Analyst: Steve Jobs is still in charge
Boring is good, says Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster in a report from Macworld 2009.
“Today’s Macworld keynote was underwhelming as expected,” Munster wrote in a note to clients, a development he interprets as “a sign that Steve Jobs remains primary spokesman and active leader.”
The biggest news at the show, he says, was the updated 17″ MacBook Pro and two software updates: iLife and iWork. (See Live from Apple’s last Macworld)
That’s a far cry from the kind of product Steve Jobs regularly introduced at Macworlds past, including the iBook, iTunes and the iPhone.
Always the optimist, Munster believes that the lack of any big news Tuesday actually adds clarity to the confusion surrounding Jobs’ decision to skip the show.
“If Phil Schiller had made a significant announcement, we would have seen that as a sign of a changing-of-the-guard, but that was not the case. In other words, Steve Jobs remains the primary spokesperson for the company and we expect him to continue to appear at special events for all major product announcements. More importantly, this is another sign that Steve Jobs remains the active leader of the company, in our opinion.”
Munster retains a Buy rating on Apple (AAPL) with a price target of $235 a share.
have you read what the guys at http://www.thenoz.wordpress.com are doing?
Is Dan Lyons the new Steve Baumer (he who laughs at the iPhone)?
Did anyone bother reading that joke of a tech review over at another mag? Seriously with comments like “How bad was it? Let me put this as politely as possible. It was awful. Almost unbearable” and if you can seriously print this statement, you have problems “This is a company that has run out of gas”.
Apart from removal of DRM, new iLife and iWork and a new 17″Macbook, nah nothing really happened did it?
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Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
The snide comments of an increasingly angry and bitter Dan Lyons as well as other journalists, pundits and analysts have made me wonder how stupid they can be and still hold a job. I say this not as an Apple fanboy, which I am not, but as someone who follows business strategies.
By freeing itself from the yoke of having to make earth-shattering announcements each January, Apple can roll out products and announcements throughout the year. The company can launch consumer products timed for the holiday shopping season, not after it. Products don’t have to be rushed to market in time for a MacWorld keynote, but instead, wait until they are really ready for prime time. But no pundit mentioned this.
Don’t be surprised to see announcements of significant improvements in professional desktops to coincide with equal enhancements that can properly demo the upcoming 10.6 Snow Leopard Mac OS update. By having the flexibility of time, Apple can act more strategically.
This points to how short-sighted the pundits really are. Time should bear out the Warren Buffett quip that you don’t know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out. I think that as the year progresses, some very self-important pundits could be shown to have their pants around their ankles.