fred stein

Way out of my depth, but isn't the iMac a tweener? The MacBooks, all of them, are so popular because they're can be used as the home and the portable for most retail users. And even for enterprise customers, folks hop from meeting to meeting all day and need their computers all the time. So the iMac is for the slightly more affluent or more "pro-am" consumer who buys a MacBook and a desktop, but not a high-end desktop system.

DJT started a trade war. Apple is collateral damage. Sad.

Viable hearing aid? High end hearing aids cost $6,000. Apple could match the performance for a lot less. And the need for an audiologist may go away with new laws.

Siri, like Apple's Maps, was mis-managed by Forstall. Then handed over to Eddie Cue, who had no ability in AI. Finally, Craig got the mandate. It seems Craig realized that AI / NLP is THE future and needed a fully dedicated expert. My guess he told Tim to hire the best and give him carte blanche, C-level authority. I'm total FanBoy, but Siri is terrible. It makes Lily Tomlin as Ernestine look like a genius. "Is this the party to whom I'm speaking" - Showing my age.....

Great article. Thanks.

I would add to the refutation that Apple needs to lower prices. There is already a robust used iPhone market of over 100M units per year at "Android" prices. This used iPhone market provides two benefits:

1) It reduces the effective cost for upgrade buyers who resell their older iPhone.
2) It addresses the price sensitive market, bringing new people into Apple's ecosystem which is growing at Android's expense.

Tim Cook reported that last year, their ecosystem grew by 10%. That is phenomenal for a 40 year old company.

Still, trade wars and global economic worries can impact Apple