"...strong new product pipeline for 2003..." ~Steve Jobs
From Apple quarterly Results"
"We have a very strong new product pipeline for 2003, which we kicked off by introducing the two most advanced notebook computers in the industry last week at Macworld, said Steve Jobs, Apples CEO. Were going to keep investing through this downturn and continue to move our products and distribution channels ever further ahead of our competitors, so that when the economy rebounds we will be positioned for growth.
"We were extremely pleased with our ability to achieve our revenue target for the first quarter while reducing channel inventories by 11 percent within the quarter, said Fred Anderson, Apples CFO. Continued strong asset management enabled us to increase cash to over $4.4 billion. Looking ahead to the second quarter of 2003, we expect revenue to be relatively flat with the December quarter, and expect a slight profit for the quarter.
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OK Steve says that apple has a very strong product pipeline ( mmm sounds like a hint) for 2003, and that they expect to move further a head of their competitors. Then later Fred Anderson says that they "expect revenue to be relatively flat with the December quarter, and expect a slight profit for the 2nd quarter. These two things don't fit together to well.
All I can say is maybe this quarter we will see 15.4" PowerBooks to replace the 15.2" ones. I would expect new iMacs any minute now and new eMacs within the hour. (no I don't mean literally) Then maybe the PowerMac 970 in the 3rd quarter.
Whatever happens Steve seems to be hinting that something good is coming quite often lately.
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[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: Algol ]</p>
"We have a very strong new product pipeline for 2003, which we kicked off by introducing the two most advanced notebook computers in the industry last week at Macworld, said Steve Jobs, Apples CEO. Were going to keep investing through this downturn and continue to move our products and distribution channels ever further ahead of our competitors, so that when the economy rebounds we will be positioned for growth.
"We were extremely pleased with our ability to achieve our revenue target for the first quarter while reducing channel inventories by 11 percent within the quarter, said Fred Anderson, Apples CFO. Continued strong asset management enabled us to increase cash to over $4.4 billion. Looking ahead to the second quarter of 2003, we expect revenue to be relatively flat with the December quarter, and expect a slight profit for the quarter.
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OK Steve says that apple has a very strong product pipeline ( mmm sounds like a hint) for 2003, and that they expect to move further a head of their competitors. Then later Fred Anderson says that they "expect revenue to be relatively flat with the December quarter, and expect a slight profit for the 2nd quarter. These two things don't fit together to well.
All I can say is maybe this quarter we will see 15.4" PowerBooks to replace the 15.2" ones. I would expect new iMacs any minute now and new eMacs within the hour. (no I don't mean literally) Then maybe the PowerMac 970 in the 3rd quarter.
Whatever happens Steve seems to be hinting that something good is coming quite often lately.
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[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: Algol ]</p>
Comments
<strong>All I can say is maybe this quarter we will see 15.4" PowerBooks to replace the 15.2" ones. I would expect new iMacs any minute now and new eMacs within the hour. (no I don't mean literally) Then maybe the PowerMac 970 in the 3rd quarter.
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: Algol ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
uh, i can't see the 15" powerbook getting changed soon. sure, i said that when they came out, but come on. they've now got a glut of really great powerbooks. why muddle the waters further with more "slightly-different" models?
iMacs and eMacs MUST get updated soon, based off past history (you know, as opposed to "future history"
third quarter for 970's? i'd love to see it, but i won't get my hopes up. that'll be just as ibm said they would be hitting shippable high quantities. i hold by my january 2004 prediciton -- and will be ecstatic if they beat that estimate.
i am kinda curious as to what their plans for the ibook will be by year's end. also, how much profit did ipods account for?
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: rok ]</p>
Updating the 15" PowerBook would give a reasonable alternative to Lapzilla and would also make the 15" PB's features a better fit than the current one with the other PowerBooks .
<a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/16results.html"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jul/16results.html</a>;
<a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/apr/17earnings.html"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/apr/17earnings.html</a>;
<a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jan/16results.html"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jan/16results.html</a>;
all mention the same innovating through the economic downturn and strong future products....
and i have listened to every conference call and if u had as well you would have also heard every time jobs or anderson say they have a strong product pipeline.
it's all the same. what, do you expect them to say something negative?
yea, powermacs arent selling because people are holding off for quark..... or they are holding off for jaguar....or they are holding off for adobe... or they...... its all the same
<strong>I looked back over the old results you posted and they really don't say any thing about a strong new product pipeline for the whole year. They talk of some good products and etc. Steve's quote today was a little different in meaning that his old ones. I understand your point and I agree that most of the stuff they say is just BS. But Steve keeps hinting of all these things. I mean come on we all know the 970 is coming. Don't we?</strong><hr></blockquote>
trust me... he mentioned "strong product pipeline" EVERY CONFERENCE CALL.... every single one.... perhaps it isnt written into the prepared statement but on the call he ALWAYS mentions it.
if Maccentral's search didnt suck so much you'd probably be able to find articles quoting that but, their search sucks...soooo
"The management is very focused on the situation and have a number of plans going forward to enhance performance in the Power Mac area. "
That level of acknowledgement of the problem during a financial statement is encouraging. It also reinforces what Moki, Amorph, and others have been saying that Steve has been listening.
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: pey/coy-ote ]</p>
<strong>
Updating the 15" PowerBook would give a reasonable alternative to Lapzilla and would also make the 15" PB's features a better fit than the current one with the other PowerBooks .</strong><hr></blockquote>
um, how is that so much better than the 15.2" model released, uh, 60 days ago? i'm not trying to be difficult, i just don't see why an extra .2" of screen would really help... if you're talking adding airport extreme, backlit keyboard, bluetooth and DDR RAM, okay... but i don't think that warrants removing a perfectly awesome 15" powerbook from the shelves right now.
Damn machines. Why must they torture me so?
Darn crummy G4...why I oughta..! (Homer Simpson style voice...)
Lemon Bon Bon :cool:
"The management is very focused on the situation and have a number of plans going forward to enhance performance in the Power Mac area. "
I hope they just don't mean dual 1.4 gig G4s in April lasting until December 2003.
"That level of acknowledgement of the problem during a financial statement is encouraging. It also reinforces what Moki, Amorph, and others have been saying that Steve has been listening."
Well, gee, the sales figures are telling them something and have for some time regarding the 'power'Macs. We aint paying for machines whose specs are not substantially improved 9 months over 9 months. (I might buy one...but only if my brain was controlled with Red Kryptonite.)
Well, 'Steve has been listening.' I guess we'll find out in the next half a year or so.
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: Lemon Bon Bon ]</p>
[quote]The same thing. Actually, our new product pipeline is very strong. There's lots more interesting stuff coming out down the pipe. But in addition to that? our whole premise was and is that the PC market, our industry, has been in a coma for the last several years. Apple was in a coma with it until a few years ago.<hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2001/04/19.2.shtml"; target="_blank">http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatch/2001/04/19.2.shtml</a>;
[quote] Well we're not through yet. We've got some wonderful things new coming during the year but I can't talk about them right now. One of the things that I also can say is that I think our operational excellence was good this quarter. Not only did we, I think we beat our goals in terms of revenue and products, but at the same time brought down our channel inventory to about 100,000 units or 4 weeks, which is very good.<hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2000/05/wwdc_keynote/part1.html"; target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2000/05/wwdc_keynote/part1.html</a>;
[quote]Says Jobs, ?We?re delivering the growth. The product pipeline looks extremely strong for the foreseeable future, and we expect to keep delivering this growth to you guys.?
<hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0201/16.anderson.php"; target="_blank">http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0201/16.anderson.php</a>;
[quote]"The March quarter is one of product transitioning, but we remain optimistic about our growth prospects for the year because of a strong lineup of new products and a robust pipeline of new products yet to come," Anderson said. <hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0004/20.financial.shtml"; target="_blank">http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0004/20.financial.shtml</a>;
[quote]We've got some fantastic products now -- I think the strongest product lineup Apple's ever had it its history," said Jobs. "We've got some fantastic things in the pipeline for the future, so I think we're going to stay very focused on the products and trying to make the best computers in the world." <hr></blockquote>
and thats just a couple conference calls and other mentions.... he says it every time
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: applenut ]</p>
That doesn't mean it's not true, but it does mean that you can't single out Jobs' last statement to that effect as being particularly meaningful.
That said, here's Anderson (emphasis mine):
"We feel we have the strongest lineup of products we've had in a long time, and we have an incredibly strong pipeline of future products coming. We want to be in a position where we've laid the foundation to gain market share as we come out of this economic downturn."
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
<strong>all mention the same innovating through the economic downturn and strong future products....</strong><hr></blockquote>
1) the links are all from 2002, which I think we can all call a downturn, a plateau if you must.
2) He's comparing to everyone else. Exclude Dell for a second, now look around: RED INK. That's a sea of it.
Apple increased R&D for four consecutive quarters. Gateway's been issuing parachutes of all colors, breaking leases, and sending seas of pink slips... HP/Compaq busy merging with huge restructuring fees...
Amusingly, Apple can now afford to buy Gateway outright.
I can agree that what he's said is blatant propaganda - but the facts have to back up what you say, or you get to visit the folk from Enron.
It's part of the show.
Maybe a word or two different here and there, but essentially the same speech/comments.
Nothing to get too excited or worked up about. Applenut documented it all quite nicely.
"We feel we have the strongest lineup of products we've had in a long time, and we have an incredibly strong pipeline of future products coming. We want to be in a position where we've laid the foundation to gain market share as we come out of this economic downturn."
Add this to all the other things that have been said in the past about 2003 including the info we have on the 970, and you have a lot of positive info for this year. Are you guys really saying that nothing will happen?
The iMac is good. the eMac is good. so is the iBook and the powerbook. and the iPod is bigger and cheaper than before. The software is much better than before. So they did have a strong product pipeline.
The odd thing is that though they keep saying they have a good pipeline (and they do) the profits do not go up. What happens if they have the fastest coolest computers and profit/market share still does not increase? Then they are in trouble. Without the 970/G5 there is still hope.
<strong>Well what about Fred Anderson's quote?
"We feel we have the strongest lineup of products we've had in a long time, and we have an incredibly strong pipeline of future products coming. We want to be in a position where we've laid the foundation to gain market share as we come out of this economic downturn."
Add this to all the other things that have been said in the past about 2003 including the info we have on the 970, and you have a lot of positive info for this year. Are you guys really saying that nothing will happen?</strong><hr></blockquote>
What we are saying is that it's nothing. Of course they will release new products this year and update current ones. What am I saying? Let it go, stop trying to argue that this quote from Fred Anderson means more than anything else. It doesn't.
in general, missing whispered numbers on the street is the likliest cause of downgrades. therefore, it is rule that in such conference calls you do not want to set any expectations that are beyond what you can safely deliver. in spite of this, whispered numbers are used more and more. if apple fails to deliver what analysts anticipate, it wont be only jobs, the future of apple will be at risk.
reading talk on a rumour site such as this of apple stock performance and looking into the statements made to analysts to try to discover when you should buy yr next iBook is one of the most bizarre threads imaginable.
appleinsider meets wallstreet. wow. totally bizarre.
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: niji ]</p>