The Great Gordino Newsletter – Feb 3rd 2015

Hi,
I hope all is well with you.

Apple are doing ok. They reported first quarter profits of $18 billion.
Yep, that’s $18 billion, and if that seems a lot, it is! In fact it’s the biggest profit of any company, ever!

Phew.

Apple can bring up strong feelings in people. Some people say they are the epitome of capitalism and free market economics, that they push the boundaries and do it with style.

Others say that they use built in obsolescence to drive profits, and are only riding high due to an almost obsessive compulsion of their fans to have the latest Apple product.
They also have a massive cash pile, which critics say should be spent on development, or in paying more taxes rather than avoiding them.

I would worry that the surge I profits has been a massive uptake in China of the iphone, which could lead to problems down the line as mobile carriers move away from long contracts which include a subsidised phone.

If that happens, it’s possible many people will be put off by the full cost of an iphone, and when it stops being the ‘must have’ phone, when people stop needing to have an iphone to keep up with the Jones’s, then Apple could be in trouble.

Having said that, it hasn’t happened yet, and making the biggest profit of any company ever is not to be sniffed at!

In sport, I see that Tiger Woods had a bad day at the office. He shot a round of 82, which was 12 over par, and his worst ever round as a pro. He’s also not missed the cut in 2 consecutive tournaments before either.

His woes show just how hard golf is to do well, that when the best in the world make it look easy, it really is because they are the best. Is it all over for Tiger? Well, plenty of other golfers have crashed and burned, never to get back to the heights they hit before, but since Tiger’s heights lasted for a long time, it could well be that the memory of being there is more firmly in his psyche, that he could well get back there.

He’s still a big draw in any tournament, so I don’t see him going anywhere anytime soon.

It seems there was also an NFL game on at the weekend…

"Jeremy Lane"
I’ll be writing about it more in my last NFL Moment of The Week post, which you’ll see linked down the right hand side of the blog, but to sum up…

Adele Dazeem just about got away with the national anthem, Katy Perry’s halftime show did make me smile, which is what she said it was supposed to do, and the game itself was a good’un.

Not full of spectacular plays, but a real bruising clash between 2 of the best teams. Going right down to the wire, it looked like fate had taken it away from the Patriots, when the last effective play of the game saw the Patriots intercept a pass from the 1 yard line, a call which will hound Seattle coach Pete Carroll.

He doesn’t suddenly become a bad coach overnight, because last season he took then to their first Superbowl by making unusual calls, but he will be remembered for the call he went with on Sunday.

Many people dislike the Patriots passionately. I don’t. I like the way they, (and when I say they, I mean coach Bill Belichick) have slotted players into their system who were maybe overlooked by other teams. His mantra is ‘just do your job’, meaning it’s up to him to worry about anyone else.

He also has one of the legends of the game as his star player, and he and Tom Brady now have 4 wins to go with their 6 appearances. You can’t knock that.

The picture shows Jeremy Lane. In the first quarter he intercepted a Brady pass, but got injured at the end of the runback. Normally TV show replays of injuries, and at the time I wondered why they hadn’t. Looking at the picture you can see why, and I’m thinking ‘ouch’

Ok, let me know what you think, I love the feedback!

‘Til Next Time,
Health& Happiness,
Gordon

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