Ah crap...

[Grieve]

...Steve jobs just resigned. That's going be REALLY bad for my Apple options...

[Jakensama]

Its the problem with investing in a cult of personality... you just have to hope that Chairman Mao...err...Steve has a good predecessor..

[Slamz]

Well I for one am looking forward to the Great Stock Market Crash of 8/25, fueled by the sudden collapse of Apple. I think this is going to do really good things for my silver holdings.

After silver shoots up and the market crashes, I'm going to sell it all and invest heavily in Google.

[Garignak]

...Steve jobs just resigned. That's going be REALLY bad for my Apple options...

Nah. He's going to stay on the board. Let the man retire - he's been through enough.

[Grieve]

Stock actually handled the news much better than I thought it would - only down 5%. I was expecting 10-20% when I first heard the news.

I'll probably buy more if it tanks tomorrow. This is actually good from the stock - the Steve Jobs health issue has been hanging over it like a cloud for years. Now it's no longer an unknown.

[Vanraw]

Yea this morning (5am CT ish) it was down 15% pre-market, but seems to have bounced back a little.

You know this had to happen at some point. I think the timing is probably pretty good, or at least the best they could hope for. Timing it to the next earnings, and the release of iphone 5 to all carriers is good timing. The quarterly earnings for the next 2 quarters will be good, so should beef up some confidence.

The real question will be whats next??? I think pad and phone is going to flaten at some point in the future. And profits are going to start to drop as more and more competion looks for some of that high margin cash. So what is Apples next product?? And don't say the cloud.... Seriously, this is not going to be a revenue generator without competitiveness that ipod, iphone ipad was.

Whats next?

FYI I bought some Apple after the last quarterly earnings. Im about even. Think I will hold for a bit, and dump in the 390 to 400 range.

[Grieve]

You bought Apple? Why you sly old dog - you're the third generally Apple-bashing person from these boards that has privately admitted to me they own the stock.

Next product? Apple TV! (the full TV, not the setup box).

But I don't think the iPad in particular is going to flatten out for quite a while...

[Slamz]

I have a hard time seeing Apple TV really take off. They're already entering into a market that's saturated with similar competition, namely other DVRs and, now-a-days, console game systems. The X-Box 360 does movie rentals and streaming Netflix. As I hear it, "Google TV" never really went anywhere, either. Sure, it may do a little more than other boxes do but not enough to make people run out and buy one if they already have a Tivo or X-Box 360.

I doubt they'd get much traction with the "cloud" idea either. For websites, Amazon has definitely made headway there. I notice a lot of times when I go to direct-link a JPG, the address is the Amazon cloud. I think a lot of people are switching at least some of their content to Amazon's cloud.

There is definitely room for improvement for cloud stuff but I have a hard time seeing it take off in the way the iPhone did.

Then again, it's amazing what you can do with slick advertising, and that's always been Apple's forte. The iPod was just an MP3 player in a market that always had plenty of them, but Apple's advertising was far superior.

[Grieve]

The big seller for an integrated Apple-branded TV would be apps, the same thing that sent smart phones and tablets into the stratosphere. They would have to be different (no touch screen interface), but you could still do a lot of really cool things with apps that could integrate with and overlay the TV signal. And via integration with other apple devices, you could play games and so on using your iPhone or iPad as a controller.

Yes, Google TV crashed and burned because no-one understood it, it was too complex, and really, did the average consumer even know it existed? Imagine the type of ubiquitous and easy-to-understand TV ads you see for the iPhone and iPad, but for the iTV instead. Apple is great at designing things that are really simple and easy to use for non-techie people. Google is great at designing things that can do Really Cool Stuff that techie people love, but are complex and difficult to understand by the average Joe (and usually unfinished - how many of their services are still in beta?)

Ironically, after all the hoopla about Jobs leaving, AAPL is outperforming the broader market (certainly the nasdaq) today.

[Vanraw]

You bought Apple? Why you sly old dog - you're the third generally Apple-bashing person from these boards that has privately admitted to me they own the stock.

Next product? Apple TV! (the full TV, not the setup box).

But I don't think the iPad in particular is going to flatten out for quite a while...

Hey I think I admitted it. And cashing in on a quick and easy 15 to 20% gain has nothing to do with my religion. If people are going to pump the price up I might as well walk away with some cash to fund my apple bashing...

Back to reality... The "TV" market is wide open, but we will see who jumps on the right peddles to ride it to profit. Google had the right idea but didnt capture the content from the networks. If I had to guess who will dominate the intelligent TV, it will be either the cable carriers, or someone like Netflix. Though I dont even know if they are think about such things. Netflix has become the house hold name it TV streaming. Almost any device you buy now has the client.

In the end TV is going to change in the same way we have all discussed on these forums in relation to Cable being dead. Today I use Zune and my xbox along with netflix alot. My wife (artist and gardening techno phobic) uses it at will as well. For instance, I dont watch "Wilfred" when it airs. I bought the season on Zune and when episodes are aired, I watch then when ever I want. And I have them forever. Um I think they call this "the cloud" which is a joke since most companies have been doing it for years. I also use Zune to watch / stream first run DVD's that are not on netflix. This is opposed to a brick and mortar video store

I know Apple, Google and Microslop would love to be in the business for every household in America. But my take is they havent made it yet, I bet they dont. Meanwhile "Netflix" has become a verb like "google it", or "Facebook me". My bet is that netflix will start to offer streaming rental and purchases like Amazon, zune and itunes. Then it will be walk into the virtual TV ownership.

FYI I dont own netflix. I wish I would have bought it back when I wanted to, but just procrastinated.



My bet is

[Slamz]

My bet is that netflix will start to offer streaming rental and purchases like Amazon, zune and itunes. Then it will be walk into the virtual TV ownership.

Yeah, I wish they'd do this. I wonder if the holdup is simply Netflix trying to pressure studios to letting them stream for free (for which I assume Netflix pays some flat rate fee).

As it is, I use Netflix and Amazon Unbox, both of which I can do through my Tivo. I go to Netflix first, though, and only check Amazon if Netflix doesn't have it.

I do still need a way to do ala carte TV shows though. Kinda hoping to see Hulu make some better progress there.

[Grieve]

Nah. He's going to stay on the board. Let the man retire - he's been through enough.

Sadly, from what I'm hearing, his cancer has returned, has not responded to chemo, and he most likely only has 4-5 months left (and not pleasant months either). Very very sad.

[Vanraw]

Nah. He's going to stay on the board. Let the man retire - he's been through enough.

Sadly, from what I'm hearing, his cancer has returned, has not responded to chemo, and he most likely only has 4-5 months left (and not pleasant months either). Very very sad.

Pancreatic cancer is nasty shit.

[Vanraw]

I do still need a way to do ala carte TV shows though. Kinda hoping to see Hulu make some better progress there.

Xbox actually has a decent solution for this if you want to put a QAM tuner on your PC. The PC will act as a DVR, and a streaming source to the xBox using Media Center. So on Xbox you run Media center, and it gives you a code to insert on your PC. Then you can control the tuner fromt he xbox on your big screen. All the channels you have on Cable are available with the exception of premium type stuff like HBO. The Media center on the PC also acts as a DVR.

I've been using Zune shows that I want to watch when I want to watch them. Grant it, you have to pay for each show, but as they are released they are available on the xbox / zune with no commercials. Its like buying the TV's show's DVD's in near real time.

[Vanraw]

Back on Jobs and such. This is Apples compensation to executives. WOW!. Tim Cook made 60 million last year. We should give him a tax break.


BASIC COMPENSATION
Name Fiscal Year Total
Steven Jobs 1
Timothy Cook 59,092,600
Peter Oppenheimer 29,796,700
D. Bruce Sewell 29,739,600
Philip Schiller 11,677,200

[Grieve]

That's nothing. He got awarded one million restricted stock options when he was made CE0. Right now they have a paper value of $383 million dollars...

He gets 50% if he stays with Apple for 5 years, and the rest if he stays for 10 years.