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Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

nytimes.com

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Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#111

Post by friedegg »

vannevar wrote: post #93
jandrewrogers wrote: post #16

That iPhones were less than half their revenue, while still growing overall revenue, is a positive sign. Apple has done a good job of diversifying their revenue base over the last few years. It will be interesting to see how large wearables and services can become as revenue sources, I suspect they are still quite early in their growth.

Still, the company hasn't released an innovative hardware product since 2008. That's a long time for them. If Apple can't innovate anymore, regardless of whether they have continued financial success, are they still really Apple?

I guess it depends on how you define innovative. The iPad was unveiled in January 2010, and while there were other tablets before it, and it was similar to the iPhone, it has now started to replace a regular computer for many people.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#113

Post by NicoJuicy »

Services are making up for it, but they are losing a vast amount of their base customers.

13% drop in sales won't make their services popular.

They should have launched 5 years ago, they had way more advantage then.

They do still have a big consumer base, but 13% is a lot and it doesn't seem to go upwards.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#114

Post by rodgerd »

S_A_P wrote: post #32

I have thought long and hard about upgrading my iPhone 8 to one of the new X models, but I don't like the lack of a home button. I guess I am officially old now, but I dont want to look at my phone to unlock it. I like that I can reach in my pocket, and unlock it with my thumb as I retrieve it. It may be user error, but I see several co-workers have to really train the phone on their face to unlock with Face ID. That…

I found it took getting used to my Surface Pro unlocking when I look at it, but now I resent my work laptop which doesn't support Hello. I expect to have the same arc with iPhones once I go past an 8.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#115

Post by jjtheblunt »

n1000 wrote: post #76
skrowl wrote: post #23

iPhone sales continues to decline (down another 13% vs this quarter last year), but services are making up for it

Apart from Apple Music and iCloud storage space what services does Apple offer / sell?

Movies, iTunes, AppleTV sorts of stuff might count

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#116

Post by dkarl »

mythz wrote: post #55
S_A_P wrote: post #32

I have thought long and hard about upgrading my iPhone 8 to one of the new X models, but I don't like the lack of a home button. I guess I am officially old now, but I dont want to look at my phone to unlock it. I like that I can reach in my pocket, and unlock it with my thumb as I retrieve it. It may be user error, but I see several co-workers have to really train the phone on their face to unlock with Face ID. That…

I was an early adopter of iPhone X and the following year with XS Max, from my experience any unfamiliarity with FaceID is extremely short-lived, I wouldn't go back to a home button which feels archaic at this point and unnecessarily takes up valuable real-estate that should go towards a larger screen. The gestures also become fluid and second nature after a while. Even the next Pixel4 is moving to using FaceID, goin…

I like the gestures, but the unpredictability of when FaceID is going to work is maddening. Sometimes it works with sunglasses, sometimes not. Sometimes it works in the dim light of my bedroom, sometimes not. Sometimes it works when I absolutely don't expect it (half my face hidden in my pillow, towel wrapped around my face, complete darkness with face illuminated only by my lock screen) which only fools me into half expecting it to work when I shouldn't. Sometimes everything seems right, but it still doesn't work. I'm never completely taken by surprise because I'm never sure what will happen.

In other words, about a hundred times a day my train of thought is interrupted for a second or two while I stare at my phone and wonder if FaceID is going to work. This is a pretty terrible pattern of disruption. Technology should disappear into the background instead of inserting itself into the foreground of my attention every time I use it. The fingerprint home button was more reliable, and it was much easier to anticipate when it was going to fail because of a wet or dirty thumb.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#117

Post by rootusrootus »

MaysonL wrote: post #8

And the stock increased over 4% in after-hours trading, as increases in non-iPhone hardware sales and services overcame the decrease in iPhone sales. Earnings per share slightly beat the consensus forecast. An interesting quote from Cook in the press release: "The balance of calendar 2019 will be an exciting period, with major launches on all of our platforms, new services and several new products"

Yet another lesson that stock pricing is about predicting the future, not reacting to quarterly reports.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#118

Post by mythz »

situational87 wrote: post #100
vannevar wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still, the company hasn't released an innovative hardware product since 2008. That's a long time for them. If Apple can't innovate anymore, regardless of whether they have continued financial success, are they still really Apple?

They increased their spending on R&D by $500 million since last year. They then spent $17 BILLION on share buybacks in the last quarter. It's not a tech company anymore it's just a financial engineering scheme for large shareholders. If you're a shareholder, good for you!

> It's not a tech company anymore it's just a financial engineering scheme for large shareholders. If you're a shareholder, good for you!

Not sure what point you're trying to make with this low-effort falsehood. Buy backs are purchased with operating profits, if most of their profits were derived from their massive cash hoard you could label them as an Investment arm or something, but it's coming from their successful business operations and Apple's goal with its Buy Backs and Dividends is to move to a net zero-cash balance, so they have no interest in transitioning into becoming an Investment company.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#119

Post by dangus »

situational87 wrote: post #107
jknoepfler wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

those are obviously not meaningfully commensureable numbers.

Why not? They can spend their money however they want, but Wall Street demands endless share buybacks over everything else. Do you think there is any downside to just transferring wealth to the (already rich) shareholders over and over and over again? Seems to be their top priority nowadays.

There’s a really obvious ceiling to R&D.

I can spend a trillion dollars and hire a million engineers but that won’t build me a time machine or a perpetual motion device.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#120

Post by vannevar »

zepto wrote: post #98
vannevar wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still, the company hasn't released an innovative hardware product since 2008. That's a long time for them. If Apple can't innovate anymore, regardless of whether they have continued financial success, are they still really Apple?

Ignoring the Apple Watch, which dominates the category and is a clear success.

Fair, but the Apple Watch has largely been an iPhone accessory rather than a standalone product. You could also point to AirPods. They sold a lot of them because a lot of people had iPhones. But neither is anything like the iPhone or the Mac in terms of defining a product category. Eventually, the Apple Watch is just going to be an iPhone on your wrist. More of a derivative, like the iPad.
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