That's a sensible position to have for an established company that has a lot of cash in the bank, doesn't pay its engineers very much and has a long-term view.<p>However, if you're established but don't have cash, have low margins and expensive personnel, you're not in a very good position to start doing heavy R&D.<p>Apple doesn't reflect the state of tech startups. Lessons learned from Jobs should be taken into context.<p>If you don't have cash, get some by cutting everything you don't need. Build up a reserve and invest in long-term projects. Preferably ones that tie into a strategy of supplying services that other companies need but are currently supplied by companies that are going bust. Also, be pessimistic on your revenue projections.<p>And don't take random advice on forums as your guideline.
I hate it when a perfectly reasonable article is split into 15 separate sections you need to click through. Here's a copy you can read quickly - <a href="http://jottit.com/myvqn" rel="nofollow">http://jottit.com/myvqn</a>
He's going to increase funding for R&D in the downturn. I think, we as individuals, need to keep investing in ourselves during the downturn. Build our knowledge, reputation, connections, etc.
I really admire how honest Steve Jobs is with his own products:<p>Take the iPhone. We had a different enclosure design for this iPhone until way too close to the introduction to ever change it. And I came in one Monday morning, I said, 'I just don't love this. I can't convince myself to fall in love with this. And this is the most important product we've ever done.'
Looking at the long term chart, Apple seems to get pounded extra-hard in recessions. No surprise, as they essentially sell luxury goods. Corporate-wise, it hardly matters what they do now since their balance book is (extremely) healthy, but they've got 2 years of hard times, if history is a guide.