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Comment by beginningguava | Hacker News Reader

People aren't as hyped for iPhone 13ABC and aren't upgrading as soon as possible. I haven't seen the news covering the multi-day long wait lines at Apple stores for years.

Microsoft also got it together after dropping Balmer

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A big reason for the lack of long wait lines is because Apple's retail org under Angela Ahrendts has been trying since 2015 to actively discourage that behavior [1], and they have SUBSTANTIALLY better control over their supply chain now than they did 10 years ago. Tim Cook has been quoted as saying inventory is "fundamentally evil" [2], which is the main driver behind that change.

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/angela-ahrendts-says-a-signi...

[2] https://money.cnn.com/2008/11/09/technology/cook_apple.fortu...

I would really like insider insight on the last years of Steve Ballmer. A lot of the good things Microsoft is doing started under his last few years. Whether he deserves credit or not, is another story. I know Scott Guthrie gets a ton of credit from a lot of people for turning the company around, especially with Azure & Open Source.

I'm also curious what really happened with the Nokia debacle. Microsoft had some die hard phone fans & many people wish they could have one that ran Android apps but with the MS Phone UI so they could have the best of all worlds.

Surface is Ballmer

3x revenue is ballmer

He quit because gates opposed Nokia deal

Cloud is essentially Ballmer too

These are the key points that people should read. Ballmer is constantly criticized, yet under his watch, revenue and net income doubled. The release of the Surface, Azure, and o365 also started under his watch. Natya was a great choice to take the reins, but the people who think Ballmer was terrible only paid attention to his poor PR and stock prices. The man knew how to make money.

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