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Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

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Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#171
post #3

Annual revenue of $394 billion, more than a billion a day. Not the first company to do it, though. Exxon did it in the 2000s when oil was up to $140, and I think Walmart did it, too.

Their numbers seem utterly unreal to me. How on earth do you sell $205 billion worth of just a single product (iPhone) every year? This is simply the greatest business to have ever been created. I can't imagine anything else ever topping it. The margins AND the volume are both insane.

Because they're exceptionally good products that are beloved by everyone except the average Hacker News user. :-)

There is an incredible bubble here that doesn't reflect the world.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#172

The most amazing to me is how Apple reversed its fortunes with the Mac. According to a quick search of Wikipedia (haven't checked further), Mac worldwide market share was 5.7% in 1996 (after years of decline). It then dropped out of the top 5 for the next 20 years -- the page doesn't give numbers other than top 5, but in 2006 Toshiba was #5 with 3.8% so it was below that. Not only did it manage to bring its share bac…

What can't be emphasized enough here is how much Windows created this. They went from the 95-XP arc, some of the best operating systems from a user's perspective, to 7 (another hit), to now windows 10 and 11, which turn your device into a slow always-connected ad platform that you don't really control. In other words, Windows became one of those toolbars that we all have to remove from our grandmothers' browsers. For…

Most of Apples market share growth occurred in the Vista/7 era. Probably a bit more due to Windows 8, but overall Windows 10 probably had minimal effect. Most casual users and the press has been pretty positive on Win10.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#173

The most amazing to me is how Apple reversed its fortunes with the Mac. According to a quick search of Wikipedia (haven't checked further), Mac worldwide market share was 5.7% in 1996 (after years of decline). It then dropped out of the top 5 for the next 20 years -- the page doesn't give numbers other than top 5, but in 2006 Toshiba was #5 with 3.8% so it was below that. Not only did it manage to bring its share bac…

What can't be emphasized enough here is how much Windows created this. They went from the 95-XP arc, some of the best operating systems from a user's perspective, to 7 (another hit), to now windows 10 and 11, which turn your device into a slow always-connected ad platform that you don't really control. In other words, Windows became one of those toolbars that we all have to remove from our grandmothers' browsers. For…

You forgot Vista, the Wii U of Windows

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#174
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost every adult in the developed world needs a smart phone. They replace these devices about every 2-3 years. Apple makes one of the best in class of these devices, and has successfully designed one such that it's hard to switch to a competitor (rather it's easier to stay in the ecosystem). They've convinced about a billion people on the planet that the iPhone is the best device for them, so if you split that into…

iPhones make money, but services make more. The App Store alone made over 80 billion dollars in estimated revenue last year, just by existing. That's without accounting for Apple One, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade, AppleTV Plus, or iCloud. Apple simply makes $80 billion annually for writing a payment processor everyone else has to use. Services are one thing, but playing both the gatekeeper and competitor to a number o…

I think the App Store model is probably still currently the best model for the average user who doesn’t know how to secure a computing device. I know we may be heading towards a future where we’re totally locked down, but what alternative do we have?

I’m always hesitant to install software on my desktop because I never know if there’s a trojan hidden in the software. I’m a relatively technical user, but I have no idea how I would determine if the software was safe. So at the moment I’m content to let Apple handle it. Note, this is coming from a pro-Apple user.

Conversely, it would be interesting if an independent pro-privacy company (such as DuckDuckGo?) were to make a configurable smartphone for the more technical crowd that was both secure and allowed side-loading. I’d like to see such a product offered as an alternative to the offerings from the big tech companies.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#175
post #47

Numbers: - Q4 wearables of $9.6B, beats est byu close to $1B - Q4 Services Rev fo $19.2B short of Est by $800M - Q4 iphone Rev of $42.6B meets Est - Q4 ipad Rev of $7.2B, short of Est by $600M - Q4 Rev of $90.2B beats Est by $2B, that also means its up 8ish% YoY - Q4 Mac Revenue of $11.5B, beats by $2B, nice, forgot they make computers;) - China Rev of $15.5B, this is interesting, AAPL clearly has alot of China expos…

I will admit publicly this post is so terse yet comprehensive I am aggressively searching your history on this site for more nuggets like this one. UPDATE …and, not disappointed. World-class commentary. Not sure how PP flew under my radar so long.

> Not sure how PP flew under my radar so long.

Apple? People? What do you mean with PP?

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#176
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their numbers seem utterly unreal to me. How on earth do you sell $205 billion worth of just a single product (iPhone) every year? This is simply the greatest business to have ever been created. I can't imagine anything else ever topping it. The margins AND the volume are both insane.

Because they're exceptionally good products that are beloved by everyone except the average Hacker News user. :-) There is an incredible bubble here that doesn't reflect the world.

The more interesting part to me is that this isn't even the majority of the smartphones sold globally. The smartphone industry is humongous.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#177

The most amazing to me is how Apple reversed its fortunes with the Mac. According to a quick search of Wikipedia (haven't checked further), Mac worldwide market share was 5.7% in 1996 (after years of decline). It then dropped out of the top 5 for the next 20 years -- the page doesn't give numbers other than top 5, but in 2006 Toshiba was #5 with 3.8% so it was below that. Not only did it manage to bring its share bac…

What can't be emphasized enough here is how much Windows created this. They went from the 95-XP arc, some of the best operating systems from a user's perspective, to 7 (another hit), to now windows 10 and 11, which turn your device into a slow always-connected ad platform that you don't really control. In other words, Windows became one of those toolbars that we all have to remove from our grandmothers' browsers. For…

> They went from 95 and XP, some of the best operating systems from a user's perspective

I mean that's some rose-tinted shit if I ever heard it, 95 especially. 98 OSR2 improved quite a bit on the situation, but I don't recall having a great time with 95. It was still a glorified DOS extender in many ways, often slow to start up and shutdown, PC hardware and drivers were a mess and system stability therefore poor. This was right at the beginning of the concept of "PnP" in the PC world (plug and play) and it was a cruel joke most of time.

Windows 2000 being from the NT line was peak Windows in many ways. I resisted XP but it was ok for most people admittedly.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#178
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost every adult in the developed world needs a smart phone. They replace these devices about every 2-3 years. Apple makes one of the best in class of these devices, and has successfully designed one such that it's hard to switch to a competitor (rather it's easier to stay in the ecosystem). They've convinced about a billion people on the planet that the iPhone is the best device for them, so if you split that into…

> Apple makes one of the best in class of these devices, and has successfully designed one such that it's hard to switch to a competitor (rather it's easier to stay in the ecosystem). I wonder how many years it will take before I can convince some people that I actually just prefer Apple's phones to competing phones and that I'm not actually brainwashed or forced by Apple to never leave. But that's exactly what a bra…

I've been trying to convince people that I just prefer Apple products and am not brainwashed since _at least_ the early 2000's... best of luck!

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#179

The most amazing to me is how Apple reversed its fortunes with the Mac. According to a quick search of Wikipedia (haven't checked further), Mac worldwide market share was 5.7% in 1996 (after years of decline). It then dropped out of the top 5 for the next 20 years -- the page doesn't give numbers other than top 5, but in 2006 Toshiba was #5 with 3.8% so it was below that. Not only did it manage to bring its share bac…

What can't be emphasized enough here is how much Windows created this. They went from the 95-XP arc, some of the best operating systems from a user's perspective, to 7 (another hit), to now windows 10 and 11, which turn your device into a slow always-connected ad platform that you don't really control. In other words, Windows became one of those toolbars that we all have to remove from our grandmothers' browsers. For…

I this overinflates the importance of the HN crowd a bit.

Yeah, a lot of software engineering types switched to MBPs because the OS isn't a steaming pile of garbage and it reliably works with the hardware. The former can't be said for Windows these days and the latter is generally hit-or-miss with Linux.

But I wouldn't be surprised if that's a rounding error when you're talking Macs doubling or tripling their market share. I'd imagine most people walking into an Apple Store in their local mall and buying a Mac with Apple Pay on their iPhone don't really know or care about the telemetry added in Windows 10. I still think Apple deserves the vast majority of the credit for the success of Mac.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#180
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their numbers seem utterly unreal to me. How on earth do you sell $205 billion worth of just a single product (iPhone) every year? This is simply the greatest business to have ever been created. I can't imagine anything else ever topping it. The margins AND the volume are both insane.

Because they're exceptionally good products that are beloved by everyone except the average Hacker News user. :-) There is an incredible bubble here that doesn't reflect the world.

I would like to use iPhones, they have really good cameras and very good video-recording capabilities. But sadly a lot of the apps I use are not available in the app store.

To me, this is a deal breaker. Hardware-wise the product is good, but I'm not just taking pictures and chatting on snapchat. I do a bit more with my phone. For my mom, however, the phone is great and does everything she expects it to do.

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