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Resigned

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Re: Resigned

#41

Post by sunchild »

Estragon wrote: post #22

What an irritating post, basically saying nothing but, "Hey, look, I saw this coming!"

Lots of us knew it had to be soon, even if we didn't want it to be. He looked really unhealthy in June.

I was off by a few months, but here's a snippet from my Ameritrade account:

06/07/2011 12:37:38 Sold 69 AAPL @ 333.3

Granted, I hedged by only selling some of my shares. My thinking was to take profits on long-term gains, and then re-invest again if the stock dips after this announcement. AAPL will increase in value if there's a dip – no question in my mind.

Re: Resigned

#42

Post by hyperbovine »

sunchild wrote: post #41
Estragon wrote: post #22

What an irritating post, basically saying nothing but, "Hey, look, I saw this coming!"

Lots of us knew it had to be soon, even if we didn't want it to be. He looked really unhealthy in June. I was off by a few months, but here's a snippet from my Ameritrade account: 06/07/2011 12:37:38 Sold 69 AAPL @ 333.3 Granted, I hedged by only selling some of my shares. My thinking was to take profits on long-term gains, and then re-invest again if the stock dips after this announcement. AAPL will increase in valu…

Really, why are we dragging your brokerage account into this discussion? Stay classy, HN.

Edit: Oh, duh, because you still own stock in them. See above.

Re: Resigned

#43

Post by jgruber »

kanamekun wrote: post #19
xand wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. Why is this militant fanboy's posts always front page? It's overly biased dribble every time.

Fractals have a property called self-similarity, where "a self-similar object is exactly or approximately similar to a part of itself." John is saying that Apple's products have an "Apple-ness", as does each app on each product, each feature within each app, etc. He is suggesting that the zen-like simplicity of Apple can be found at many different levels of the organization. I don't think it's overly biased dribble..…

Exactly.

Re: Resigned

#44

Post by wtallis »

mcrady wrote: post #32
ryandvm wrote: post #26

I, apparently in agreement with Apple's investors today, have a little trouble with the notion that Steve Jobs stepping down will have no effect on Apple's success. I'm afraid the Apple faithful are playing a little fast and loose with logic on this one. Let me see if we have this straight... 1) Steve Jobs was absolutely and almost singularly responsible for Apple's meteoric rise over the last 14 years. His vision, h…

Agreed. Just look at Microsoft after Gates. Or Intel after Grove. In both cases, they turned things over to operational, #2 types in Balmer and Barrett and in both cases, the companies stagnated.

And in both cases, the transition was right before the industry-wide dot-com bust, and in both cases, the company is still huge and profitable and nearly a monopoly. So Apple's probably not doomed. They just might stop being the source of the next big thing. Apple's exponential growth has to end sometime, and somebody's going to be unlucky enough to be CEO at that time.

Re: Resigned

#45

Post by tyler_ball »

dcposch wrote: post #25
Estragon wrote: post #22

What an irritating post, basically saying nothing but, "Hey, look, I saw this coming!"

"The company is a fractal design. Simplicity, elegance, beauty, cleverness, humility. Directness. Truth." lolwut? I have deep respect for some of Apple's design leadership, but calling the company humble is pure fanboyism. The "truth" part is also questionable. Apple's product announcements are usually gushing with superlatives, sometimes at the expense of accuracy: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/03/steve-jobs-r…

I don't think he meant truth in terms of marketing (although I'm hard-pressed to think of a case where Apple has outright lied in their ads, but maybe in a release) but truth as design fundamental.

Based on the context of that sentence I would say Gruber meant it more in the way of "truth to materials" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_to_materials) in which Apple's design is reductive and efficient to the user. No ornament beyond the materials that construct the product.

Re: Resigned

#46

Post by scarmig »

pooriaazimi wrote: post #35
kenjackson wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except in the 80s Jobs didn't hand pick his successor (at the time of his succession).

This, and the fact that the man himself is still on the board of directors (at least for a few years). Also, don't forget that Apple is stuffed with talented people, like Ive, Forstall and Federighi who won't let apple become another 'me too' company with junky and overpriced products (like the Apple in the late 80's): http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/news/1105/gallery.fortun...

Yeah, definitely not junky.

Re: Resigned

#47

Post by enjo »

ryandvm wrote: post #26

I, apparently in agreement with Apple's investors today, have a little trouble with the notion that Steve Jobs stepping down will have no effect on Apple's success. I'm afraid the Apple faithful are playing a little fast and loose with logic on this one. Let me see if we have this straight... 1) Steve Jobs was absolutely and almost singularly responsible for Apple's meteoric rise over the last 14 years. His vision, h…

The culture will change... it'll be slow and people won't notice it while it's happening. Then one day, you look back and go "man this is different."

It can change for the better... or it can change for the worse. There is no question that it will change.

I've always found it fascinating at how large companies, armies, or anything else really have a way of taking on the personality of their leadership. It's why CEO's make so much money. I hope that this will be a change for the better.

Re: Resigned

#48

Post by dasil003 »

xand wrote: post #15
tonetheman wrote: post #12

How exactly is a company a fractal design? What the hell does that mean really? Seriously how does this apple-ass-clown constantly make it to the front page? Apple is not a person it is a company. Steve might be full of humility, Apple is not.

Completely agree. Why is this militant fanboy's posts always front page? It's overly biased dribble every time.

Gruber always makes a more compelling argument than the masses constantly slinging "fanboy" around innumerable internet forums. So you disagree with him, fine, why don't you post your own analysis instead of the incessant name calling.

Re: Resigned

#49

Post by jpitz »

jgruber wrote: post #43
kanamekun wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fractals have a property called self-similarity, where "a self-similar object is exactly or approximately similar to a part of itself." John is saying that Apple's products have an "Apple-ness", as does each app on each product, each feature within each app, etc. He is suggesting that the zen-like simplicity of Apple can be found at many different levels of the organization. I don't think it's overly biased dribble..…

Exactly.

"You write on your site; I write on mine." http://daringfireball.net/2010/06/whats_fair

It _still_ isn't clear whether the parent is Daring Fireball's author ( but I don't suppose I doubt it much )

Re: Resigned

#50

Post by jmspring »

A-K wrote: post #2

Gruber at his best. I get the feeling that he's had large pieces of this particular post in the works for quite some time.

I have to agree, and a lot of the other responses in this thread are disheartening/annoying.

The biggest thing Steve Jobs brought to Apple was to build a culture that supported his vision. Apple as a whole is focused on the mold that Steve brought back with him. Tim Cook has been the avatar and excellence in this image on the operations/production side. A company that has AMAZING profit margins on it's products due to the operational efforts to buying up needed parts ahead of time, etc. I suspect Jonathan Ive will be able to continue the design esthetic. Apple is a company running on all cylinders to deliver focused products. This differs greatly from the Apple before Job's returned. Will the focus erode? Possibly, maybe some of the perfection will be lost, but there is a much stronger base in plance than ANY other company in the valley in the last 20+ years.

Compare this with Microsoft when Bill Gates steped down. While, I personally feel that MSFT has made some positive steps in mobile with the Nokia partnership and WinPhone 7 doesn't suck, the company wasn't focused. Each department was kinda doing it's own thing. Ballmer was left to try and build something out of a lot of disparite pieces. As such, MSFT, as a stock, has basically flatlined for 10+ years.

I think it is safe to say, outside of Hewlett & Packard (more recently) and the Fairchild Eight, no single person has been more influential on the Bay Area technology scene in my lifetime (born and raised here). I will go one step further, and state, I don't see any of the current "elite" Paige/Brin/Zuck/Ellison(he's still around and strong) contributing anywhere as much.

Steve, like Bill and Dave, Gordon Moore (etal), are in a class of their own.

I've loved/hated AAPL products over the years, but Steve has been nothing but a gem for the valley.

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