Apple Crashing, Gundlach's a Legend, Board Should Look at Cook

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Back in early November I agreed with market legend Jeff Gundlach's long-term concern vis a vis Apple (AAPL). It's all here -- and timestamped -- in black and white: Apple Selloff About a Year Too Soon

That said, I did chide Gundlach for speaking too soon and, as I put it in If All We Can Do is Predict Apple's Demise, We Suck As a Society:

I can't speak for Gundlach, but, if I had to guess, I think my neighbor (though I live on the other side of the Santa Monica tracks from him) just wants to be the guy known for calling Apple's demise. And, if he's wrong, so be it -- he's still a billionaire. His audience will not remember. And he doesn't really give a rat's ear if they do.

I do not regret calling for moderation on Apple but, obviously, I misfired second-guessing Gundlach. The guy nailed it. I just did not agree with his timing. I was wrong.

With that said, I explored something this morning that few people, particularly those inside Apple and AAPL bulls, care to discuss: Has Tim Cook Become a Liability at Apple?

Apple sits at a classic psychological crossroads. Most of us, at some point or another, find ourselves stuck in the same type of conundrum.

Over the weekend, Bleacher Report founder Bryan Goldberg (who will join us in April, live from New York, on TheBeach Meets TheStreet slam-dunked a series of riffs on this phenomenon with respect to the changed world of journalism (via Pando Daily):

A lot of journalists view the Bleacher Report business with contempt. That's their prerogative. But their attitude is a disservice to their field, and their refusal to evolve will dig them into a deeper hole.

I saw the same thing take place in radio. An industry starts to change rapidly. The old guard disagrees with this change, it resists and, subsequently, gets left behind. Lots of otherwise fantastic people lose jobs and livelihoods because they cannot get over themselves and view the bigger picture. Stand up to and challenge the elephant in their room.

Something similar is going on at Apple right now.

Steve Jobs is gone. Yes. One of his final decisions might end up being one of his biggest mistakes -- leaving the CEO gig to Tim Cook. (Others, including the folks at MacDaily News, will say Jobs erred most in the way he handled his cancer treatment. Maybe so, but I just can't bring myself to go there.)

In any event, sticking with the decision to make Cook the guy and bring a decidedly different style to the Apple Oval Office is, in many ways, akin to old-guard journalists and radio people clawing and fighting to preserve a dead-and-gone model.

1 2 Next › Last »