Enlarge / Tim Cook (right) looks engaged and enthusiastic sitting next to President-elect Donald Trump and Peter Thiel at Trump’s tech summit in New York City last month. (credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Apple has a busy 2017 ahead of it. Most credible rumors say the company is launching a revamped iPad lineup in the early part of the year, as well as long-anticipated desktop Mac refreshes. We can always expect a new iPhone in September, and you can bet that Apple will continue making the case for newer platforms like the Apple Watch and the Apple TV, too.
Most importantly, the company needs to return to year-over-year financial growth after a disappointing 2016. Last year, revenue fell for the first time since 2001, and Apple missed some of its own internal sales goals. Ordinarily, Apple’s success hinges mostly on the products it announced and those products’ quality. But 2017 has a new and unforeseen variable: President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Trump’s journey from dark horse candidate in a crowded Republican field to unlikely nominee to president-elect was powered by unending media coverage and harsh rhetoric. And much of his rhetoric was about American companies and jobs—chiefly, the desire that they bring manufacturing jobs into America and stop outsourcing them to other countries. Apple was a frequent target of Trump’s criticism on the campaign trail. This was the candidate, remember, who encouraged supporters to boycott Apple because of its encryption policies while also condemning the company for building its products overseas.
Read 24 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Apple in Trumpland: How the new administration could upend Apple’s business