Replies

Combine the Committee-Think of a large corporation with the sole proprietary control that blocks out innovation from the real thinkers of the world (usually college age kids) and I think you will see Apple stagnate once again.

The only way to keep their base in this event, is to keep the product trendy looking, keep the advertising sharp, continue to market themselves towards the technically challenged, and to place themselves as the tool of choice for those who are “eco friendly” and “globally minded”.

I predict you will see less focus on technology from them in the future, and even more focus on the “lifestyle” that they represent.

Your first wrong assumption is that Apple operates like every other committee driven large corporation. It doesn't.

Your next wrong assumption is that Apple markets to the technically challenged. An excellent user interface that works is not marketing to the technically challenged, it's marketing to people who appreciate excellent good engineering, and those who are fed up with crappy engineering.

The final poor assumption you make is the idea that Apple markets to the Eco freaks... While they DO make their products to the highest standards, higher than any other computer company, they really don't market it so... In fact have earned Greenpeace's ire numerous times for not trumpeting what they rightfully can claim. Just last week, GP twigged them once again, listing them 13th most Eco-friendly computer maker, below companies with more polluting products because Apple doesn't TALK and crow enough about what they do and plan to do " green" wise!

Analysts who do know about how Apple has done what it has accomplished say that the reason it continually innovates is that it acts like a perpetual start-up... Innovation in tech has been coming from Apple in the last five years and your prediction flies in the face of that inconvenient fact.

The most recent of these innovations is the iPad. All of this has innovative technology at its core, not "lifestyle." what it does have is the integrated user interface that makes the technology useable for average people and techies alike. Apple brings the power to people to do pro level work without having to BE techies.

Apple has not become the number one Tech company (and number two over all US market cap) in the World because of the reasons you so blythely assume people buy their products. It's NOT because sharp advertising of trendy looking products to technically challenged people. It's because APPLE sell excellently designed and WELL thought out innovative products, that work well together, with superb technical support, that just work, and have worked hard with other manufacturers to provide a growing ecosystem of third-party accessories, software, and services that tie seamlessly into Apple's product line. Apple and Steve Jobs have a road map of innovation that they are following... One of the key components is another innovation: AppleTV... It ties your all your iDevices into your HD TVs and home stereo systems.

I enjoyed your post about the engineering of Apple products a. I am considering buying a new computer in the next year or so.

This is probably unrelated to the thread but there is something that just drives me nuts about my current computer: the wires!

I have soooo many wires coming out of the back of every device going to my computer that my husband and I literally have them labeled. Also...why are all these ports so incredibly inconvenient to access?

For example, my speakers didn't work yesterday. It turns out that my daughter had borrowed them while we were traveling and she put the speaker into the wrong port on the computer. It was a **BIG DEAL** to pull out the desk, pull out the computer, trace the wire, locate the port (on the **back** of the computer, of course) , and finally put everything back together again.

Why is everything labeled in dark grey, with tiny print, on a black surface. Who can read or see that THAT? Is inability to read or see things supposed to be “kool”?

Also “cord management” is a house cleaning nightmare!

What are these engineers THINKING! ????

When I go to the computer store, or a place like Best Buys, and voice my frustration and concern, the techies ( just past adolescence) selling this stuff just stare at me in stunned unblinking incomprehension.

Apples greatest strength right now is the fanboi base. Great for them, we own apple as part of our portfolio, but will look to diverge ourselves of the assets over the next year, I am pretty certain.

In the mean time, I appreciate what folks like yourself have done to offset the hit our other holdings have caused us.

But, regarding your post, I have never been inside the Apple boardroom, but the reports that flowed out over the iPhone debacle and reception-gate indicated that Apple has once again gone into committee-think. If you have a beef with that general consensus, take it up with those write such things, or give me some indication that you are involved in Apple, and are first hand experienced in a way that can refute those claims. Just “saying so” doesn’t make it so, and no amount of wishful thinking will change that.

Secondly, Apples main stratagem has been to market to the technically challenged. If you can’t see this, it is because you take exception, or feel insulted that by using an apple, you are lumped into that category. This thread is not about emotion, where many apple posts go, it is about the closed end proprietary method that the author is touting as a strength, when that very thinking, for all practical purposes, put Apple out of business for over a decade.

Finally, Apple does market to the eco friendly, of which, most folks happen to be very gullible. To say they don’t, would lead me to believe you don’t read much. To say they don’t would lead me to believe you don’t spend much time on college campuses. You can just head over to http://www.apple.com/environment/ to see their take on it themselves. Or you can do a simple Google or whatever other method you use to search. I am guessing Google may be a bit difficult for a fanboi such as yourself. I say that, now fully convinced, that I am arguing with a fanboi, if you cannot do your own research into their marketing, or you don’t want to, because it assaults your own sensibilities. Whichever the case, in your mind, Apple is the bees-knees, and neither logic nor research will sway you otherwise. I’m cool with that. Keep that stock price up there, I do appreciate it.

I do agree that Apple HAS performed like a start up, but the trend this year, and the product line for the next year, leads myself, and those who invest into the product to be gun-shy about further investments, thinking there are other options that will play out stronger. Of course, there are always analysts on both sides of the isle, but as an investor, and not a fanboi, I have to wade through and sort out the propaganda from the fact, and base my decisions on ROI, not on what feels good.

As far as becoming the number 1 tech company... Texas Instruments also held that title for 3x the period that Apple has, and they didn’t have the benefit of the Inventor of the Internet, Al Gore on their board.