

Why Apple might be the next RIM - yoseph
http://www.vuru.co/blog/2012/04/12/why-apple-might-be-the-next-rim/

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artsrc
If this was "Will Apple be the next RIM?" you could just answer no and move
on.

The rule is that headlines phrased as questions are answered with no.

We now need a similar rule for "Why <event that won't happen> might happen"
headlines.

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astrodust
Will Hacker News be the next Geocities?

This article couldn't be more wrong.

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smashing
Ludicrous. Apple is spread out over many more computer markets than RIM ever
was.

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NameNickHN
I wouldn't say it's ludicrous but you're right. Apple would have to screw up
really, really badly in order to go the same way as RIM.

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acdha
Alternately: “Why vuru is probably trolling for page-views with baseless
speculation”

Steve Jobs was a key figure in the history of our industry but it's not like
he built the iPhone personally and the entire team didn't depart with him. In
contrast, RIM has had bad management for many years and no track-record of
successfully building a consumer product - Apple could get there but it's not
going to happen quickly or with any plausible single mistake.

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Someone
With that title and given the first few HN comments, I did not bother reading
it. However, I do have an opinion to share: IMO, a better subject would have
been "Apple might be the next Sony, or not"

Comparing Apple with Sony makes way more sense to me than comparing it with
RIM. Both are in e consumer market, the iPod is the next Walkman, and with
some squinting, the iPod Touch is the next Playstation.

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owenfi
I unsubscribed from the mailing list after this article. No compelling
evidence (other than "Tim Cook is not a product guy"). Giving a time horizon
or recent evidence on statements such as "Apple is a great company but
realistically, can they continue like this ad infinitum? History says no."
seems required to be taken seriously.

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ricardobeat
That line makes as much sense as "Why Google might be the next Yahoo"

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chestercheetaz
RIM's current market cap: 7B

RIM's highest ever market cap (6/20/08 @ $145/share): 76B

Apple's current market cap: 580B

The comparison isn't even close, and that's just the financials. Take a look
at the market segments each company covers, and you find a similar disparity
in comparison.

Yes, Steve Jobs was a huge part of the vision of Apple. But he wasn't
everything. Apple is successful because of how the company is run, and
coincidentally, Tim Cook is a huge part of that. If you remember, 12 years ago
Apple was a struggling company selling computers to designers, illustrators
and some educational institutions. Since then, Apple has transformed itself to
be the dominant high-end personal computer maker, the dominant high-end
smartphone maker, and the dominant tablet maker in consumer electronics. They
managed to grow and flourish a retail business model in a decade that saw the
demise of retail as more companies shifted to online distribution channels (an
effort led, coincidentally, by Tim Cook). They have more cash on hand than the
U.S. government.

If anything, a better comparison would be Apple 1999 : RIM 2012. Except that
RIM doesn't have a Steve Jobs-type product visionary to bring it back from the
brink of death.

