Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#101

Post by evan_ » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:36 PM UTC

eridius wrote: post #87

rblatz wrote: post #68

People are all up in arms about headphone jacks, USB-C, and dongles. When the real issue is Apple completely missing huge new markets. Apple had Siri out and was in the lead with voice control, then they wasted it. I never use Siri, she is nearly worthless, but I do use Alexa multiple times a day. Amazon is Leading the voice assistant market, and Google is right on their heels. Home automation was supposed to get bet…

HomeKit doesn't require a proprietary Apple chip, I have no idea where you got that idea. It just has very high security standards.

All I know is that I have Philips Hue lights, Belkin Wemo switches, and a Nest thermostat and none of them connect to HomeKit. For the Hue I have to buy a new bridge, Belkin says that they can't support it without completely new hardware[1], and Nest is completely mum on the issue but presumably there's no hope of support in the near future.

These devices all have active developer communities and good API/interaction. I plugged my Amazon Echo in and it immediately detected all three and allowed me to control them seamlessly. I don't know what the specific issue is but it sure seems like Apple is the problem.

[1]: http://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=187953

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#102

Post by chc » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:37 PM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #33

rackforms wrote: post #11

How is Tim Cook still CEO of Apple? Forget sales for a moment and just consider the damage Apple's brand is suffering. $300 books, headphone jacks, unreliable cloud services, missed product launches. In may ways Apples becoming the butt of jokes, a symbol of ignorance. Apple's in total disarray right now and the most loyal followers, myself included, are either jumping ship or seriously considering. The mistakes bein…

Oh how quickly the Steve Jobs era is forgotten. Remember the white iPhone 4 that was delayed almost a year after Steve announced it? Or when they changed from the 30 pin to Lightning? Or when they dumped the floppy and optical drive? Apple is focused on the iPhone because that's where almost all their profits come from. It's annoying for us long time Mac users, but even Steve was focused on iOS devices when he died.…

Lightning came out pretty long after Steve Jobs died. And I thought it was generally agreed — not right at the time, but not long afterward — that Apple made the right call getting rid of floppy drives on their Internet-focused consumer machines.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#103

Post by dageshi » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:37 PM UTC

liveify wrote: post #53

stupidcar wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company you say is in "total disarray" still made $45.7bn in profit in 2016, and grew its share price by 10%. Those are the facts. Outside of the technology bubble, most people don't know or care about many of the issues you cited, or what "loyal followers" on internet forums think. Major investors, who are the only people who could force Cook out, care about the numbers. And while Apple's revenue declined this y…

I completely agree. Very few people outside of HN and r/apple that I have talked to have negative opinions of what Apple is doing. I see no evidence that Apple's products are becoming less popular. The iPhone is still the go to smartphone that I would recommend to anyone. I have switched back and forth between iPhone and Android since they came out, but I would never recommend an Android phone to a casual user. If th…

Up until recently Apple was sort of in a league all of its own, it had an aura about it of what I would perhaps describe as "justified hubris", before Apple perhaps only Microsoft has had that same kind of aura when it was firing on all cylinders. I think people are sensing that Apple has passed the top of its curve and is now losing momentum, the hubris isn't really justified anymore.

Apple will still be a hugely profitable and influential company, but it's no longer in a league all of its own.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#104

Post by taeric » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:37 PM UTC

evan_ wrote: post #92

rblatz wrote: post #68

People are all up in arms about headphone jacks, USB-C, and dongles. When the real issue is Apple completely missing huge new markets. Apple had Siri out and was in the lead with voice control, then they wasted it. I never use Siri, she is nearly worthless, but I do use Alexa multiple times a day. Amazon is Leading the voice assistant market, and Google is right on their heels. Home automation was supposed to get bet…

The thing that just makes me throw my hands up in exasperation is that Apple could have been early to the "home hub" game with AppleTV but they just didn't see it. Imagine if, instead of Apple Watch, they had put those folks into building the AppleTV into a home hub based on Siri. I feel like Apple Watch was to be their "always available assistant" but I just don't see it succeeding in that market for most people. (S…

Imagine how so many Sony and then Microsoft fans feel. Either the Playstation or XBox could have been a wonderful device to centralize around in a home. Yet they constantly bungled it from generation to generation. Sony was promising when they had PS2 compatible with PS1.

The problem was they each always try to just extend their corporate wall around your home. Rather than giving an inviting place to encourage innovation in your home. Apple has the same "our way, on our time" mentality that stifles innovation by third parties. For a time, this was offset by the awesome innovations they were providing. That time seems to be ending.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#105

Post by anoother » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:37 PM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #33

rackforms wrote: post #11

How is Tim Cook still CEO of Apple? Forget sales for a moment and just consider the damage Apple's brand is suffering. $300 books, headphone jacks, unreliable cloud services, missed product launches. In may ways Apples becoming the butt of jokes, a symbol of ignorance. Apple's in total disarray right now and the most loyal followers, myself included, are either jumping ship or seriously considering. The mistakes bein…

Oh how quickly the Steve Jobs era is forgotten. Remember the white iPhone 4 that was delayed almost a year after Steve announced it? Or when they changed from the 30 pin to Lightning? Or when they dumped the floppy and optical drive? Apple is focused on the iPhone because that's where almost all their profits come from. It's annoying for us long time Mac users, but even Steve was focused on iOS devices when he died.…

What was wrong with the G4 cube? (speaking as someone who has always wanted to own one)

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#106

Post by jonknee » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:39 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #99

hcoyote wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book took 8 years to make. He died in Oct 2011. He probably knew about it.

The problem is not the book, the problem is the pricing for the book which he had nothing to do with. At 30$ or 300$ the company is not going to get meaningful revenue, or likely enough to pay the cost of production back. So, the pricing needs to relate to something else.

The point of the book wasn't to juice the "Other revenue" line in their quarterly report, it was to produce a high-end art book of their design work. It actually makes more sense as a high dollar item considering that allows it to be made with high quality materials and become a collectors item. At $30 it would probably be junk, uninteresting to collectors/designers and the mass market alike.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#107

Post by kingkawn » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:39 PM UTC

All the resources in the world aren't worth much if you can't think of anything good to do.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#108

Post by artimaeis » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:41 PM UTC

chrisabrams wrote: post #88

rblatz wrote: post #68

People are all up in arms about headphone jacks, USB-C, and dongles. When the real issue is Apple completely missing huge new markets. Apple had Siri out and was in the lead with voice control, then they wasted it. I never use Siri, she is nearly worthless, but I do use Alexa multiple times a day. Amazon is Leading the voice assistant market, and Google is right on their heels. Home automation was supposed to get bet…

Steve and the unified vision is gone. While on winter holidays my fiance pointed out to me: - She just got a new Macbook Pro from her new job, which has only USB C ports - She just got a new iPhone 7 from her new job, which is only a Lightning port She cannot connect her phone to her computer to charge without a dongle. EDIT: a Lightning to USB C cable does exist now. That is still equivalent to a dongle in my opinio…

Here's my personal conjecture based on owning most products in the Apple lineup and trying to predict the future a bit.

So far as I can tell the idea is Lightning ports for devices which require charging, and USB ports for devices which require data transfer.

All cables designed to provide power utilize a USB A connector - this is the majority of Lightning cables. In their current lineup this can be used to charge an iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and Air Pods case.

I recognize a lot of users still use the Lightning cable to transfer data to/from the phone to/from a computer. I'm betting Apple views these users as the current edge case.

Given that - it seems only a matter of time until an iPhone which has no ports, similar to the Apple Watch.

I imagine they'd rather not deal with USB-C on their devices at all - given the madness behind the different power capabilities of cables that seem to plague the specification. But they also recognize that is the future of general-use cables and are embracing it accordingly.

Given the lack of ability to charge any Apple peripheral directly from the newest Macbook (12" or Pro) models I suspect the internal rule is that devices with batteries aren't considered charging sources.

I'm personally excited to see the directions Apple keeps moving towards. I think it'll end up a more unified future than we've had yet. But I'm also ready to be wrong. I'll try to look back on this in a few years and see how we are.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#109

Post by jonknee » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:42 PM UTC

anoother wrote: post #105

jonknee wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh how quickly the Steve Jobs era is forgotten. Remember the white iPhone 4 that was delayed almost a year after Steve announced it? Or when they changed from the 30 pin to Lightning? Or when they dumped the floppy and optical drive? Apple is focused on the iPhone because that's where almost all their profits come from. It's annoying for us long time Mac users, but even Steve was focused on iOS devices when he died.…

What was wrong with the G4 cube? (speaking as someone who has always wanted to own one)

It was a total flop sales wise, it only lasted about a year. It was underpowered and overpriced, you were paying for the design and it turned out most people didn't want to do that.

They're cheap on eBay though (~$100), go get one!

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#110

Post by ashark » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 6:42 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #83

ashark wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ports aren't really an issue to me...in a couple of years everything will be USB-C and/or wireless charging/headphones anyway. Everything new maybe, but old audio gear, monitors/tvs/keyboards/drives, et c stick around a hell of a long time. I'll be surprised if my family's at more than 20% of peripherals, displays, and audio equipment on bluetooth/USBC in 5 years, personally. Probably more like 5-10%. 10 years? Tha…

> Everything new maybe, but old audio gear, monitors/tvs/keyboards/drives, et c stick around a hell of a long time. That's not much of an issue to the kind of customers that can afford a new expensive Apple laptop.

Am I to understand that most people in the market for a $1700 laptop are also going to be OK with replacing $3-10k of perfectly good other equipment at or around the same time?