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iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

nytimes.com

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Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#281

Post by techdragon »

Teckla wrote: post #253
rqebmm wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me its real problem is that it's almost indistinct from long-press. Combine that with Apple's poor UX discoverability (I'm looking at you, swipe-from-the-side-to-see-iMessage-timestamps!) and 3D Touch is basically useless.

(I'm looking at you, swipe-from-the-side-to-see-iMessage-timestamps!) Wow, that is poor discoverability. Also, thanks so much -- I've been wanting that for ages. I never knew about it.

Your not kidding, I've had iPhones since they came to Australia (Gen 2, Gen 1 iPhones were imported but not properly available via local channels) and I heavily use the iMessage app since my plan has had "unlimited" SMS pretty much the whole time I've had an iPhone... And I NEVER saw this until I tried it 60 seconds ago.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#282

Post by beamatronic »

ericabiz wrote: post #222
koolba wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your experience what's the usual time between battery replacements? That's been the only "killer" for phones for me. With a decent case I feel like they otherwise last forever. My personal upgrade cycle usually involves someone else's (ex: spouse or parent) phone breaking, giving them mine, and buying a new one. Otherwise I'd probably still be on an iPhone 4.

2-3 years is average, depending on how much you use your phone. Battery replacements are cheap (we charge $49 for the 5 series right now) and quick to do. Easiest way to know you need a battery replacement: Your phone gets to 40% or 20% and suddenly just dies on you. That means at least one cell in your battery is dead, and it's time to replace the whole battery. Also, if your screen is edging up on the left side but…

I had an iPhone 3GS with the puffy battery issue, I replaced the battery and the replacement did the same thing. It puffs up almost like a bag of microwave popcorn. Very odd.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#283

Post by guywithabike »

rpgmaker wrote: post #242
ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

I really hope #2 gets traction. It's been disappointing to see the SE not do as well as I wanted it to. I'm not an iPhone owner myself but I'm hoping the SE popularizes the "small" form factor phone again.

Tim mentioned on the earnings call today that the SE is supply constrained because the SE is selling far better than they projected that it would.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#284

Post by mdorazio »

r00fus wrote: post #269
reubenswartz wrote: post #262

For me, the main reason to upgrade phones is to get a better camera, so I can take better pictures of my kids. Other than that, most of the features are "nice to have". Don't get me wrong, I like Touch ID, I like the big screen of the plus (but not the size and slipperiness of the phone), but nothing has been a compelling upgrade, other than camera improvements. In many ways, this is a credit to Apple doing a great j…

Dunno about you, but TouchID is indispensable to me. I would not buy another phone without it (or something as secure). With TouchID + strong alphanumeric password, I can be secure in my person. My data is far more valuable than just the hunk of metal and glass it resides on. I think Apple should do an expansion of their 2008 iFund, but writ bigger (and maybe focused on the watch and apple TV).

Out of curiosity, in what way do you feel TouchID makes your phone more secure than just a password? Someone could steal a glass you've touched along with your phone and unlock it with a bit of effort. From a technical standpoint, the only thing TouchID adds in terms of security is preventing someone from peering over your shoulder at a passcode as you enter it, but a would-be thief is more probably far more concerned with selling the hardware than ransoming your data. And if they want your data, iCloud and other services are the real weakpoint.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#285

Post by megablast »

Animats wrote: post #166

Apple is doing just fine. But there's been no Next Big Thing since Jobs. Apple's watch is a dud. Nest's products don't work well. It's like Sony after Akio Moreta died; the company plugs on, but the light has gone out.

> Apple's watch is a dud.

Why do certain people say this? The watch is a $6.5 billion business in its first year. That is a huge success. Nothing compares to that.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#286

Post by viraptor »

deegles wrote: post #152
matwood wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it's just gadget saturation in general. My MBP from a few years ago works great. Some of the older iPads I have at work are just fine. The iPhone 6/6+ also works just great. At some point, the marginal utility of a new device just isn't there. It is what happens as markets mature.

My iPad v1 still works. Not great, but it's still around.

Isn't that still on iOS 5? I'd be afraid to connect it to the internet now. (it's not supported/updated anymore)

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#287

Post by paws »

ericabiz wrote: post #222
koolba wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your experience what's the usual time between battery replacements? That's been the only "killer" for phones for me. With a decent case I feel like they otherwise last forever. My personal upgrade cycle usually involves someone else's (ex: spouse or parent) phone breaking, giving them mine, and buying a new one. Otherwise I'd probably still be on an iPhone 4.

2-3 years is average, depending on how much you use your phone. Battery replacements are cheap (we charge $49 for the 5 series right now) and quick to do. Easiest way to know you need a battery replacement: Your phone gets to 40% or 20% and suddenly just dies on you. That means at least one cell in your battery is dead, and it's time to replace the whole battery. Also, if your screen is edging up on the left side but…

This matches my experience on iPhone 5.

Since I was out of warranty anyway I opted to self-replace the battery.

http://www.onpaws.com/2015/10/fresh-iphone/

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#288

Post by ChrisLTD »

deegles wrote: post #152
matwood wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it's just gadget saturation in general. My MBP from a few years ago works great. Some of the older iPads I have at work are just fine. The iPhone 6/6+ also works just great. At some point, the marginal utility of a new device just isn't there. It is what happens as markets mature.

My iPad v1 still works. Not great, but it's still around.

But that screen... Blech.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#289

Post by fataliss »

Sweet, time to buy more. I was holding off since it was obvious that prices over 100$/share without any new products to excite the imagination of traders with no technology background wasn't going to last forever. It' always interesting to me how wall street lacks any depth in their analysis. Direct sales and revenues are basically the only metrics they look at. Which is fine for a small company but when you are looking at a 700B company, spending 8B a year in R&D being that shortsighted is almost funny.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#290

Post by joshjkim »

mjfern wrote: post #108
bsirkia wrote: post #47

Incredible that this is the first time in 13 years that Apple hasn't posted quarterly growth. I'm sure there will be lots of "Apple has lost its ability to innovate" articles based on this, but growing for the last ~52 straight quarters is insane. And I don't think one quarter without growth is enough evidence to conclude "Apple may be reaching the saturation point among potential customers in some countries" or "oth…

There is something fundamentally wrong with our system that "growth" is used as the main metric for assessing business success. It's growth for the sake of growth (and more $), and not deploying business to solve hard customer problems and to make the world a little bit better.

A recent book that tries to address this (kinda annoying title): http://www.rushkoff.com/books/throwing-rocks-at-the-google-b...
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