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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

#311

Post by privateSFacct »

Fnoord wrote: post #235
jvagner wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple will never get the same P/E love, because they only make like 4 things (Mac, iPhone, iPad, services). Everyone loves to hate on Apple on multiple fronts (elitist, expensive, over the hill), whereas the hate on Amazon is really about one thing.. that ol "makes no profit" canard. CLARIFICATION: I’m talking perception, not my beliefs. Uber’s a scam, as far as I can tell, but they will either pull off a miracle or…

> whereas the hate on Amazon is really about one thing.. that ol "makes no profit" canard. Ahem [1], and while we're at it, [2] My criticism to Apple isn't that they're being expensive; it is related to right to repair and their constant efforts to hamper that. Amazon just undercuts everyone, and Turk globalizes cheap workforce. For ridiculous low payment. These are just 2 examples you did not mention. You can read m…

People have historically been willing to pay apple more because in part of how seamlessly integrated their products are. I bought a “repairable” android and it was junk / not updated. My old iPhones have kept value far better than friends androids after 3 years. Apple is doing something that preserves phones value (ie, they may actually maintain them for longer with updates etc vs their “repairable” competitors.

And I’ve never had a problem getting my phone repaired

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#312

Post by privateSFacct »

gonational wrote: post #121
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"

If one of these major launches is a MacBook Pro with the same (or better) specs (esp video graphics) as their latest MacBook Pro, but without a TouchBar, they will get at least $2,500 from me. If one of these major launches is an iPhone X-like phone with a thumbprint reader (home button or otherwise), they will get at least another $1,000 from me.

I also loved home button finger print reader - why can’t they have at least one model w it and let market vote

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#313

Post by briandear »

mythz wrote: post #199
mruts wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is exactly wrong with share buybacks? Clearly they have more capital than they can deploy effectively right now, so they plan for the future by putting some powder in their gun. Share buybacks serve three main purposes: 1) increase the share price (as you mentioned) 2) signal to investors that the company is bullish on it's future (they wouldn't buyback shares if they thought the shares would be lower in the fut…

> What is exactly wrong with share buybacks? AOC presents a good argument against Buy Backs from Big Pharma which incentives CEO's who's compensation is tied to stock price, which as a result she attributes as the cause of rising costs of health insurance: https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1154794058272972801 Although Big Pharma doesn't operate in a natural economy where products are priced at optimal demand / supply fo…

Are we taking AOC seriously on anything related to economics? Even Politifact has called her out on her misunderstanding of unemployment. Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/jul...

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#314

Post by privateSFacct »

romaaeterna wrote: post #276
foobarian wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Devs at our company are starting to flee to Dell/Linux. Nice keyboards, screens and 64GB of RAM.

It's bizarre to me that Apple has never understood that computers are a highly recommended product. The reason that Apple laptops are popular is that the tech crowd is highly loyal and recommends macs to all their friends, parents, grandparents, when asked. And the tech crowd provides every hardware forum in existence with lots and lots of free Apple advertising. It was never about Apple having better marketing. It w…

We’ve gone dell and lenovo - not amazing but the gap is much smaller I think

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#315

Post by scarface74 »

Retric wrote: post #308
scarface74 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Game consoles are also not hugely profitable. In fact they are sold at a loss for the most part for the first few years. Microsoft loss billions selling game consoles on the first two or three generations. Even now, the mobile app market is larger and more profitable than the console market for Apple with them taking a 30% cut. On top of that, Apple already announced the subscription Apple Arcade service and their ga…

The point of this exercise was to find areas they could have spent that 17 billion on R&D. A few billion losses for a few years for a net long term gain is the point of investing in R&D. Further, as I have listed areas they could be investing in but are not that you have had zero objections to. I think it's clear they have less focus on R&D than was possible.

Yes and every area you posted is about them getting into declining markets - most of which are declining because of the smart phone.

Microsoft made $10 billion in revenue last year on the XBox - they don’t mention profit (https://www.geekwire.com/2018/microsofts-record-setting-10b-...). Microsoft still probably hasn’t recouped their losses in the Xbox division and the console market isn’t expected to grow.

Apple made about 24 billion on the Mac during the previous four quarters (https://sixcolors.com/post/2019/07/apple-third-quarter-2019-...). You know Apple doesn’t sell a single Mac where they don’t make a healthy profit. The Mac is nowhere near their best performing segment.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#316

Post by iamgopal »

capkutay wrote: post #214
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"

AAPL is still undervalued compared to stocks like AMZN. Apple's P/E of 17 is amazing compared to Amazons 78. I'm not really sure why their stock isn't traded with the same enthusiasm that other tech companies see.

AAPL's capacity for sustainance is doubtful, when they are giving money back to investors. What is the growth path for them ? They will continue to milk successful product but no "next" strategy in sight.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#317

Post by scarface74 »

justapassenger wrote: post #306
Cookingboy wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple now is the world’s largest watch maker both by units sold and by revenue. In fact Apple Watch’s revenue is projected to surpass that of the entire Swiss watch industry this year. Even if it doesn’t “kill” the existing category, I’ll say they did a fantastic job carving out the smartwatch category.

AKA - watch market is small.

Apple probably sells more watches at a healthier profit than console makers sell. Should the console makers stop selling game systems?

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#318

Post by erikpukinskis »

nothis wrote: post #277
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.

They're big on services, which would point towards some AI thing but the next step that seems relevant in this area for an Apple-like product is probably general, reliable, human-like AI which is too far off. So my bet is on AR. VR went nowhere but its tech might push AR into something usable. I can totally see Apple producing a Google Glass like device and getting it right, somehow.

They do have ARKit going, which sets them up with a platform to do it on.

They also have the H1 chip in the AirPods, which could potentially be a stepping stone to streaming video from your phone to your headset via an H2 chip.

I don’t see them doing a stand-alone device, or a device with a cable, for awkwardness/dorkiness reasons.

Glasses that are indistinguishable from normal glasses but just pair with your iPhone is the play.

They will make a fortune on premium frames.

Seems like battery size is the limiting factor, but who better than Apple to squeeze a crazy amount of battery into a tiny space. Then there’s heat though. That’s a tough one.

Doesn’t feel like a “this year” thing to me. Feels like a “we’ll release it when the battery/chip tech hits a sweet spot” thing.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#319

Post by Retric »

scarface74 wrote: post #315
Retric wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of this exercise was to find areas they could have spent that 17 billion on R&D. A few billion losses for a few years for a net long term gain is the point of investing in R&D. Further, as I have listed areas they could be investing in but are not that you have had zero objections to. I think it's clear they have less focus on R&D than was possible.

Yes and every area you posted is about them getting into declining markets - most of which are declining because of the smart phone. Microsoft made $10 billion in revenue last year on the XBox - they don’t mention profit ( https://www.geekwire.com/2018/microsofts-record-setting-10b-... ). Microsoft still probably hasn’t recouped their losses in the Xbox division and the console market isn’t expected to grow. Apple ma…

Smartphones also largely killed off the watch industry but they where happy to jump into that market. It’s just a question of positive ROI not the ultra long term.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#320

Post by neotek »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #298
noncoml wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t even mind the touchbar. Just give me back the Escape key!

And take the escape key off the TouchBar. I hit it all the time by accident. I really wanted to give the TouchBar a fair shake but after two months I still think it’s beyond useless.

I feel your pain, it's my number one problem with the Touch Bar, the second being that it's almost entirely useless in its default mode.

I have two solutions for you, though: firstly, download BetterTouchTool[1] and install the GoldenChaosBTT[2] preset. It's the killer app for the Touch Bar, it turns it into a genuinely useful feature that you'll find yourself using all the time, and BTT in general is an incredibly powerful tool for customising the way you interact with your Mac.

Secondly, switching Caps Lock to the Esc key[3] has been one of the biggest productivity improvements I've made in the last decade, seriously. I wish I'd done it sooner. I've made the switch on every machine I use, even the ones without a Touch Bar.

Hope that helps!

[1] https://folivora.ai

[2] https://community.folivora.ai/t/goldenchaos-btt-a-complete-t...

[3] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/127591/using-caps-lock-a...

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