Liberty

I looked at VRX when gio suggested it earlier this year at the $70's. I could not understand it, so I didn't invest. What is your thesis on that? +1 Really curious to get your thesis and estimate of IV. I find it really hard to figure out how much it is reasonable to pay up for good businesses...

I'm obviously not saying he did it single-handedly. But when he got there, they were about to break up the company when things were at their worst. Doubt things would have turned as well if they had done that and this new leader hadn't changed the strategy.

Wow, doesn't get more negative than this. They even name drop Munger in there. Not one good word for Benmosche saving all those jobs and repaying the taxpayers with a profit, though...

It would be useful to know how many 5Cs they made, though. Not selling out means different things depending on how much inventory they had. I suspect is was quite big since they were pushing pre-orders heavily, and because that model is mostly made from older parts (with good yields by now, one assumes) that can easily be made in high volumes. I also think that the first weekend is mostly an early-adopter event, and these people obviously want the latest and greatest (5S). It'll be interesting to see the 5C's performance after the dust settles.

I don't know the answer to this, but did they also add new launch markets between the 4S and 5 launches? Probably nothing as big as China, though. But even China isn't completely in until a China Mobile deal is inked, so that'll provide a further big lift to sales.

Condensed version of the surface 2 event: Hands on:

I've been studying this one lately and would just like to thank everybody who contributed to this thread, especially Gio. i've been looking at higher quality businesses lately and trying to see if I have enough conviction in their models and management to pay up for the quality (Transdigm is another example of this). Haven't done anything yet on these two, but will follow them and keep learning. Trivia: I was surprised to see the company is HQ'ed in Laval, the city where I was born.

Did something leak about the cogen? Up over 5% and can't seem to find news.

Thanks for clarifying. I think it's the word "worship" that rubbed me the wrong way, but there are two ways to interpret it, and I now think you meant it a different way than I read it. (ie. worship in the religious sense, blind faith, just follow where they lead you vs. superficially looking like worship because you like something a lot, but underneath the surface it's not blind or irrational, and if the facts changed, the opinion would change).

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/23/iphone-5s-outsells-iphone-5c-by-3-5x-in-launch-weekend-according-to-analytics-data/ These analytics data are never 100% accurate, but it seems like the top-of-the-line 5S significantly outsold the 5C during the first weekend. Not unexpected, as early-adopters tend to want the latest and greatest. I'd expect to see the ratio of 5Cs go up over time, but I don't know where it'll settle...

It's not necessarily that I disagree; it's that I don't understand what you mean. Basically, you and krazeenyc implied that: 1) Some here worship Apple (subtext: blind faith, not rational) and 2) That people shouldn't talk positively about companies they like, because that's not what great investors do (subtext: talking about what you like makes you a bad investor). I said: 1) I don't think there's worship going on here because people can give rational reasons for their positions. You can disagree with how to interpret facts, but to say it's worship is condescending. 2) Many great investors will say positive things publicly about companies they like, and that's fine. There can be a downside if you're very big and have lots of copycats, but apart from that, it's a personal choice. Then you said: 1) Munger says "no" to a lot of things 2) Buffett owns many things for a very long time. I just don't see how that follows...

I own that book, and I know that Munger almost doesn't like anything. But he's not afraid to talk about what he does like and what he doesn't like. I just don't see what any of what you've just written has to do with anything.

Buffett has written and spoken bullishly on almost all the companies he owns at various points (except as he's buying, but he has huge coattails, unlike most of us on this forum). Coke, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, GEICO, BNSF, American Express, Washington Post, Walmart, Netjets, etc. Same with Munger for Coke, Costco, BYD, etc. Burry just isn't speaking on anything and tries to stay away from the spotlight. There are all kinds of successful investors, from very secretive to very open. Not sure what any of this means. IMO you can't blame someone for saying good things about a company they honestly think is good, just like you can't blame them for saying bad things about a company that they think is bad. They can choose not to say anything and that's fine (but if everybody did that, this board would be dead). The blame should only go to people saying something positive on a company that they think is bad and vice versa, because that's dishonest. As for worship, you guys will have to define it, because so far I see positive opinions about Apple backed with reasoning and facts, I don't think these positions are blind or unconditional. You can disagree with the interpretation of the facts, but to call it worship just because you have a different conclusion is condescending.

Impressive! I wonder how it is distributed among the two models? And it would not include 4S that are still being sold. It's even more impressive when you consider that they are supply constrained for the 5S.

9M is amazing, but I wish Cook had kept this information to himself and bought back a ton of stock at 470. Now it'll be hard for the stock to get back down there, at least in the near future. I believe that they've always given an update on sales the Monday after a new iPhone goes on sale. I would have been surprising had they not done it.

That was expected. The fingerprint scanner isn't supposed to be unspoofable, just much much better than nothing for the 50% who don't set any password, raising the average iPhone security by quite a significant amount in a way that's convenient (because inconvenient security isn't used, as countless cases have shown). Any determined security expert with access to a 2400 DPI scan of your finger and the will to make finger molds and such could break any fingerprint scanner. 4 digit passcodes and fingerprints are designed to keep thieves and random people around you out, not the NSA and security experts. Fingerprints should be better than 4 digit passes, though maybe not better than much longer passes (which very few people use anyway, because who wants to type a 20 letters long pass everytime they use their phone). Same as how door locks can be picked by people who know what they're doing, yet in practice we still use them because it's much better than not locking the door. Right now half of smartphone owners don't even have a door.

except that's totally subjective. in fact there are really smart guys over at the verge who think android is a much better user experience, and a better phone OS than io7. "ease of use quality of experience" is subjective. one of the big criticisms of ios 7 is notifications. another big criticism is the keyboard. android has more choice, more options, and arguably a better experience for the user. there still is a perception in the mass media that apple is ahead on qualitatives. that's a perception. the reality is different. and even more stark when you factor in cost adjusted user experience. Subjective factors have always influenced buying decisions and shouldn't be disqualified. You say the reality is different; how do you know?

Good piece: http://stratechery.com/2013/clayton-christensen-got-wrong/ You can't overshoot on ease of use and quality of experience indeed.

The noise they make disqualify them for me. Have you found near silent models? I haven't.

In quebec, GSHPs will make more sense in the vast majority of cases. When we get a house I want one.

:D

Yeah, someone was recently saying that it seems like if you put a weird angle of your finger (side) and it doesn't work, and then you immediately try again with an angle that works, the software learns and the next time that weird angle will be recognized.

Wellmont are you sure only "rich" people will pay more for Apple? I guess judging by this quote, irrational people will too. Nothing irrational if he feels he get value for his money.

Interesting piece on pricing: http://stratechery.com/2013/the-550-iphone-5c-makes-perfect-sense/

GSHP are a great way to make your heating and cooling more efficient, but they don't really compete with solar systems because they don't produce power.