Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: 2011: The Year Of What?

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  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Yeah, I'm wondering about whether that's a cue to buy Apple stock. Even if the new guy does nothing creative, they've got a good few years of coasting in them,

    (Of course, they might instantly go down the HP path(1). If I bought stock, I'd confidently expect them to put in a bid to buy Acer within the year).

    1. For the younger ones, HP used to be this great company which made stylish and innovative gear and was a smart place to work. Then they bought Apollo, Dec, [Compaq], Tandem, EDS....

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    I heard the stairs were popular, to avoid being caught in the lift with him.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    I've been a few cubes over when he was tearing a strip off of someone (his first time around) - people are plain scared of him -

    In that case I would suggest investing in One of These, could be handy around the Office.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    If they lost Jonathan Ive as well (as hinted in the Guardian earlier this year), that would definitely be a disaster for Apple.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Peter Darlington,

    Jonathan Ive

    Quite. People seem to miss that the "i" prefix in Apple's products doesn't stand for "Jobs".

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to Sacha,

    Quite. People seem to miss that the "i" prefix in Apple's products doesn't stand for "Jobs".

    Maybe they're just fans of the original Roman alphabet.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    to be fair the "i" more likely stands for "a vowel different from 'e' just to make us different" - if apple was from elsewhere we might have ended up with üPhones

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    people are plain scared of him

    At least at Apple (and in most American and British companies) senior management actually talk to people.

    I've worked for at least two largish NZ firms where I've never met my direct manager's boss. It's wierd and dysfunctional.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    And Google has an eye to vertical integration with its Motorola buyout proposal. While Samsung & Apple are engaged in a bunny-ears lawsuit over who really invented digital tablets.

    Then again, what does it mean for the future portability of Android?

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    I’ve worked for at least two largish NZ firms where I’ve never met my direct manager’s boss. It’s wierd and dysfunctional.

    Don't be stupid. Management don't talk to staff, that would be demeaning for them. They might sometimes tell you what to think but they certainly don't want your thoughts. They're managers they don't need your input just your slavish loyalty.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    While Samsung & Apple are engaged in a bunny-ears lawsuit over who really invented digital tablets

    Stanley Kubrick, apparently :)

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    There was also the Star Trek PADD.

    #geekknowledgeshame

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    to be fair the "i" more likely stands for "a vowel different from 'e' just to make us different"

    no.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell, in reply to Sacha,

    At the time it came in everything was eThis and eThat .... hence my comment

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    I'll let you have that one :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    actually my time circling Apple predated the internet explosion, I was doing a non-apple hardware startup during the .com boom - we had e everything eCash, eStocks, eMail, etc etc there for a while - I think Apple (Steve who was back by then) brought in the "i" to differentiate themselves

    I did work on the 2nd generation of a hard drive based mp3 player that came out a few years prior to Apple's firstiPod - tried to make basically the iPod but couldn't get enough parts (the 1.8 inch small disk drives or the batteries) to build something in that small form factor in volume - turns out they were all on allocation to Apple ..... who weren't yet a player - our 2nd generation never reached the market, for that and a bunch of other reasons - the people I was contracting for (DEC WRL) had been bought by Compaq who were bought by HP ... who eventually tried to build their own iPod killer ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    could have been worse #zune

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    heh - there's probably books that could be written about M$'s various attempts at hardware ...

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    turns out they were all on allocation to Apple ….. who weren’t yet a player

    I read a fairly convincing article a couple of months ago arguing that Apple's dominance in the "i" markets was largely due to their massive capital and the ability it gave them to buy up basically the entire world's output of promising technologies years in advance - which meant when their products came out everyone else was always left playing catch-up, especially on usability. Sounds like a pretty good example of it.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    possibly - I don't think they did this on purpose to stop my design in particular, there probably just weren't enough tiny disk drives, a brand new technology to go around - and Compaq just wasn't focused on the tiny corner of its company I was consulting for at the time.

    At the time our problem was really that we didn't have the muscle to convince a disk drive manufacturer that there was money in making cheaper (but somewhat less reliable) disk drives rather than denser ones - at the time drive prices were constant but density kept increasing, the sweet spot in the curve was already heading away from "the amount of music any normal person who can afford one of our products is ever likely to have".

    We wanted a $50 drive rather than another $100 one with twice the density - the disk people just didn't see the volumes or money to be made because they'd been fighting a density war for so long - it was an alien business plan - having Apple throw a lot of money at you can change that, an after a runaway product like the iPod they started throwing read money at the issue

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    So they can finally poll as well the the Greens?

    This morning's poll is probably an outlier, but the Green vote seems to be going up and Labour's going down.

    I'd think that 25% must be close to the core tribal vote for Labour.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Rich Lock,

    Probably "Psychopaths and big money - it all adds up" from NZH.

    Dr Robert Hare puts the incidence in the general population at 1%.
    Apparently, this can rise to 4-5% in upper management, although I don't have a handy reference for that.
    Still, this is an interesting article.

    A reference, for those interested.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

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