blitz2

sog35 said:

janiceandrusty said:

I just don't see the same level of creativity since Tim started in that role.  

Agree 100%

What has Tim done with the iPhone the last 3 years:

1. Add TouchID/ApplePay - that was Steve Jobs
2. Made the phone bigger
3. Made the phone gold
4. Made the phone thinner

Thats it.

iPad?  Thinner, Gold, pencil. That's it.

Watch is okay but nothing mind blowing.

Mac? Thinner, Gold. That's it.

sog35 said:

bkerkay said:

You keep talking about the loss and the "failure".  

But what about the gains and increase and money in the bank?  Yes, it's less now than it was a year ago, but it's still more than it was when he took over 5 years ago. 

Come on dude.

You can't give Cook the credit for that.

Cook became CEO on Aug 24, 2011.  The stock was $55.
Eight months later the stock was $90.

Are you seriously giving Cook the credit for the stock reaching $90?
Come on man, that was all about what Steve Jobs did.  No CEO can add that much value to a company in EIGHT MONTHS.

And since then Apple is up only $5.  In FOUR YEARS the stock is up $5.

You'll have the opportunity to buy that other 200 shares you'd promise to buy
  

sog35 said:

Apple needs to rely less on China for revenue.

How? Services. Period.

Facebook and Google only do advertising and they are worth $800 billion combined.

Tim Cook has to get of his high horse on privacy and start building an Apple advertising empire.

Tim Cook always spews about how important privacy is.
But Apple users don't give a crap.

86% of iOS users use Facebook.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Facebook-iOS-Android-Google-Apple,news-16588.html

80% of Google's mobile revenue is from iOS users
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/03/29/google_earns_80_of_its_mobile_revenue_from_ios_just_20_from_android

85% of iOS users use at least one Google service.



All this means that iOS users don't give a crap about privacy. That is why Apple needs to build their advertising empire.  

With advertising Apple would not need to rely on a communist state.

Rbfwcyek1 said:

Long time reader, but never posted until now. Frankly, I don't care whether Apple made tens or hundreds of billions of profit. What I care about are the products that I need to use in my life each day. And I've had growing frustration for a while now that despite the "who cares how many" billions they are constantly raking in, they seem to be having competitors across the board catching up, and at times overtaking. I used to have absolute confidence that just buying the Apple version of whatever the product was gave me an acceptable balance of value and utility and it saved a lot of time because I didn't really need to worry about everything else on the market.

I love that over previous years I could always rely on Apple and have a set level of confidence and expectation for any of their products I bought. But in recent years I've started questioning the value proposition which really annoys me that I have to do that. 

For example, I am wanting to upgrade my work computer and have the budget for a Mac Pro but would even settle for an iMac with decent gpu performance but from what I've read the latest ones seem to be a bit underpowered still. But why would I spend the same amount of money I could buy a brand new small car with on tech that is years old now (i.e. Mac Pro). I considered upgrading my MacBook Pro instead and getting a new monitor because after having retina screens everywhere else the Thunderbolt display I've got looks pretty ordinary. Although I paid AUD$999 for it a number of years ago, the exact same display is the only option from Apple still (and considerably outdated) but is now $1599 here in Australia. But at least it has free shipping I suppose  You know what - if Apple want to keep selling old technology then at least reduce the price to compensate and retain some semblance of value.

So now instead of just hitting buy on the Apple website I've considered a Windows PC highly spec'd to be similar as the Mac Pro but frustratingly I just don't even want to head down that path. However I fear that if Apple keeps going down their current path at some point it's going to force my hand. All my devices are Apple at this point and for my family members as well and anyone else I could convince in the past. If it comes to it then once I leave the eco-system I suspect it will be quick and thorough. Just don't want to get to that point though, and really hope Apple have something worth buying for my day job upgrade before our fin year ends June 30th. And I no longer recommend Apple anymore - I used to unhesitatingly. Now it's "look, I have chosen to use this, but I'm not suggesting anything - go do your own research because you are going to have to find what represents good value to you and for many Apple doesn't". Surely I'm not the only one in this boat. And surely that represents a long term problem for Apple. I've found the value of an Apple product is really evident when you own all the other Apple products and having them work as well as can be expected together. But just as the halo effect has grabbed new customers in the past, when it starts hitting in more numbers then the reverse is going to be true as well - people won't just leave one device - they will start questioning all of their devices and probably pretty quickly end up with few to no Apple devices at all. That to me would be more worrying if I was a shareholder than the quarterly fluctuations. 

bobschlob said:

paul turner said:

Never try to catch a falling knife, it could be finding support at 90 but who knows , there are a number of ways to play

Wow. You really ARE smart!

foggyhill said:

blitz2 said:

So, Apple has at least sold 32 Mio watches the last 4 quarters?

And they don't communicate on that?

Mmmm...

The estimate is about 14M at the end of Q2 2016. Apple has actually hinted at the numbers indirectly. (Saying more than Ipad in similar timeframe in Q2 2015 (3M) in the analyst call and that all increase in OTHERS in Q3 2015(gives 5-6M sold up till then)was related to the watch, they said something else in Q1 2016 but can't recall and third party firms estimated from all that data that Apple had sold 5-5.5M in the holiday quarter. With the extra 2M in this quarter were up to the stated 14M.

Apple has said, long long time before release that it wouldn't release sales info on the watch.
BTW, who the fuck else releases actual sales numbers on ANYTHING : no one.
Yet Apple is expected to spill the beans all the time.;

You do know that the ASP of the Apple Watch is likely 4-5 that of a fitbit with massively more profits per watch too.

Fitbit as but a tiny fraction of Apple's Watch profits : that's a fact.

brakken said:

rogifan_new said:

And yet my Twitter feed is full of tech writers and Apple bloggers talking about how great I/O was and how Apple really has to bring it at WWDC. The last ATP podcast was all doom and gloom, and Marco even has a post up now comparing Apple to Blackberry. https://marco.org/2016/05/21/avoiding-blackberrys-fate

I wish there was some place we could get decent Apple reporting that wasn't either D&G silly panic or everything's great Apple's the best they make all the $$$ blah blah blah. If these AI pieces are meant to reassure I don't think they do. If everything was peaches and cream there would be no need to write these pieces in the first place.

And this is what I really appreciate about Dan's perspective - he analyses I/O in an historical context, while Twits are in-the-moment reactions to new/shiny. Goog really is looking flaky and desperate - where are the initiatives announced last year, even? By looking at repeating situations - announce wow, announce new wow, never mention old wow, silently delete old wow, announce new wow - ms and now goog are building a smoke-screen of bs that never results in a new product or service. Even Facebook has done better than them! 

I'm really disappointed that few, if any, people - bloggers or otherwise - connect the dots of past behaviours to adjust future expectations. Goog has consistently failed, despite changing management, to develop any initiatives brought over the past ten years that have gained any tractionl apart from gmail and maps on the consumer end. On the business end, it has certainly improved upon its invasive anti-security and anti-privacy initiatives. This does not bode well.