michael_c

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michael_c
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  • Conservative group to attack Apple over 'hypocrisy' on religious freedom during shareholder meeting

    Apple is a US based corporation and therefore it's appropriate to comment about things going on in the US.  Family members can dispute things they don't like in their own home, but it would be inappropriate to do so when a guest in someone else's home.  Apple's role in the US is quite different than it's role in other countries.
    The NCPPR should learn the concept of the tail wagging the dog.  Sorry to hear we'll have to hear their spiel again on Friday.
    nolamacguyAnironnmanfred zornhlee1169drowjony0justadcomicsIanMC2badmonk
  • San Bernardino victims to support FBI in iPhone decryption fight

    Is this the modern day's McCarthyism at work - government leaning on families of victims to apply pressure on Apple? What's the likelihood that the killers had used the county issued phone and failed to dump it when they reportedly dumped their personal phones and other devices? Looks like the FBI is using the San Bernardino attack as a way to get what James Comey has been trying to get for years - a backdoor into IOS.
    numenorean
  • Avid iPhone user Donald Trump calls for Apple boycott over encryption fight

    Any American who thinks Trump should be President is also a clown. You churn out a lot of them in the US. 
    Sad but true ... Trump continually reminds me of a quote from Abraham Lincoln - "Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool than to Speak and Remove All Doubt". Not going to happen with Trump.
    john.bcornchippalomine
  • Protestors gather at San Francisco Apple Store to support fight against government backdoors


    apple ][ said:
    jkinsdca said:
    do you think their tune would change? 
    My tune wouldn't change one bit.

    To put it bluntly, Apple is far more secure than the US govt, and I entrust my information more with Apple than I would with the US govt, as they've already proven numerous times that they cannot be trusted to protect information.

    I agree, but even if the government was perfect at guarding the "backdoor", a designed-in weakness in iOS could be exploited by thieves or terrorists.  I am less concerned with someone having access to my messages and emails, but do have concern with access to my financial accounts, keychain access, and home access (home automation).  Granted, I would most likely be able to Isolate a stolen/lost iPhone so it would no longer be treated as a trusted device, but that's not a given.
    The reality is that third party encryption tools exists and those who want to harm will add their own layer of communication security.  Weakening iOS security will leave the rest of us vulnerable at no net benefit to gain info on those who wish to harm.
    lostkiwi
  • Apple, Inc CEO Tim Cook's piqued peek at Peak iPhone

    vvswarup said:
    There isn't that "get in now before it's too late" feeling with Apple stock like there is with Amazon, Google, or Facebook or other tech companies that command higher multiples. The bottom line is that people don't think Apple will grow by leaps and bounds in the future. Apple's famed secrecy doesn't help and neither does Tim Cook's private, low-key personality. People are convinced that Apple intends to sit back and milk the iPhone, never mind that Apple has spent more than it ever has on capex and R&D. How much does it cost to make a thinner iPhone with a better camera? All that R&D has to be going to something. 

    In spite of that, the worst thing Apple can do right now is to start trying to play the game of directly influencing investor perception. Investors are sometimes slow to come around. That's why we have asset bubbles all the time. Investors don't take the time to ask some important questions. Apple should reject the experts and work on making good products. 


    I agree with the essence of what you're saying, even though the timing of your first comment may be a bit off, as AMZN, GOOGL and FB are not experiencing the high flyer feel they did at their peaks.  AMZN down ~30%, GOOGL and FB down ~16%.  The latter two have seen their 16% drop over the last 6 days of trading.  Time will tell if support continues to hold, but they along with the rest of the market appears to be in capitulation and respecting their  Intermediate - Long term 50% retracement levels - which is where AAPL is as well.

    Wall Street, unfortunately, looks at year over year comps (YOY) to judge whether demand for iPhones is still in tact.  As has been said many places, 2014 holiday quarter was different than other holiday quarters as it's sales included buyers who wouldn't have purchased the iPhone if it weren't for the shift to the larger form factor, and this additional demand spilled over to the following quarter because of production constraints.  Not saying anything new here, but if you stripped out those sales to get a better feel for whether general demand has weakened, the YOY comps would have been much better for the last holiday quarter and the upcoming quarter would be in line for a continuation of significant growth.  How much better is hard to say, but if you treated the phenomenal growth numbers for 2015 as an outlier and assumed 2016 growth will be flat, then the iPhone sales trend is intact. Cook alluded to this in the conference call, but the markets, as you have said don't always connect the dots well.  
    ibill