rogifan_new

MplsP said:

To be honest, this seems like a pretty average card. Very average interest rates, certainly nothing great. The 3% back is nice, but how much do any of us actually buy at the Apple Store? I got a new laptop 2 ½ years ago, a few cables since then, but that's not really going to move the needle. There are a bunch of extra restrictions, so it's potentially less convenient (although they probably won't matter for most people.)

It's not a bad card, but I already have plenty of cards and I can't see that the Apple Card offers anything spectacular that would make me want to get another card or replace what I already have.

One other problem I just thought of - the card number is not on the card anywhere, which means when I call to make reservations, purchase something online, etc it's mostly useless. 

zoetmb said:

The iPhone being less than 50% of Apple's business isn't a bad thing, it's a positive.   Too much dependency on a single product line is a bad business strategy.   Apple's income being more diverse is a strong positive and the fact that it's more split between hardware and services is even greater positive as it protects Apple against downturns in the economy and if any strong competitors appear.   

How many articles were there in recent years stating that Apple was no longer a computer company, but an "iPhone" company.   That was a weakness, not a strength.  

I'm certainly no genius, but even I can see that a more diverse Apple business is better for Apple and for Apple's customers.  Mac revenue is up 5% year over year, and that's is a great thing, because Mac was becoming such a small part of Apple, I had concerns over how much attention Apple would give it going forward.  iPad is up 15.5%, Services are up 15.9% and Wearables/Home Accessories is up an outstanding 36.5%.   Considering the world economy is not in great shape and that Chinese consumers seem to be spending less across the board, I think Apple is doing great in spite of the fact that they won't beat last fiscal's record revenue and earnings.   Not every year can be a record year. 

And while iPhone revenue was less than 50% in Q3, it's still 61.7% fiscal year-to-date, so this is much ado about nothing. 

DAalseth said:

rogifan_new said:

Apple is a high volume innovator in and beyond phones. Google and Microsoft are not.

Huh?? This statement makes no sense. And comparing these three companies is stupid anyway. Apple primarily sells consumer hardware and services that can be used with that hardware. Google and Microsoft’s primary business models are not that at all. 

I took that to be the point of the article. So many of the online bloggers, columnists, and influencers keep trying to equate these three, but Apple is just not the same . Even governments at several levels are looking into antitrust and monopoly abuses of the big tech giants and they tend to lump Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple in together, but Apple is not like the rest. As the song from Sesame Street said “One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong...”. The author was going on at great length to point out that Apple had a different business model and should not be compared with the others.

Apple is a high volume innovator in and beyond phones. Google and Microsoft are not.

foregoneconclusion said:

rogifan_new said: The Mac negativity isn’t really coming from the press...it’s coming from Mac enthusiasts and some tech writers.

The tech press has constantly promoted the idea that there's something significantly wrong with the butterfly keyboard. That can't really be debated.