hammeroftruth

badmonk said:

Actually the absurdity of this is that the final assembly of an iPhone has little value.  I have read analyses that put this at much less than 10% (maybe as low as 5%) of the final value of the phone.  Most of the value of the phone are in the components that can only be sourced by a very few manufacturers, usually located in Asia (it’s called high tech manufacturing for a reason).  iPhone assembly is not going to be a middle class single wage earner job (unless you want to engage in a soviet-style jobs program). And note these phones will not be able to be sold outside the USA because they will be too expensive, so again it will be an expensive jobs program.

The question is whether Americans want to do this work in enough numbers and whether this investment makes sense.  Apple makes 600 thousand phones a day and they are made largely by hand.  Not to mention around a 1/3 of equipment needed to make a factory will need to be imported and hence subjected to tariffs.  Not to mention the personnel needed to get a factory up and running will need to be imported.  The Trump administration is too ideologically blinded to make this happen in a cost effective intelligent fashion.

Tariffing Apple is a tax on an American company that will lead to higher prices, lay-offs and make our country poorer.  And repeat the same for every American company taxed as a result.  Shooting the legs off the American economy is not going to lower our debt.  Honestly, congress should take the power of tariffs out of Trump’s hands.  Or impeach him.

And the fact that the source of the tariff was not some intellectual stance but because Tim Cook didn’t go to the middle east for a circle jerk is galling.

gatorguy said:

quakerotis said:

the smart home is a myth 

There's plenty of room for improvement, but it's hardly still at the point of a myth. 

I currently have dozens of smart devices that in general all work together: Smartphones, Chromebook, security cameras both indoor and out, several smoke and monoxide detectors, HDTV's, multiroom sound system, multiple thermostats, multiple lights, "Find My" trackers, mesh internet system, earbuds, display hubs, temperature sensors, smartwatch, media streaming devices, pod speakers, security system, power outlets....

My smart home is pretty well stocked at the moment. My biggest complaint is the reliability still isn't where it needs to be. Turning on/off the kitchen lights should be nearly as consistent as walking over to the switchplate, but it isn't. Failures happen as much as 10% of the time or thereabouts ( I don't actually keep a record), which is enough for many consumers to decide it's not yet worth the investment. 

anthogag said:

The Trump circus is probably more concerned about the US being at the leading edge of technology. Apple should make its most sophisticated and advanced components in the US. This would probably solve everything.

sflocal said:

I will say that responsibility falls on the user.  Can't blame anyone else.

That being said, it irritates the hell out of me that Apple's App Store has so much garbage apps and that Apple allows such apps to even exist on the App Store.

byronl said:

Seems a lot of Apple's plans have crashed in the past decade lol. That's why they're barely growing anymore.