damonf

sog35 said:

Cook needs to build some phones in India. 

That would be a smart move and give Apple more leverage against China.

But the Chinese could then say, "You move any iPhone manufacturing out of China into India, you can kiss iTunes Movies, etc. in China goodbye".  The problem is with India's protectionism.  Rather than get their population growth under control like China did with its "one child per family" policy, India thinks it can get the rest of the world to solve all of its current and future unemployment issues (just like Trump plans to force Apple to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.).  Maybe the U.S. should slap some tariffs on India's "remote IT services and support" sector.  That might get them to realize they can't play one-sided (all take, no give) in the world economy.

sog35 said:

  I disagree. Microsoft has had horrible sales peformance the last 2 years. Sales have been shrinking at an alarming rate.  But their stock is still doing great. Why?

Because the CEO has a clear message and vision about Microsofts future.  Apple does not. Tim Cook is a horrible CEO for the Apple of today.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.  You're using Microsoft as your bellwether example?  Oh my God.  Let's look at the STELLAR job Microsoft has been doing lately:

- Nagging the hell out of users to upgrade Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 to upgrade to Windows 10.  So much so that an on-air weather forecast gets interrupted by a Windows 10 upgrade dialog on a running production machine.

- No clear understanding if the free Windows 10 upgrade will continue beyond the self-declared 1-year end date coming up this summer.  And is Microsoft going to yank the rug out from under all the free upgraders and go to a subscription model?

- Rename corporate IM system "Lync" to "Skype for Business".  Has no relationship to existing Skype, which has been plagued by sign-in and calling issues.  No clear path of integration. Mass-confusion in corporate offices because people don't get that there's a difference between "Skype for Business" and "Skype" on their personal smartphones.

- Confusion as to which functions of Microsoft Office are indeed available across the PC desktop version vs the online Office 365 vs Windows Phone and iOS vs Mac OS.  Let's also not forget the "free 1 TB of OneDrive" offer that got yanked from all existing Office 365 subscribers.

- The utter disaster that is Windows 10 Mobile, universal apps, 3% smartphone market share, an Android app porter that was so good they had to yank it lest developers stop developing universal apps and instead only port Android apps as-is, the inability to get carriers to offer Windows phones, the massive waste of money in purchasing Nokia, app developers calling it quits and pulling their own existing Windows phone apps..... need I go on?

Yeah, Microsoft really does have their act together.  Where is the clear message and vision in all of this???  The only vision I see is mass-confusion.  Why don't you sell your Apple stock and buy Microsoft?

sog35 said:

sflocal said:

Just.Be.Quiet.

Me being quiet won't change the facts.

Tim Cook wasted $115 BILLION in shareholder money in the buyback. 
He did it because of pressure from Ichan.
The stock has gained NOTHING in valuation from that waste of money.

Before the buyback Apples was worth over $700 billion.
Now after wasting $115 billion in cash its worth a pathetic $530 billion.

But go live in a fantasy world all you want.

All I know is Cook authorized this $115 billion buyback and the stock is worth $170 billion less.

No, Apple's Board of Directors authorized the buyback, just like they authorize dividend payouts.  Tim Cook alone cannot spend the company's money on stock buybacks.  From the earnings call transcript, I give you Luca Maestri:

Once again, we are allocating the majority of the expansion of the program to share repurchases, given our strong confidence in Apple's future, and the value we see in our stock. The Board has increased the share repurchase authorization by $35 billion, raising it from the current $140 billion level to $175 billion. We will also continue to net share settle, less the employee restricted stock units.

I don't see how hardware announcements / refreshes could be happening in Q3 (or even at WWDC in June) if these vendors are already stocking out here in mid-April.  To go 2+ months without Mac laptop inventory seems rather crazy when Mac hardware sales are doing better than PC sales.  Usually a vendor starts ordering smaller quantities to keep the shelves somewhat full, then when the new products are announced they put the old models on clearance.  No problem whatsoever with them doing it the reverse way, presuming that they are certain that new models are coming sooner (in the coming days or weeks) and not later (2+ months).  That's why I think these WWDC / 2H 2016 rumors are wrong, at least for the Air and MacBook.  Maybe only the Pros will come later.

This is a really bizarre "what if" article.  Of course Apple will comply if they lose, but they will first take it all the way up to the Supreme Court, if they have to.  And they have a right to, despite some politicians yelling out "Apple has no right...."  Yes, they do.  They have a right to disagree, and a right to fight it in court.  This is still with the magistrate judge who put the order in and gave Apple a chance to respond.  Apple has filed its motion with the judge asking for the order to assist the FBI be vacated.  If Apple's motion is denied, they will appeal to the 9th Circuit Court, and so on until it's either finally vacated or the U.S. Supreme Court says "no" or declines to take it on (thus allowing the lower court ruling to stand).  And if that should happen, Apple will begrudgingly assist the FBI.