Notes of interest from Apple's Q4 2010 conference call

24

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Sometimes it?s pretty obvious when Steve pooh-poohs an idea that they are planning to tackle it. Usually it?s by stating how others are struggling in that area, but the 7? iPad response didn?t sound like Apple is planning to come at the 7? tablet anytime soon.



    Actually, no. It means their 7" prototyping series proved to be not the sweet spot. Whereas, the 10" prototyping did.
  • Reply 22 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    Interesting. When asked about Apple's huge cash stockpile, Steve said he strongly believes there will be one or two strategic opportunities in the future that they will need the cash for. He is saving up to buy Microsoft!



    I thought this was one of the most interesting points. He does seem to imply they're saving a lot of money and he has been eyeing some other giant company. I doubt it's Microsoft, but it looks like one day they will try to buy up someone big.



    Microsoft?

    Adobe?

    Oracle?

    HP?

    RIM?

    Intel?

    AMD?

    Qualcomm?

    who knows
  • Reply 23 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Or at least a 10" one without the stupid side bezels so someone can actually type on it.



    Steve Jobs is far from perfect in terms of "seeing the future" of tech and has been forced to make quite a few complete turnarounds in his thinking by the realities of the market over the last few years. Thinking that the iPad is a usable portable computer for any kind of serious work is one of them.



    He's just wrong about this, but I guess we are the ones that will suffer until he figures it out.



    How are "we," the ones doing serious work, suffering if, obviously, we are not using iPads?
  • Reply 24 of 63
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Or at least a 10" one without the stupid side bezels so someone can actually type on it.



    Apparently, according to how fast they're flying off of the shelves, that doesn't seem to be much of a problem .... ok .... except for you .... and I would imagine any touch screen device NEEDS a bezel around the perimeter so you can hold it without your thumbs activating something on the screen, by mistake .... no?
  • Reply 25 of 63
    djmikeodjmikeo Posts: 180member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post




    On the competition, Jobs said he isn't worried. "We're not done. We're working on a lot of things for the future." He added: "We're out to win this one."



    Wow. He sounds like he is meaning business now!! This is the first time that I've heard Steve say that he wanted to win, not just to be the best. I love it.
  • Reply 26 of 63
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djmikeo View Post


    Wow. He sounds like he is meaning business now!! This is the first time that I've heard Steve say that he wanted to win, not just to be the best. I love it.



    How do you define win? They are the 2nd largest company in the world and well past the 2nd largest company in their category, and likely be the largest company in the world within a year. They are likely the highest revenue gainer for their category. They will likely become the highest profit gainer in their category within the year.



    If we?re talking about ?PC?s (and not including the iPad) then Apple has already won here in terms of profit by a large margin. No other PC marker comes close to Apple who takes ⅓ of the entire market?s profits. If you we?re talking Mac HW compared to Windows OS (which makes no sense at all) then they won?t ever win that unless MS only installs Windows on their PCs forcing all other PC makers to do the same or if Apple destroys their PC business by licensing Mac OS.
  • Reply 27 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OriginalG View Post


    I thought this was one of the most interesting points. He does seem to imply they're saving a lot of money and he has been eyeing some other giant company. I doubt it's Microsoft, but it looks like one day they will try to buy up someone big.



    Microsoft?

    Adobe?

    Oracle?

    HP?

    RIM?

    Intel?

    AMD?

    Qualcomm?

    who knows



    From the list:

    Adbe yes

    Msft maybe tomorrow

    Amd maybe

    And maybe they go back to producing and not just outsourcing, maybe slr or jbl or something like fox conn
  • Reply 28 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djmikeo View Post


    Wow. He sounds like he is meaning business now!! This is the first time that I've heard Steve say that he wanted to win, not just to be the best. I love it.



    by saying he wants to win, not just be the best, Steve J is saying that he will be watching market share, not just profits. He isn't going to let the iPhone and iPad become what the mac was, a PC with a small market share but profitable. He wants both market share and profits (by keeping costs low and delivering insanely great product experiences.) With that, he is telling M$ not to bother throwing away $400 million in advertising with the W7.
  • Reply 29 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    How do you define win? They are the 2nd largest company in the world and well past the 2nd largest company in their category, and likely be the largest company in the world within a year. They are likely the highest revenue gainer for their category. They will likely become the highest profit gainer in their category within the year.



    If we?re talking about ?PC?s (and not including the iPad) then Apple has already won here in terms of profit by a large margin. No other PC marker comes close to Apple who takes ⅓ of the entire market?s profits. If you we?re talking Mac HW compared to Windows OS (which makes no sense at all) then they won?t ever win that unless MS only installs Windows on their PCs forcing all other PC makers to do the same or if Apple destroys their PC business by licensing Mac OS.



    They R not the second company of the world, just the second "most valued" ...
  • Reply 30 of 63
    macnycmacnyc Posts: 342member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Or at least a 10" one without the stupid side bezels so someone can actually type on it.



    Steve Jobs is far from perfect in terms of "seeing the future" of tech and has been forced to make quite a few complete turnarounds in his thinking by the realities of the market over the last few years. Thinking that the iPad is a usable portable computer for any kind of serious work is one of them.



    He's just wrong about this, but I guess we are the ones that will suffer until he figures it out.



    The new "Teckstud" I see...
  • Reply 31 of 63
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by soward View Post


    Apparently that performance wasn't enough for the investment community; aapl down ~6% in after-hours trading. maybe they can get a government bail out....



    Just typical behavior from the idiot investing community.



    Apple blew out their own guidance and also blew out the projections of every single analyst - including the most bearish ones. And the stock falls 6%.



    Idiots. What did they expect - Apple to announce a cure for cancer or something?
  • Reply 32 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by OriginalG View Post


    I thought this was one of the most interesting points. He does seem to imply they're saving a lot of money and he has been eyeing some other giant company. I doubt it's Microsoft, but it looks like one day they will try to buy up someone big.



    Microsoft?

    Adobe?

    Oracle?

    HP?

    RIM?

    Intel?

    AMD?

    Qualcomm?

    who knows



    Microsoft? Are you kidding?



    Adobe? Only if they go nuclear and stop producing Mac software (which is financial suicide anyway)



    Oracle? Nahh, Steve and Larry are friends and Steve doesn't want Oracle's business



    HP? Steve doesn't care for HP but still doesn't want their business



    RIM? Please. Never buy someone on the way down.



    Intel? Too expensive and fraught with anti-trust problems. And Steve doesn't want their business either.



    AMD? Unnecessary. What do they have that Apple needs...I mean, really?



    Qualcomm? Maybe. Apple could easily write that check. The problem is that Apple would have to be faced with being in the cell phone chip business to their competitors (you don't really want to kill $10b in annual revenue). Lots of anti-trust issues too.
  • Reply 33 of 63
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    I'll review my stops in the morning. I want to hold Apple but typically keep my stops at 5% of the share price so I'll need to adjust if it is down 6%. Might be a good day to sell some other stocks though and pick up some more Apple.
  • Reply 34 of 63
    tnsftnsf Posts: 203member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FormerARSgm View Post


    BIGGEST NOTE FROM CALL:



    Steve Jobs delivers a long, lengthy rant speaking frankly (albiet from a well written script) about a number of issues that must have been weighing on his mind.



    I think the biggest note from the call was when he was questioned about what they are going to do with the $50 billion USD cash they have in the bank (plus an additional $5 billion or so every quarter going forward). In response, Jobs said they think they have "one or two opportunities" that they are waiting for.



    What is Apple planning to do with its $50 billion? What are the "one or two opportunities"?
  • Reply 35 of 63
    Most interesting to me is that as usual after their blow out quarterly reports, Apple's stock has again plummeted - over 6% in after hours trading so far! Anyone in the financial community care to explain why?
  • Reply 36 of 63
    tnsftnsf Posts: 203member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pnoble View Post


    Most interesting to me is that as usual after their blow out quarterly reports, Apple's stock has again plummeted - over 6% in after hours trading so far! Anyone in the financial community care to explain why?



    The stock had risen a lot before the earnings were announced. Investors then wait and see if anything unexpected happens. In this case earnings were pretty much as expected: slightly above projections. So, sell the stock and take profits.
  • Reply 37 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pnoble View Post


    Most interesting to me is that as usual after their blow out quarterly reports, Apple's stock has again plummeted - over 6% in after hours trading so far! Anyone in the financial community care to explain why?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TNSF View Post


    The stock had risen a lot before the earnings were announced. Investors then wait and see if anything unexpected happens. In this case earnings were pretty much as expected: slightly above projections. So, sell the stock and take profits.



    Not to toot my own horn, and fully recognizing that it is very easy to sound smart after-the-fact, see http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...55#post1735155.
  • Reply 38 of 63
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TNSF View Post


    I think the biggest note from the call was when he was questioned about what they are going to do with the $50 billion USD cash they have in the bank (plus an additional $5 billion or so every quarter going forward). In response, Jobs said they think they have "one or two opportunities" that they are waiting for.



    What is Apple planning to do with its $50 billion? What are the "one or two opportunities"?



    This is a very astute observation.



    My small prediction? Major greenfield investments in the 'cloud', here in the US, so as to avoid all sorts of cross-border issues (therefore making it more expensive) combined with the purchase of a company such as Dropbox.



    But that will still leave tens of billions of dollars in the bank.



    Don't know after that......
  • Reply 39 of 63
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Jobs was asked by Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray about Adobe Flash. The CEO quipped back: "Flash memory? We love flash memory."



    classic!
  • Reply 40 of 63
    docno42docno42 Posts: 3,755member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by newbee View Post


    I would imagine any touch screen device NEEDS a bezel around the perimeter so you can hold it without your thumbs activating something on the screen, by mistake .... no?



    It's not obvious for him because he doesn't own nor has he ever used an iPad for any amount of time
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