Episode 79 – Apple Employee Departures, Q4 2016 Earnings Preview Part 2

This week, our News Roundup features three topics: the conclusion and announcement of the findings of Samsung’s Note7 investigation; Samsung and LG’s earnings for Q4 2016; and Snap’s various preparations and signs of increasing maturity ahead of an IPO.

Our Question of the Week is “Are the recent departures from Apple a sign of trouble?” Aaron talks us through some of the recent departures across several parts of Apple’s business, talks about possible explanations, provides some historical context with a discussion of earlier departures, and draws some conclusions about the significance of the current round. We also talk particularly about the Apple-Tesla poaching war.

Our third segment is part 2 of our preview of Q4 2016 earnings season, with a brief discussion of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter and what they’re likely to report in the next couple of weeks.

Lastly, our Weekly Pick is a book recommendation from Jan.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson@aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

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Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

  • News Roundup:
  • Question of the Week:
    • Article on the effects of Apple’s privacy stance
    • Article on Matt Casebolt’s departure to Tesla
    • Article on Tesla’s PR hire from Apple
    • Article on the Tesla-Apple poaching war
    • MacRumors interview with Chris Lattner
    • Article on Apple hiring Dropcam founder Greg Duffy
  • Jan’s Weekly Pick was Go Like Hell, by AJ Baime (Amazon affiliate link), which recounts the Ford-Ferrari rivalry in racing in the 1960s.

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