k2kw

corrections said:

WarrenBuffduckh said:

More relevant to the Q. “ Will the COVID-19 disaster sink Apple's premium hardware?” is that we’re waiting, waiting and waiting for AirTile, AirPower, AppleHeadphone, AirPodsPro Lite, AppleGlasses, AppleCar, iTV, iPhone SE2, MacBook 14”, iMac, HomePod 2020. No, it’s not COVID-19 that is the (main) cause of delays - although it will certainly be attributed being so. The core problem is the dispersed focus on all the services mentioned, the CEO not obsessed with products, and the money addiction of the immense Tech Bureaucracy he created reaping fruits from Steve’s ideas. Steve said: “Stay lean and mean, stay foolish, focus on products” Tim did: “Become large and keep counting, focus on cash” Hence its inability to act as a lean, mean and innovative aggressor. It has become merely defensive, sadly, where keeping market share is key and innovation considered merely disruptive. On the individual employee level that translates “Think different” into “Think indifferent”.

The fact that you can list off almost a dozen products that a lot of iPhone users know about and are interested in evaluating or buying says much more about Apple's level of competency and performance.
What is anyone waiting to come out of Facebook or Google, and what of those things would anyone actually pay for?
I don't get your contrast between Jobs and Cook. Jobs tried many more wild things out as desperate reaches than Cook ever has. Jobs introduced iPod Socks and floated out some pretty bad software and internet services, including multile things he felt compelled to appoligize in public for. Cook has rather deftly launched hit after hit, even after the obvious product niches were filled.
Cook is sailing a much larger ship. He can hire smart people to make design decisions. Jobs had a magical vision for knowing what upcoming generations would want and need. But if he were still around, he'd likely still be pushing for fake leather trim on windows and shiny chrome knobs in the UX, stuff that just slows down real progress in utility. Jobs was sort of notorious his whole life for occasionally prioitizing something really inessential over the greater good of a product.
Apple would be far worse off if Cook blustered along as if he thought he were really The Visioary rather than being really excellent at operations. At this scale, Apple should be run by somebody capable of delegating work to a design talent team, rather than somebody who is there to stroke their "I'm a genius ego." Imagine if Apple run by some ultra privelaged rich dick who thinks he's smarter than he really is, like Elon.

SpamSandwich said:

melgross said:

georgie01 said:

seanismorris said:

My amateur projections saying the number of infected will quadruple over the next 2 week (in the USA)...

I really hope I’m wrong.

You may be right and of course that would be very bad, but we as a country desperately need perspective. As of now, if the coronavirus deaths quadruple they will still be less than projected deaths for the flu. It also very likely that the death rate is strongly skewed toward a higher death rate since those who are suffering are mainly the ones being tested.

I only say these things because our panic and overreactions to the coronavirus is causing more problems than the virus itself. We need to take it seriously, but we need to have perspective and patience.

And we also need self discipline—if people were acting responsibly this outbreak would already be under control, and we’d also not be perpetually out of foods and supplies and greedy losers charging $40 for a 16oz bottle of ‘Equate’ (Walmart brand) isopropyl alcohol on eBay.

The biggest problem we’ve had as a nation is the politicized response of this administration. Even though its been forced to acknowledge the seriousness of this horrible disease, it still refuses to do whatever is required. Still playing politics even now.

to think that this isn’t as serious as medical authorities are saying it is, is willfully criminal. 

It’s understood than many deaths from this are going underreported as they are being ascribed to other illnesses, such as pneumonia, which is a major result of Covad-19, and is what many people die from once they get Covid-019.

the minimum number of deaths from this, assuming everything is done properly, and all required medical equipment is readily available, which it is not, is over 100,000. Assuming things wont get too much worse than that, with known shortages of ventilators and other vital equipment, the estimate is around 240,000 deaths. The numbers soar from there with more extreme scenarios, all the way up to an unlikely 4 million. There are normally between 20,000 and 40,000 deaths from the flu every year here, with a delayed vaccine in 2017 resulting in 80,000 deaths. There is no vaccine for this, and likely wont be one for around 18 months, with medical researchers stating that that would be a miracle. I hope that time line will be shorter, but it’s not very likely. Even the US company that has a candidate that is going to testing right about now, has said that it will still take 18 months, assuming it works, something that we don't know.

We still have some southern and Midwest governors refusing to instate social distancing rules. Rules that are enforced. They say that there aren’t enough cases in their states yet to do that. Stupidity unbounded! They don't seem to understand that the best time to do that is when there are few, or even no cases. So they’ll wait for more advice from the White House, they say, before instituting these rules.

This whole response makes me sick, and not with the virus, because my wife and I are being very careful, and not going out.

Those things you are so concerned about are State responsibilities, not the Federal government.

What I find so bizarre is those who have  been the biggest critics of this President are also the same ones who are demanding more of an authoritarian response from the Feds. Those two trains of thought don’t run on the same track.

Fatman said:

Do NOT use Zoom for conference calls for any reason (the CEO is Chinese and ‘borrowed’ the technology from his days working at WebEx). Zoom routes traffic through Chinese state owned servers, scans for technical content and steals it. Their marketing states that Zoom connects with end to end encryption - an outright lie. The software client skirts the protected install process to compromise the host computer. ZOOM is giving away the service for free, taking advantage of the COVID epidemic, so they can access data from key universities and companies. China will become a stronger nation because of Zoom, the CEO a national hero. Please spread the word!

mjtomlin said:

georgie01 said:

seanismorris said:

My amateur projections saying the number of infected will quadruple over the next 2 week (in the USA)...

I really hope I’m wrong.

You may be right and of course that would be very bad, but we as a country desperately need perspective. As of now, if the coronavirus deaths quadruple they will still be less than projected deaths for the flu. It also very likely that the death rate is strongly skewed toward a higher death rate since those who are suffering are mainly the ones being tested.

I only say these things because our panic and overreactions to the coronavirus is causing more problems than the virus itself. We need to take it seriously, but we need to have perspective and patience.

Point 1. Anyone who suspects they may have is being tested, not just “those who are suffering”.

Point 2. You cant base “overreacting” to what the numbers show NOW. This isn’t about NOW, its about preparing for what might come, if you dont do anything NOW. This ignorance is EXACTLY why the US has sharply risen in the passed week - no one took it seriously when they SHOULD have - long before it became a problem. With an epidemic you have to fix it before it begins, otherwise its too late.

Point 3. “If the deaths quadruple” ... We havent even started with the body counts yet. The US is going to surge and surpass all other countries combined due to the lack of national leadership and management. 

GeorgeBMac said:

ElCapitan said:

If these are not masks that Apple somehow magically have come up with independently of all other sources, Apple should get out of the queue of HC institutions and countries across the planet desperately clamoring for such masks on the global market.
20 million masks to Apple means some others needy in another country probably would go short of masks. (that is how brutal the global market for masks is right now)

Having the masks on hand, Apple should donate the masks to the US federal pooled resources so they can be distributed to those needing them most, and get out of the business of virtue signaling.

Apple didn't find these face shields, they designed them and manufactured them.

And, giving them to U.S. federal pools would be a waste since those pools are being so badly mismanaged.  They do not, for instance, distribute desperately needed ventilators where they are needed.  Instead they give them to for-profit distributors who then sell them to the highest bidder - with all 50 states bidding for them!   The only question is:  WHO is getting rich off of this scheme?  It's likely a complicated financial scheme so that

It's a shame that the total lack of national leadership forces individuals and individual companies to design, manufacture and distribute much needed supplies and equipment by themselves on their own -- while Americans sit home and sew face masks!   MAGA!

GeorgeBMac said:

ElCapitan said:

If these are not masks that Apple somehow magically have come up with independently of all other sources, Apple should get out of the queue of HC institutions and countries across the planet desperately clamoring for such masks on the global market.
20 million masks to Apple means some others needy in another country probably would go short of masks. (that is how brutal the global market for masks is right now)

Having the masks on hand, Apple should donate the masks to the US federal pooled resources so they can be distributed to those needing them most, and get out of the business of virtue signaling.

Apple didn't find these face shields, they designed them and manufactured them.

And, giving them to U.S. federal pools would be a waste since those pools are being so badly mismanaged.  They do not, for instance, distribute desperately needed ventilators where they are needed.  Instead they give them to for-profit distributors who then sell them to the highest bidder - with all 50 states bidding for them!   The only question is:  WHO is getting rich off of this scheme?  It's likely a complicated financial scheme so that

It's a shame that the total lack of national leadership forces individuals and individual companies to design, manufacture and distribute much needed supplies and equipment by themselves on their own -- while Americans sit home and sew face masks!   MAGA!

GeorgeBMac said:

ElCapitan said:

If these are not masks that Apple somehow magically have come up with independently of all other sources, Apple should get out of the queue of HC institutions and countries across the planet desperately clamoring for such masks on the global market.
20 million masks to Apple means some others needy in another country probably would go short of masks. (that is how brutal the global market for masks is right now)

Having the masks on hand, Apple should donate the masks to the US federal pooled resources so they can be distributed to those needing them most, and get out of the business of virtue signaling.

Apple didn't find these face shields, they designed them and manufactured them.

And, giving them to U.S. federal pools would be a waste since those pools are being so badly mismanaged.  They do not, for instance, distribute desperately needed ventilators where they are needed.  Instead they give them to for-profit distributors who then sell them to the highest bidder - with all 50 states bidding for them!   The only question is:  WHO is getting rich off of this scheme?  It's likely a complicated financial scheme so that

It's a shame that the total lack of national leadership forces individuals and individual companies to design, manufacture and distribute much needed supplies and equipment by themselves on their own -- while Americans sit home and sew face masks!   MAGA!

GeorgeBMac said:

ElCapitan said:

If these are not masks that Apple somehow magically have come up with independently of all other sources, Apple should get out of the queue of HC institutions and countries across the planet desperately clamoring for such masks on the global market.
20 million masks to Apple means some others needy in another country probably would go short of masks. (that is how brutal the global market for masks is right now)

Having the masks on hand, Apple should donate the masks to the US federal pooled resources so they can be distributed to those needing them most, and get out of the business of virtue signaling.

Apple didn't find these face shields, they designed them and manufactured them.

And, giving them to U.S. federal pools would be a waste since those pools are being so badly mismanaged.  They do not, for instance, distribute desperately needed ventilators where they are needed.  Instead they give them to for-profit distributors who then sell them to the highest bidder - with all 50 states bidding for them!   The only question is:  WHO is getting rich off of this scheme?  It's likely a complicated financial scheme so that

It's a shame that the total lack of national leadership forces individuals and individual companies to design, manufacture and distribute much needed supplies and equipment by themselves on their own -- while Americans sit home and sew face masks!   MAGA!

GeorgeBMac said:

ElCapitan said:

If these are not masks that Apple somehow magically have come up with independently of all other sources, Apple should get out of the queue of HC institutions and countries across the planet desperately clamoring for such masks on the global market.
20 million masks to Apple means some others needy in another country probably would go short of masks. (that is how brutal the global market for masks is right now)

Having the masks on hand, Apple should donate the masks to the US federal pooled resources so they can be distributed to those needing them most, and get out of the business of virtue signaling.

Apple didn't find these face shields, they designed them and manufactured them.

And, giving them to U.S. federal pools would be a waste since those pools are being so badly mismanaged.  They do not, for instance, distribute desperately needed ventilators where they are needed.  Instead they give them to for-profit distributors who then sell them to the highest bidder - with all 50 states bidding for them!   The only question is:  WHO is getting rich off of this scheme?  It's likely a complicated financial scheme so that

It's a shame that the total lack of national leadership forces individuals and individual companies to design, manufacture and distribute much needed supplies and equipment by themselves on their own -- while Americans sit home and sew face masks!   MAGA!