly in taking bigger market share and really be what they claim to be: service company."
Apple will not be a pure play services company in the manner that Google, MS, or Facebook are. Nor should they. Apple's purpose for services should be:
1. Add value to the Apple ecosystem 2. Generate revenue from & monetize their user base
A pure play service company, like Facebook, needs as many eyeballs / users as possible and therefore needs to be on as many platforms as possible. Being this type of company is not in Apple's DNA
God I wish he would have sold them all so we could get rid of him once and for all.
your inability to see both sides of the coin may hurt you. Why do you want to get rid of me? Because the truth hurts? Cause you don't want to hear the possibiity of Apple really messing up things this time?
I noticed that you think Apple will never stagnate. That's the first sign that you are being more of a cheerleader than investor. No company is immune to the possibility of stagnation and then shrinkage.
What gives you confidence that Apple can find the 'next big thing' to replace the inevitable shrinking of iPhone sales?
The iPhone is the single most successful consumer product of all time. Will there ever be another product category like it? I'm not so sure.
Bottom line is Apple is known as an innovative company. Yet the CEO is not an innovator.
How does that make any sense?
Has Tim Cook done anything innovative in his entire life? Has Tim Cook ever created a product or invented anything in his life?
The path to restoring Apple's glory is obvious. We need a CEO who is an innovator. How the hell can someone lead the most innovative company on the planet if they aren't innovative? That's like having a Pope who is a know murderer and thief. That's like having a university Dean who can't read. Its like having an executive chef who can't cook.
Apple needs to do to get back on track:
1. Fire Tim Cook and replace him with an innovative CEO who actually built his own company. 2. Make it clear to Wall Street that this will be a new era of Apple. Gross margins won't be as high as the past nor profits. The reason is because they will be building for the future. This is an investment period. But in the end Apple will come out bigger and better.
3. Make clear to Wall Street your broad 3 year, 5 year, and 10 year goals. I'll start. The 3 year goal should be to have over 1 billion iPhone users around the world. 5 year goal is to have services/software revenue be 50% of the companies revenue.
4. Give better value for your products. Stop trying to maximize every single cent of profit. Who cares if margins drop from 40% to 38%. We are playing for the long-term. Give a better experience and customers will return. Stop doing cheap tricks like 16GB phones, pathetic 5GB of free iCloud per account, or smaller flash memory in iMac's, or not updating iPad's for 2 years. Stop making cheaper priced models total crap just to get an upsell.
5. Start new services to monitize the user base. Either buy companies or build your own. Apple at a minimum should have their toes in the following services:
a. Search b. Mobile advertising c. Video sharing (like Youtube) d. TV packages e. home security and automation f. video games g. social h. expand iCloud to the business sector
6. The CEO needs to be upbeat and have tremendous energy. He must be confident, almost dilusional. He needs to be supremely confident about Apple's ability to grow and that excitement and confidence needs to bleed through every time he speaks. Cook is like a dead man talking. So dead. So boring.
Remember it always starts at the top. It always starts with the leader. If the leader lead the rest will follow. Cook is not a good leader for Apple at this point. Cook has done a good job running the supply chain but now the emphasize needs to be on services just as much as hardware. Twice under Cook's leadership Apple has lost $250 billion in market capitalization during strong Bull markets. No other company in the history of man has done that even ONCE. Yet Cook was able to do that TWICE in 3 years. A change is needed.
If no change is made Apple will slowly lag and be nothing like the company Steve Jobs left to the world.
Apple didn't lose a dime, but AAPL investors like you and me. In fact, Apple made more and had more cash than ever last year and their executives' bonuses were skyrocketing. Stocks are just a virtual value based on investors' analysis and prediction. It doesn't have anything to do with Apple's performance. That's why 1 fucking rumor can cause AAPL billions of dollars dropped overnight. So, amateur investors like you and me bet on AAPL based on our own perdition and lost. It's no Apple's fault but our bad analysis. The difference between you and me is that I don't cry or whine with bitter feeling blaming CEO for my bad investment in his company. Grow up. We gambled and we lost. Either fucking dump AAPL and move on or invest in GOOG...
God I wish he would have sold them all so we could get rid of him once and for all.
your inability to see both sides of the coin may hurt you. Why do you want to get rid of me? Because the truth hurts? Cause you don't want to hear the possibiity of Apple really messing up things this time?
I noticed that you think Apple will never stagnate. That's the first sign that you are being more of a cheerleader than investor. No company is immune to the possibility of stagnation and then shrinkage.
What gives you confidence that Apple can find the 'next big thing' to replace the inevitable shrinking of iPhone sales?
Your comments bely your pimping $150 for Apple stock last year; maybe you prefer to call it cheerleading, but either way, a self-serving 180 degree turn on the stock.
I am happy that the market is "punishing" Apple. Apple got too successful, and didn't have any competition. They need this rap on the knuckles, and probably need a lot more pain before they are forced to change their ways.
- Doing customer unfriendly measures like Soldering RAM into Mac Mini, and intentionally crippling that product are a sign of arrogance. They had a good design that worked well in the previous version - but they couldnt rip off the customer on upgrades - so they decide to solder the RAM in!! - Not launching TouchID on Mac OS even 2 years after it was launched on iPhone, sign of complacence. - Pricing strategies that charge $100 more for additional flash, etc., that too when Apple gets the cheapest prices on the market, are a sign of greed. - Policies where they operate as "Apple knows best, Apple will decide what you can or cannot do", are not the sign of a long term sustainable company. - ridiculous pricing for accessories like cables, coupled with poor quality of iPhone Lightning cables, and insistence on Certified Accessories will only result in people hating the company more! - Things like "you are holding it wrong" don't work forever. Things like compromising battery life for thin-ness and lower weight beyond a point don't work. The damn device has to last through an entire day!
In general, I wonder if people have wondered why Apple generates so much hatred in the general population. Even people who buy Apple products feel hatred to a large extent - especially when you feel ripped off about things like $19 Lightning cables, etc. In fact, I have heard many a time, people wishing that Apple has a massive product recall or some such disaster, so that they get into serious losses.
This is a company that *intentionally* operates on a model saying f**k you to its customers. Or to put it differently, if you don't want to hand over huge chunks of money to us, then f**k you. The polar opposite of a company like Amazon, where Customer Satisfaction is the beginning and end of the story. Apple has even higher customer satisfaction ratings than Amazon - but paradoxically generates even more hatred.
And mind you - I am not even referring to the hatred of people who dont buy Apple products. I am referring only to the hatred and ill will that Apple supporters and customers feel to the company.
Unless Apple dramatically alters its ways to be a more customer centric company, it will continue to face this issue. Irrespective of product successes and sales, people will always bet that Apple wont be able to sustain its game, and it is just one failure away from doom. This is the biggest issue with the Steve Jobs' legacy, and the sooner Apple can get over this, the better for it.
Don't kid yourself that this is about Services, or about China. The market is not stupid. The market knows Apple Pay, Apple Music, iTunes, etc, are massive Content and Services plays, with potential to create huge businesses around them in the future. Maybe the Apple Ecosystem was limited 5 years back, and just getting into shape 2 years back. But Apple is definitely on the upswing in terms of Ecosystem now. For all the hiccups in China, Apple is still going strong there, and is such a small part of the market that they can grow. This is about something else altogether.
This is about the DNA of the company.
I just sneezed because I am allergic to bullshit. Apple customers don't hate Apple, but none-Apple customers do. Who are those none Apple customers? Fucking Fandroids. They're everywhere like viruses. So, stfu and stop spewing nonsense bs.
I predict that spaceship they are building will become their last straw, their Waterloo....if SJ was still here he could make it work for Apple, but now it just looks like a big white elephant. Oh and I have been an Apple user since 1998, but since Apple went backwards on the Mac Mini upgrade, created a MacPro only the seriously rich can afford, busted up the Aperture party, went all stupid and thin on everything....I've lost my patience with Apple.
Good for you make a stand. Not all that Apple does is great. On the contrary there making a lot of sh**y choices as of late. No ram upgrades with a new mac mini? Really Mr. Cook? You just couldn't stand people buying ram from a 3rd party and installing it themselves because it was cheaper. No no. Tim Cook put a stop to that. "If you buy our mac mini we will make you buy our ram." Sorry Mr. Cook but for the poor mans mac, preventing the upgrade of ram is just counter intuitive for a mac designed to let people who can't afford the high end stuff buy something less expensive. Good Job.
And by preventing people from upgrading from 3rd party ram and forcing them to buy it from Apple, Cook just made Apple how many more dollars that it probably didn't need. As a company that makes so much money you would think Apple would entice its poor man customers not crap on them. But hey what do I know.
Apple just do what other luxury brands did. If you want to upgrade your car, don't buy BMW, but Subaru.
When I saw iPhone 6/6+ in 2014, I said damn, why would Apple want to go all out that way? I personally believe 5" screen was a sweet point at the time and still now. What if instead of making 4.7"/5.5", Apple had made 4.5"/5.0" iPhone 6/6+? Apple would have still sold millions of them anyway. And now, they can make 5.5" iPhone 7 while refreshing 4" iPhone into new design. I bet their sales will skyrocket again. the point is to have 4 screen sizes and redesign 2 at a time every 2 years. So, you have 4.5"/5.5" in new design this year and 4.0/5.0" next year. That way, Apple keep the excitement go on every year.
When I saw iPhone 6/6+ in 2014, I said damn, why would Apple want to go all out that way? I personally believe 5" screen was a sweet point at the time and still now. What if instead of making 4.7"/5.5", Apple had made 4.5"/5.0" iPhone 6/6+? Apple would have still sold millions of them anyway. And now, they can make 5.5" iPhone 7 while refreshing 4" iPhone into new design. I bet their sales will skyrocket again.
There is definitely a market for the 4 inch form factor; how much is the question, but it should give a nice spring bump in sales.
Your financial loss (or imminent) regarding Apple has nothing to do with Apple's actual success. Irrational market forces got the better of your shares. These forces aren't today a reflection of actual success, innovation, or any other slogan currently in vogue, no matter what they happened to reflect, for instance, ten years ago.
This is not ultimately Cook's problem. And it's in the *making* of it to *be* his problem that will cause Apple to lose its way.
I'm sorry about your shares, but you needn't be as irrational as the present market forces, over which, demonstrably, Appls has next to no control.
The best thing for Apple right now is to simply stay the course, allow Ive and co. to do what they do best, and keep nailing the basics.
IMO, the stock will see 80's maybe even 70's if we hit recession. I'm not going to risk additional capital on a company that has such a low understanding on how to communicate its vision to investors.
The market is not irrational. Apple deserves to be punished. Tim Cook was spewing iPhone growth all last year. Even up to Oct he kept saying iPhones would grow, grow, grow. Now we know the truth. iPhone will shrink about 5% in the first 2 quarters of FY2016. No warning at all from Tim. Then he has the balls to blame it all on currency and China. Get real. Currency and China has been going on for MONTHS.
Basically the market can't believe Tim anymore. He lied to investors in October. He failed to warn investors in December that China was weakening. He also failed to warn that America iPhone units was weak too. He can't use the China/Currency excuse on 4% lower units in America.
It is literally impossible for iPhone to continue to grow forever. Eventually growth will stop. And thus far Tim Cook has done NOTHING to help investors see what the next big thing will be. What will be the next revenue stream to make up for iPhone stagnation.
1. iPad has shrunk 8 quarters in a row. Yet Cook still is doing nothing to try to increase sales. The past 2 years he has done crap updates to the Mini. Last year we didn't even see an update for the Air. And on the Apps side the ipad remains just a large screen iPhone at this point.
2. Mac. Cook continues to try to maximize every single cent of profit. The base price iMac and MacMini are ridiculously weak machines. They make it almost impossible to upgrade. Cook should be using the large iPhone install base to increase Mac sales. But instead all he cares about is nickel and diming.
3. Watch. The one device that is growing really fast. Yet Cook refuses to disclose unit numbers. I mean WTF.
You're still crying about your shares. And you're pissed that Cook didn't say more, for *your* benefit, beyond what he's legally bound to say. There's a limit to what shareholders are entitled to. You're blaming Apple for your bad decisions.
Additionally, expecting Apple to innovate *at the pace you expect them to* is unreasonable. Further, not every product will get an update exactly when you'd like. The Mini? You can't be serious.
Your problem is with SEC rules for financial/outlook disclosure, not with Apple. Tim Cook's first responsibility is to his company's revenue and profit, via pleasing the consumer, and not to line your pockets.
iPhone growth was unprecedented all this time, and now Apple lowered their outlook, within the rules. You're upset not over products, not over company performance, but because Cook didn't inform you of the obvious in a timeframe you would have liked, nor did he provide you with information on the Next Big Thing... as if you have a right to that information!
You're a clueless investor, and your thinking is irrational, not to mention incredibly arrogant.
Take your grievances to the SEC, or apply to the courts.
Comments
For the first 18 months of my owning my MBPR, It would just freeze - not even a blue screen of death or the grace to display a kernel panic screen. Sometimes this would happen twice a day or twice a week or sometimes a couple months without. The problem was of course OSX. How do I know - because it finally got fixed with a late Mavericks update. I had something like that occur only a couple times in almost 9 years of daily use of a Powerbook Ti.
Speaking of which. In the photo below is the power plug for that venerable machine. I'll say it again - nigh on 9 years of daily use. Contrast that with the POS cable Apple supplies with the MBPR. The first one pictured is the original. I am always amazed at peoples wondrous stories of walking into Apple Stores and having the kind dudes not only replacing user broken parts like smashed screen without charge, but then also replace almost every other component voluntarily including MBs. It must be something you only get in the US.
That first plug was after just 18 months of use. Apple wanted to f*****g charge me for the service call just to talk with them. I had to threaten small claims court action just to get to talk to someone without being charged for the call. Then they had the cheek to say it wasn't covered as it was past the 12 month warranty. I had to point out that under EU law I had at least a 2 year warranty. I did get them to send me a replacement, but it shouldn't have taken threats of legal action and shouting.
The third image is of the replacement plug, 18 months or so on. Underneath the tape is the same shít. That's Apple quality and attention to detail for you post iOS.
If the company is going to be focusing more on services they're going to have to get a lot better at them. I don't think Eddy Cue is the right guy but I also don't see him going anywhere. As I've argued before what I'd like to see Cook do is split up Cue's role even more. Let Cue focus on content (iTunes, Music, TV, News) and Pay and bring someone in to run Apple's cloud business, maps, Siri, whatever work they might be doing in machine learning and AI. I think Cue's plate is too full and Apple's services are suffering as a result. And if Cue still has responsibility for Apple's pro apps perhaps move those under Schiller. I think something like that would go a long way to giving people a bit more confidence in Apple's services.
I'm actually glad Apple doesn't give a crap about what Wall Street thinks. They make more money and better products that way.
Your financial loss (or imminent) regarding Apple has nothing to do with Apple's actual success. Irrational market forces got the better of your shares. These forces aren't today a reflection of actual success, innovation, or any other slogan currently in vogue, no matter what they happened to reflect, for instance, ten years ago.
This is not ultimately Cook's problem. And it's in the *making* of it to *be* his problem that will cause Apple to lose its way.
I'm sorry about your shares, but you needn't be as irrational as the present market forces, over which, demonstrably, Appls has next to no control.
The best thing for Apple right now is to simply stay the course, allow Ive and co. to do what they do best, and keep nailing the basics.
Apple will not be a pure play services company in the manner that Google, MS, or Facebook are. Nor should they. Apple's purpose for services should be:
1. Add value to the Apple ecosystem
2. Generate revenue from & monetize their user base
A pure play service company, like Facebook, needs as many eyeballs / users as possible and therefore needs to be on as many platforms as possible. Being this type of company is not in Apple's DNA
You're still crying about your shares. And you're pissed that Cook didn't say more, for *your* benefit, beyond what he's legally bound to say. There's a limit to what shareholders are entitled to. You're blaming Apple for your bad decisions.
Additionally, expecting Apple to innovate *at the pace you expect them to* is unreasonable. Further, not every product will get an update exactly when you'd like. The Mini? You can't be serious.
Your problem is with SEC rules for financial/outlook disclosure, not with Apple. Tim Cook's first responsibility is to his company's revenue and profit, via pleasing the consumer, and not to line your pockets.
iPhone growth was unprecedented all this time, and now Apple lowered their outlook, within the rules. You're upset not over products, not over company performance, but because Cook didn't inform you of the obvious in a timeframe you would have liked, nor did he provide you with information on the Next Big Thing... as if you have a right to that information!
You're a clueless investor, and your thinking is irrational, not to mention incredibly arrogant.
Take your grievances to the SEC, or apply to the courts.