Make Apple Great Again! Here's to the Crazy Ones who "Think Different"

Is Apple losing its innovative edge? In this episode of The Money Runner, David Nelson dives deep into Apple's recent market moves, the rise of DeepSeek's AI challenge, and why investors are questioning Cupertino’s future. With analysts downgrading shares and whispers growing louder—has Apple played it too safe for too long?

We explore:
✅ The AI revolution shaking up tech markets 🤖
✅ Why Apple surged while others fell 📈
✅ The risks of incrementalism vs. bold innovation 💡
✅ 5 key steps Apple must take to reignite its Think Different spirit 🔥

Join us as we break down whether Apple can reclaim its title as the world’s most innovative company—or if it's destined to follow, not lead.

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#Apple #Innovation #ThinkDifferent #AI #MoneyRunner #StockMarket

Disclosure: "At the time of this article I currently hold shares in some of the companies mentioned as part of investment portfolios in funds I manage for Belpointe. Additionally, I may discuss other securities that are under consideration for future investment; however, discussing these securities is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold. My mention of these securities reflects my personal opinion and analysis at this moment and may change without notice. Please remember that all investments involve risks, including the possible loss of principal."

Transcript

0:02

The Guiding Light for the Money Runner podcast and its author. Yours truly has always been. What's working? What isn't, and what's next? Apple, which has been a source of funds, had its best day in weeks. Monday in the middle of one of the biggest tech sell offs in recent memory, Apple was up better than 3%. So what's causing the rush back into Apple shares? Here's what we know. DeepSeek The Chinese tech company run by A.I. Quant and hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng has freaked out A.I. bulls coming up with an open source, large language model that is close to chatgpt in quality, but developed at a fraction of the cost, at least so they say. Now news. On the advancements have been leaking for a while, but it seemed to hit mainstream media on. Friday. By the end of the weekend, tech traders were in panic mode, gearing up for a monster sell off Monday morning. Now investors do what they always do when they lose confidence in the bull thesis. Sell first and ask questions later. The deepseek model is open source. What I can see so far is that it is real, exceptionally powerful and verified by some of our top A.I. Scientists. But as for the cost. We are taking what they are saying at face value. Not everyone is convinced. Akif Malik Citi analyst. He's a skeptic. He says what's real is that deepseek is charging end users significantly less. What is still unclear is just how much they really invested. To get to this point. Now is deep. seek come up with a model that could change the AI investment landscape? Sure, it could very well be. And we may have to rethink some of our favorite trades in the days, weeks and months ahead. But remember, we're talking about a company in China with seemingly very close ties. To the CCP. Now, I started this pod talking about Apple. So let me get back to that. Monday's price action. Begs the question. Why? Why was the Cupertino giant up when just about every other tech stock was down? In part, I think it's because they are not considered. An AI player. Now, is. That good or bad? Maybe for a day or two. It's good news. But I think it speaks to the heart of what has been wrong at a company that continues to play it. Safe. Once the bedrock of most investment portfolios. Apple is now raising questions of whether a company this large still has the entrepreneurial spirit needed to navigate the air. Legions of loyal fans are now starting to say out loud what was once only whispers by analysts, short sellers and disgruntled competitors. The emperor has no clothes. In the last few weeks, analysts have been tripping over themselves to downgrade the shares, convinced that the iPhone 16. Has been a disappointment. As Dan Niles put it in a recent CNBC interview and I'm paraphrasing here. Investors for the fourth year in a row are counting on an upgrade cycle that has materialized. Now, even if they beat the top and bottom line numbers for this quarter, which are currently 124 and 35.5 billion respectively. Big numbers can somehow manage to do better than expected for next quarter. It means little to the long term trajectory of an enterprise that is clearly lost, a spark that made it the most loved company in the world. Apple's moment for self-reflection has arrived. Bands, investors, analysts and portfolio managers want their mega moment. Make Apple Great Again. Welcome to The Money Runner. I'm David Nelson. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. The quote, of course, is from Apple founder Steve Jobs. Under Steve's leadership, Apple revolutionized personal computing music. Smart phones and so much more. Products like the iPhone didn't just enter markets. They created them jobs, ability. To see around corners and deliver what consumers didn't even know they needed made Apple an icon. Of innovation. But Steve's vision alone likely wouldn't have been enough to take Apple's market cap from 350 billion at the time of his death to the near 3.5 trillion. It is today. The ten X Leap needed the operational excellence that Tim Cook brought to the table. Tim first joined Apple in 1998, so it's right there at Steve's side and able to translate Steve's vision and innovation into manufacturing, marketing and. Supply chain excellence. From securing component supplies to competitive prices to managing complex supply chains. Tim set the stage for Apple to dominate these categories for the next few decades, and the fact that he managed the transition of Apple from being just an electronics product company to a mammoth ecosystem, complete with subscription services and supplemental products. His contribution. Cannot be overstated, but the lifeblood of technology is innovation and. Frankly, for most Apple fans. Watching innovation evolve at Apple is like watching a glacier. You know, it's moving. You just can't always see it. While Cook's tenure. Has seen record breaking profits. Its product lineup feels more evolutionary. Than revolutionary. Steve Jobs fostered a culture of risk taking and disruptive innovation. Post Jobs Apple's culture has shifted towards stability and predictability. Tim Cook, who assumed the CEO role in 2011 following the passing of. Steve Jobs. Is undeniably a master of. Operations. He has streamlined Apple's supply. Chain. Optimized manufacturing and overseen remarkable growth in revenue and profitability. However, Cook's approach leadership is vastly different. Than Apple's founder. While Jobs was a visionary driven by an insatiable desire to shatter technological limitations, Cook is more pragmatic, focused on operational efficiency and incremental improvements. This shift in leadership has subtly influenced Apple's product strategy. Under Cook, the company has concentrated on refining existing products and expanding into new services. Apple Music. Apple Pay. Apple TV are just a few examples. While these endeavors have all been successful, technology never sleeps. Apple needs to push back the edge of the envelope once again and reestablish itself as a leader. And not a follower. Cook's focus on operational efficiency, while valuable, may have inadvertently created an environment where bold, unconventional ideas struggle to flourish. Take the iPhone, Apple's flagship product. And cash cow. In recent years, new models have offered only modest improvements. A better camera. Here, slightly faster. Processing. There. The narrative feels reminiscent of 20th century car companies, where new models introduce cosmetic tweaks rather than transformative advancements. Other products like the Apple Watch and MacBook have followed a similar trajectory of safe. Incremental updates. The biggest risk is not taking any risk. That quote was from Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Marks statement goes right to the heart of the Apple Challenge. When you are generating close to 25 billion a quarter in profits, few would have the hotspot to do anything that could disrupt the cash flow machine. This trend of incrementalism extends across Apple's entire product line. The Apple Watch Series ten. Look, it's a solid smartwatch, but it offers only minor improvements. The same for the in-form MacBook Pro. Despite its power, it feels like a predictable. Update rather than a game changer. Maybe the AirPods Pro too with ANC. Maybe that can light a spark. It offers technology to those with hearing loss. Look, I'm one of them. I wear hearing aids, can't see them right now, but they're there. Comes from a result of my years as a rock and roll recording artist. I played by hymns that would rival a 747 jet on takeoff, and I paid the price for that. Sure, I'd love. Something new like. AirPods designed for people like me. I'll give it a shot, but I don't think it's going to move the needle. The reviews of the iPhone 16. Are obviously more important. While generally positive, they highlight a lack of. Groundbreaking new features. Meanwhile, competitors like Samsung are pushing the boundaries with foldable phones and advanced camera technology. Google is making significant strides in artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Apple, once the undisputed leader in innovation. Now appears to be playing catch up. Apple's going to. Have to take some risks. And maybe even risk losing some fans to set the company up for future generations of. Believers. Five Ways Apple Can Reignite Innovation. Number one Cultivate internal Entrepreneurs. Apple should create opportunities for startups within the company to experiment with bold new ideas. Google, X and. Amazon Web Services are prime examples of how internal projects. Can drive innovation. Number two. Diversify Leadership. The company. Needs visionary leaders. Who can complement Cook's operational. Expertize. Empowering or appointing leaders with disruptive mindsets could help Apple regain. Its innovative edge. Embrace A.I. and emerging technologies. Apple must double down on air and air and even consider. New form factors. Acquisitions or partnerships with A.I. focused companies could help Apple catch up with competitors. They should be prepared to spend big because they think they're going to have to accelerate supply chain diversification. Reducing dependance on China should be a top priority. Apple needs to dramatically pick up the pace of supply chain expansion into other geographies. Number five. And perhaps the most important. Rekindle the think different spirit. Apple needs to rediscover the entrepreneurial ethos that defined. The jobs era. This means embracing risk, accepting failure, and prioritizing bold ideas. Over safe bets. Failure is not the opposite of success. It is an essential part of the journey. Toward achieving it. The Apple Car was a failure and perhaps the reason the company's gun shy about going big on an acquisition. While a $10 billion. Loss. Is a lot for most companies, Apple generates that much in free cash flow in just five weeks. Apple's biggest acquisition was their $3,000,000,000.20 14 purchase of Beats a streaming service, a maker of headphones. Look. As a former performing artists and recording engineer, I found little in the Beats lineup. That impressed me. Perhaps in recent. Years. There was a reluctance to. Make a large acquisition, given the previous administration's framework that all acquisitions by large companies would be anti-competitive. And should be blocked. Well, there's a new sheriff in town, and I think Tim Cook would get a very different reaction from the new president, especially if it meant more American jobs. Here's to the. Crazy ones the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, those who see the world differently. Again, important words from Steve Jobs. Steve believed these were the people who could change the world. Apple once embodied this spirit challenging conventions and breaking boundaries with each product launch. It was a company driven not by safe choices, but by new ideas and bold risks. If Apple wants to remain a leader, it must get back to this narrative. It must embrace those willing to dream big and take risks. It must think beyond incremental updates and return to the daring vision that defined it. The next chapter of Apple's story should not be written with caution, but with courage. The future belongs to those who think differently. The question now is Will Apple dare to be one of them again? Thank you all for taking the time. To join me for today's show. If you want to learn more about the Money Runner and yours truly, go to my substack site. dcnelson123@substack.com I'm David Nelson and this is the money runner