“Let’s make an iWatch, no let’s give crazy dividends, or maybe we should create low cost iPhones, or perhaps we should lower the prices for all iPhones across the board? You know what, let’s do all that, and see if the stock goes up again.”

The above, as you probably have guessed, is a not-so-imaginative conversation taking place in Cupertino between top Apple executives. The problem is, none of these strategies can salvage Apple’s stock, because none of them addresses the real problem: “Apple, after Steve Jobs, is no longer innovative!”

I remember when I used to believe in Apple back in 2010, I saw a video of Steve Jobs when he was talking about the Antennagate issue, he said something along these lines: “We don’t want those shareholders who care if the stock goes up $5 or goes down $5. We want long term shareholders.” Back then, it was Apple (and Steve Jobs) that used to determine Apple’s strategy – fast forward 3 years from then, and most of Apple’s shareholders are the exact type that Steve Jobs did not want, and those shareholders are dictating the future of Apple (the roles are reversed), which no longer looks bright…

In the movie The Illusionist, the Crown Prince Leopold said the following:

“There are thousands of voices screaming to be heard – and nothing – nothing is getting done!”

The above line, in my opinion, defines what Apple is going through at the moment. Apple, that was once guided by one vision, is now guided by many visions, that may or may not be coherent.

Apple, in order to salvage itself, doesn’t need crazy products that only die hard Apple fans will buy, such an iWatch (would a real man buy an iWatch?) or increase dividends and reduce its cash hoard (that everybody, for some reason, is now complaining about). Apple needs to be creative again, and for it to be creative again, Apple must find another Steve Jobs (one man – one vision) and then get rid of its current board (all of them, especially Tim Cook). The price is painful though, AAPL will fall to below $200 in case they do that, but that’ll be only temporary. Investors forget fast and a single vision will lure them back into AAPL.

The question is, can the above be done?

This article (as well as all other articles on this website) is an intellectual property and copyright of Fadi El-Eter and can only appear on fadi.el-eter.com.