[bobauckland]

I've never found Tim Cook to be that impressive during presentations.
Having said that Heins always looks so uncomfortable to me.
Like someone trying to get over his nervousness by putting on an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent.

[imz]

I think Thorsten would of been better had he more material at his disposal such as fancy surprises that were going to wow even the most addicted followers, but...

He was in a position where he had to rehash old news as a "here you go" type of launch, which everyone took as "well... we've seen all this hub/camera etc already ", I'd be nervous too!

[AT_Nepal]

I've never found Tim Cook to be that impressive during presentations.
Having said that Heins always looks so uncomfortable to me.
Like someone trying to get over his nervousness by putting on an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent.

thanks hilarious!!! i can just imagine he gets off stage and then talks with a normal accent afterwards HAHAHAHAHA

[AT_Nepal]

I think Thorsten would of been better had he more material at his disposal such as fancy surprises that were going to wow even the most addicted followers, but...

He was in a position where he had to rehash old news as a "here you go" type of launch, which everyone took as "well... we've seen all this hub/camera etc already ", I'd be nervous too!

Good call. Man, was I disappointed with the launch. Was really hoping that BB had something up their sleeve, like a totally synced car/phone experience with QNX, or a system where the phone can play ANY song by just asking for it (its quite amazing, Tesla cars have that), or a mini-projector that is attachable.

Don't get me wrong, from what I have seen hub looks great, as does Active frames and stuff, but it lacked the fireworks that you would expect from a renaissance company, the "im-going-to-take-out-my-samurai-sword-and-demolish-you" enterprise attitude. Even Nokia with Elop did a better job IMHO

[xandermac]

Not at all....my point was the shine is starting to come off the Apple. Even the almighty "other fruit" is not immune to the fickle nature of investors.

With $110 billion in cash, I doubt Apple care. Investors only hurt themselves. I'd never buy Apple simply because of the speculation.

[nquyen]

And yet he's increased revenues and profits consistently while in office. Do forums ever attract the armchair executives in all of us!

Increasing revenue in the short run, however tarnishing Apple's reputation in the long run? Is that a trade-off really worth making? Do you know why AAPL has been falling in price? Believe it or not, the stock is not entirely dependent on how well the company is doing. People are beginning to wake up to the fact that AAPL is simply no longer a growth stock. I am in no way saying I would do a better job as CEO or do I have anything to say in terms of his performance but the results tell the story.

[RubberChicken76]

My impression of both Tim Cook and Thorsten Heins is that they are operations guys. Both probably really terrific behind closed doors at making sure the engine is running right. Both really good at sniffing out operational inefficiencies and working through the org to streamline things.

Where I'm not yet convinced (with either) is their strategic side in terms of where to lead the company from a product perspective. Apple's current product portfolio was Steve's legacy and BlackBerry 10 was Mike L's child that Thorsten brought to market. The test for both with be iOS 7 and BlackBerry 11.

and yeah - neither strikes me as a particularly amazing speaker. But then, few are compared to Jobs. Thorsten is certainly much better than Jim B was on stage (yikes) and he isn't insane like Steve Ballmer. I'm sure with practice, he'll continue to get better.

Anecdote: I find a lot of the new Apple VPs try to mimick Steve Job's stage presence, but they come across as fake and forced to me. Scott Forstall in particular when he was there. Always felt like he'd try to pull off the Jobs distortion field and it would sound phony

[RubberChicken76]

Increasing revenue in the short run, however tarnishing Apple's reputation in the long run?

Thanks for the comment!

Not really in agreement that much tarnishing has been done. Yeah, there was the Maps fiasco, but they had AntennaGate and MobileMe under Jobs. His biggest challenge that I'm starting (note: only starting) to see a bit of is indifference. In my tiny microcosm of a life, every time Apple announced a new product, there would be huge chatter and excitement all over my social network. That last few announcements have been "meh" reactions. More troubling are the dedicated iPhone users who went out and bought other devices after years with iPhones. Mostly Galaxies, but I've definitely seen Z10s and even a Lumia get picked up by people who previously owned iPhones. I keep hearing "yeah - got bored with iPhone and wanted to try something new". I've also heard several times things like, "yeah - I bought this Mac thinking it was going to be awesome and I won't buy another".

I'm in no way suggesting that Apple is "in trouble". In fact, I think almost every company on earth would kill for the brand loyalty they have (even if not quite as invincible as before), the balance sheet and the streamlined operation they have. But you said it yourself - Apple grew and grew and grew and grew that it's becoming impossible to keep up with what Wall Street expects for growth.

Same thing happened with Microsoft. And honestly, the same thing happened with RIM. When they stopped having the growth they'd been having, investors skewered the stock ... even if the company met the guidance they had given. There certainly isn't always logic.

Just for fun:

Microsoft's recent quarter; $26 billion in revenue; stock is around $27/share
Apple's recent quarter: $54 billion in revenue; stock is around $431/share
Gogole's recent quarter: $14 billion in revenue: stock is around $800/share

All are multi-billion dollar companies who dominate and all are generally quite profitable. But Microsoft stopped having Hyper growth and was punished, even if it continues to grow.

[nquyen]

Thanks for the comment!

Not really in agreement that much tarnishing has been done. Yeah, there was the Maps fiasco, but they had AntennaGate and MobileMe under Jobs. His biggest challenge that I'm starting (note: only starting) to see a bit of is indifference. In my tiny microcosm of a life, every time Apple announced a new product, there would be huge chatter and excitement all over my social network. That last few announcements have been "meh" reactions. More troubling are the dedicated iPhone users who went out and bought other devices after years with iPhones. Mostly Galaxies, but I've definitely seen Z10s and even a Lumia get picked up by people who previously owned iPhones. I keep hearing "yeah - got bored with iPhone and wanted to try something new". I've also heard several times things like, "yeah - I bought this Mac thinking it was going to be awesome and I won't buy another".

I'm in no way suggesting that Apple is "in trouble". In fact, I think almost every company on earth would kill for the brand loyalty they have (even if not quite as invincible as before), the balance sheet and the streamlined operation they have. But you said it yourself - Apple grew and grew and grew and grew that it's becoming impossible to keep up with what Wall Street expects for growth.

Same thing happened with Microsoft. And honestly, the same thing happened with RIM. When they stopped having the growth they'd been having, investors skewered the stock ... even if the company met the guidance they had given. There certainly isn't always logic.

Just for fun:

Microsoft's recent quarter; $26 billion in revenue; stock is around $27/share
Apple's recent quarter: $54 billion in revenue; stock is around $431/share
Gogole's recent quarter: $14 billion in revenue: stock is around $800/share

All are multi-billion dollar companies who dominate and all are generally quite profitable. But Microsoft stopped having Hyper growth and was punished, even if it continues to grow.

Solid points