Recent Comments

  • Stephen Gordon on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'Anytime I want to see what the ‘50s were really about, I just rewatch L.A. Confidential.'
  • Gregg Thurman on CBS Sunday Morning celebrates 50 years of Apple (2 videos) - 'An excellent explanation of why Apple will prevail the world of AI, and why the massive investments in data centers going to go for naught. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgQ3s8AqAac Thinking different, debating everything really does make a difference.'
  • Gregg Thurman on CBS Sunday Morning celebrates 50 years of Apple (2 videos) - 'Steve, wherever he is, is going to be extremely proud of 2026 and what follows.'
  • Hap Allen on This week's Apple trading strategies (3/9-3/13/26) - 'More from Errol Brandt: “Apple didn’t set out to beat Nvidia at their own game. They decided to play a different game entirely.” Brandt highlights the ease of use for developers. With the recent product introductions, the decks have been cleared. WWDC, anyone? https://youtu.be/QgQ3s8AqAac'
  • Gregg Thurman on War fallout: Iranian drones damage AI data centers - '” I’ve seen anything that suggests that there’s any plan that will result in long-term stability and reduction of conflict.” Plans of that nature are never for public consumption. Why tell your adversary what you plan to do? That would be very counter productive.'
  • Gregg Thurman on War fallout: Iranian drones damage AI data centers - '” Do you believe relative or friends of those who have been killed should take comfort that the killing of Iranians was “minimal”?” No, I emphatically do not. I was injecting context into the discussion that Khamenei is responsible, directly or indirectly, for the killing of hundreds of thousands over the course of the last 25 years. Everyone agrees he was a horrible, despicable man willing to kill to achieve his perverted goal. This war, meant to eliminate the man and the machine that supports him, has cost a couple thousand (maybe double or even triple that by now) lives. As regrettable as that is (and it is truly regrettable) it pales in comparison to the lives Khamenei has taken (7,000-10,000 of his own people in just the last month or so). The bright side is that with he and his henchmen neutralized, the killing by Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis will be greatly, I mean GREATLY, diminished. That is a very good thing. Will the killing ever stop? Will school shootings in the US ever stop? Unfortunately no. But by paying the price of eliminating the person responsible for those killings we may save lives in the future. I think this action was a long time in coming, and I’m glad it has. But instead of lamenting those who are dying today, we should be thankful that killing on the scale of the past is going to diminish, and hopefully become background noise (like the school shootings in the US).'
  • Bill Donahue on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'I prefer Warren Buffet’s distinction: “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.” So, in that regard, the seller almost always overhypes the value the buyer receives. That duality is why Wintel computers once upon a time became dominant: cheap entry price “for a computer” and the highly convenient ignorance of most buyers in regards to the colossal difference in value, when compared to an Apple.'
  • Bill Donahue on War fallout: Iranian drones damage AI data centers - 'While I don’t disagree with you, Gregg, on Khomeini, I can’t say I’ve seen anything that suggests that there’s any plan that will result in long-term stability and reduction of conflict. My response this week is identical to what it was immediately after the invasion of Iraq in the US’s second Gulf War: “A US President, for obvious ulterior motives, expending vast financial resources and engaging in the national distraction – including of his political opposition – via an unjustified Middle East invasion that will absolutely not be as “easy” and clean as the initial aerial bombardment, while the real and growing threat to the USA is on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.” Meanwhile, China is brokering major deals in all of the countries that the US has abandoned or alienated diplomatically, and pushing full-steam ahead on science and tech development in ways that will play out two decades from now.'
  • Joseph Bland on War fallout: Iranian drones damage AI data centers - 'Trumpism MAY be no better? Really, Johnny? I stopped reading right after those weasel words. “For too long we’ve been ruled by progressives who have forgotten to defend the West, but Trumpism may be no better” Excerpt From “Enemies like Iran will exploit liberal naivety until we’re destroyed” The Times of London https://apple.news/AQbx34Dr-TKmUjVouwZ-jDA This material may be protected by copyright.'
  • Gregg Thurman on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - '”As a Liberal” I watched a really interesting interview the other day. The interviewee defined a liberal as one willing to embrace change. A conservative was one that wasn’t. In the context of today’s MAGA movement that makes sense. MAGA adherents want a return to the 1950s and all that entails. Liberals don’t.'
  • Michael Goldfeder on This week's Apple trading strategies (3/9-3/13/26) - 'Phenomenal! Can’t innovate my ass!'
  • Jonny T on War fallout: Iranian drones damage AI data centers - 'As I said, I do not laud him, I think he is a despicable man. By way coincidence, this man destroying the Iranian regime happens to be a very good thing for all human beings. Only improved once Putin has gone the same way of course. Interesting that there seems to be only enthusiasm from military quarter. No resistance to the plan. This sums things up pretty tidily for me: https://apple.news/AQbx34Dr-TKmUjVouwZ-jDA'
  • Joseph Bland on War fallout: Iranian drones damage AI data centers - 'Losing our democracy is losing the war that countless people have fought and died over for a very, very long time. The real war. It behooves us to think everything through before we act. For once.'
  • Joseph Bland on War fallout: Iranian drones damage AI data centers - 'Again, Jonny, as Gregg put it, I have no beef. But the same character you laud is in reality just a loose cannon. He is NOT acting for some greater good., and painting him as doing so is dangerous. Remember Afghanistan, and the real reasons we failed there. A clear-eyed look at who this President has put in charge of our armed forces should make the danger starkly obvious.'
  • Hap Allen on This week's Apple trading strategies (3/9-3/13/26) - 'Years ago, the race for “the enterprise”” was declared over. Is that still true?'
  • Gregg Thurman on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'David, the market determines gross margins. If the consumer doesn’t see value at a particular price point, he/she won’t buy it. “Value is what a ready, willing and able buyer and seller agree.” This is the essence of competition. What it cost to produce and the profit the producer makes is nowhere in the axiom. If the consumer sees value such that they are willing to pay a price that generates a 30+% gross margin, then the producer has done a good job. Apple has focused on adding value to its products, and done a very good job doing so, as evidenced by the number of consumers paying the price to become a customer, and remain one.'
  • Gregg Thurman on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'Dan, my limitation isn’t budgetary, it’s need. I don’t need all that a new iPhone can do as long as I can get the software updates that extend the value proposition of what I already own. BTW, TDS Fiber is connecting my street this coming week. I may change my mind about my devices after I see the performance of fiber vs coax.'
  • Gregg Thurman on Apple's MacBook Neo is already selling out - 'Daniel, I have an older MacBook Pro and that I haven’t turned on in well over a year. My iPad (A-16) does everything I want to do anymore. On an annual upgrade program I’m due for the iPhone 18. I’m not sure what I’ll get because I mostly use it as a cellular phone. The 18e is looking pretty darn good. I may get a Pro (that’s what I have now) then cancel the annual upgrade program, and get a new iPhone in 4 years. Something I can’t live without has to come along for me max out my upgrades like I used to. I’m eyeing the Apple Vision Pro real hard and an F-1 subscription. Really hoping for Kansas basketball by December. Praying that Apple gets 3D rights for ALL Kansas games. As it is now, I have to maintain subscriptions to ESPN, Paramount, CBS Sports, Fox sports and some Amazon channel to watch them all. Really stupid. From the reviews I’ve seen about the Lakers Vision Pro experiment, I’ll happily pay handsomely for a single 3D source. I’ve mentioned earlier I think sharing on the Vision Pro will be a major marketing coup for both the Vision Pro and Vision Pro content subscriptions.'
  • David Drinkwater on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'My take: Gurman is being expletively stupid. There is absolutely no sense in comparing the cost of a Neo (a laptop) to the cost of AirPods (an in-ear listening device). These are totally different toolsets. From that point forward, intellectual analysis becomes virtually impossible. From a brass-knuckles point-of-view, however, it is clear that Apple is not just “moving upmarket”. The new Neo is proof of the contrary. I am quite confident that Apple has evaluated the build cost and the profit margin of the Neo laptops and found them acceptable. As a Liberal, I am not actually a fan of 30+% gross margins, but as an Apple Investor, I really can’t argue against them.'
  • Roger Schutte on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'Gregg, speaking of 3 year old Motorola or Pixels…Verizon will sell you a brand new iPhone 12 (as well as certified preowned ones) if that’s all your budget allows. How many models is that? SIX! (iPhone 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17).'
  • David Drinkwater on This week's Apple trading strategies (3/9-3/13/26) - 'Somehow the market was unkind to Apple this week. My weekend round up convinces me that everything was bad this week, but still, AAPL got dragged down into the mud. The Neo will be a little slobber-knocker. I am sure of this. With the Neo, Apple will gut the budget budget. The question will be “how many piece parts than Apple obtain”, and I am pretty sure that, with a boring Supply Chain Guy like Tim Cook at the top, the answer will be: a lot!'
  • Robert Paul Leitao on This week's Apple trading strategies (3/9-3/13/26) - 'Due to the ongoing market volatility, I’m revisiting the year-to-date (YTD) share price performances of the Terrific Ten equities ranked by percentage gain (or loss) in share prices over this time and the performance of the major stock indexes over the same period. Only two of the ten equities are in the green year-to-date and the Russell 2000 small cap index is outperforming the DJIA, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite. It’s the only index in positive territory year-to-date. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) up 13.12% Walmart (WMT) – up 11.12% Russell 2000 – up 0.99% Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) – down (0.93%) DJIA – down (1.17%) S&P 500 – down (1.54%) Meta Platforms (META) – down (2.31%) NASDAQ Composite – down (3.68%) Broadcom (AVGO) – down (4.51%) NVIDIA (NVDA) – down (4.65%) Alphabet (GOOG) – down (4.94%) Apple (AAPL) – down (5.30%) Tesla (TSLA) – down (11.78%) Microsoft (MSFT) – down (15.44%)'
  • David Drinkwater on Apple's MacBook Neo stars in this week's Joy of Tech - 'And yet, somehow the market was unkind to Apple this week. (I will borrow this and post it to the “weekly”.). My weekend round up convinces me that everything was bad this week, but still, AAPL got dragged down into the mud. The Neo will be a little slobber-knocker. For sure.'
  • Robert Paul Leitao on This week's Apple trading strategies (3/9-3/13/26) - 'Entering this week’s trading, below is the market cap scoreboard of the Terrific Ten. These are the 10 largest enterprises ranked by this metric. The past few weeks have been tumultuous for mega cap tech stocks and for the markets in general. Microsoft, which did have a positive trading week, rejoined the $3 trillion market cap club. NVIDIA (NVDA) $4.32 trillion Apple (AAPL) $3.78 trillion Alphabet (GOOG) $3.61 trillion Microsoft (MSFT) $3.04 trillion Amazon (AMZN) $2.29 trillion Meta Platforms (META) $1.63 trillion Broadcom (AVGO) $ 1.57 trillion Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) $1.54 trillion Tesla (TSLA) $1.49 trillion Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) $1.08 trillion'
  • David Drinkwater on Apple's MacBook Neo is already selling out - 'This is totally the wow about the Neo. It’s not a workstation for those who need workstations, but it is a financial analyst inside Apple looking at the market and saying: “Hey, we *could* build a $500 laptop with 30-40% margins and sell it. That may not meet our overall margin targets, but we’re also gonna sell software and services with that Mac, and those *will* meet our margin targets, so this is an easy win, if we just reach out and take it.” And the competitive market could look at this and say: “Hey, Apple *could* build a $500 laptop with 30-40% margins and sell it.”'
  • Gregg Thurman on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'I know a lot of investors are concerned about the war. Iran is not Afghanistan. Nobody has succeeded in Afghanistan going back centuries. Iran is a modern country ruled by Clerics aspiring to the 9th century. It has a modern economy that at its best could not overcome its neighbor (Iraq) in a prolonged war. Today Iran’s economy is on the verge of total collapse. Its military leadership and ability to produce weapons have all but been eliminated. Its stores of weaponry has been all but totally eliminated. It cannot sustain fighting at this level much longer. After that it will be another Somalia, and who has Somalia attacked recently. Iran’s saving grace is that it has oil – lots of it, and that can be used to rebuild the country. The sticking point is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. These are the people that actually run the country. They control the economy. Without an economy they become large scale irrelevant, able only to skirmish disjointedly much like Iraq. But Iraq, with Iran being neutralized, has become assertive against its own Iran backed rebels. Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi, without Iranian weapons and money are to wither and die. It’s already happening in Lebanon. My point is that Iran’s military prowess is being dismantled before our eyes and the end of cleric rule is upon us. Iran’s population is not the same as Afghanistan’s tribalism, and they support regime change. One thing to consider. We aren’t the architects of this war. Trump had to be convinced by the Israelis. Israeli intelligence has made our rapid success, and the demise of Hezbollah et al possible, not to mention its military prowess. Israel is what we had hoped Iran (under Shah Pahlavi) would become, a stabilizing force in an unstable region. Unlike the 70s, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt are no longer destabilizing forces. Only Iran and its proxies remained.'
  • Gregg Thurman on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'Here’s a tidbit: my partner’s grandson left Pepperdine University this last November in his Freshman year (where he had a full ride academic scholarship) to go from part time to full time selling iPhones in Costco’s. He averages 5-7 iPhone sales per day, earning at the rate of ~$100,000/year. He just completed the company’s two week manager training program. He loves what he’s doing and says, “I can always go back to college if I need to”. He’s 18. He was a math major and found it to be easy, and played basketball until he broke his leg in a bad fall.'
  • Fred Stein on This week's Apple trading strategies (3/9-3/13/26) - 'Mind blowing. I had only naive intuitions about Apple’s edge in edge AI. Errol provides the bones and muscles. We might image M-series robotics. Apple’s leverage of the R&D and CAPEX from high volume client side devices, plus the developer ecosystem, may allow Apple to once again, arrive late, and win.'
  • Dan Scropos on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'Very well said, Gregg. You’ve outlined both Apple’s strategy and opportunity. Both have been a decade+ in the making. Now, it’s an all out land grab to plant Services seeds, and permanently lock in some portion of that 75% you mentioned into the best, safest and stickiest ecosystem there is. And not to mention the only one that values privacy. One last comment, regrading the following quote. “ Who wants a 3 year old Xiaomi, Honor, Motorola or Pixel?” Most here wouldn’t even want a brand new one, myself included. Ha.'
  • Gregg Thurman on Mark Gurman: Apple's coming Ultra product lines - 'As I pointed out yesterday, Apple may raise prices on the top end (consumers expect it because all the noise about memory prices), but only to make the “e’s” possible. The premium segment, that Apple” owns, is saturated. There are only so many in this segment and within that segment everyone that wants one has one. Apple’s strategy is to go downstream to the 70% – 75% (worldwide) that buy Android/Windows. Why? Because Apple is going to be the gateway to the commoditized AI industry, and even bottom dwellers buy Services, where the real profit resides. Apple can do this because it’s the only tech company whose products are aspirational. Consumers may buy cheap but they aspire to Apple, going so far as to buy 2-3 year old Apple products. Only Apple can go downstream. The competition is already there, but none are aspirational. Who wants a 3 year old Xiaomi, Honor, Motorola or Pixel? And none of those can go upstream, with the sole exception being, to some degree, Samsung.'