Dennis, this point-counterpoint stuff can be fun !! Hope I don't get hooked in this thread in spite of myself.
> c-man..What is AAPL doing right? <-- Essentially, I see one HUGE Apple success since their founding that's inescapable...they own an intuitive, rabidly-followed (well, under 5% marketshare but who's counting ?) OS that outlives its 9 lives over and over again...can't really say the HARDWARE products are so great overall in the past. In fact, this rabid following, myself included, too-easily overlooked the not-so-few product failures themselves such as 1710-series monitor, the 15" multiscan monitor, the Perfoma 5300-series, the Newton, who knows how many now-abandoned software technologies, the LWPro810, and my personal favorite - the PowerBook5300-series [for starters] - to a fault. Additionally, we (mac community and stockholders) all overlooked and stood passively while the the management and associated failures became the laughingstock of the computer business (did I mention the all-encompassing strategic failure to license the ROMs or OS ?). You almost answered your own question. It [was] the OS that they *did right*...any Mac user knows this intuitively (pardon the pun). So many of their other decisions they didn't do so well, no ?
Now - it's the OS in tandem with the wicked-fast, ahead-of-its-competition g3 chip that they are *doing right*. Short list, eh ?
> AAPL was able to survive and stay in business the past 9 years
> during the tail end of Sculley's failing administration, Spindler's > debacles and Amilio's excuses. These years were not the best of
> years for Mac users nor AAPL investors, but for VARS and
> NON-authorized resellers such as yourself until 'Black Friday', they > were prosperous years. What's wrong with this picture?
Actually, since you just indicted the past 10 years of management (and I do agree with you in retrospect that management should be fundamentally accountable since they more than anyone control[ed] the destiny of the company), is it too difficult to believe that *possibly* the VARs and resellers helped to keep the company afloat all these years more than you'll ever know or give credit for ? You seek to collectively lump resellers and Apple management into the same "problem" group...I beg to differ. I believe you are improperly using the changed dynamics of today's marketplace (which possibly, if not probably, require a direct model to survive - got to give Dell credit where credit is due) to support your reasons for the failures of an older paradigm and resale structure. I challenge you to support your point that resellers of yesteryear adversely contributed to the condition of Apple corporate during that period and put Apple in its threatened state today. That's an unsupportable reach IMHO. As I posted over a week ago, if converting WINTEL users to the Mac platform, or holding Mac users to the platform when all forces told them to switch (usually the boss)...were a religion...I would have a secure place in Mac heaven. Your feeble theory that because resellers prospered in spite of and during the lean (and prosperous) years of Apple past, this somehow CONTRIBUTED to the less desireable Apple we have today...is preposterous. How about merely offering good service, actual after-the-sale support, and being honest in dealings ? You really think it's an accident I've been around 9 years as a non-authorized, independant reseller (never a single BBB complaint either) ?
Do you sincerely think had Dell management, which from day one never had a reseller group to contend with, made similar management and product development mistakes that Apple has lurched through for years...that Joe end user would continue to buy the list of loser products mentioned above ? Get real. Hand-holding at the street level between a reseller and consumer went a long way during those years...I used to (still do to a degree) HATE Mondays because it meant, invariably, I would have "x" calls about defective Apple product sold the week prior. The Powerbook 5300-series fiasco made for a horrible summer in 1996. The direct sale model Apple so longs for puts a 100% of true support responsibility right back on Apple with no cushion in the middle...this is the very company who has proven for years they couldn't adequately support even their own dealer channel, much less a demanding end-user/informed consumer, much less handle product fiascos without distressing everyone.
Yes, Apple has softened some in their "we know everything" and "we're always right" attitudes...but I think the innate arrogance and street-level ignorance is still there...and Apple will regret this "we want to control from production line to end user" strategy someday.
Good news is I don't see it as fatal that you and I disagree.
I respectfully note that you, and the poster who calls me a fraud (WEBDrone I believe), didn't touch the issues of 1) capability and QUALITY of APPLE'S current online store in terms of service & responsiveness, so soon in its young life, much less 2) the issues of ethics and credibility I raised. You and I may debate the Apple-past to a draw...but I bet you, assuming you're an investor in this stock, had better feel good that Apple has a handle on these two issues...they determine so much of Apple's future success, wicked-fast G3 processors and insane-great OSs notwithstanding...IN A DIRECT-SELL MODEL...without the protection of the reseller and chain-store retail buffers of yesteryear. As much as anything, I have focused on these two issues my entire existence...and I attribute my success mostly to handling these two issues consistently and fairly. Certainly not to taking advantage of Apple's ineptness and weaknesses in their traditional sales model as much as some other resellers without ethics and concern for their customer base.
These higher-level issues will impact this company someday, when Apple has to deal with the end-user day-to-day. They have successfully been buffered for years by the groups they are shedding...we'll see how they handle future interactions with the public. If they change their corporate attitude, yes - there's a good chance of success.
OTOH - we all recall when Dell stopped a notebook production family cold a few years back when they realized they had some design problems, and they took a huge painful write-off for this ethically-correct, pro-consumer decision...but in so doing they built HUGE credibility points with their buyers and the press...meanwhile this very year Apple sought to sell eMates and Newtons to the public up to the very day they killed the product line. Both actions tell me loads about either company.
The majority of your posts supporting your argument for what's wrong
with AAPL I find, to the contrary, support what's right with AAPL and
Jobs business strategy to date! AAPL is strengthening their retail
outlets, eliminating the substandard VARS and holding the remaining
retailers accountable to meet AAPL's objectives. <-- I think you and I have radically different views here...so time will tell us who is right.
First the iMac is a joke, now it's a killer product. Hmmm -- OK, we all change are mind on occasion. <-- If you go back and really read my post, I made it clear those were my *personal* opinions about that platform...and I specifically stated I would not take the machine home...and still won't...but I will sell them if they are in demand. That's my biz'.
Now - with respect to whether this iMac will damage sales of all-in-ones...this past week I've seen and discussed this possibility with some other resellers...and am forming the opinion that there is some damage. Just an opinion. If I were so ignorant to support a static view without constantly scanning the horizon around me, I would not be around long. I pore through trade mags like mad every chance I get trying to discern trends...and the jury is still out on the success of the iMac. Apple is correctly taking the feedback from their vaporware announcement and addressing concerns...kudos to them.
Do I sence a hidden agenda, the foundation of which was noted in your
5/23 post? <-- Don't know about this...why not fill me in on my agenda and inner thoughts ? While you're at it, tell me the next moves I need to make to stay ahead of the game ? My agenda can't be unclear in relation to owning this stock, short or long - I would not personally touch this stock with it's current-day irrational, no-vested-interest management - but neither would I bet against it by shorting it. This company really does have 9 lives. Sorry if you don't like the tone of that.
I may love the mac, but I don't have to like the company. If that dichotomy is unacceptable to you, try living it for 9 years.
c-man
For those of you Quark Express software users who *use the product, hate the company*...I think you will innately understand my points...even if Dennis does not. |
