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Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

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Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#31

Post by gnicholas »

traceroute66 wrote: post #5

Honestly, for anyone who watches Apple close enough, this isn't news. Its clear Apple are heading down the disruptive disintermediation route. Look at the Air Tag. Effectively killing off competitors by making use of the global network of Apple devices. Look at their recent BNPL (buy now, pay later) announcement for example. Managing the whole caboodle, including the finance itself, entirely internally. Or look at th…

Their new weather forecasting service is also intriguing. They will soon have millions of thermometer-equipped Apple Watches in the world (IIRC the Series 8 and AWU will have these), allowing them to create an incredibly detailed mapping of temperatures around the world (or at least places where people can afford expensive watches...).

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#32

Post by arcticbull »

traceroute66 wrote: post #5

Honestly, for anyone who watches Apple close enough, this isn't news. Its clear Apple are heading down the disruptive disintermediation route. Look at the Air Tag. Effectively killing off competitors by making use of the global network of Apple devices. Look at their recent BNPL (buy now, pay later) announcement for example. Managing the whole caboodle, including the finance itself, entirely internally. Or look at th…

> Look at their recent BNPL (buy now, pay later) announcement for example. Managing the whole caboodle, including the finance itself, entirely internally.

For what it's worth I think BNPL is simply an attempt by Apple to get some yield on their insane cash pile. Last year they had over $0.2T on hand. [1] They're making it faster than they seem to be able to return it to shareholders.

BNPL is a pretty bad business - margins are low, buyers are generally not qualified in the same way as other lending, ticket sizes are low, and collections aren't worth it (you really gonna repossess my $20 gently-used socks?). However, if Apple has a better way to qualify the customers (a big if)...

They can take ~3-4% of the transaction, net like 0.5% for a 6 week loan, which is like a 4.5% APR. Their margins may be better than peers since they can use their own cash instead of raising debt. Maybe 6-7% APR. It's also short-term debt that turns over fast so it's highly liquid.

My wholly uninformed opinion is that this is more of a cash management product that happens to be built on their data for Apple than a data product per se. After all you can't just roll up at BofA with a $0.2T check and get that kind of APR.

[1] https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/sp500-every...

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#33

Post by 2Gkashmiri »

theplumber wrote: post #17
2Gkashmiri wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the next big thing is milking/squeezing the existing customers through services i am NOT a subscriber to netflix et al. never have been and actively avoid signing up to "trial services" because it could potentially hook me up good. maybe these people are gullible enough to be convinced enough to be parted with their money, that's fine. you see, there is "EVIDENCE" in support of cigarettes causing cancer but instead…

Big companies can excert influence and change behaviours. Consider this as a drug dealer who gives you a free trial.

yes, that is what i am saying. there are people who avoid smoking cigarettes or take alcohol for all their lives even in the face of freebies. they aren't swayed by them but then there are people who are swayed.

if cigarette makers and breweries can continue and expand their business, so can apple and it would be just the same thing imo

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#34

Post by mwint »

gnicholas wrote: post #31
traceroute66 wrote: post #5

Honestly, for anyone who watches Apple close enough, this isn't news. Its clear Apple are heading down the disruptive disintermediation route. Look at the Air Tag. Effectively killing off competitors by making use of the global network of Apple devices. Look at their recent BNPL (buy now, pay later) announcement for example. Managing the whole caboodle, including the finance itself, entirely internally. Or look at th…

Their new weather forecasting service is also intriguing. They will soon have millions of thermometer-equipped Apple Watches in the world (IIRC the Series 8 and AWU will have these), allowing them to create an incredibly detailed mapping of temperatures around the world (or at least places where people can afford expensive watches...).

Aren’t those thermometers pointing the wrong way (towards the wrist)?

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#35

Post by anamexis »

gnicholas wrote: post #31
traceroute66 wrote: post #5

Honestly, for anyone who watches Apple close enough, this isn't news. Its clear Apple are heading down the disruptive disintermediation route. Look at the Air Tag. Effectively killing off competitors by making use of the global network of Apple devices. Look at their recent BNPL (buy now, pay later) announcement for example. Managing the whole caboodle, including the finance itself, entirely internally. Or look at th…

Their new weather forecasting service is also intriguing. They will soon have millions of thermometer-equipped Apple Watches in the world (IIRC the Series 8 and AWU will have these), allowing them to create an incredibly detailed mapping of temperatures around the world (or at least places where people can afford expensive watches...).

Wouldn't they only be able to make a detailed mapping of the temperatures of people's wrists?

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#36

Post by lucasyvas »

arkitaip wrote: post #23
candiddevmike wrote: post #9

Ads are the next big thing for Apple. You can see it in their job postings and their attempts at increasing ad real estate across their products.

I hope they go down that route and get utterly demolished by the courts for disabling the competition in favor of their own ad network.

The steps they took to squash Facebook and the like (good riddance, fuck them honestly) all of a sudden have terrible optics if they push their own first-party ad platform.

I'm not sure even the most devoted Apple fan could fail to see past that bullshit maneuver. It's one thing to stomp out little players, but when you can crush other giants under your thumb, the monopoly is clear.

The operating system is all that matters, and whoever controls the leading operating systems wins. All the products some of us work on are absolutely useless compared to what the OS can deliver - we're all just services waiting to be swallowed up, ripped off, or pushed out.

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#37

Post by alexb_ »

nojito wrote: post #25
alexb_ wrote: post #15

The moment that apple announced "privacy" as their focus I knew this was going to happen. They don't actually care about user privacy, but rather want exclusive rights to all of your data so that they can sell it for a markup. If you want to sell targeted ads to anyone using an Apple device, you'll have to let Apple do the targeting (and take their cut). Get customers locked into the apple ecosystem, "protect" them f…

This is absolute nonsense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPogdNafgic Apple has the led the conversation on privacy far before anyone else was. I remember them get vilified from sharing their stance 10 years ago.

>Apple has the led the conversation on privacy far before anyone else was.

So they can make more money by selling access to a userbase they withhold from all other advertisers. The notion that Apple cares about anything other than the money-printing ability of their phone users is clearly and obviously wrong.

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#38

Post by traceroute66 »

alexb_ wrote: post #15

The moment that apple announced "privacy" as their focus I knew this was going to happen. They don't actually care about user privacy, but rather want exclusive rights to all of your data so that they can sell it for a markup. If you want to sell targeted ads to anyone using an Apple device, you'll have to let Apple do the targeting (and take their cut). Get customers locked into the apple ecosystem, "protect" them f…

> They don't actually care about user privacy, but rather want exclusive rights to all of your data so that they can sell it for a markup.

Anyone who seriously thinks Apple are going to turn into another Google or Facebook needs to give their head a wobble.

Look at, for example, their recent pro-privacy improvements to the App Store where developers are now forced to state in black and white what data their Apps collect.

Look at, for example, how pissed off Facebook were with recent privacy improvements in iOS. If Zuck is pissed off about a privacy improvement, then it must be a good thing !

If Apple didn't give a shit about user privacy and wanted to sell all your data, they would have done so a long time ago.

Fact is that Apple has many moats. One of their biggest moats is their stance on the privacy of their user's data. They know that if they backtrack on that, many people (including myself) would vote with their feet.

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#39

Post by theplumber »

sgmoore wrote: post #21
skc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it still milking if customers are paying willingly?

Yes. I guess you have never been near a dairy farm at milking time and seen the cows queue up, or hear the noise they make if they are not milked.

Thank you! You've just made my day!

Re: Apple’s next big thing: A business model change

#40

Post by lioeters »

nojito wrote: post #25
alexb_ wrote: post #15

The moment that apple announced "privacy" as their focus I knew this was going to happen. They don't actually care about user privacy, but rather want exclusive rights to all of your data so that they can sell it for a markup. If you want to sell targeted ads to anyone using an Apple device, you'll have to let Apple do the targeting (and take their cut). Get customers locked into the apple ecosystem, "protect" them f…

This is absolute nonsense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPogdNafgic Apple has the led the conversation on privacy far before anyone else was. I remember them get vilified from sharing their stance 10 years ago.

> Apple spies on its users, and helps others spy on them.

https://stallman.org/apple.html#spying

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