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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (143876)	10/29/2012 6:20:03 PM
From: almaxel	5 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213177

MacDailyNews Take: This is a perfect move by Mr. Cook and one we can endorse wholeheartedly. Absolutely perfect! So ends the failed Browett experiment and so collapses the Forstall fiefdom that brought us a hyped up Maps app with melting bridges, no Statue of Liberty, and gift-wrapped PR fiasco for the competition. Bravo, Mr. Cook! Having Ive’s sensibilities brought to bear throughout Apple’s HI will be a particular Jobssend! Mistake will not be tolerated, neither will nickel and diming a main engine of Apple’s success (retail), and neither will faux leather-stitching, fake paper, and other skeuomorphic la-te-da. Today, Tim Cook took full control of Apple Inc. and the company will be much better for it! — Here’s a recap of recent possibly-related MacDailyNews Takes: • Wednesday, October 10, 2012: What does Apple’s chief hardware designer Jony Ive think about Scott Forstall’s faux paper shredders, stitched leather, green poker table felt and other skeuomorphic software designs? “My focus is very much working with the other teams on the product ideas and then developing the hardware and so that’s our focus and that’s our responsibility. In terms of those elements you’re talking about, I’m not really connected to that.” – Sir Jonathan Ive, May 23, 2012 Very diplomatic, Jony! “True ornament is not a matter of prettifying externals. It is organic with the structure it adorns…” – Frank Lloyd Wright • Friday, September 28, 2012: One thing we would like to know is: Who’s responsible for opening Apple up to this overblown shitstorm and why are they still working for Apple Inc., if they still are? (Yes, we know we’ll likely never get those two answers.) No matter what Apple does, no matter how much better they make Apple Maps, it will now always “suck” in the minds of a large segment of the population. This open letter from Cook only helps cement the idea that Maps is a “failure.” The fool(s) responsible for preparing Maps for release and then releasing it with obvious issues (overblown as they are) and therefore tainting Maps forever should face severe consequences. As in: Pink slip(s). If you don’t get fired over this debacle, what exactly does get you fired at Tim Cook’s Apple? Here’s a little hint for the future: Everything that requires widespread customer use to develop a rich database before the product becomes fully usable should be clearly labelled “beta” upon release. Apple did it with Siri, but they forgot to do it with Maps. Had Apple been smart enough to simply place a “beta” tag on Maps, all of this rigamarole would never have occurred. Steve’s attention to detail may very well be irreplaceable. • Friday, September 21, 2012: Way to hand the FUD opening to competitors and/or those with an ax to grind, Apple! Golden boy Forstall’s image may be forever tarnished. Or not. Speaking of that, though, we got Browett’s public mea culpa for Borwettizing the Apple Retail Stores, so where’s Forstall’s for this Maps debacle? • Friday, August 17, 2012: Apple Retail Stores are the public face of Apple. Apple Retail Stores are responsible in large part for Apple’s success, perhaps even more than even Tim Cook realizes – or he would have made damn sure that a person who fully understood how Steve Jobs’ Apple works was hired to replace Ron Johnson. Cook should have hired Johnson’s replacement from within Apple Retail. Major mistake. Tim Cook’s biggest hire to date. It makes us worry. Cook needs to own his mistake, too. This isn’t about minor “mistakes.” This is about an outside virus that threatens to irrevocably damage Apple’s DNA; invited in by Cook to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, no less. Browett’s type of “thinking” will kill Apple faster than 10 lines of beige Performas. If Cook can’t see that clearly, he needs to go, too. Read more at macdailynews.com

To: Road Walker who wrote (143876)	10/29/2012 6:48:19 PM
From: SiouxPal	1 Recommendation Respond to of 213177

I can't argue with your good logic.

To: Road Walker who wrote (143876)	10/29/2012 8:27:38 PM
From: John Koligman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213177

The other interesting thing is that Mansfield's 'retirement' was announced some months ago and then he 'returned'... John Bob Mansfield stayed at Apple after CEO Tim Cook offered him 'exorbitant' $2M-per-month By AppleInsider Staff A new look at the corporate culture of Apple before and after the death of Steve Jobs reveals that Senior Vice President Bob Mansfield went back on his decision to retire after being offered a large sum of cash and stock by Chief Executive Tim Cook. Details on the behind-the-scenes politics were published on Wednesday in a feature by Bloomberg Businessweek. It revealed that Cook "nearly witnessed an insurrection" after Mansfield's retirement and replacement were announced. "According to three people familiar with the sequence of events, several senior engineers on Mansfield's team vociferously complained to Cook about reporting to his replacement, Dan Riccio, who they felt was unprepared for the magnitude of the role," authors Brad Stone, Adam Satariano and Peter Burrows wrote. "In response, Cook approached Mansfield and offered him an exorbitant package of cash and stock worth around $2 million a month to stay on at Apple as an adviser and help manage the hardware engineering team." Publicly, Apple announced in June that Mansfield, the company's head of hardware engineering, would retire after a 13-year stint with the company. But in August, the company announced that Mansfield would instead stay with Apple to work on "future products," and would report directly to Cook.

To: Road Walker who wrote (143876)	10/29/2012 9:20:30 PM
From: Win-Lose-Draw	3 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213177

A piece of the puzzle is missing. Something is wrong at Apple. You're starting to sound like me...

To: Road Walker who wrote (143876)	10/29/2012 10:17:18 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213177

A reorganization (they didn't call it that but that's what it is) is an admission that things are amiss. I think the Maps problems and uninspiring evolution of Siri shows that things are amiss with iOS. The question is whether replacing Forstall will change things for the better. Slacker

To: Road Walker who wrote (143876)	10/30/2012 9:50:41 PM
From: JP Sullivan	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213177

If you get a second reorganization six-twelve months down the road, you'll know management is struggling. Clearly, Browett was a flub on Tim's part. I doubt if he's going to make the same mistake twice, in which case I would have to question his ability to spot and pick good people, which is a crucial skill for a CEO, IMHO. So, I'm giving him another chance there. As for Forstall, my take is that he wasn't a good fit for the post-Jobs management team and had to go. Besides, if the stories are to be believed, it's not as if Tim didn't give him a chance at least to get off his high horse and try to be a team player. In any case, his firing has boosted morale among employees -- or so it has been reported -- plus Jony Ive gets to be in charge of HI now, so on balance that's a positive for me. --JP--