JWSC

So, Tim is right, as far as his statement goes.  But let’s not forget who built up China - American bean counters who, it turns out, really didn’t know which beans they should be counting.

First it was, ‘Chinese labor is cheap’ so let’s manufacture there.  And then ‘oh crap, the Chinese don’t have proper infrastructure’ so let’s get them started with that.  Then more second tier Chinese suppliers sprung up, and more infrastructure was put in place.  And then large regions such as Shenzhen turned into massive draws for subsistence farmers looking for a better life.  And they morphed into a large and highly skilled labor force.  And then even more infrastructure was put in place.

But the bean counters neglected to take full account of the logistics needed to ship all the bits and pieces all around the world.  And what might have worked OK 20 years ago is woefully out of date today.  But we can’t change our sourcing now.  China has the infrastructure, right??!

So yea, China has all that going for it now.  I begrudge them not.  But the US, and Europe, can and should have that too.

All the excuses in the world can’t take away from the fact that American CEOs, CFOs and their assorted bean counters sold out their communities and their company rank and file to get a few extra pennies on the dollar out of product so they could please their stockholders and get those extra bonuses, while their US factories got shut down and their once loyal employees got a pick slip.  That’s a f-ing bitter pill to swallow.

Tim, do better!

wood1208 said:

It is hard. Chinese have been stealing tech secret for long time. It is just rest of the world don't know how much and how!!! Chinese have planted tech stealers in Universities research labs, defense and other high tech corporations,hacking through government sponsored, just every which way you can steal and cripple country like America's future economy.

You just don't have be worry about Russians but lot more so of Chinese, way more.

tommikele said:

JWSC said:

That’s it China.  Just keep going.  Just keep giving Apple more reasons to diversify manufacturing out of your country.  The sooner, the better.  And good riddance.

The Chinese are the ones who are in a position to say good riddance to Apple and not the other way around as you claim.

You don't know too much about business, do you?

Mike Wuerthele said:

JWSC said:

This article misses the boat a bit because most of us know that Apple will not discontinue support for the HomePod anytime soon.  What is disconcerting is Apple’s decision to cancel it does leave one with the impression that Apple is rudderless with regard to product development and support.  Apple does not appear to have a “product champion” assigned as an owner to each of their products.  That’s bad news when the VP of hardware engineer in clearly has his eye elsewhere.

Most of the AI forum goers know, yes. But, AI is for everybody, with varying levels of knowledge. Our emails were bonkers this weekend.

The HomePod ecosystem isn't dead. It evolved into the HomePod mini, like Apple said.

Anilu_777 said:

jdw said:

I personally feel folks need to leave Musk alone.  He bought Twitter.  He can and SHOULD try things.  You win sometimes and you lose sometimes.  Not all decisions are good.  But CHANGE is better than what the old Twitter did.

I am mainly writing this post because I spotted a separate article here on AppleInsider today entitled "How to delete your Twitter account on iOS & the web."  I couldn't help but feel that was pushing the "We think Twitter is bad, and we think you should feel that way too" narrative.  And what do you know?  Comments are BANNED under that article, thereby giving credence to my suspicions.

The world has gone mad.  The very fact people spend so much time on social media is partly evidence of that.  Calm down.  Take a deep breath.  Look outside at the beautiful world instead of your mobile phone.  Think positive thoughts rather than be so critical.  There is a batter way.  Most people simply chose not to pursue it.

I agree with your last paragraph but not the first two. Twitter was a shitshow before Musk and it has only gotten worse since he bought it. Having a decent “town square” where debates could happen and things could be shared very much depends on the moderators preventing said shitshow. Threads will undoubtedly become just as bad. 

zimmermann said:

I was shocked to see the new MacBook Pro. It really looks fat. Heavy. 

darkvader said:

GOOD!

His early stuff wasn't awful.  Everything he's touched for the last 15+ years has been.