bells

jdw said:

A truly heartwarming story, and sadly one of the few things SIRI can do correctly.

You are just a hater. I just bought a home pod and I was expecting to hate siri based on what people like you say, but she is even more awesome than on the iPhone. First, she understands me incredibly well, from quite a distant further than my iPhone, and she can do quite a bit. Set a timer, make a phone call, tell me just about everything about famous people, countries, companies, etc. She can tell me what is playing at the movies, where the closet pizza place is, what the best pizza place is based on reviews, etc. Honestly, I find new things everyday she can do.Tell me about my day, jokes, the weather, the list goes on and on. 

tylersdad said:

That was then, this is now.

Back then, nearly every new generation of phone brought with it exciting features. That's not really the case now. New phones pretty much get you a faster version of the old phone you're currently using. For all but the hardcore enthusiast, this just isn't enough to spend $1200 every two years on a new phone. 

I'm not saying Apple won't survive. They obviously will. But I really doubt that they will reach the sales heights they once did unless they truly begin to innovate again or price their products more reasonably. Faster just isn't good enough anymore. And adding features that 99.9% of us don't need isn't helping. 

Bs. Apple introduced the so called “s” update cycle I think as far back as the iPhone 3. During the “s” cycle upgrade cycle Apple has focused on performance upgrades not major new features or design refreshes. The s was said to stand for speed. Many commentators have  historically called these s upgrades uninnovative despite blowing competitors away each time with performance improvements. The XS Is the so called boring upgrade cycle. Mostly speed improvements over the X. The X was the introduction of Face ID and near edge to edge display which clearly is innovative. Assuming Apple sticks to the normal schedule Apple next year should introduce a major new so called flashy feature.

Part of the reason many love Apple is it isn’t rushing out untested updates of major new features. Apple doesn’t want to be Samsung and recall its entire show case product because of faulty engineering and testing (aka the Galaxy mess). 

Ive upgraded this year to the XS Max from an iPhone 7. It is ridiculous to say Apple isn’t innovating. The XS blows sway my brand new Windows laptop I’m forced to use at work. Typing is so smooth and nothing brings the phone to a crawl. Face ID with the increased related camera features is amazing. 

With promotion I received a 390 credit for my iPhone 7. I pay the rest off monthly no interest for three years. I could have received the XR for free via a carrier promotion. So it seems ridiculous to say the iPhone isn’t affordable for most people.

Accept in some developing markets, like China and India, Apple gained market share. I agree though that Apple’s growth for phones sales will likely slow because the market is only so big. I have family members who still use a flip phone.

Lack of innovation and cost are not Apple’s problem though. Further, Apple’s innovation this year can easily be seen in the Apple Watch. Apple is spending a ton of money on medical research.

leavingthebigg said:

I wonder what the reason is for Josh Hilliard wanting to keep the damaged iPhone?

The guy is an idiot. First, Apple isn't going to replace a phone without keeping the damaged one. Apple will want to investigate the cause of the damage. Second, the phone looks slightly bent from the picture. Maybe from the guy sitting on it. Who sits on their phone and expects somebody else to pay for it? Third, if it were Apple's fault, it would only have to pay for his actual damage, which  doesn't sound like very much. 

k2kw said:

avon b7 said:

Major discounting (which is what this amounts to) three days before Christmas has just one reading in my book: Lower than expected sales. The offer (in this case Spain) is totally in your face, front page, prices in black and white, marketing. Never seen this before.

I was pushed out of an upgrade due to pricing. With this promotion, I am back in. I will take a decision later today after discussing with my wife.

I think that this is going to be a bad year for Apple.   This could be because
1.    We hit Peak Apple with the iPhoneX this year similar to how they were talking about Peak Mobile Phone last year.
2.    We are in a cyclical pattern similar to the the 6S that sold less than the iPhone6 after lots of people went to the bigger phone the year before.
3.    The iPhone is just over priced to lots of people.    Apple isn't using QualComm Modems anymore which we always heard added greatly to the price.
       They didn't lower the price of the Xr, Xs, or X to reflect this.   
4.    Apple should have produced either a new 4.7 inch or SE model for those who like smaller phones.   
5.    Mid and high end Android phones are getting better and now people don't switch from Android to iOS anymore at the levels/rate they used to.
       Many people may find google services like MAPS and GOOGLE ASSISTANT much better.
6.    A Combination of the above.

I was surprised to see HomePods for $100 off this Christmas in several Sales.    I might have bought two of those last year if they had premiered at that price but decided to go with Sonos instead.    Also this year you could get the $329 iPad for $229.   Big discounts I've never seen before.  Now we will see big discounts on new MBP too.

Its will certainly be interesting to see how Apple ends up doing in the next quarterly financials.   They may meet guidance due to the number of sales bringing people in.
Since they plan to withhold the details behind the numbers no one really knows.

The Jan-Mar quarter si usually a big quarter for Apple because of the Asian New Year.   Will be interesting to see what happens then.

Unfortunately I think that the iPhone needs to have a new feature or function that Android doesn't have similar to FaceID but offered without raising the price through the roof.
Apple also needs to invest in Basic R&D to develop the future Technologies themselves instead of paying inflated prices to Samsung and other companies.     Where are the microLED screen?   Where are their own developed modems?   Where are their solid State batteries.

Slow down in sales is all speculation based on faulty so called newstories. Apple has historically released big performance gains one year and a major new feature the next. Face ID was introduced last season, signicant performace enhancements this year. This schedule hasn’t historically effected sales. Last year the iPhone X at higher margins stole much more sales than anticipated from iPhone 8’s. If true this year that isn’t a problem. Apples stragetic this year was similar to when it introduced the iPhone Cs along side higher end phones. The difference is the XRs are much better low end phones in comaparison.

The only reason the slowing sales stories are sticking this time is Apple announce it is going to stop the practice of announcing sales volume to conform with its competitors. So people shorting the stock have everything to gain by the stock price sinking. The irony is Apple met its own guidance last quarter for sales and beat the numbers from the same quarter last year (although not by much).  


Regular consumers don’t know crap about Qualcomm and don’t see any noticeable differences in performance either. I doubt it appreciably effects any buying decisions. It certainly didn’t mine. The XS Max is great phone. Not noticing any reception issues, which are certainly better than the iPhone 7 it replaced. We also don’t know if Apple pays Intel significantly less for its modem then Qualcomm. 

If Apple sales were hurting, you’d think there would be significantly improved deals from carriers to push inventory. Yet carrier deals are about the same as last year. A few carriers you can get an XR for free or low cost with a multi year commitment. This is similar to last year. iPhone 8 you could get free and x for a reduced cost. So price shouldn’t be an issue for somebody who really wants a new iphone. 

As far as killing the smaller phone, you’d think Apple would have the sales numbers to figure out whether that was the right move before making that move.

Other things to consider, due to Trumps trade war, and irrational behavior along with the FEDs increased interest rates the stock market is taking a hammering.  People are going to start closing their pocket books as they watch their saving stuck in the markets dwindle which could effect sales. 

daven said:

I wonder what recourse Apple has. If they get that admitted into evidence on appeal, if additional evidence is allowed in appeal, then it seems that Apple could argue that Qualcomm should be held liable for lost sales and if this quarter is a slow one, blame it all on Qualcomm.

To obtain the injunction, Qualcomm has to put up a crap load of money to cover Apple's damages if it eventually loses the case.