gregg thurman

lmac said:

Tim Cook would never go along with that because phones made in the U.S. for U.S. purchases would cost double or triple what they do now because of our higher standard of living.

Forty years ago China began developing a specialized "industrial park" of immense size, then recruited manufacturers of electronic components and Taiwanese business managers.  The catalyst to its success was very favorable tax structures, fast-track permitting, easy access to FedEx and UPS air cargo, and an immense, highly trained workforce.

Foxconn employs about 1,000,000 workers in three cities.  There aren't 300,000 highly trained workers in any three cities in the US that aren't already working.  US unemployment is at post-WWII lows of 3.1% with over 66% participation (a post-WWII high).

US standard of living has little to do with the impediments to manufacturing in the US.

nunzy said:

Starbucks and Apple are pretty much exactly the same in a lot of ways.

Firms that are successful over the long haul are a lot alike.

The first rumor of a 6.1” LCD iPhone was just that - a rumor. Now we have a rumor stating delivery of the rumored iPhone may be delayed, for technical problem Apple would have solved before placing any orders, and as Jeff Williams stated orders for September release dates are made in November. 

Without specific attribution ALL of these rumors are worthless crap, reprinted by bloggers to generate eyeballs. 

rare comment said:

Folio said:

Yes, China booming middle class. Purchases of bmw Audi etc help make VW largest carmaker. I’m no expert. Curious if iOS differentiates a device as much in China as in US. Never viewed app offerings in China. Anyone know if Apple still adding stores? Hitting many second tier cities?

this is Apple's biggest risk - in China, a lot of app functionality is consumed as a sub-app within a larger app (in particular, tencent's WeChat app). This means that payments, car sharing, shopping, browsing, chat, etc., are sub-apps within WeChat. And this also means that iOS is less sticky - someone entirely contained in the WeChat ecosystem can change phones with very small switching costs as their whole app world just moves with them. It doesn't completely undercut iOS and, obviously, hardware differences matter. But it is a real risk. As an aside, I think this is why Facebook tried so hard to make Facebook a platform so that its app would be the world inside which users live.

I agree WeChat is iPhone's biggest sales limiter.  However, WeChat is OS agnostic, and the Chinese are incredibly status conscious.  The iPhone is an aspirational status symbol in China.  That's why I'm interested in iPhone market share among the top 15% of the addressable market.  THIS IS APPLE'S TARGET MARKET.

seanismorris said:

There’s some pent-up demand for the Apple SE2.

When the SE2 is released Apple’s ave. iPhone price will decline.

Analysts: Apple’s going out of business 🤒
Apple:  Reports record earnings 🤗

If there is a decline in ASP after the release of the iPhoneSE2 it won't be much.  iPhone SE only accounts for about 5% of total unit sales.  Not enough to offset iPhone 8/Plus/X unit sales of 65% of unit sales, and 30% iPhone 6S/6S Plus/7/7 Plus sales (especially if the consumer is migrating to the larger, more expensive models as ASP clearly indicates).