Where’s The Hat And Other Miscellaneous Thoughts On Today’s Apple Event

Unmet Expectations

A grandmother is watching her grandson play on the beach when a huge wave comes and takes him out to sea.

She looks up and pleads, “Please God, save my only grandson. I beg of you, my life has no meaning without him. Please bring him back.”

And a big wave comes and washes the boy back onto the beach, good as new.

She looks up to heaven and says: “He had a hat!”

No matter what Apple does today, it won’t be enough. Just accept the fact that the critics are always going to want to know: “Where’s the hat?”

Stock Market Reaction

Unless you’re a trader, day-to-day price is truth in the stock market the way popularity is truth in high school.~ Jon Fortt (@jonfortt)

The market is going to react either positively or negatively to today’s announcements. Just understand that the market moves for its own reason and its reaction may have absolutely no relationship whatsoever to reality.

Doomed

The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.”~H. G. Wells

No matter what Apple does or does not announce today, someone is going to predict that they’re doomed (or words to that effect). Ignore them. They’re a joke.

Controversy

“Controversy equalizes fools and wise men – and the fools know it.”~Oliver Wendell Holmes.

There will be mindless controversy today. Fools thrive on it. Let’s mind our manners and focus our mind’s on what matters.

Clarity

Who is there who can make muddy waters clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will gradually clear itself.” – Lao-tsu

Things are not going to clear up today no matter how hard we stir them. Only time and patient analysis will give us the clarity we seek.

Transformation

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.
R. Buckminster Fuller

Transformation is hard to see. It’s particularly hard to see when you’re not looking for it and insisting that it’s not happening.

There’s a lot going on beneath the surface of each Apple event. Over the upcoming weeks and months, let’s look for, and explore, the long term trends, together.

Timing

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
An interrupting cow.
An interrupting co—
MOO!

In comedy, timing is everything. In Tech too.

Things happen fairly slowly, you know. They do. These waves of technology, you can see them way before they happen, and you just have to choose wisely which ones you’re going to surf. If you choose unwisely, then you can waste a lot of energy, but if you choose wisely it actually unfolds fairly slowly. It takes years. One of our biggest insights [years ago] was that we didn’t want to get into any business where we didn’t own or control the primary technology because you’ll get your head handed to you. ~ Steve Jobs

Technology is like a wave. If you’re too early, you miss it. If you’re too late, it crushes you. Just ask Microsoft.

Vision is worth exactly nothing without timing.

Mavericks is a wave. Coincidence? Probably…

…but maybe not.

Conclusion

Never give a heckler the last word.~Elaine Boosler

Remember all that noble stuff I just said about ignoring the morons on the Internet? Yeah, well, forget all that. Give ’em hell!

Published by

John Kirk

John R. Kirk is a recovering attorney. He has also worked as a financial advisor and a business coach. His love affair with computing started with his purchase of the original Mac in 1985. His primary interest is the field of personal computing (which includes phones, tablets, notebooks and desktops) and his primary focus is on long-term business strategies: What makes a company unique; How do those unique qualities aid or inhibit the success of the company; and why don’t (or can’t) other companies adopt the successful attributes of their competitors?

3 thoughts on “Where’s The Hat And Other Miscellaneous Thoughts On Today’s Apple Event”

  1. “Remember all that noble stuff I just said about ignoring the morons on the Internet? Yeah, well, forget all that. Give ‘em hell!”

    Exactly. The war ain’t won when the gloves are off.

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