Said it before; Apple will make a mistake by coming out with a new "budget" 4". This new iPhone should have all technology as on par with their other flagship phones to the greatest extent that it can. Keep the 5s; make marginal update to the 5c (if they wish) and sell these as the entry level devices. A brand new device that is crippled just because Apple chooses to, is a waste.
I agree. But my guess is Apple will follow the iPad mini formula and this 4" phone will be 6 months to a year behind the flagship models.
The rise of 40% of the US dollar over 2 years.... That's one major obstacle to buying in many places. It may lead to you're #1, but the main factor is that. Others are not a factor directly.
Indeed. A 16Gb iPhone (commonly referred to on this forum as "useless"), costs one thousand dollars in Canada. The prices are set to go up soon as well.
I still think that the answer (not that Apple will ever take it) is to reduce prices. Apple still has the highest margins of all tech companies. Their profit on each product has been variously estimated at two or three times the profit the other manufacturers make.
There are only so many rich people in the world. They should try making a phone for the "regular" person instead of just the rich, if they truly want to dominate the market. They could also try to be better world citizens and stop raping their customers for cash.
This is the same company whose laptops start at $900. I really don't think Apple cares about "regular" people.
Those people rely on Dell and HP to sell them profitless $300 laptops. That's a market that Apple has always avoided.
BTW... don't they offer subsidized phone contracts or payment plans in Canada? Is your only option to pay the full $1000 for an iPhone?
I've had three iPhones so far in the US... and I've never had to pay the full price up front.
The first two were on contract so a portion of my bill was paying for them... but my current 64GB iPhone 6S Plus is a manageable $35 a month on a payment plan.
For comparison... flagship Samsung smartphones are around $30 a month on a payment plan. So there's not much difference there.
I see the Verge has an article up about Apple not sharing sales data for the other products category. What's hilarious is they say the future of the company resides in this category. Seriously? That's laughable. I can guarantee you if Apple comes out with a big new product line like a car it won't be reported in the "other" category.
The rise of 40% of the US dollar over 2 years.... That's one major obstacle to buying in many places. It may lead to you're #1, but the main factor is that. Others are not a factor directly.
Indeed. A 16Gb iPhone (commonly referred to on this forum as "useless"), costs one thousand dollars in Canada. The prices are set to go up soon as well.
I still think that the answer (not that Apple will ever take it) is to reduce prices. Apple still has the highest margins of all tech companies. Their profit on each product has been variously estimated at two or three times the profit the other manufacturers make.
There are only so many rich people in the world. They should try making a phone for the "regular" person instead of just the rich, if they truly want to dominate the market. They could also try to be better world citizens and stop raping their customers for cash.
This is exactly the fundamental misunderstanding about Apple. They do not care to "dominate a market". Apple wants to create the best products in its category. It's not relevant to understanding Apple to agree whether they successfully do this, but it is important to understand that this is their primary motivation.
Apple belives things like sales, revenue, and profit come as a result. Market share doesn't even factor.
If you want to consider the market opportunity versus Apple's share then there's still a lot to be had. Every Android smartphone user is an untapped sale.
Considering the overall global economic conditions, Apple continues to do amazing in its sales and financial performance.
The rise of 40% of the US dollar over 2 years.... That's one major obstacle to buying in many places. It may lead to you're #1, but the main factor is that. Others are not a factor directly.
Indeed. A 16Gb iPhone (commonly referred to on this forum as "useless"), costs one thousand dollars in Canada. The prices are set to go up soon as well.
I still think that the answer (not that Apple will ever take it) is to reduce prices. Apple still has the highest margins of all tech companies. Their profit on each product has been variously estimated at two or three times the profit the other manufacturers make.
There are only so many rich people in the world. They should try making a phone for the "regular" person instead of just the rich, if they truly want to dominate the market. They could also try to be better world citizens and stop raping their customers for cash.
When i squint, I almost see that now - iPhone 6s 16GB $899.00, iPhone 6s 64GB $1,029.00, but that's *Canadian* dollars (loonies & toonies), not US dollars!
At 1.00 Canadian dollar per 0.71 US, that's near-parity with US prices. I.e. US $670 ($900 x .7) for 16GB, and $800 for the 64GB, not far from $649/$749 US, but not a kilodollar in money from the States. Otherwise, your latter points are well-taken by many.
Services are going to matter more than ever now. I wish Tim would bring someone in that could really improve that part of the business. I don't think Eddy Cue is that guy.
He absolutely isn't that guy, as the launch and artist mutiny over three months royalty free of Apple Music made abundantly clear. He's a poor leader and a worse spokesman for the company. Get rid of him and get someone that that has the spirit and vision that's made Apple the sort of company we all expect it to be.
Said it before; Apple will make a mistake by coming out with a new "budget" 4". This new iPhone should have all technology as on par with their other flagship phones to the greatest extent that it can. Keep the 5s; make marginal update to the 5c (if they wish) and sell these as the entry level devices. A brand new device that is crippled just because Apple chooses to, is a waste.
The 5 feels longer in the tooth than the 4S does at this point, oddly enough. Replacing it with the 6c or 5se or whatever they want to call it is absolutely the right move. A metal-compatible SoC and improved LTE modem would provide Apple with an entry level platform that would keep costs down while providing the power and flexibility app publishers require and users demand, period.
I think Apple is becoming a victim of its own success. The analysts got addicted to unbelievable growth that Apple has shown since 2007 year over year. It seems to me that Apple should have used the same strategy as the Soviet (Ukrainian) champion pole vaulter Sergey Bubka used back starting in 1984. He knew he could jump over one meter higher than his opponents, but instead of making it a one-time or two-time world record, he spread this advantage over a decade, by setting a new world record during each major competition. He milked that golden cow for a a decade.
Similarly, Apple should have grown their market share much slower than they have, which is now becoming obvious in hindsight. An 8% year-over-year growth stretched out over 20 years would have worked for their stock price much better than record growth they showed over 5-6 years. There's no way Apple can grow at that rate anymore, and Wall Street doesn't seem to be interested in considering the profits that Apple is raking in quarterly. Instead, Wall Street is only interested in revenue growth and maybe somewhat in profits growth, but not in absolute numbers. Apple is bringing in more revenue and profit in absolute numbers than most any other company in the world, and AAPL P/E is less than 1/3 that of GOOG, but AAPL has not stabilized upwards of where it was in the summer of 2012. And what about the AMZN P/E of 872.19 vs AAPL's 10.87? It should make AAPL 80 times as attractive to investors as AMZN. It's ridiculous that Wall Street would award AMZN with such a high stock price based on their P/E ratio, while not rewarding AAPL much at all.
The rise of 40% of the US dollar over 2 years.... That's one major obstacle to buying in many places. It may lead to you're #1, but the main factor is that. Others are not a factor directly.
Indeed. A 16Gb iPhone (commonly referred to on this forum as "useless"), costs one thousand dollars in Canada. The prices are set to go up soon as well.
I still think that the answer (not that Apple will ever take it) is to reduce prices. Apple still has the highest margins of all tech companies. Their profit on each product has been variously estimated at two or three times the profit the other manufacturers make.
There are only so many rich people in the world. They should try making a phone for the "regular" person instead of just the rich, if they truly want to dominate the market. They could also try to be better world citizens and stop raping their customers for cash.
Samsung dominates the Android market. How's that working out for them?
The turning point for Apple came when Steve Jobs realised that market share is a poor measure of success when compared against profit.
Call me naive, but I don't understand how any product is supposed to grow quarter after quarter indefinitely.
Absolutely. This happens to every dominant tech company. The smart ones realise it and take steps before it happens. The dumb ones (Microsoft) assume that the gravy train will roll forever.
The question is, can Apple find its new market before they're in trouble – and by 'trouble' I mean when their cash reserves become low, not their share price.
Services are going to matter more than ever now. I wish Tim would bring someone in that could really improve that part of the business. I don't think Eddy Cue is that guy.
Cue seems like a great Business man to me, a Deal maker.
Having said that, he clearly is not a visionary. iTunes, Music, iCloud - that name* - are testament to that. It looks like he is trying to please too many egos. That is not the trait of a visionary Leader.
(*) Why not bundle all services into Life, host it on Apple.com and have one fee according to how many storage you need?
Services are going to matter more than ever now. I wish Tim would bring someone in that could really improve that part of the business. I don't think Eddy Cue is that guy.
Cue seems like a great Business man to me, a Deal maker.
Having said that, he clearly is not a visionary. iTunes, Music, iCloud - that name* - are testament to that. It looks like he is trying to please too many egos. That is not the trait of a visionary Leader.
(*) Why not bundle all services into Life, host it on Apple.com and have one fee according to how many storage you need?
I don't see how he's a great business man or deal maker. His idea of good business was buying Beats. Huh? If you asked anyone what Apple needs to improve most 95% would probably say services. I just don't see Eddy as the guy to lead that. In the past 4 years or so nothing services wise has really improved. Cue might be a nice guy but seems in over his head.
Services are going to matter more than ever now. I wish Tim would bring someone in that could really improve that part of the business. I don't think Eddy Cue is that guy.
He absolutely isn't that guy, as the launch and artist mutiny over three months royalty free of Apple Music made abundantly clear. He's a poor leader and a worse spokesman for the company. Get rid of him and get someone that that has the spirit and vision that's made Apple the sort of company we all expect it to be.
On one of John Gruber's recent podcasts he said the Apple Music announcement at WWDC was one of the worst keynotes Apple has ever had (in the Jobs 2.0 era). He's right. if Apple is making a big shift in focus to monetizing the existing user base I think they need someone else to lead that effort. Apple Music and the roll out of Apple TV say to me Cue is not that guy,
Cue seems like a great Business man to me, a Deal maker.
Having said that, he clearly is not a visionary. iTunes, Music, iCloud - that name* - are testament to that. It looks like he is trying to please too many egos. That is not the trait of a visionary Leader.
(*) Why not bundle all services into Life, host it on Apple.com and have one fee according to how many storage you need?
I don't see how he's a great business man or deal maker. His idea of good business was buying Beats. Huh? If you asked anyone what Apple needs to improve most 95% would probably say services. I just don't see Eddy as the guy to lead that. In the past 4 years or so nothing services wise has really improved. Cue might be a nice guy but seems in over his head.
Touché. The Beats acquisition is testament of not having a clear vision for Music. And Iovine's vision of *having it all in one place* is not going to be very helpful. The *all in one place* concept would only work if Music were to be a part of Life. One fee for one service.
I agree with your observation that Cue seems to be the weak link in team Apple. Services are going to be key in the second iPhone era. Apple must act accordingly.
Services are going to matter more than ever now. I wish Tim would bring someone in that could really improve that part of the business. I don't think Eddy Cue is that guy.
He absolutely isn't that guy, as the launch and artist mutiny over three months royalty free of Apple Music made abundantly clear. He's a poor leader and a worse spokesman for the company. Get rid of him and get someone that that has the spirit and vision that's made Apple the sort of company we all expect it to be.
Yeah, the problem with many of outside observers here is exactly that: they're outside. As far as I can tell, Cook has no problem firing under-performers. He got rid of Browett and Forstall, so if he hasn't bounced Eddy Cue then I think he's perhaps doing something right.
Cue negotiated the deals for iTunes (music and film) He got iCloud up and running. We have the usual geek echo chamber here and elsewhere who insist it's crap, but I'm more interested in how the vast majority of Apple's customers find it.
The television deals was always going to be a tough slog; the tv companies have a stranglehold that they're not going to hand over, and Apple (quite rightly) doesn't believe in loss-leaders.
Unlike every other armchair CEO, I have no idea what the solution is. I have a feeling that what Apple is missing here is leverage. The old guard is not going to budge unless they're forced, unless Apple does something that makes the TV so compelling that the channels have no choice but to go with it, or lose out. Just haven't figured out what that is yet.
Longer replacement cycles as smartphones have become good enough and improvements are now largely incremental.
Higher prices due to FX impacting demand
Apple perhaps overestimating the % of the install base that wanted larger screen iPhone
Intangible; some people just don't like the 6 series for whatever reason
I'd like to see Apple release a flagship 4" phone and then see what percent of
I think the TCO of an iPhone in many markets is a huge deterrent (and by that, I mean initial cost and very high subscription price). The pricing is even ridiculous compared to Apple's own iPads.. (I can get an iPad Air 16Gb for $350..,). I don't mind it being somewhat more than competitors, but it's just too much really.
Yes, The 6 is somehow awful, it's like trying to hold a bar of soap. Nearly everybody I know who has one has the same opinion and had dropped/damaged it despite them liking it in other ways.. The 5S is much nicer in comparison. Both are easily scratched/damaged and have poor battery life.
I'm not sure I want a 4", something like a 4.3 would be better, I worry that people want a "smaller" phone, but have forgotten how small 4" really is....
Some years ago, I wanted an iPhone because all my family/friends had one, all that cool iMessage & FaceTime stuff, but now that WhatsApp is universal we all use that now so there's less drive for me. If WhatsApp introduce video calls it will be the end of that need for me.. I think Apple should open both to a wider audience...
As for other products: the 12" MacBook is nice but useless, no ports, the Air is so visually outdated now (that large bezel..) despite having great battery life and low weight - why oh why didn't they update this with a retina screen and make it a bit more modern, the 13/15" Macbook Pro is nice and not as expensive as some competitors actually (check comparable ultrabook prices..) but the fixed ram story is a deterrent. My current 2012 Macbook Pro (non retina) would have been a paper-weight now if I hadn't been able to upgrade the RAM to 16gb after Mavericks.. The watch is a joke, really.. I can't tell you how many colleagues had to be first in that queue, then saw how it didnt' really do anything exceptionally useful and the battery life.., and then Ebayed them.
He absolutely isn't that guy, as the launch and artist mutiny over three months royalty free of Apple Music made abundantly clear. He's a poor leader and a worse spokesman for the company. Get rid of him and get someone that that has the spirit and vision that's made Apple the sort of company we all expect it to be.
Yeah, the problem with many of outside observers here is exactly that: they're outside. As far as I can tell, Cook has no problem firing under-performers. He got rid of Browett and Forstall, so if he hasn't bounced Eddy Cue then I think he's perhaps doing something right.
Good Point. And wasn't it Cue who got the biggest salary raise last year?
As outsiders we will never have a clear idea of the dynamics in team Apple. It is therefore a mystery why we're left with such an abysmal iTunes and Music experience. And iCloud is clue-less as well.
Comments
Those people rely on Dell and HP to sell them profitless $300 laptops. That's a market that Apple has always avoided.
BTW... don't they offer subsidized phone contracts or payment plans in Canada? Is your only option to pay the full $1000 for an iPhone?
I've had three iPhones so far in the US... and I've never had to pay the full price up front.
The first two were on contract so a portion of my bill was paying for them... but my current 64GB iPhone 6S Plus is a manageable $35 a month on a payment plan.
For comparison... flagship Samsung smartphones are around $30 a month on a payment plan. So there's not much difference there.
http://bit.ly/1TmDQ7m
Apple belives things like sales, revenue, and profit come as a result. Market share doesn't even factor.
If you want to consider the market opportunity versus Apple's share then there's still a lot to be had. Every Android smartphone user is an untapped sale.
Considering the overall global economic conditions, Apple continues to do amazing in its sales and financial performance.
At 1.00 Canadian dollar per 0.71 US, that's near-parity with US prices. I.e. US $670 ($900 x .7) for 16GB, and $800 for the 64GB, not far from $649/$749 US,
but not a kilodollar in money from the States. Otherwise, your latter points are well-taken by many.
Similarly, Apple should have grown their market share much slower than they have, which is now becoming obvious in hindsight. An 8% year-over-year growth stretched out over 20 years would have worked for their stock price much better than record growth they showed over 5-6 years. There's no way Apple can grow at that rate anymore, and Wall Street doesn't seem to be interested in considering the profits that Apple is raking in quarterly. Instead, Wall Street is only interested in revenue growth and maybe somewhat in profits growth, but not in absolute numbers. Apple is bringing in more revenue and profit in absolute numbers than most any other company in the world, and AAPL P/E is less than 1/3 that of GOOG, but AAPL has not stabilized upwards of where it was in the summer of 2012. And what about the AMZN P/E of 872.19 vs AAPL's 10.87? It should make AAPL 80 times as attractive to investors as AMZN. It's ridiculous that Wall Street would award AMZN with such a high stock price based on their P/E ratio, while not rewarding AAPL much at all.
The turning point for Apple came when Steve Jobs realised that market share is a poor measure of success when compared against profit.
Absolutely. This happens to every dominant tech company. The smart ones realise it and take steps before it happens. The dumb ones (Microsoft) assume that the gravy train will roll forever.
The question is, can Apple find its new market before they're in trouble – and by 'trouble' I mean when their cash reserves become low, not their share price.
Having said that, he clearly is not a visionary. iTunes, Music, iCloud - that name*
(*) Why not bundle all services into Life, host it on Apple.com and have one fee according to how many storage you need?
On one of John Gruber's recent podcasts he said the Apple Music announcement at WWDC was one of the worst keynotes Apple has ever had (in the Jobs 2.0 era). He's right. if Apple is making a big shift in focus to monetizing the existing user base I think they need someone else to lead that effort. Apple Music and the roll out of Apple TV say to me Cue is not that guy,
Cue negotiated the deals for iTunes (music and film)
He got iCloud up and running. We have the usual geek echo chamber here and elsewhere who insist it's crap, but I'm more interested in how the vast majority of Apple's customers find it.
The television deals was always going to be a tough slog; the tv companies have a stranglehold that they're not going to hand over, and Apple (quite rightly) doesn't believe in loss-leaders.
Unlike every other armchair CEO, I have no idea what the solution is. I have a feeling that what Apple is missing here is leverage. The old guard is not going to budge unless they're forced, unless Apple does something that makes the TV so compelling that the channels have no choice but to go with it, or lose out. Just haven't figured out what that is yet.
Yes, The 6 is somehow awful, it's like trying to hold a bar of soap. Nearly everybody I know who has one has the same opinion and had dropped/damaged it despite them liking it in other ways.. The 5S is much nicer in comparison. Both are easily scratched/damaged and have poor battery life.
I'm not sure I want a 4", something like a 4.3 would be better, I worry that people want a "smaller" phone, but have forgotten how small 4" really is....
Some years ago, I wanted an iPhone because all my family/friends had one, all that cool iMessage & FaceTime stuff, but now that WhatsApp is universal we all use that now so there's less drive for me. If WhatsApp introduce video calls it will be the end of that need for me.. I think Apple should open both to a wider audience...
As for other products: the 12" MacBook is nice but useless, no ports, the Air is so visually outdated now (that large bezel..) despite having great battery life and low weight - why oh why didn't they update this with a retina screen and make it a bit more modern, the 13/15" Macbook Pro is nice and not as expensive as some competitors actually (check comparable ultrabook prices..) but the fixed ram story is a deterrent. My current 2012 Macbook Pro (non retina) would have been a paper-weight now if I hadn't been able to upgrade the RAM to 16gb after Mavericks.. The watch is a joke, really.. I can't tell you how many colleagues had to be first in that queue, then saw how it didnt' really do anything exceptionally useful and the battery life.., and then Ebayed them.
As outsiders we will never have a clear idea of the dynamics in team Apple. It is therefore a mystery why we're left with such an abysmal iTunes and Music experience. And iCloud is clue-less as well.