The Case Against Rounded Corners
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock dropped by over 40 points in trading yesterday. With its 940 million share float, the 'arithmetic', as Bill Clinton would say, adds up to about a $36 billion loss in market capitalization (actually, Clinton talks of the math not adding up, but I am simply using the form used by the President). Going back to September 18, 2012, Apple stock has quietly lost 163 points, or, $153 billion in market cap. This loss in shareholder value is just shy of the total market capitalization of Oracle Corp (NASDAQ: ORCL) - $154 billion!
Apple introduced the much hyped iPhone5 along with iOS6 on September12th. Some devout followers (and most hardcore FruitHead haters) will remember that 'The 5th' garnered well over 2 million units in pre-orders within the first 24 hours of its launch/announcement. For interested readers, here is the video link to the iPhone5 announcement: http://bit.ly/YRxhhZ. This is a 1 hour 42 minute video, so I will highlight a few moments with bookmarks:
0:8:00: Nothing new about the iPad, but Tim Cook, CEO, discloses Apple has sold 84 million units to date. That is roughly 30 billion in profits at $400 per unit, on average. Cooky also throws in a dig at 'other' tablets.
0:11:00 - bragging about 700,000 Apps on the App Store
0:12:30 - Phil Schiller, head of marketing introduces the iPhone5: a bit taller, thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4s. 20% lighter, 18% thinner. Retina display. More Apps on each screen (5 rows). More pixels on screen. LTE. A6 chip. Blah, blah, blah. Schiller goes on for a full 24 minutes before revealing - wait - the 'lightning' connector.
Apple just made all your investments in docking and charging devices useless, unless you go buy that 30 pin to lightning adapter.
0:40:00 - iOS6 introduction by Scott Forestall. First up - new Apple Maps App: "Beautiful turn by turn directions". Flyover mode with satellite imagery. Google Maps is no longer supported.
Rest of the video is more 'rah-rah' from Apple staff, along the lines of 'I, too sexy for myself'.
For my taste, I like the following video better: http://bit.ly/RJi538. It is a candid look into the lies, bending the context, and hype-in-overdrive that was belted out during the keynote. Or, this:http://bit.ly/MvvbzL, a critical look at what if anything (hardware) Apple has invented.
The real truth, however, came fast and furious - the Apple Maps App was, and continues to be, broken. It was sending people to the middle of nowhere, even for simple addresses. And, though Cook has since apologized, and Forestall was fired, Apple has not made any concessions to customers who purchased the 5. Then there was the unusual case scratching, explained by Schiller as 'normal'.
I have written earlier about 'iOS: Idiotic Operating System', to showcase how Apple treats customers. I am not out of options/recourse on that, yet, so I will refrain from adding to that conversation.
Apple is also embroiled, around the world, in lawsuits over so called patent infringements. The substantive argument Apple makes is that it owns the patent on rounded corners, hence no one can sell tablets as such. Bold and audacious indeed.
Truth, I believe, is that Apple is firmly controlled by the bean counters, the lawyers, and the supply chain folks - Cook is one of them. Finally, for all my progressive friends who give a damn about exploitation of labor in China, and elsewhere, read up on the horrors at FoxConn, Apple's primary assembly chop-shop in China.
Apple used to be the innovator, and they brought some great devices - both in design and utility to market. It seems, at least to me, now that Apple is headed in a whole different direction - one where customers do not count for they are like sheep to be herded, where product quality is of no concern, and where innovative competitors must be crushed in courts - all for its own last dollar of profit.
Citius, Altius, Fortius has served the Olympic spirit well. I doubt a mass retail electronics distributor, even the great Apple Inc., can survive on that model alone in the long run.
Case Closed.
PS: Lest readers think I am just another Apple basher, and for full disclosure, I will admit that as of today I own more iOS than Android devices. But that balance is changing, and it is changing fast.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock dropped by over 40 points in trading yesterday. With its 940 million share float, the 'arithmetic', as Bill Clinton would say, adds up to about a $36 billion loss in market capitalization (actually, Clinton talks of the math not adding up, but I am simply using the form used by the President). Going back to September 18, 2012, Apple stock has quietly lost 163 points, or, $153 billion in market cap. This loss in shareholder value is just shy of the total market capitalization of Oracle Corp (NASDAQ: ORCL) - $154 billion!
Apple introduced the much hyped iPhone5 along with iOS6 on September12th. Some devout followers (and most hardcore FruitHead haters) will remember that 'The 5th' garnered well over 2 million units in pre-orders within the first 24 hours of its launch/announcement. For interested readers, here is the video link to the iPhone5 announcement: http://bit.ly/YRxhhZ. This is a 1 hour 42 minute video, so I will highlight a few moments with bookmarks:
0:8:00: Nothing new about the iPad, but Tim Cook, CEO, discloses Apple has sold 84 million units to date. That is roughly 30 billion in profits at $400 per unit, on average. Cooky also throws in a dig at 'other' tablets.
0:11:00 - bragging about 700,000 Apps on the App Store
0:12:30 - Phil Schiller, head of marketing introduces the iPhone5: a bit taller, thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4s. 20% lighter, 18% thinner. Retina display. More Apps on each screen (5 rows). More pixels on screen. LTE. A6 chip. Blah, blah, blah. Schiller goes on for a full 24 minutes before revealing - wait - the 'lightning' connector.
Apple just made all your investments in docking and charging devices useless, unless you go buy that 30 pin to lightning adapter.
0:40:00 - iOS6 introduction by Scott Forestall. First up - new Apple Maps App: "Beautiful turn by turn directions". Flyover mode with satellite imagery. Google Maps is no longer supported.
Rest of the video is more 'rah-rah' from Apple staff, along the lines of 'I, too sexy for myself'.
For my taste, I like the following video better: http://bit.ly/RJi538. It is a candid look into the lies, bending the context, and hype-in-overdrive that was belted out during the keynote. Or, this:http://bit.ly/MvvbzL, a critical look at what if anything (hardware) Apple has invented.
The real truth, however, came fast and furious - the Apple Maps App was, and continues to be, broken. It was sending people to the middle of nowhere, even for simple addresses. And, though Cook has since apologized, and Forestall was fired, Apple has not made any concessions to customers who purchased the 5. Then there was the unusual case scratching, explained by Schiller as 'normal'.
I have written earlier about 'iOS: Idiotic Operating System', to showcase how Apple treats customers. I am not out of options/recourse on that, yet, so I will refrain from adding to that conversation.
Apple is also embroiled, around the world, in lawsuits over so called patent infringements. The substantive argument Apple makes is that it owns the patent on rounded corners, hence no one can sell tablets as such. Bold and audacious indeed.
Truth, I believe, is that Apple is firmly controlled by the bean counters, the lawyers, and the supply chain folks - Cook is one of them. Finally, for all my progressive friends who give a damn about exploitation of labor in China, and elsewhere, read up on the horrors at FoxConn, Apple's primary assembly chop-shop in China.
Apple used to be the innovator, and they brought some great devices - both in design and utility to market. It seems, at least to me, now that Apple is headed in a whole different direction - one where customers do not count for they are like sheep to be herded, where product quality is of no concern, and where innovative competitors must be crushed in courts - all for its own last dollar of profit.
Citius, Altius, Fortius has served the Olympic spirit well. I doubt a mass retail electronics distributor, even the great Apple Inc., can survive on that model alone in the long run.
Case Closed.
PS: Lest readers think I am just another Apple basher, and for full disclosure, I will admit that as of today I own more iOS than Android devices. But that balance is changing, and it is changing fast.
