nubus

longfang said:

Kuminga said:

No, these countries all had trade barriers on US goods

Did you know that Australia does not allow US beef because they say it’s poisonous due to poor US ranchers techniques ? Are you dead from eating UA beef? I am not.

Europe did same to American chickens .

That is why US export numbers so low and what Trump trying to fix 

From personal experience, US chicken smells funny. 

The smell is due to US doing acid washes of chicken (used to be chlorination). It is a way of compensating for poor hygiene standards. In general US food standards are good and on fresh dairy products the US standards are higher than EU. But for chicken and food additives US standards are driven by the industry.

On beef the problem is the US use of drugs/hormones in some products. There is a massive zero-tariff quota for clean US beef with USDA helping farmers. Stop complaining and start producing something people want to buy. Tesla showed that Europeans are ready to buy US cars. US wine makers are doing fine (or used to). It really is all about the product.

24 years of Apple Store openings and the distribution of stores continues to puzzle me as it doesn't relate to population. California is 1 store per 740k. Japan 1 per 11 million. UK is 1 per 1.7 million. China is 1 per 51 million. Africa continues to have zero stores. Not even in Cairo or Johannesburg. 

Differences in GDP can't explain all of it. What is going on?

kempathonnodge said:

There has to be governmental regulation, and it has to have some teeth or tech companies wield too much power over an entire population and economy. We now live in a world where companies wield more power than governments.

The comment from Google sums up the problem - “regulation can’t get in the way of growth”… so we should put froth before the wellbeing users?

Fully agree. Regulation can force companies to stay out of the sewer as clearly they're not capable of doing so on their own.

Case: Regulation on forced labor was too much for Apple and the company lobbied against it. Lobbying against forced labor! Cook is no Schindler - he is just going for profit at any human cost. Not that Alphabet is any better.

A bit of regulation seems to be in order.

A 40% attach rate is fantastic. How to improve? Sell more iPhones! It will make people buy AirPods (not only Pro) and services. Lowering the entry point is IMHO key and 16e is too expensive. Think like Gillette and get more units out.

charlesn said:

Mark Gurman is now reporting on the usabilty/legibility issues that have forced Apple to really scale back the Liquid Glass appearance in iOS 26 beta 3. I haven't been using the betas, so I don't have a personal opinion, but with reports that the interface now looks like a frosted or diluted glass look, this is starting to sound like a half-assed UI appearance that isn't going to make anyone happy.

App UX'ers at work were not happy with beta 2. I'm too lazy/old to try every beta, but they showed me the bottom toolbar on iOS. It was ineligible, probably wouldn't pass accessibility requirements (EU), and the UX was attention craving on scroll. With beta 3 the glass is gone for this very visible UX element. It does indeed look flat.

Taking the concept from AVP (a platform with less scroll) to iOS might need generations of adjustments.

mikethemartian said:

If he meets shareholders future expectations he will stay, if he doesn’t he will go. It is as simple as that.

Dropping from #1 to #3 and on his way to #4 due to sales stalling, the Google deal, tariffs, and an infinite number of lost legal battles. Cook made Warren Buffett sell 2/3 of his holdings. Clearly shareholders are not pleased. In a decade of cloud computing and AI we experienced Apple having the best chip, being first with Neural Engine, and then... instead of doing a gaming console, cloud computing, or shipping AI... he killed the server business and spent 10 years on a car and headset with the same success as when Sculley did Newton.

The Google deal is around 10% of profits for Apple and tariffs are hitting hard. Apple will remain relevant but Cook can't bring Apple back to #1. He was an outstanding COO, made Apple scale, and probably saved Watch by transitioning it from fashion to health (or somebody did). It really is time for the next CEO.

Is Apple aiming to implement features on a state, territory, or developer level? macOS Guam? iOS Epic? I'm sure school districts in Texas would like to warn anyone going to cnn.com. Apple is IMHO spending too much time on weird legal battles.

Mike Wuerthele said:

BH has 300 million shares in AAPL. It is more than 20% of the total holdings. I don't think you can say that Buffett doesn't like Apple.

If shareholders are displeased, they're looking at about the last five minutes, which is ridiculous.

Cook's the right guy, in the right job, at the right time. Who's your pitch for his replacement?

BH dropped 2/3 of their stocks. I wouldn't say BH is pleased with his performance. Cook took the job when Apple was #1. It is now #3. With tariffs and the Google case it could be #4.

Shareholders do look at 5 minutes and it can be ridiculous. The CEO of the #1 most valuable company in Europe 2024 lost his job earlier this year due to stock performance. With Cook - lack of products, lack of diversification, and stalling revenue.

Pitch for replacement... 75% of GDP and 96% of the population is outside US. Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Nvidia, AMD, Tesla, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Coca Cola (another BH favorite) - all multinational corporations with a CEO raised outside US. I would however go with Sam Altman. Not due to AI but for his mindset.

MisterKit said:

Not to worry. Open market app stores can't wait to host the fraudsters.

First DOGE those that could deal with fraudsters and then demand a monopoly due to the world being scary? Crony capitalism. It will help Apple until Apple has been standing still for too long.

Go to any DMV "service location" to bask in the experience of no free markets. Visit any USPS office to enjoy the short queues and customer focused products delivered (or not). Having no competition is great if you're too lazy to compete. I say we're ready for a Family Store for apps, an American Apps store, and even The Sleazy Store.