AppleZulu

Let's hope the court's ruling is enforced and the tariffs are dropped. So many of the executive orders issued by this administration are the legal equivalent of vaporware. They lack legal authority, and as challenges to them make their way through the courts, one after another will be invalidated. Even as that happens and, hopefully, as the court rulings are heeded, the instability that the administration has wrought through this process will be damaging for a long time, hurting markets, businesses, and regular people alike. When you're not happy with the general status quo, the idea of "shaking things up" sounds great, until you find out that the things you care about are also being shaken up. American voters were frustrated in 2024 by inflation, housing costs and reverberating damage from the pandemic working its way through the economy. This tariff bull in an imported china shop only exacerbates those problems. It doesn't fix them.

Who knows what effect this latest turn will have on Apple? Is the best response to Trump's 25% tariff threat now measured silence as we wait to see? From a policy standpoint, there is little to be gained by reacting to a tariff that can't be imposed. Politically, however, if the President issued the threat in the first place as a petty response to Tim Cook's decision not to go on an Arabian holiday, what will be his reaction if Cook simply ignores this public tariff threat? Perhaps the best answer is silence from Cook, and a brief, non-specific statement from the PR department that Apple will be "closely monitoring" the tariff situation as cases go through the courts. 

9secondkox2 said:

And it’s protected users from having their privacy freely invaded (though still a risk) , their devices safer, and their transactions safe since Inception. 

Great job apple. Shame on those who have taken a crowbar to it. 

Just wait until Trump finds out that Apple's app store stands in the way of some new grift that he's developed. What are you going to say when he's the one with the crowbar?

9secondkox2 said:

AppleZulu said:

9secondkox2 said:

Little Bonta isn’t going to do anything. The president has the authority to impose tarriffs and exercise trade policy. Tarriffs ate a trade tool. And he’s using them to get things fairer for America. 

Cook has Trumps number. Just needs to call and provide some assurances. 

Bonta needs to watch Bambi vs Godzilla. 

You still haven’t answered my question. Trump’s demand that Apple open a US iPhone factory in weeks or face a targeted 25% tariff is impossible. If you’re Tim Cook, what’s your response to an impossible demand? 

Pick a model and assemble here with robots and humans. iPhone SE/Air, or whatever. There are lots of unemployed folks who'd jump at the chance. something is better than nothing.

So your answer is to lie. If you're Tim Cook, your response to Trump would be to lie and say you're going to build an iPhone here when you know that isn't going to happen anytime soon, if ever. "Pick a model" doesn't solve the impossibility problem. There are no iPhone models that wouldn't require building a factory, developing supply chains, finding workers and training them. Also, it's worth noting that picking the lowest-priced model, "iPhone SE/Air, or whatever," would maximize the losses Apple would incur if they made the investment to build them here. So your recommendation isn't just to lie, but to really make it a whopper.

Of course, there's a certain poetry to responding to Trump with lies, since lies are the only language Trump speaks. Unfortunately, that particular lie isn't going to do much other than feed the unstable status quo. Cook already started out the year by trying to let Trump think that Apple's existing plans for US investments were Trump's idea. That worked for a while, but because things in the real world take time and money, Trump launched the current tariff threat because he realized iPhones aren't suddenly being made here. Letting Trump think he's won something with this tariff threat won't buy much time, either. Apple will announce the iPhone 17 line soon, and they won't be made in the US. When it suddenly dawns on Trump that his tariffs haven't changed that fact, he's just as likely to declare even bigger iPhone tariffs, Apple will be back to square one, and you'll be back on here telling us it's all part of Trump's plan. 

9secondkox2 said:

Will be interesting to see the fruit of continued talks between cook and the president. 

Tarriffs are no fun. But necessary to restore the balance of power in global trade. 

The president has tried to help apple through this as much as possible. Bow it’s Cook’s turn to do his part. Hopefully this lights a fire under him to get after it. 

As one of the few who imagines that Trump "has a plan" behind all the tariff bluster, I'm going to ask you again. Trump has given Apple four weeks to build and open an iPhone factory in the United States, or face a 25% tariff on all iPhone imports. Since that is impossible to do, what is it you think Tim Cook should say to "do his part?" 

Javert24601 said:

AppleZulu said:

This starts to perhaps support my argument that the home hub itself will be a screen-less, stationary box, like Apple TV, that will provide centralized computational power to enable AI on all home-networked devices, including HomePods, TVs and dedicated home control screens. The J490 screens described here would be comparatively inexpensive portable terminals, networked to the hub. Wall mounts (and other mount options) would give the screens a powered home base, with the idea that a home would have multiple screens distributed to key locations. 

Having a truly Apple-like Apple Home where it all “just works” depends on reliable and convenient user control available throughout the home. HomePods offer distributed voice control, but convenient hands-on control has thus far included the common inconvenience of the user having left their iPhone or iPad elsewhere in the home. Wall-mounted terminal screens inexpensive enough to own a few resolve that problem. 

I certainly hope Apple is not planning on wall-mounted terminal screens.  That would look like the Control-4 screen controls that the previous owners of my house had installed ~10 years ago.  I'm sure they were "state of the art" at the time, but they did not age well.  When I remodel the home, I had them ripped out and drywalled the openings (as well as the old telephone ports).  Technology advances quickly, so nothing should be wall mounted.  They become obsolete and are more difficult to update.  Furthermore, the manufacturer (ie Apple) is locked into a certain device size.  Is Apple going to expect home owners to make wall openings bigger or smaller with every iteration?  Is Apple going to keep the power cable at the exact same location forever?  Is Apple is going expect home owners to be running electrical and ethernet cables for every device?  If Apple does produce such a device, then we know that Apple employees clearly don't use their company's own products and don't help consumers think through the implications of their decisions.  

You’ve gone down a rabbit hole. This wouldn’t be a permanent wall mount. It would be something like a MagSafe charger you attach to the wall and plug into power nearby. The screen would be a tablet that you can remove if desired, and would be connected to the home hub via WiFi. And no, the screen wouldn’t be an iPad, but rather a dedicated Home Screen, dependent on the home hub to operate.