There’s an old story about three blind men. One grabbed an elephant’s trunk and thought it was a snake. One grabbed a leg and thought it was a tree trunk. Another grabbed… Oh you get the idea.
The bottom line is, when you look at only one piece of anything you are not going to see clearly… Or correctly. Yet time and again decisions get made upon this small-picture limited-think. Here’s yet another example. A post over on Cult of Mac today offers the following.
Here’s an idea: let’s cut Apple in half. Sure, the company is the most profitable on the planet and grabs more headlines than the U.S. President. The trouble, according to some on Wall Street, is Apple isn’t acquiring and selling enough to earn financial wizards hefty commission checks.
The thinking behind this notion being floated on Wall Street is that Apple could become even more valuable than its current $346 billion if the tech giant split its Mac hardware business and its iOS/iCloud offerings into two units. Motorola did something similar, splitting its hardware and cell phone businesses. Google recently acquired Motorola Mobility, the unit that has created so many Android-based smartphones.
From a FINANCIAL perspective this MIGHT be a compelling scenario. I would not now since high finance isn’t my thing. (Low finance either truth be told.) It MIGHT make sense to spin-off the mobile division of Apple from a monetary, Wall Street perspective. As the post points out, Motorola just did it and it just might be a good thing for all involved. Yes, if you look ONLY at the financials it might make sense.
That, however, misses the bigger picture and it is that big picture that will drive the bus as Tim Cook begins to put him imprint on Apple.
And what is that big picture? The big picture has Apple moving its mobile and desktop/laptop products CLOSER to one another than ever before. The big picture has Apple looking to offer an increasingly powerful and mature eco-system of office, home and mobile products, content to fill them and a seamless way to use each with all the others. Apple’s approach is holistic and it is working better than anyone ever dreamed. The economy is in the crapper and yet Apple continues to pretty much print money.
The idea of splitting off one part of what Apple is working so hard to create could only come from someone who doesn’t have a full grasp or understanding of what Apple is all about. The good news is… Tim Cook does.