"In the end, it's the same old story from Apple: long on ideas, short on execution"

Is it possible to expand on this? What exactly do you mean by this relevant to Apple?

Your blog appears to be a quick sample of stuff you have read elsewhere. What about your own research into "Apple's woes"? What are they? Are they real? What do you really know about the situation?
It might just help to try and answer some of these questions. Until you do, we, the readers are left with not much more than an empty blog.

kind regards,
Chidi

What about your own research into "Apple's woes"? What are they? Are they real? What do you really know about the situation?

- Despite having a product that is supposedly superior to PCs, Apple is fifth in overall market share for 2003 home computing at 3.2%, behind Dell (30.9%), HP (20.6%), IBM (5.2%), and Gateway (3.8%).

- Even this market share is down from 2002, when Apple held 3.5% of the market.

- While demand for iPod Minis is high, Apple won't recieve any revenue for them until they start shipping again. Additionally, the headphone static problem could temper consumer enthusiasm for the iPod Mini. Apple will further incur costs for any service or replacement of Minis that have already shipped with the static problem.

- The educational market, which was dominated by Apple in the 1980s and 1990s, is continuing to shift to PCs. The company just lost a major deal with Michigan state schools to Dell.

Ready for some Apple defense?

The battery thing was a ridiculous publicity stunt -- the batteries lasted a perfectly reasonable length of time and were, in fact, replaceable.

Conspiracy theories about why Apple can't keep up with demand are just that -- conspiracy theories. Nobody expected the iPod Mini to sell as well as it has, and the little tiny hard disks are known to be manufactured in too-small quanitities. That's all.

Headphone static is unfortunate. Portable devices should be indestructible, after all. I've lost several components to shorts introduced in or near the headphone jack, and it sucks. Despite reports from the usual suspects, this appears to be a very minor problem that affects very few people. THere have been similar reports about the full-size iPod, and those sales don't seem to have been impacted, nor have iPods been recalled en masse.

What "market share" has to do with "execution," I'm not sure. It seems that you might be confusing products with marketing. As far as products go, Apple's ideas and execution have tended to be close-to-perfect lately, and the sales figures tell the numbers clearly. As far as market share, Apple's increased sales are cimply not increasing as fast as all the rest of the companies together. THis is possible due to the fact that people have to replace windows boxes far more often than they do Macs, or it might be due to other factors, but sales for Apple are up, not down, when measured in real numbers instead of percentages shipped per quarter.

Etc, etc, you know the drill. The company makes billions of dollars a year and continually beats analyst expectations, but somehow this is a failure because lots of people buy Dell.

Apple makes a player people are convinced will fail, and instead they sell so many nobody can make them fast enough, but this is a failure for Apple.

Of course -- failure is a failure, and so is success. It's all a failure for Apple.

If you think about it, increased market share would be a failure for Apple, too. Somehow, it would have to be!

...long on ideas, short on execution

as opposed to the microsoft story: short on ideas, long on execution.

I've always wondered how many Wintel boxes are bought to be used in the home vs. Macs. Anybody got a figure?

One large company can buy a few truckloads of PCs just to run the custom software they wrote for their business. Essentially, these end up being used as dumb terminals, and aren't at all indicative of what people would choose to use on their home turf.

I'm sure that SOMEBODY has separated the "home use" sales numbers from the "business use", or however it's categorized.

Chidi and Mark said it for me. I don't see "long on ideas, short on execution" supported in this entry. Nor do I see that claim supported by Apple's history. The company has executed its products well more often than not. What it hasn't been successful at is communicating what it does so well so that market share grows to the at least 10 percent I believe it is capable of.

Ditto for Phillip's point. The battery in original iPods lasted a year-and-a-half or longer. That is pretty long. The valid criticism is that the battery should be replaceable instead of needing to buy a new iPod -- not that the batteries are lemons. Apple heard that complaint and responded by creating a battery replacement program for a reasonable price and giving the iPod a full one-year warranty.

The rumor about some static on some iPod minis is not new. It has been around for weeks. It seems the mini may need different headphones than the full-sized iPod, since the complaint seems to come from people using the earbuds. However, a substantial part of the iPod clientele replaces the earbuds with upscale earphones anyway. I am sure there will be a solution. And, I don't think some people complaining about static is holding up production. The problem is the product is too successful, not that it is defective. The manufacturers of the hard drive have confirmed they can't produce them fast enough to meet demand. Why claim otherwise?

Don't get me wrong. I am not one of those "never criticize Apple" folks. But, if we are going to criticize the company, let's support what we are saying with hard facts.

As far as my "short on execution" comment goes, you can have the best product in the world, but it doesn't do you a damn bit of good if no one buys it. For a company to properly execute a launch, they need not only a quality product (which Apple undoubtedly has), but decent PR, advertising, and distribution channels.

Apple got dinged twice here:

1) They can't keep up with demand for the Minis. While some may view this as a good thing, consumers are likely to be frustrated at not being able to get the product right away (I know my wife is) and Apple will lose sales because of this.

2) Their stellar Q1 earnings announcement was overshadowed in the media by the headphone static issue. Lousy timing and lousy PR. It may turn out to be a non-issue as Phillip & MD have suggested but, again, some subset of consumers was turned off.

I would love for Apple to be able to rival Microsoft. Still waiting.

"...if no one buys it." "...can't keep up with demand." Read what you write much?

Apple has offered free upgrades to people who ordered the Mini; they can get the 15GB for the same price though it is normally $50 more. They've sold 25% more than analysts predicted, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. Since you invite direction comparison ("... to rival Microsoft"), how many MP3 players has Microsoft sold?

Hello?

I did a quick scan of headlines, and I see almost none related to headphones. Every headline I've found is directly related to the phenomenal and unexpected success of the iPod Mini (800,000+ units sold in one quarter, *not* the Christmas quarter!), or the fact that they sold more iPods than Macs. Many of the articles don't even mention the static, but those that do relegate it to the body copy somewhere. If you're reading nothing but static, what the heck are you reading?

If Apple follows their normal patter, they'll wait longer than critics want them too but still respond much more quickly than most companies normally do, and their solution to the problem will be very fair. That's what they've done time and time again, and people who read general-interest news in real-time (instead of internet-time, where each day seems like a week at least) know this.

Dude, I don't even like being an Apple cheerleader, but your comments are so far off-base, I almost have no choice! :-)

"...if no one buys it." "...can't keep up with demand." Read what you write much?

First comment referred to Apple's sub-5% market share in the home computing market. Second referred to the Mini shortage. I should have made that clear.

Apple has offered free upgrades to people who ordered the Mini; they can get the 15GB for the same price though it is normally $50 more.

These reports are anecdotal--there is no formal offer on Apple's site or in their brick-and-mortar stores as of yet.

Since you invite direction comparison ("... to rival Microsoft"), how many MP3 players has Microsoft sold?

I doubt MS will enter that market. Here's a more global comparison for you, though:

If you had invested $100 in Apple in 1985, you'd have about $600 today.

If you had invested that same $100 in Microsoft, you'd have more than $20,000 now.

With 20/20 hindsight, which company would you rather have invested in in 1985?

If you're reading nothing but static, what the heck are you reading?

As for the relative news coverage of static issues vs. earnings, my view may have been slanted in that I read far more tech news than hard news.

...

The tripling in earnings last quarter is great for shareholders in the short term, but it is absolutely unsustainable. I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Look, I'm a big fan of Apple's products. There is no question that their technology is superior to Wintel, and they are poised to own the portable music player market right now. But in 1983, they were poised to own the home computing market and look what happened.

Jeez! How did the subject change from selling mini iPods to investing in Microsoft? Good thing you're not a lawyer, Scott. This kind of maneuver would get you laughed out of a conference room or court.

For the record, I did buy Microsoft stock while I was in law school. (We had a little investment club.) Sold it very profitably when I decided to write full-time. And, I still prefer Apple products. Moral of story: Being a successful business and making the best product(s) are not necessarily synonymous.

Observation: I think you don't like groups deemed 'losers.' Whether the 'losers' are liberals, blacks or Apple. You can't wait to kick'em.

Good thing you're not a lawyer, Scott. This kind of maneuver would get you laughed out of a conference room or court.

True, but as a stock analyst, it's my bread and butter.

Observation: I think you don't like groups deemed 'losers.' Whether the 'losers' are liberals, blacks or Apple. You can't wait to kick'em.

Also my bread and butter, though I would not consider any of those groups to be "losers."

Fixed it. The crackling noise, I mean. Took me a couple of hours yesterday after my wife's iPod mini started to emit that noise too, some four years after we bought it.