[ChuckMcM]

That is a pretty stellar earnings release. Congratulations on another quarter of excellent execution!

I think what Apple needs are some barbarians at the gates. Something which challenges them to be greater than they are, rather than sitting back on their laurels. I continue to be surprised that they don't step into the cloud computing pool. There are some solid advantages to having a cloud infrastructure that you can use to deploy new initiatives at scale.

I also wish they would spin out their computer business (Macbook, Ma Pro, Mac Mini, iMac) into its own division. While I chided Google for creating Alphabet, having your own identity can sharpen your focus if it is done well. It would also let them decide where they wanted to go with some of the legacy product lines.

[microtherion]

> I also wish they would spin out their computer business (Macbook, Ma Pro, Mac Mini, iMac) into its own division

To me, one of the core strengths of Apple is integration of all its devices, and it seems to me that creating separate divisions competing with each other would risk undermining this integration.

In the late 90s, I heard hair raising stories of how various divisions at Sun were operating at cross purposes due to a myoptic focus on their own balance sheets. I believe you worked there. In your opinion, were the competing divisions a strength or a weakness of Sun?

[ChuckMcM]

It is true, Sun did it poorly :-) What Apple has that Sun didn't are vertical product stacks. A 'Macintosh' company has its own hardware, software, and (shared) sales channels. The 'iDevice' company has its own hardware, software, and (shared) sales channels. I think that separation could work.

From where I could watch, Sun's biggest issue was that they forgot they were a systems company and started trying to be a components company. They had also pretty much become completely afraid of 'open' systems at that point. Playing tricks on competing SPARC computer companies, screwing up the OS portability, etc.

[microtherion]

As far as I can tell, Microsoft suffered similar problems, with their desktop oriented divisions occasionally holding back the mobile divisions. It's not like Apple never suffers from any organizational dysfunction, but I feel that separating divisions actively incentivizes dysfunction.

macOS and iOS share quite a bit of software, both in the sense of code bases that have overlap on the two platforms, and code bases that need to work together (e.g. for handoff, or features like Apple Watch unlocking a Mac). Not so sure about the hardware situation, but there is at least some sharing going on. And in many cases, the people behind the technology are shared as well.

[ksec]

Something like Project McQueen?

https://venturebeat.com/2016/03/17/apple-cloud-project-mcque...

They also has their own CDN.

[ChuckMcM]

Yes something like that, although no follow up after 2016 other than one cryptic speculation about a data center project [1].

[1] http://fortune.com/2017/02/21/apple-data-center-project-isab...

[ksec]

One reason we don't see much follow up is because DC are not of interest to most users. But their DC has definitely grown. Much like their CDN.

Then there is the DC project in Ireland, more in HongKong, and few other places. I think their original plan were to have most of its cloud usage move back to its infrastructure by 2019, given delays in many parts of DC may be 2020.

[specialist]

I've migrated most of my family to Apple, mostly to reduce my support burden. Now I'd like the remaining 10% gap to be closed.

I'm past ready for the loving embrace of cradle-to-grave iCloud awesomeness.

Why can't I backup my macOS devices to iCloud?

Why can't I send iCal invites via iMessages?

I don't want to reconfig my email clients (et al) on each device.

Whatever 1Password does for me, I want built-in, and better.