Agree on stock buybacks and dividends are a waste, and big bet like Steve era. Disagree on buying companies. At least not Netflix and Disney, both are content companies and does not fit into Apple's business model. Not to mention a gigantic company like the two requires lots of human resources to integrate as the 2nd reply mentions.
It is all about value. Apple has always been extremely good at value creation. That is what innovation is all about. Except the values Apple has to offer has been in decline, in iPhone and Mac Segment, and in their use of cash.
Looking back in the past 10-12 years of Smartphone revolution, we are obviously in the late cycle where even the entry $200 to $400 Model are good enough for many. We are already seeing Huawei and Samsung A Series doing extremely well. I had always thought those Cheaper Chinese SmartPhones such as Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo, Xiaomi, would have cost a lot more in EU and US when they had to pay more patents and other operation expenses. Turns out that is not true. They are selling it at only a slight premium to China's pricing, vast majority of them below $500. While the current cheapest iPhone starts at $449 for a "small screen " and $569 for what is now considered a normal screen in many market, with lower quality camera. And it is obvious these Phone aren't competing very well.
What could those $400B+ have done that went into Stock buyback over the years? I would have thought instead of going to Intel's route 5 years ago, having their own modem team would be one. Had they invested in it 5 years ago they would already have their own Modem shipping in 2018's iPhone. Not to mention having a major BOM cost advantage which both currently Huawei and Samsung enjoys.
Opening More Apple Stores, Apple had ~430 in 2014 and ~460 Stores by end of 2015. Today Apple had ~510 Store Worldwide.they now have 1.4B devices. During those 600M+ devices usage increases between ~2015 - 2019, Apple had less than 60 Stores opening world-wide. In 2015 I expected Apple Store to reach at least 1000 by 2020, but right now they are only half way there.
Quickly admitting mistakes like TouchBar and Keyboard. You may not even need to do recall, but actually work on alternative or better solution instead of waiting to recoup whatever your initial investment into the technology ( Also Force Touch ). This is very Tim Cook Style of handling. You could imagine Steve using the Keyboard himself, having space bar double spacing and the eee key stuck. And what he will do inside Apple Park.
Going into Market that may not always have your target Gross Margin and Net Profits. Like TV, I still don't understand why Apple is not entering the TV set Market. And why they abandon the Router market. Just because the Net Profits margin could not fit within the 20% required of Apple. Both would have been a much better experience, instead they went with a Profit Margin based product like HomePod.