Apple's No Good, Very Bad Week
And you thought you had a shitty week? No, I'm sorry, no one's bad week can trump Tim Cook's. Let's recap:
On Sunday, Bloomberg published a massive 6,000-word feature for Businessweek, basically recapping how much of a nightmare AI has been within Apple. Not just today, but over the past decade. And it more or less throws every senior person at Apple under the bus for the failure.
On Monday came word that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers was going to drag Apple back into court if they didn't settle their differences with Epic – namely, the differences keeping Fortnite out of the US App Store. Apple undoubtedly has the legal high ground to do this, but they were clearly losing with both the judge and in the court of public opinion. To add insult to injury, Microsoft held their Build conference to showcase exactly how they took the crown of the most valuable company in the world back from Apple.
And then Tuesday came, where Google made Apple look even more foolish with regard to AI and likely set up WWDC to be a disappointment – a few weeks before it has happened. That afternoon, Fortnite suddenly reappeared in the App Store.
On Wednesday, Jony Ive sold his year-old startup to OpenAI – an Apple partner – for $6.5B. Their clearly stated aim: to right the wrongs of the iPhone.
On Thursday, word came out that Apple was hustling to try to launch something, anything in terms of AI hardware by the end of 2026. Not this year. 2026.
And that brings us to today, Friday. Remember that whole Apple-is-screwed-by-the-Trump-Tariffs news cycle? The one that seemed to end pretty quickly, presumably with Tim Apple busting out his $1M favor card. Turns out, as Jesse Pound reports for CNBC:
President Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday that Apple will have to pay a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones made outside the United States.
“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Shares of Apple fell about 2% on Friday after the post.
2% of roughly $3T is about $60B. Dude, you just lost a Dell. The entire company.
I'm somewhat reluctant to even post about this because it's a Trump Tariff situation. It will change. Maybe that's today. Maybe that's tomorrow. Maybe that's next week. But there's no way that what he's saying today ends up being what is implemented. It's all just some narcissistic negotiating. But that doesn't make Tim Cook's Friday any better, sadly. Nor his week. If Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were body blows, this was the nut kick.
Everyone knows that Apple isn't going to produce iPhones in the US, because everyone knows they can't. It makes zero sense. At least not any time this decade. I suspect that even Trump knows that – obviously, he's been told that – but the reality cannot trump a good sound bite. And a good old fashioned showing of who is truly in charge here.
Tim Cook thinks he can slyly shift iPhone production from China to India? Cook is playing chess while Trump is playing... I don't know, Monopoly? Guess Who? Parcheesi? Boar of the Floor?
Honestly, this is all starting to make me wonder if Cook doesn't end up retiring sooner rather than later. Yes, he wants to get another product out the door, I'm sure. And maybe they have line of sight to that now with the Smart Glasses. And undoubtedly he doesn't want to leave Apple in a mess with regard to AI. They've implemented the changes seemingly needed, but it will take time.
At the same time, I mean, he's just under assault from all sides. Apple seemingly cannot catch a break right now. Which is a funny thing to write about a $3T company. Well, they were a $3T company. Now they're more like a $2.9T company. NVIDIA has blown by them as well...
I hope WWDC surprises and delights in some way. But it's hard to see how it will. Consider this my continued call for Apple to tear down the App Store walls. Tim Cook needs a break and a win. It's sitting right there!
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler