Considering that Apple has already introduced iOS 6 with great fanfare and according to Apple more than 100 million iOS devices have been updated with iOS 6, is this the time to hire recruiters to attract engineers who have played a role in developing Google Maps? If the general belief that problems with Apple Maps are minor and need only a few tweaks, Apple would not be aggressive in pursuing Google engineers at this time. Certainly Apple’s own engineers who developed Apple Maps are capable of making a few tweaks.
If this was not the case, would Apple need to hire additional talent in such a hurry at this time?
Steve Jobs was not an engineer by education and training, but it is well known that he was a good planner especially when it came to attracting the right talent long before launching the products. Based on the history of Steve Jobs, it is inconceivable not only that he would have introduced iOS 6 with these problems, but it is also inconceivable that he would not have requisite talent on board long before introduction.
There is not much doubt that Apple has the money to hire the talent. Of course, developers at Google are likely to find development opportunities at Apple attractive since a large part of the work at Google now is simply doing updates to a completed project.
From an investment point of view, this incident points to another risk in Apple stock. This is the type of data that is entered into the change screen of my method. This incident has lowered the probability of Apple stock reaching my long-term target of $1000 to 57% by my methodology. In contrast when we first accumulated the full position in Apple stock at $131, my model was consistently showing a 90% plus probability of the stock doubling.
About Me: I am an engineer and nuclear physicist by background. I founded two Inc. 500 companies, and have been involved in over 50 entrepreneurial ventures. I am the chief investment officer at The Arora Report, which publishes four newsletters to help investors profit from change. Write me: Nigam@TheAroraReport.com. Follow me here and get email notification when I publish a new article.
Full disclosure: Subscribers to The Arora Report are long Apple from $131 and have taken partial profits at $360, $525, $629 and $568.
