The Apprentice - why do they bother?

[bigdjiver]

Absolutely - and then he threw it all away.

Amstrad was worth £1.25 billion pounds, twenty years ago - imagine what it could have been now.

It could have been zero now. Others have managed such falls.

I guess it's just the hugeness of the wasted opportunity that gets me most - it's like IBM deciding that no-one would ever use PCs, like Apple not allowing clone machines, that sort of thing - you just imagine "what if"...

When did IBM decide that no-one would ever use PC's? They produced the the hugely successful IBM PC, and then the IBM AT. In the face of ultra-competitive clones they decided that, despite the huge predicted growth in the industry, that it was a high risk ultra-competitive sector and withdrew and quietly watched the clone makers amke and lose fortunes. Then, after a few years, they pounced on all of those that had copied their Bios ...
My sisters ex-boyfriend emigrated to Hong Kong where he had a highly successful Apple dealership. He was a leader in the fight against the clones. His shop backed onto another shop, also owned by him, which sold clones. Customers that would not buy the real thing were shown through a connecting door ...

[straycat]

By that measure, presumably we should also respect Mohammed Al Fayed - and for that matter, all the 50+ Russian billionaire oligarchs?

Respect for the person is different from respect for their abilities / achievements. I don't hold out a lot of respect for Branson either (who you cited at the beginning of the thread)

The point is, I don't see him as a good role model to front such a heavily-promoted primetime series.

Role model? Absolutely not. As a piece of entertainment to rake in the viewers, it's clearly working.

Plus - my point is that he is by any real measure a very successful man, and the aspirants will quite rightly feel there is am emormoous amount they could learn from him. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, because I think he's an arrogant toerag - but I can see why they go for it - and that's completely aside from the publicity they get in the process - I imagine that many of the previous 'candidates' have done pretty well for themselves since...

[Gus]

Just spotted the first lie of the program.

Phone goes, people are in their jam-jams, and they have half an hour to leave. Within 30 minutes ... ALL THE WOMEN ARE READY! That is NOT possible. Women get ready, hair dried, styled, blowed .... make up on and made their mind up about what to wear ...... in what parallel universe does this happen???

[Feelingpink]

Just spotted the first lie of the program.

Phone goes, people are in their jam-jams, and they have half an hour to leave. Within 30 minutes ... ALL THE WOMEN ARE READY! That is NOT possible. Women get ready, hair dried, styled, blowed .... make up on and made their mind up about what to wear ...... in what parallel universe does this happen???

Hey - I got ready for a wedding on Saturday in 22 minutes, when offered a handsome escort if I could leave on time ... doesn't that count? It's all a matter of motivation

[Barry Shnikov]

It could have been zero now. Others have managed such falls.

When did IBM decide that no-one would ever use PC's?

When IBM briefed their 'personal computer' design team in Boca Raton in 1980 (IIRC) part of the design brief was that they should plan for total sales of 10,000 units. That was part of the problem - and maybe the basis for the whole PC revolution. Because they couldn't rely on long production runs to recover design and tooling overheads, the team used off-the-shelf disk drives, graphics cards, CPU's (the Intel 8088 which had previously been used in commercial washing machines, or something similar) and most importantly they licensed PC-DOS from Bill Gates instead of writing their own operating system or buying it outright. This meant that everyone else - starting with Compaq - was able to buy the same off-the-shelf components, license the same operating system, re-christened MS-DOS, and produce IBM compatibles. It was just as well they did, because within 6 months IBM were taking orders for 10,000 machines a month.

[Barry Shnikov]

Role model? Absolutely not. As a piece of entertainment to rake in the viewers, it's clearly working.

Plus - my point is that he is by any real measure a very successful man, and the aspirants will quite rightly feel there is am emormoous amount they could learn from him. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, because I think he's an arrogant toerag - but I can see why they go for it - and that's completely aside from the publicity they get in the process - I imagine that many of the previous 'candidates' have done pretty well for themselves since...

Exactamundo. Very few people can claim to run an £800,000,000 company, let alone have started it from scratch.

My first ever hi-fi amplifier was an Amstrad 4000. It was really cool with little sliders in instead of knobs...

[bigdjiver]

When IBM briefed their 'personal computer' design team in Boca Raton in 1980 (IIRC) part of the design brief was that they should plan for total sales of 10,000 units.

I cannot see that as a bad commercial decision. Others have forseen massive potential sales for their PC's and seen their excess production used for landfill - Apple with one of their creations as an example.

That was part of the problem - and maybe the basis for the whole PC revolution. Because they couldn't rely on long production runs to recover design and tooling overheads, the team used off-the-shelf disk drives, graphics cards, CPU's (the Intel 8088 which had previously been used in commercial washing machines, or something similar)

I come from a background of hating IBM's monopolistic behaviour, nevertheless I cannot criticise any of those decisions, except perhaps that I would have gone for the Z80 chip instead, despite Zilogs lack of track record at the time.

and most importantly they licensed PC-DOS from Bill Gates instead of writing their own operating system or buying it outright.

IBM were among the world leaders in writing operating systems, they knew how difficult it was to get it right. There was no way that it was sensible to meet the visionary Bill Gates's price, if he ever fixed one, for buying it outright.

This meant that everyone else - starting with Compaq - was able to buy the same off-the-shelf components, license the same operating system, re-christened MS-DOS, and produce IBM compatibles. It was just as well they did, because within 6 months IBM were taking orders for 10,000 machines a month.

IBM did not fear competition. They were used to spitting out the bones of would-be competitors. Plenty of people came up with more ambitious sales forecasts, but very few put up the money to back them. AFIK Compaq only came in after the sales figures were there for all to see. The CP/M machines all used readily available components too. IBM made the PC market with its brand name.

[Jhutch]

Just seen the first episode of the Apprentice. They were introduced as the brightest and best in the UK …… if that is the case I think we should emigrate now. I know we haven’t seen all the candidates yet there was little to be impressed about. Given that these guys are supposed to be supreme examples of real business, they made so many fundamental mistakes in the exercise, and exhibited such appalling man management skills, its really depressing.

I wonder whether they are all chosen purely on business skills and ability or whether some are chosen for entertainment value... it is a reality tv show after all

[marty_baby]

I wonder whether they are all chosen purely on business skills and ability or whether some are chosen for entertainment value... it is a reality tv show after all

Hate to say this - but I love watching this show! Watching boys and girls in nice office outfits - make complete tw*ts of themselves.....


however, with all the editing, its difficult to say just how painfully bad their decision making actually are....


1st episode.
Ok Stealth screwed up the quantities purchased... but how did Eclipse work out their quantities?


2nd Episode
Was there any kind of "customer targeting" going on at all??? Both teams seem to miss the main point of the exercise, and Stealth won by pure chance. Was this part of the product delivery process chopped out of the show completely - to give the Twist in the tale ending??? Hope not....


Regardless of all this - I'll still keep watching! Best reality Show out there.... errrr... the only one I've ever bothered to watch infact!

[Gus]

Hate to say this - but I love watching this show! Watching boys and girls in nice office outfits - make complete tw*ts of themselves.....

To be fair, I thought there were some good plays made by some of the team members at points. The lass who got swopped across to the guys team definitely showed she has some real telent ... but I was amazed at how the 'Male' team were a complete bunch of wusses when they were asked how good Tre was as a manager. They said nothing .... but HE SUCKED! Despite winning I can't think of many qualities or decisions he made that were better than appalling ..... good TV though.

Looks like Jadine is there as the obligatory Aplha Female. Interesting comparison to one of the girls out of the US Apprentice series one ... similar pain in the a$$ ... mainly ther to stir things up.

Not seen any of the lads perfomr yet ... but looking forward to Sophie (sour-puss face) Phd going out. If there was ever a case for brains not equalling real world intelligence ... she's it

[bigdjiver]

I would love to see how the Apprentice candidates went about promoting a new MJ night.

I would like to see each team choose a venue, teacher , demo and DJ from a selection of them and be given a fixed budget. They get to set the door price. If they do a busk they can use the teacher and demo as dancers, but any additional buskers have to come from their number.

Winner is who takes most money.