Linked List: March 18, 2012

Sunday, 18 March 2012

Sitting on It 

Om Malik on Apple’s soon-to-be-announced plan for its cash hoard:

I, for one, believe the company should just sit on the cash and not worry too much about Wall Street just yet. It is important that they use the cash to lock up supplies of components for its products. The cash cushion gives the company room to actively compete for talent as well as any future startups it might need to acquire to enhance its overall ambitions.

I’ve always thought Apple’s cash hoard was about freedom. That cash meant — and means — that they don’t have to answer to anyone. Apple’s market cap — the value of all outstanding shares of the company — is at record levels now. But it only crossed the $100 billion threshold in 2007. Its mean market cap for the past 10 years is $114 billion. That’s about how much cash the company has on its hands today.

Apple can’t control its stock price; that’s in the hands of investors. But it can control how much cash it keeps in reserve. If investors sour (or the market crashes) and the stock price dips, Apple could take itself private. I’m very intrigued about what they’re going to announce tomorrow.

Dialing for Dollars 

Apple PR:

WHAT: Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, and Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, will host a conference call to announce the outcome of the Company’s discussions concerning its cash balance. Apple will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash.

9a ET. Shareholder dividend? Or a Judge Smails-style “You’ll get nothing and like it”?

Why This Is What Samsung Is Calling Ice Cream Sandwich 

JR Raphael is upset that Samsung’s version of Ice Cream Sandwich doesn’t look like Google’s:

Here’s the thing: In baking its proprietary TouchWiz skin into the software, Samsung has watered down the Ice Cream Sandwich experience and delivered a UI that’s barely different from what you have now.

I understand the frustration if you’re a technically savvy user who owns a Galaxy S II and who wants the pure Google Android 4 experience. The problem is, the vast majority of Galaxy S II users are not technically savvy, have no idea what “Ice Cream Sandwich” is, and, most importantly, would totally freak out if they OK’d an over-the-air software update that completely changed the entire UI of their phone.