brucemc

cbpp said:

What app caused an alarm to go off? Apple Watch built in heart monitor or something else? I did not know there was an alarm feature.

When a (quite) high heart rate is detected, but the wearer doesn't appear to be doing any vigorous exercise, the Apple Watch will raise an alarm.  It is a relatively new s/w feature implemented in a dot release of WatchOS 4.

gmgravytrain said:

Wall Street and market share percentage. What makes market share percentage such an important metric to everyone? 

A few things to consider:
- "Wall Street" is often used to mean anything related to investing - analysts, traders, mutual fund / ETF companies, banks, hedge funds, etc.
- Analysts these days are just another form of media - seeking to generate eyeballs - and worthy of the same consideration...
- "the market" (all traders settling on prices) has always liked companies which can have "sort of" a monopoly, as that is a moat to protect the business, and 'possibly' grow better than average profits.  Couple that together with growth possibilities, and they value those companies highly (see: Google, FB, Amazon...).
- Large market share can provide monopoly-like features, at least for awhile.  IBM back in the day (nobody got fired for buying an IBM...), Cisco in networking equipment, Microsoft with Windows and Office etc.
- However, in most cases it is not marketshare on its own which explains the moat - it is usually accompanied by something else - and it is usually not based the extreme low end of device functionality.  I would say that Wall Street doesn't dig that deep.
- Apple is different from most other companies, in that it focuses on a design-first, premium end products with ability to differentiate via design, h/w and s/w, have high user sat, maintain margin, etc.  Thus they never have that traditional moat, and why they are always perceived by "the market at large" as being vulnerable.
- I personally like Horace Dediu's take, in that because Apple is always exposed to threats on all side, they have developed a very strong resistance (ala biology) and hence are one of the stronger companies which has a chance to endure.

To keep the iPad Pro sales up, my guess is that the pros will get a solid update this year.
- FaceID & TrueDepth front facing camera
- 12.9" to get reduced bezel design
- Screen enhancements
- Updated cameras - perhaps same as iPhone X/8
- Base storage update
- screaming fast A11
- s/w focus on AR to utilize both the TD camera and the SoC capabilities
- perhaps some smart connector accessories are introduced to make this a positive differentiator
- Apple Pencil v2 (maybe with smart connector charging)?

I have never upgraded every year - in fact it has been every 3 years - even though I am an Apple enthusiast.  I just couldn't justify it to myself.  When I do upgrade though, you get a lot of enjoyment out of the cumulative features over those years.

As for the story, I am sure Apple would sooner have high user satisfaction with the potential downside of slowing sales (or having to work harder to get that sale), rather than the alternative.

As a side note, into such a relatively flat market as high-end smartphones, Googles late push with the Pixel looks even worse.