humbug1873

So Apple finally managed to remove the 'thin' hard to manufacture shape (that kind of was a reason for the higher price) to a cheap to manufacture (but still expensive) box shape in the name of the holy dollar. 
You've probably all seen what happened to Boeing after they changed their priorities to 'shareholder value' instead of 'making great products' ... that's Apple's future.

bloggerblog said:

A Vision Pro could be your personal computer, just like bringing in a laptop or an iPad. Is this only for residents of Germany, are tourists exempt?

True and if push comes to shove you need to proof, that you bought your laptop in the EU. That can well be done after they 'caught' you (i.e. you went to the green lane and they randomly picked you for a control). Same goes for any valuables (Jewelery, Expensive Cameras, etc). In that case you have to provide proof in within a few weeks.

Since the Vision Pro is not available outside the US, it's essentially a clear case. You'll have to pay the taxes (19% in Germany if you declare it ... if you didn't it's twice that for punishment).

On the plus side: The honest importer will most likely financially not be worse off, than waiting to buy the product in the EU for final EU pricing (likely to be around 4800EUR). Even if he payed sales taxes in the US. Because the Apple EU prices are usually even way higher than US Price + EU Sales tax. Just did a little check on an iPad Pro you end up paying US Price + 19% Germany Sales Tax (EU sales taxes can be as high as 24%) + 17% on top because Apple can.

obiwanbill said:

Haha … you obviously don’t listen to their earnings calls or read their financials.

TSLA is the most profitable car company, by far! I don’t own a TSLA and frankly I find their interiors quite spartan. However, many are willing to accept that and ❤️ their cars because of all the things TSLA does well … software updates, ALL electric, FAST and for the hope they deliver on Level 5 autonomy.

When they do … Profits go to the moon! 🚀

You better read the full financial details. Tesla is only 'profitable' thanks to tax dollars it get's payed, they are not profitable on their own.

So far the Vision Pro is more hype than substance. It's only just coming out in a very limited release (US only).
Why would anyone bother to develop for that heavy piece of headgear? It barely holds enough charge for a movie and reading the reviews is too heavy to wear for an extended time as well.
Add to that the fact, that Netflix holds no 3D content, only an extremely limited amount of 4K content (even if you pay the high premium subscription at Netflix and the content would be available in 4K from the producers it is not so with Netflix).
Add to that that Netflix doesn't seem to be profitable and is in fact stuck in a growing mountain of debt.

The result is Netflix does the low cost approach we all see. Masses of self produced often low quality content, streamed in a minimum viable quality (they do compress the hell out of their streams leading to low quality). So no money left, for anything that isn't strictly necessary.

Let's face it, even if each and every Vision Pro buyer in the next 24 months would pay for a Ultra-Premium Vision Pro subscription it would barely be interesting for Netflix to invest. Since they don't have any relevant content even less.

AppleTV+ being Apple owned ... of course it produces stuff (AppleTV+ alone doesn't necessarily need to produce a net profit)
Disney+ actually has lot's of content (even 3D and 4K+) and has been tight with Apple for a long time. Makes sense as well. 

The rest is wait and see, since they won't be able to shift market share in any meaningful way, by offering Vision Pro.

So as a stock holder who doesn't have to (and certainly don't want to) live in the US there seems to be only one solution: Trump for president. (Tim Cook could at least handle that orange idiot better)