radarthekat

mpantone said:

It's not a "secret weapon." It was crystal clear to the entire semiconductor industry back in 2013 when Apple debuted the A7 SoC, the first 64-bit chip widely distributed in a smartphone.

It was a mic-drop moment for Apple. The rest of the industry was speechless because 64-bit wasn't expected for a couple more years. Insightful observers theorized that Apple could be on the path to a desktop processor.

So seven years later when Apple announced Apple Silicon, it wasn't that much of a surprise to the rest of the industry or people who paid attention to such things.

It has been very clear that control over the hardware, software, and service stack gives Apple an advantage that none of their competitors in various markets has. This is not "secret" or hidden. It has been in plain daylight for well over a decade.

It's amazing that even in 2024 there are journalists and technologists who still do not get this.

And remember that consumer technology innovation is driven by smartphones, the primary computing modality of consumers in the present day. It doesn't come from PCs. The A-series SoCs begat the M-series SoCs, not the other way around. And all of the major technology innovations we take for granted today -- wireless communications (including WiFi, Bluetooth, 5G+), NFC contactless payments, biometric identification, location services, digital cameras, computational photography/videography, display panel technology, battery technology, performance+efficiency cores, cloud services, etc. -- all have been driven by smartphones.

What the Trump administration doesn’t seem to grok, along with the MAGA millions, is that bullying allies into concessions by applying tariffs at excessive rates that are detached from the tariff rates those nations apply to our exports, might work to get concessions, which Trump and MAGA will claim as some sort of major victory for America. But in reality those nations he’s bullying with the much bigger economic stick that the United States wields, because he can, has put those nations on notice and has strongly motivated them to work to cut trade deals elsewhere in order to distance themselves from the United States.  This will eventually reduce our standing in the world and shift power in four key aspects to those we compete with on the global stage; in economic standing, in military standing, in technological standing and in global political influence.  He’s shooting us in the foot and his followers are too one-dimensional in their thinking to see it.

bloggerblog said:

Those tariffs are actually worse than what they seem. Ford for example, had provided insights on this. Some of their components cross borders several times before they can make it in a vehicle, and each time they cross a border (either direction) they get taxed. Countries are returning the favor and taxing the US too, so when a component exits the US to get worked on, it gets taxed and when returned to the US it gets taxed again. This can happen up to four times, like an automatic transmission. This was never the case before because there was an agreement between those countries to not tax each other when working on components.

dewme said:

randominternetperson said:

AppleInsider said:

Cook was once described by Steve Jobs as not being a "product person," but he's unquestionably a politician. He apparently kept the working relationship going with Trump before the last election, and he is confirmed to have personally donated $1 million to the president's inauguration.

I'll do more than question it, I'll flat out assert that he is not a politician.

Politicians (at least when the term is used pejoratively, as it seems to here) don't stand for anything, say whatever they need to say, and shift with the slightest breeze.

That isn't Tim Cook. Exhibit 1: https://www.apple.com/diversity/ ;

Perhaps we can agree that he is politically astute, but that doesn't make him a politician.

I agree with your assertions. What Tim Cook is doing, at least when he's wearing his Tim Apple Super CEO suit, is not politics but doing everything he can to ensure the success of his company and all of its stakeholders. However, what Tim Apple does probably does not reflect what Tim Cook, the man, would do in order to maintain his own personal integrity, reputation, value system, and generally how to exist peacefully as a citizen of the world.

The problem for Tim Cook is that every time the president mentions his name or insinuates a real connection with Tim Cook, the man, Tim takes a hit in the things that many people and especially Apple customers value in him, including his reputation and integrity. Tim Cook was hand picked to take the helm when Steve Jobs stepped back. That is a really big deal considering Steve Jobs is the one who restored Apple's reputation, integrity, competitiveness, differentiation from the crowded PC world, and a willingness to always make sure customers were delighted with the products he help bring to market. 

The current president has significantly damaged the reputation, trustworthiness, and reliability of the United States. In the same way, every time another leader in the private sector gets anointed as a "True Trump Buddy" their reputation, trustworthiness, and reliability takes a big hit. In some cases it gets obliterated as we've seen with Elon Musk and Zuckerberg.

Apple will pay a price for this, we just don't know how large or how fire-walled or DMZ'd it can be kept  between the real person and who they play when they step into their corporate role. 

Eclairs said:

The fire cost the same as an iPad + the Fire. It was so frustrating to use, wouldn’t run the apps my kids wanted. And then I had to buy an iPad at the end. Still pissed about buying that thing. What a waste of money. I could have spent that on a case that the kids couldn’t break the iPad with. 

I understand the temptation based on how cheap it is but man im telling you it was a waste of money.