brucemc

rotateleftbyte said:

brucemc said:

Always buy things you would want when they are on sale.

In this part of the World, the words 'Apple' and 'Sale' are never seen together.

If only we had a retailer like Adorama who would sell below list from time to time.

I meant Apple shares...

sebastian37 said:

Considering Apple Watch Series 4 went on sale on september 21 - 10 days before the quarter ended - and that it was seriously supply constrained at first the numbers soond pretty good to me. In the current quarter the percentage will be much higher. My money is on north of 50% for sure. 

AI, your credibility takes a big hit on this article.

1) Given that the Apple Watch Series 4 went on sale with just over a week left in an entire quarter - where the other 10.5 weeks were selling Series 3 as the high end - is pretty relevant, don't you think?  All you mention is that Series 4 was introduced last quarter.

2) Xiaomi devices sell for a fraction - a f*cking fraction - of the Apple watch.  Thanks is also pretty relevant, don't you think?

This article was entirely written as click bait.  I wasn't aware that The Verge had taken over AI...

jcc said:

rogifan_new said:

Why Apple is focusing on users not units? Because units aren’t growing like they used to. I will say though seeing Apple become a company focused on extracting more money out of existing users is kind of depressing. Not nearly as exciting as the great product reveal on stage.

Exactly the strategy Sculley used and look how well that turned out? When you focus on extracting every last dollar out of your customers instead of making the best products, it’s a race to the bottom.

So your contention is that Apple is NOT trying to make the best products in their markets?
- The iPhone XS/Max/XR are not "best products"?  That is not what reviewers and customer satisfaction says.
- Apple is not making the best smart watch?  That is not what users, marketshare or profit share would say.
- Apple is not the leader in the top tier of laptops/desktops?  That is not what users, profit share, creatives, and non-corp use would say.
- The iPad is not, essentially, the only true "computing tablet" in the market, with a share greater than 80% for devices over $200?  And Apple didn't just introduce the most advanced tablet ever with the new iPad Pros, with amazing screen, computation, drawing capability, graphics...?
- AirPods are not considered the best truly wireless earphone buds for the broad market, with incredible user satisfaction?

You can "make money from your user base", but do so BY having great products.

Now, I realize that there is no arguing with someone like you, when your biases and delusion are so clearly evident.  But if you have any reading comprehension, give it a try.

So many people have absolutely no clue about Apple...including those that read and post about it every day.

If I knew nothing about Apple, and only read the comments section on tech blogs, I would come to the conclusion that Apple was some mediocre tech company, formed maybe 15 years ago, that just happened to stumble upon a product that they called "iPhone", and threw it out into the market to see what would happen, aided by some smooth talking sales hack named "Jobs".  Just purely due to luck, this product became successful, and through no effort at all, this mediocre company "Apple" just rode this product line up to fame and fortune.  Alas, now that the smartphone market has peaked, this company full of bumbling fools has absolutely no clue about what to do next.  

"Tim, units have peaked, what will we do?" "I don't know, raise prices I guess (as he gazes into a business cycle for dummies book, fearful that everyone will realize he knows nothing about business, the company, or its markets)".

chasm said:

canukstorm said:

Doesn't say much.  It can simultaneously be the best-selling iPhone model and not sell according to management's expectation

Except that that would mean that sales of the other models are also “slow,” and that would trigger a legal obligation for the company to advise investors of the strong possibility of missing its guidance. As a reminder, Apple has forecast a record-setting guidance that is $10 billion higher that last year’s fiscal Q1.

So either Joz is wrong, or the reports we8ve seen are BS — as DED has already pointed out in a particularly well-researched article here on AI.

Actually, that isn't the case.  Apple's forecast for Q1'19 is a range of $89-93B USD.  Last year's Q1 was $88.3B USD.  So if they reach the upper end of guidance, it would be a 5.3% increase YoY. 

If you factor in the higher ASPs expected, with growth in services, and wearables, Apple likely "IS" modelling for (small %) iPhone unit sales decline.  Which is fine.  Overall revenue is expected to be up, with growth in a couple of key areas.  The global smartphone market is estimated to have declined by 9% in the last quarter (when Apple was slightly up / flat), so Apple is still doing much better than the overall market in terms of sales trends, and of course have the higher ASPs, and majority of premium users.

The devices, especially for Apple, are lasting longer.  People holding them for longer periods of time.  Better resale, which means someone is buying the used iPhones and not the new ones.  While of course increasing new unit sales would be the best, it is far better for Apple to have a growing user base through the grey market than just be concerned about unit sales (hence...unit sales do not represent the health of Apples iPhone business...and thus why have stopped reporting it).