for someone new at the helm. (No, I won't mention any names, but you all know who I'm talking about.) This is getting ridiculous... 
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Let me be the first to say that it's time
- Thread starter akadmon
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for someone new at the helm. (No, I won't mention any names, but you all know who I'm talking about.) This is getting ridiculous...
Steve Jobs isn't stupid, he's done some great things for apple but you might be right the balding turtle neck wearing egomaniac might have out lived his usefulness.
for someone new at the helm. (No, I won't mention any names, but you all know who I'm talking about.) This is getting ridiculous...
A CEO has one job, and that is to return value to its shareholders.
Apple hasn't announced a dividend, but since they continually invest in themselves and develop new technologies, that can be forgiven. For a time.
Until shareholders lose faith in his ability to keep the company profitable, he's going to be fine.
Yeah, we've gotten to the point that a few "home runs" per year for the company (in an industry where two or three home runs per decade is the norm) isn't enough. We want several home runs per year IN OUR SPECIFIC NICHE AREA or it's off with his head.
Hopefully the shareholders are not so short-sighted!
Hopefully the shareholders are not so short-sighted!
I don't own any Apple stock (yeah, I know -- stupid), and I sure won't be buying any anytime soon. Therefore I speak purely as a potential buyer of Apple products.
Between the late delivery of Leopard (shall I mention the bugs, the unfulfilled promises, "secret features", yada yada yada) , the stiff-arm treatment given to the loyal prosumers (look at the droves of Mac Pro owners stuck with their smoldering ATI 1900 XTs), the arrogant pricing of most products (shall I mention the iPhone, or the fact that I can get a Dell XPS 1530 for more than $500 less than 15" MBP that has lesser specs), and ego-trip projects like the new MBA ("world's thinnest laptop")... I say the man's lost it.
If you don't think that this is going to catch up with Apple's bottom line eventually, you're a bigger fool than I.
Given the success of all of the products listed above (MBA not withstanding, obviously as it's not out yet), I don't know how you can say that with a straight face.
The Mac Pro is the only one that I think hasn't had enough work. The rest of the products have been huge for Apple. It's computer/OS market share is up and several million people clearly don't think the iPhone is priced "arrogantly" and are willing to pay for it - and that's Apple's first phone, incidentally. Leopard is also the fastest selling Mac OS ever.
And have you seen Apple's stock price recently? It hit $200. It's back down now but so are most stocks, and $170 is still incredible.
Your points are made as an opinion. Fair enough. But to say Jobs is no longer doing well is a statement that's easily dismissed as a poorly composed opinion when you look at the business Apple is doing at the moment (not to mention the epic amount of press coverage it has these days).
Shall we revisit this a year from today?
I've given Apple well of 3G over the last 18 months. Given what's been happening lately, I don't think there will be a repeat in the same time frame.
for someone new at the helm. (No, I won't mention any names, but you all know who I'm talking about.) This is getting ridiculous...
Out of curiosity, what exactly do you not like about his performance on the job? Before you're read to take off his head, can we at least see some reasoning behind this?
The way I see it, from an investor point of view, Jobs has broadened appeal for Apple's primary business (Mac computers), has introduced several consumer products that are stylish, appealing, desirable, and have healthy profit margins.
To top all that off, Jobs has been planning his every move with foresight (read the Mac Rumors article about how the iPhone began its life all the way back in 2003).
Considering that as a CEO, he has turned the one time black sheep of tech stocks into the rising star of modern tech companies, I don't see a single reason to get rid of him at this point.
Umm, look at the stock price at the last Macworld (not to mention when Jobs came back) and then look at it today.
If that's the definition of a CEO "losing it", then please we need to find more men and women who have "lost it" to run the other companies I've invested in.
Can you clarify what you mean by, "what's been happening lately"? And by 3G do you mean $3k? With all due respect that's not a huge amount.
And given that several of Apple's revenue from long-term investments such as the iPhone are set over two years (so that's locked in revenue), plus increased revenue that comes with increased market share and more people buying Apple products, and more markets yet to receive iPhone v1, then iPhone v2, I'd say the outlook is pretty good.
It's impossible at this stage to say what damage the economic problems may do, but that will affect pretty much every business to some degree.
I can guess... "unlocked iPhone", "Prosumer Tower", "OSX on Generic Hardware".
The first would have made the iPhone impossible to launch. The second would merely lower earnings, but dramatically. The third would quickly kill the company. But these three are often at the heart of the "off with Jobs' head" comments.
Let me be the first to say this:
Steve doesn't come up with half the ideas. His teams do. He merely presents them as any CEO would.
I would agree with you for the most part, but Jobs does have his own ideas and he often pushes for them. The iPhone was largely the result of him wanting an iPod built into a phone all the way back in 2003 (check the MR front page story on this).
Granted he isn't coming up with every idea on his own, but Jobs does very much plan Apple's moves very carefully. He is known for his demanding personality and his unrelenting desire for "perfection" (even if QA doesn't come up to par
). Make no mistake, Jobs is very much at the heart of most of Apple's projects.
In other words, all the things that consumers want, but investors hate.
I had a feeling something like that was the root of all of this.
of that list the lack of a prosumer tower is the biggest thing that will ever keep me from touching a mac desktop and I will not recommend them until they have one.
The gap between the iMac and Mac Pro power wise is huge. The iMac does not have enough power for a lot of people and most of those people a Power mac is massive over kill.
The iMac for me and a lot of people fails me to my needs and the Power mac is just over kill. When I can build/buy a PC desktop for about 1/2 the price that meets my needs than a mac that is saying something. And before some one trying to hit me with the power comparison read it again I said meet my needs. The iMac is out and I have to pay extra to get a Power mac up to specs I need and I am still paying for a lot of extra bloat I do not need and is over kill.
The Prosermer mac would fill this huge void that you can drive a Mactruck though. Every year the void gets larger.
What is "arrogant pricing"? Prices are set based on what the company has to get to recoup its costs and what the company believes it can get to make a profit.
Some people are just complainers and won't ever be happy, no matter what happens. Perhaps they were indulged and spoiled as children, I don't know. If Jesus Christ himself came down and took over as CEO of Apple I'm sure this guy would still find something to complain about. Certainly Steve Jobs has made mistakes, he's human. Apple is not infallible, despite what many people want to believe. But I think Mr. Jobs is doing an excellent job of transforming Apple into a world class company that consistently makes the public sit up and take notice. Now if Ken Lay were CEO, then maybe you'd have reason to complain. But so far I can't see any reason why Mr. Jobs should be replaced. If you have some information that I do not, please enlighten me. But if you're just pissed because you have to pay $20 to upgrade your iPod touch then your argument doesn't hold very much water.
This is one of the oddest discussions I've seen about Apple in some time. The speculation usually runs towards how Apple would recover from the potential loss of Steve Jobs at the helm, the general consensus being that Jobs currently appears to be irreplaceable. A weird comment I read in another thread bemoaned the fact that most of the MWSF new product rumors turned out be true. I feel like I've fallen down the rabbit hole. Please direct me to the Queen of Hearts. I feel certain she will make more sense than what I've been hearing lately.
Ain't that the f*****g truth. I'm pretty disgusted with the quality of commentary and "opinion" on this year's MacWorld. I'm not saying this in fanboy mode, "Steve can do now wrong" etc bullsh*t. i don't believe that: the MacBook Air is not of remote interest to me, and neither are most things announced yesterday.
But the garbage observations and comments that have spewed forth are really demonstrating internet discussion and the people within at their very, very worst.
Oh yes, one more thing: "A mac truck sized hole in the lineup for a prosumer tower"...
Do you pay any attention to sales figures for laptops versus desktops? The latter is now coming in (or about to be shifted to) second place and you're one of the minority who builds their own computers. So go figure.
lets also not forget that in the past Jobs being fired from apple is what saved the company. Even Jobs admits he should of been fired when he was in the the past.
While now he turned it around. I am among the group who think it is time for him to past the touch on to some one else. Not be forcibly remove but I think he should choose to step down and let some one else run the company.
Apple does need to groom a successor to Jobs, but only because it's good and wise business, not because Jobs has suddenly become a liability.
What? Jobs brought Apple back from the edge, has brought Apple to its highest position in the market in YEARS!
To get rid of Job would be the WORST thing Apple could do.
To get rid of Job would be the WORST thing Apple could do.