Gregg Thurman on Mark Gurman: Behind Phil Schiller's exit - 'Starz – $10.99/month after seven days free Peacock – $19.99/month after seven days free FOX One – $19.99/month after seven days free HBO Max – from $9.99/month Paramount+ – $7.99/month after seven days free Apple TV – $14.99/month after seven days free Mubi – $14.99/month after seven days free BritBox – $10.99/month after seven days free Acorn TV – $8.99/month after seven days Not listed is Amazon TV, that is included with a Prime subscription at $14.99, but is increasingly a pay per view service. Seems to me that Apple TV’s price is just keeping up with the market, and is the only service broadcasting 100% exclusive material. Also, it’s been a very long time coming, but when Apple Vision Pro content arrives Apple TV will offer content not available on any other service. I’m sure that content will be offered as a separate tier, at a higher cost, but from the reviews of NBA and MLB demo games, will be well worth it. Further, I think AppleTV price increases were the doings of Schiller. I do not think he was opposed to them.'
on This week's Apple trading strategies (9/7-9/11/26) - 'This is a reminder US markets are closed tomorrow (Monday) in observance of the Labor Day holiday.'
on The last meeting of Tim Cook's last day as Apple CEO - 'I got one also! Seen the inside many times back then.'
on Mark Gurman: Behind Phil Schiller's exit - 'Well, I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed the significant price increases in Apple TV over the years. But since details are hazy, I asked Gemini: Launched (2019): Started at $4.99 per month 1st Increase (2022): Raised to $6.99 per month. 2nd Increase (2023): Raised to $9.99 per month. 3rd Increase (2025): Raised to $12.99 per month. 4th Increase (August 2026): Raised to $14.99 per month That’s about a 300% increase over a 6-7 year period. That could be part of the reason Schiller is pissed, to the extent Eddie’s story has any validity.'
on The last meeting of Tim Cook's last day as Apple CEO - 'Love that he connected with frontline Apple Store employees. They’re great ambassadors for the company and are part of the reason that I love visiting, even if I don’t need to buy anything.'
on Mark Gurman: Behind Phil Schiller's exit - 'Hi, Ron. Just to clarify for folks, that’s $14.46 in split-adjusted prices. Also, the end of 2011 was about a year before buybacks started. It’s pretty clear to me that it’s no coincidence that buybacks happened so quickly after Tim Cook took control. So since the split-adjusted float has been reduced by 44%, what would the gain in stock price have been absent buybacks (and assuming that the same trader/investor balance of 2013 would have zero impact on where the P/E ratio has ended up – very unlikely, IMHO)? If the buybacks were presently 50%, then we’d just divide the gains by 2. Still, we know that, without buybacks, there would be 26.5 B shares, and we know that, as of the beginning of last July, 14,594,180,000 remain, which is (26,500,000/14,594,180=) 1.816 times, so ($319.97/1.816=) $176.22/share is due to simple gains in net income, and ($319.97-176.22=) $143.75 is due to buybacks. Of course, we also know that ~$850 B was spent on buybacks, and so you’d get to divide the ~$850 B spent by the 26.5 B shares that would exist without buybacks, equal to (850/26.5=) $32.08/share. And yes, you could have made more than the (143.75/32.08=) 450% gain from that invested capital (assuming it was in a 401K or some such and you bet wisely), but it wouldn’t necessarily have kept you in AAPL shares, which are about to go on another growth spurt. For us, I’m convinced an increased dividend that amounted to $32.08/share over the last 25 years would have left us with much less stock of any kind, Apple or otherwise. And in part that’s because I’m also convinced not reversing stock dilution would have kept those extremely vicious short term trader hooks in AAPL, to the long term detriment of its valuation.'
on Mark Gurman: Behind Phil Schiller's exit - 'Stephen Gordon said: “Dalrymple also said Apple needed to get rid of three people: Tim Cook, Craig Federighi, Luca Maestri.” **Steven, I’m not sure why Dalrymple disliked Tim Cook as Apple C.E.O., but the Apple share price was $14.46 at the end of 2011, the year Tim Cook became Apple C.E.O., and was $319.97 at market close last Friday. That’s an increase of almost 2113% in about 15 years. Personally, I’m of the conviction that Tim Cook was partially responsible for that gain in the Apple share price.'
on Mark Gurman: Behind Phil Schiller's exit - 'There are somewhere between 34 and 64 million developers (AI) making apps for the iPhone. Most do so paying zero to use the app store. I don’t believe that asking them to pay a few bucks is ‘squeezing’. It’s definitely not squeezing to require those developers making millions and billions to pay their share (here’s to you, Mr. Sweeney).'
on Mark Gurman: Behind Phil Schiller's exit - 'Using the word “squeeze” implies there really is no way to add revenue for services but to pressure the developers and users. That only rent-seeking behavior is left. Maybe. But not, I believe, for the main App store. I think of what an AI App store might bring to the table; especially one that also enhances any money Apple gets from the uses of AI. It adds to the hardware ecosystem for AI in ways no one else can (although Nvidia is trying). How Apple monetizes AI, how it charges for tokens used from its own servers or Google’s, is one of the things I want to hear. Will Apple do some rent-seeking here, like the other AI companies? Nickel and dime its users? Is that why Schiller decided to leave? I’m sure we will find out soon.'
on The last meeting of Tim Cook's last day as Apple CEO - 'Let’s put it out there now before it shows up on CNBC or some “Negative Nancy” article, so here it goes: Why didn’t Tim Cook make his final appearance as CEO at an Apple UNIONIZED Store?'
on The last meeting of Tim Cook's last day as Apple CEO - 'His words ring true. The first time I went into an Apple store, I felt it, the employees, the customers were ‘my people’. I could take any one of them into my home. From then on, buying the products and stock was a no brainer. It’s still true with every store visit, every support call, every web site visit. Tim repeated, ‘enhancing people’s lives’. Tim says that every time. Call it culture, values, leadership, focus, etc. We can rest assured that everyone at every level will do the right thing.'
on The last meeting of Tim Cook's last day as Apple CEO - 'Mentoring and encouraging right to the end…or the next beginning. Who knows, someone in this group of employees may rise to other heights within Apple, just as Deirdre did.'
