chasm

Clearly he managed to annoy a few people (the closet Trump supporters at Apple, most likely), but given that his rating is still 93 percent ... and that 96 percent would have put him in the top 10 ... not too concerned about this, to be frank. He's still 26 points higher than the average CEO, and given what a difference three points can make, that's head and shoulders above the pack.

It's also worth noting that if you deduct the difference in channel reduction from the year-ago quarter and this one, Apple actually sold slightly MORE iPhones this quarter than a year ago. The 50.8M figure only represents shipments to resellers; the total sell-through, Cook said, was quite a bit higher.

I would personally prefer it so that if I wanted to upgrade my RAM or HD I don't need to buy a whole new laptop. Until they started soldering them in, we would routinely update ram and HD's in our company laptops. 

I'm not arguing with this idea now that it has been stated properly but ... the truth of the matter is that very few customers (maybe five percent, tops) ever do this (and yes, I have in fact done studies on this). On top of that, as much as I don't like what I'm about to say ... those five percent then don't buy new machines for far longer than average, actively hurting (to a limited extent) the company's sales. Botched upgrades were, when I was an Apple tech, the second most common reason (behind drops caused by cats, kids, or klutzes) for repairs. Since Apple sealed up most of their machines (and allowed only very limited access like with the 27-inch iMac), repairs for non-breakage has dropped (pardon the pun) to practically zero. I want Apple to make more models RAM-upgradable and SSD-upgradable like my 2012 MBP, but the reality is that they didn't stop doing that just to be mean, anymore than why they sealed the battery. The reality is that most users keep their Macs for four to five years and then buy another one. The number of "for sale" Macs you can find on any Craigslist that are un-upgraded after up to a decade of service tells the tale.

I doubt this "temporary" withdrawal will survive into the final 10.3.2, unless Apple's support line operators are lonely and desperate for screaming phone calls. I suspect it is a warning shot, though, and that come June we will be told that iOS 11 (whenever that comes out, generally in September) will not support such devices. In the short term, this means very little to end-users: if iOS 11 doesn't support their device, they'll just carry on using iOS 10 for a while longer. It's not like apps will instantly become obsolete. What does disappoint me is the large number of developers who appear to be abandoning their old apps. Maybe they'll update them, but there's quite a few I still enjoy playing or use and would hate to see them disappear outright. Of course, I'd also hate to see them just replace those old apps with new ones that you pay for again, but given the low price of iOS apps generally I'd pony up for the ones that were worth it to me.

Is it really too much to ask that you include the word "Rumor" or similar language in your headline? Because that's what this is. Ming-Chi Kuo was *way off* on his last round of predictions, though he has made some good guesses in the past. Please stop stating speculation as fact in headlines. Journalism 101, guys.