Joseph Bland on Tim Cook makes Barron's list of 25 top CEO for 2026 - 'Hi, Rodney, Tell AI I agree that it was common but disagree that, especially in his later years, it was accurate.'
on Tim Cook makes Barron's list of 25 top CEO for 2026 - 'According to AI- Yes, calling Steve Jobs a “dictator”—particularly a “design or product dictator”—is a very common and accurate description of his management style. He ran Apple with an iron hand, rejecting the traditional corporate structure of consensus, committees, and focus groups.'
on Tim Cook makes Barron's list of 25 top CEO for 2026 - 'Upvoted for highlighting one, of many, assets that Apple has; And one that rarely gets attention. Apple’s decision process gives us investors confidence for the long term.'
on Tim Cook makes Barron's list of 25 top CEO for 2026 - '”I do hope that Ternus feels free to be able to run with his own ideas.” I’m not sure running “with his own ideas” is how we should put it. Apple is a team, a diverse team with a multitude of different ways of looking at things. Steve wasn’t a dictator, nor was Tim. Their strength was managing the team, keeping them focused, holding everybody accountable and pushing for ever higher results. Ternus is respected by his peers for doing the same things.'
on Tim Cook makes Barron's list of 25 top CEO for 2026 - 'More importantly is that while Tim Cook is stepping down as the CEO, he is not stepping away from Apple. This will be IMO a far different schematic than what Tim Cook faced when he was handed the reins after the passing of Steve Jobs. For Tim it was probably like drinking from a firehouse for a period of time after he was put into the CEO chair. It ‘s the best of both worlds and having your cake and eating it too. John Ternus will have Tim Cook available for any questions or concerns. What a benefit that will be for him as he transitions into the CEO role. In sharp contrast to what Tim had to face when he was appointed to the position.'
on Joanna Stern: 'I spent a week with new Siri' (video) - 'Darren: Thank you. Thant’s an excellent summation of Apple’s competitive position in the marketplace today. Device prices are moving higher and Apple is creating an opportunity to increase the value proposition of Apple devices by crafting never-seen-before functionality with on device security and privacy. IIRC, during the keynote at WWDC customers will get a set amount of AI computing power for free. Additional services can be purchased through iCloud+. Apple One will take on even more relevance for today’s Apple customer. I know I’m likely to increase my annual spend with Apple.'
on Ice Universe: The difference between Samsung and Apple is profound - 'Not sure. But I think they have a really broad portfolio of products beyond their phones. Which I agree seem like iPhone copies.'
on Ice Universe: The difference between Samsung and Apple is profound - 'Huawei? I don’t follow them closely, but they seem to shamelessly imitate Apple and follow its lead. What am I missing here?'
on Ice Universe: The difference between Samsung and Apple is profound - 'The model I would use for this is John Boyd’s OODA Loop (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop ) When you control perceptions, you operate inside (more rapidly) the other guy’s decision cycle. The comment from today’s video about “what would cannibalize the iPod?” is a great example of trying to get inside the decision loop that produces products. Now there is money to be made as the follower. A lot of both Clayton Christensen and Carliss Baldwin (“The Power of Modularity”) work show the usual trajectory for a product, where followers can optimize their productions eventually leading to commoditization. But if you’re turning faster than that cycle, you’ll always be on the rising curve (and that’s where the best ROI sits.) I’m sure Horace will correct me if I got anything wrong here, I’m not a business analyst/strategist.'
on Saturday Apple video: Apple’s Secret iPhone launch team - 'What I thought was so cool about this video (apart from the fact that the iPhone has been with me since iPhone 3G and has turned AAPL into about 33% of my portfolio) was the body language. These are people physically communicating in a way that is natural to them. There’s probably some neurodivergency in there, as for most technological wizards, but it is REAL, not the scripted, controlling crap that we are seeing at Apple’s most recent performances. Hopefully John Ternus can release those scripted behaviors to the trash bin. Also, however, it is interesting to note the comment near the end that, if you went “off script” in your OG demonstration, you were at risk of seeing something explode on stage. Reminds me of the ED2000 in Robocop.'
on Joanna Stern: 'I spent a week with new Siri' (video) - '“If you get tons of spam mail and texts, I hope Siri can block out that stuff almost in its entirety.“ I hadn’t thought of that use case but if true, me likee!'
on Joanna Stern: 'I spent a week with new Siri' (video) - 'The on-device AI vs data centre based AI is very interesting set up for Apple. For the next few years how much is the average consumer prepared to pay for Claude, GPT, etc? My guess is many will be happy with the free or ad supported tiers and those prepared to pay will pay $10 to $30 a month. The hyperscalers are spending hundreds of billions in capex and need to offset that with $120 to $360 per annum from just SOME of their consumer customers. On the flip side Apple users will get Siri AI free or mostly free with a newish device. Given so many Apple customers now have multiple Apple silicon devices it will be almost every other year an Apple customer is giving Apple at least $1000 a year on new hardware (before recurring services) and yet Apple doesn’t have the capex bill. As Robert said the potential here for a long super cycle is staring us in the face but too many analysts are still worried about near term monetisation of AI services. #longaapl'
