tedz98

Meanwhile outspoken tennis star Peng Shuai is still imprisoned. Slave run factories crank out goods. Reeducation camps are filled up with dissidents. China threatens Taiwan with routine incursions into Taiwanese air space. Reefs are destroyed in the South China Sea to build military bases. The Uyghur Muslims are imprisoned in camps. Hypersonic weapons to attack the US are developed. Espionage in the US stealing and replicating advanced technology continues. Internet filtering and content control, digital spying on citizens and foreign companies is a daily norm. Apple’s investments in China is all about money. They are so proud of their environmentalism because it doesn’t cost them that much money to be green. It’s easy to be green and it doesn’t require any political capital to be green. But it takes balls to take a stand against political and governing malfeasance. Tim Cook is a hypocrite. Embracing the easy political causes of environmentalism, LBGTQ support, education and others. But when it comes to standing up against a totalitarian regime he shows no strength. Look at NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom for the example of a man willing to sacrifice his own financial well being to protest The Chinese government and their way of crushing the freedoms of their people.

Apple is a very hypocritical company. They virtue signal about the environment, recycling, LGBTQ equality, diversity, etc. Yet they tend to treat their lower level employees in fairly mediocre ways. For instance Apple should strive to have nothing but full-time workers in their retail stores with a relatively small percentage of part-time workers. This would offer the staff more opportunities for career growth and advancement. It’s certainly easier to manage a smaller number of full-time staff. Apple’s wealth is beyond comprehension. They could set an example of giving part-time staff better benefits. And they should give much stronger consideration to diversifying their supply chain and reduce their reliance on China for manufacturing. China is home to an extremely repressive government and China’s behavior should not be rewarded. And a final thought- Merry Christmas!

lenn said:

The government has the legal right to enter your house and search every inch of it with a warrant but Apple's Cook says even with a legal warrant we will do everything in our power to stop the government from searching someone's stupid mobile phone?????? So if someone invents a "new technology house" that includes encrypted locks and a system that will destroy all the contents of said house unless you know the right password to enter it that's ok too??? For some reason people today feel that their phones are some how special and above the laws of this and other countries. I personally would much rather have the police search my phone than my entire house, car, ect. Hell the police can even get a warrant to search someone bank safely deposit box! But someone's iPhone is off limits. People keep saying their phone is personal so it's different. So your home, car, ect isn't personal?

Technology has enabled the government to monitor and store massive amounts of personal data “just in case it’s needed” in the future- all in the name of security. Would you feel differently if the government recorded everything that went into your house or car in case they needed to know in the future? The government has shown through history that they are constantly pursuing more power and control over the people.  Your opinion is that of a simpleton who has no comprehension of the bigger picture. 

Apple sees all of the, from their perspective, undesirable legislation that is developing in Washington. This week’s App Store proposed legislation as an example, and want to do things that gains them favors from the legislators. They want to say to the DC crowd look at all of the benefits our ecosystem brings, so you really shouldn’t start mucking around with what we’ve put together. Sure child porn is an abhorrent problem. The ends don’t necessarily justify the means here. This is a classic example of “if you aren’t breaking the law you have nothing to worry about.” And so we go deep er down the road of the surveillance state.

The general public has no understanding of what a file hash is. So the techies at Apple have no understanding of how the general public perceives what they are doing. They just think Apple is scanning their phone. I’m not a huge Bill Maher fan, but I agree with him here. It’s a slippery slope that Apple is embarking on.

On so many levels (geopolitical, IP theft, militarism, political/societal, supply chain, pharmaceuticals, etc.) it makes a whole lot of sense for Apple and other companies to develop long term plans to at least reduce in a significant way their reliance on China for labor, parts, factories, etc. Granted China is a massive country with a huge population that outside companies would love to tap into for revenue. And China certainly incentivizes outside companies to build infrastructure in China if they want to sell goods in China. But there is an over reliance on China for parts and production that needs to be reduced.

I agree with all of the disparaging descriptions and categorizations of Zuckerberg- lest we forget how he stole and cheated the Facebook founding from his days at Harvard. Actually the world needs less Meta Reality, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and more hands-on real world reality. Are we as a society to become a population of drones imprisoned wearing Occulus goggles with our butts firmly anchored to a soft cushy chair? Zuckerberg is morally bankrupt as CEO of Facebook and the world should think twice about using any of his products that enhance his personal wealth and power.

Apple has been shortsighted for many years, manufacturing the vast majority of its devices in China. Some might say they were driven by greed.  China production costs are so low it was easy to keep expanding manufacturing there. But Tim Cook, the uber-supply chain expert should have seen the mess they were creating relying exclusively on Chinese production for their highest revenue products.  Imagine if there ever was a war with China? That would terminate Apple production.  Rather than focusing on how thin and beautiful Apple products are, Tim and company had better move quickly on diverse production sites. Including manufacturing in the USA.  There’s no reason Macs can’t be produced in the US with highly advanced robotics at a cost similar to Chinese production. Apple has been driven too much by quarterly Wall Street numbers. They need to get strategic about manufacturing. And fast!!

This is a classic example of the failures of communism, big government and central planning. They can’t keep the lights on! The article, which in many ways from a journalistic perspective, isn’t written well - doesn’t answer the basic question of why there is a power shortage in China. It also speaks to the corruption of big government. Companies with political influence, and by inference, the resources to bribe officials, are the ones who get electricity (sounds a bit like what’s going on in Washington D.C.) You can be sure if companies are being denied electricity, private citizens are going without power in their homes. Do global warming alarmists really think China is going to limit CO2 output when they are bringing new coal burning power plants online every week, yet still can’t meet power demand? Apple should have been undertaking a serious effort to leave China a long time ago. But the lure of cheap labor and easier profitability has kept them there longer than they should have been. So wake up America! The siren’s lure of big brother government being the provider of the basic necessities of daily life touted by the likes of AOC, Bernie, Biden, Nancy and Schumer are deceptive and false. California, which is already a semi-socialist state, is well on its way to being unable to meet everyday power needs during periods of peak demand. Gavin Newsome and his ilk in Sacramento falsely think they posses the intellectual superiority to control the basic economic, environmental and societal variables of California to lead to optimal outcomes for the citizens of California. Given the outflow of people and companies from California I would argue they are failing. Tesla is moving their headquarters to Texas as a very recent example of this. Not to mention the California problems with homelessness. Apple’s next big worry is TSMC and their reliance on Taiwan for Apple CPU’s. If Apple were smart they’d be knocking on the doors of Intel and other domestic chip producers and start developing backup supply chains for chips. This is a multi-year effort so get started now! The China pendulum has reached its apex. Time for new plans Apple!

Apple’s market share is minuscule. Their overall pricing is higher than PC’s. Overall Apple’s products are of a higher quality, but you pay a premium for that. In a recession price sensitivity increases and I would predict demand for all of Apple’s products, including iPhones, will decrease significantly. The PC world is still dominated by Windows. The growth of cloud services should increase the ability of Apple to sell product in the corporate world, but the price premium may ultimately hinder that.