fred stein

The top three vendors have non-Android OS'es. So far, only Apple and Samsung have the money and vision to build an ecosystem. Only Apple has OS consistency across devices. Huawei will join the battle soon enough. Qualcomm makes an excellent SmartWatch chip but is already one year behind Apple.

Apple owns the wrist, but they are not a monopoly.

Only Fitbit comes close to Apple's market share, and their balance sheet is declining. Android and Samsung's Gear pick up the remaining crumbs. No other watch maker, except perhaps Huawei, will spend enough to catch up with Apple's A-series chips. All other Smart Watch makers will have to sell excess inventory at firesafe prices whenever a competitor releases a new model.

No need to get worked up, or the read too much into other people's rumors or Cook's statement. For assembly and final configuration, Austin makes a lot of sense. More so since the unit volumes are low and the option combinations are numerous. These decisions can be revisited in the future, and the specific labor can be divided in many ways.

I'd bet a lot of the Mac Pro consumers are in the US, who will appreciate faster shipping times for custom configurations.

And the assembly labor of the Mac Pro is tiny compared to Apple's total cost structure.

Questions:
1) So far Blockchain applications have not had any breakthroughs. I don't count speculative asset bubbles as breakthroughs. I want to see some major benefit at scale.
2) Will it scale? I've heard this is an issue with Blockchain. This is a question not a critique.
3) I applaud addressing the un-banked and under-banked. Apple does not address this sector now. Why can't Apple address this demographic, even if it takes years.
4) How will FB keep Libra from hands of crooks, phishers, money launderers, drug dealers, arms merchants, and human traffickers? Already crooks that hijack corporate IP want ransom paid in Bitcoin.

Thanks, excellent refutation.

Tripp's biggest miss is Apple Watch, a breakthrough. Apple Watch has already relegated Android Wear based Watches to the "other" category occupying fragments of 25% of the SmartWatch / Fitness tracker category. 

This goes beyond Sir Jony Ive's (and his team's) beautiful design. No other SmartWatch maker comes close to Apple in terms of the chips inside. And it is hard to see how they can catch up and achieve positive ROI. The only company that may seriously compete in SmartWatches is Huawei. Apple is not going to rest. They will sustain chip, software, and partnership investment to keep AppleWatch ahead.