MplsP

rogifan_new said:

I keep seeing on Twitter people talking about how Apple services are tied to iPhone. Nilay Patel for one is saying that. While true it doesn’t mean services are tied to NEW iPhone sales. Apple has an active install base of over 1B. That’s a lot of people services can be sold to. Plus it’s not like nobody is buying new iPhones anymore. That 1B figure is only going to grow.

This is true, and despite the headlines, Apple can weather a quarter of slow sales. (I’m not so sure about the people around here whose entire fortune seems to rise and fall with Apple’s Stock price, however!) My concern is the bigger picture. Apple is not the only one feeling the pinch at the high end. Smartphones are a maturing product. The difference in features and capabilities between successive generations is dwindling. That combined with a near 25% price increase means many people will elect either to delay upgrading or to get a lower model rather than pay the premium Apple is demanding for its flagship model. Where this becomes a problem is when someone needs to get a new phone in a few years and decides they extra premium for an iphone is no longer worth it and gets a $500 Android phone instead. People can argue all they want about the added value of Apple products and how iPhone prices haven’t increased that much when adjusted for inflation, but for most consumers, the price on the shelf is the one they see, and when the majority of other phones are priced less, even for a decent phone, the premium gets harder to justify. If that starts to happen, then Apple’s user base starts shrinking, and that’s a much bigger concern than last quarter’s sales. 

Over the last several weeks we've seen a steady stream of reports of decreased iPhone sales. Multiple people have slammed these reports as 'FUD by anti-Apple trolls' or BS by clueless analysts, even in the face of increasing numbers of reports from different sources. Now that Tim Cook himself has come out and said that sales are down are these people going to admit that they were wrong?

rogifan_new said:

bonobob said:

rogifan_new said:

mdriftmeyer said:

lenn said:

HAHA. Looks like people are starting to wake up and refusing to pay these outrageous prices just to keep Cook's sky high profit margins going. At least I hope that's the case. So crazy to spend 1k or more on a damn phone!

You didn't read or perhaps comprehend the article. With China banning the sale of iPhones it is accounting for the drop in sales revenues.

"Lower than anticipated iPhone revenue, primarily in Greater China, accounts for all of our revenue shortfall to our guidance and for much more than our entire year-over-year revenue decline," Cook said.

Specifically, Apple failed to foresee a deceleration in China's economy that was in part spurred on by increased trade tensions with the U.S.

Beyond macroeconomic factors and U.S. dollar strength-related price increases, Cook blamed the revenue miss on miscalculated upgrade demand. In particular, the executive said low-cost battery replacements and fewer carrier subsidies are hindering the usual upgrade cycle.

In summary:

1. Trade War with China thanks to the lunatic in the WH has China retaliating against US phone sellers [It won't just be Apple getting fucked]
2. Trade tensions grinding everything down
3. Telcos are pulling back subsidy options across the board

The Telcos want new contracts with the phone manufacturers and/or in on co-development. They also want the Fed to fully subsidize their asses while charging tiers to consumers.

There isn't just tensions between the idiot in the WH and China, there is going to be and explosion of backlash by consumers for the Telcos ignorance of what they can leverage.

Phone companies dropped subsidies years ago. Kind of lame for Cook to play that card now.

They weren’t subsidies, they were loans. They were paid back through monthly fees. I paid $86/mo for my Sprint “subsidized” 4S.  I now pay $30/mo for unlimited data (50 gb) on T-Mobile. The extra cost was far more than the price of the phone over two years of the contract. 

Yep. I just used the word subsidies because that’s what Cook (and so many others used). I always hated the weird subsidy because a no interest loan that has to be paid back is not a subsidy in my opinion.

Money isn't free, and a no-interest loan is a form of subsidy just like no/low interest loans from car manufacturers and the low interest loans cities give to pro sports have costs. If you think otherwise, go to your bank and ask for a 0% loan and report back on their response.

AppleExposed said:

lenn said:

HAHA. Looks like people are starting to wake up and refusing to pay these outrageous prices just to keep Cook's sky high profit margins going. At least I hope that's the case. So crazy to spend 1k or more on a damn phone!

The cheapest iPhone starts at $750.

Apples quarterly report will most likely be the highest of all companies.

So no, Apple is not doomed. 

The iPhone 7 starts at $450

powermacbandit said:

I’m surprised no one has mentioned that oxygen isn’t flammable.  Oxygen is an oxidizer. It’s used in the combustion process but is not combustible. 

No - Oxygen isn't flammable by itself, but high oxygen concentrations can allow some substances to burn that would not normally burn in room air. This isn't the case here, but every year several idiots nearly burn their faces off by smoking cigarettes with their oxygen on.

There are several problems with the case here - as someone has mentioned, any potential spark caused by the magsafe connector would be 18" away from the woman's face and the mask it supposedly ignited. If this were truly a risk, than the shock she would get from static electricity when grabbing a doorknob would be just as dangerous.