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Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

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Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#111

Post by lmm »

onlyfortoday wrote: post #105
rtpg wrote: post #72

Apple is holding onto $200 billion dollars in cash. I do like Bill Gate's whole "Let's be able to survive at least a year even if we have no revenue" but companies holding onto this much cash seems like a social ill (and a pretty good counterargument to the whole trickle-down effect)

social ill? why? what would you rather them do with the cash?

R&D so they can produce innovative technology as well as design - Apple's R&D spending is well below the industry average, and they've got no equivalent to Xerox Parc or Google Labs.

Acquisitions, where they make sense - take on products that have good tech but need to be shepherded by a large corporation to become something the wider population can benefit from.

Dividends for investors, so that they can judge for themselves whether they want to hold cash for safety or something riskier.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#113

Post by untog »

baddox wrote: post #92
steven2012 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually pretty smart. They are allowing cannibalization of the iPad to the iPhone Plus because the margins on the iPhone Plus are higher, and people actually upgrade it every 2 years. I don't know a single person, including myself, that has had any impetus to upgrade their iPad, so this is a way of shifting people over to a phone model where there is a more defined upgrade cycle.

> I don't know a single person, including myself, that has had any impetus to upgrade their iPad Allow me to introduce myself :) I've had the iPad 2, iPad 3rd gen (Retina), and iPad Air, and I will absolutely be upgrading to the Air 2 as soon as it hits the Apple Store (by the way, what's up with them not announcing an in-store release date?). It has become arguably my primary non-work computer, as my 3 year old Wind…

Have you ever tried the 11" Air?

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#114

Post by lmm »

jcavin wrote: post #39

No surprise here. Anyone I know under the age of 32 uses a mac. All the microsoft stores are ghost towns in So Cal.

Wow, that's backwards from my experience. Everyone over 32 uses a mac. Younger people have Samsung laptops for gaming.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#115

Post by jusben1369 »

MBCook wrote: post #78
jusben1369 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you're only looking at one part of the equation which is existing customers refreshing vs net new sales. So while I agree the refresh cycle might be slower than imagined that's not the only thing going on here.

Doesn't it make more sense that without the subsidy the iPad is treated more like a computer that someone upgrades every few years when they have an issue (breakage or speed) instead of every year or two like an iPhone (where you're throwing money away)? The iPhone is pretty exceptional product, is it really fair to hold everything else to that standard? Are people going to cry foul when consumers don't replace their…

Yes i think you're really onto something and it's part of a much broader discussion. There's a lot of negativity around the two year subsidized plans by telcos in the US. Yet would people be upgrading their iPhone's without these programs? Is the iPhone unique vs laptops and tablets? Or would iPhone sales drop dramatically if those programs disappeared as if we had to pay the full price out of pocket the refresh cycle would move out 12 - 24 months.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#116

Post by bane »

gress wrote: post #98
bane wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Samsung is an immensely diversified company that makes everything from washing machines to apartment buildings. Phones are big part, but just a small part of the overall company.

So phones are a big and a small part of Samsung simultaneously? Right.

Why don't you do a little math for all of us instead of providing smart remarks?

What percentage of Samsung's yearly revenue is smartphones? Is that a large part or a small part of their revenue?

What would a 90% drop in Samsung's smartphone revenue do to their overall revenue? Would that be 90% of Samsung's overall revenue or some smaller number? What's that number?

Is that a large part or a small part of their revenue?

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#117

Post by pjc50 »

MBCook wrote: post #88
Kylekramer wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upgrade cycles shouldn't affect sales growth unless the upgrade cycle has gotten longer since the iPad's introduction.

It's only been four years since the iPad was introduced, we may have only been through one full upgrade cycle if that. Lot of people are still using iPad 2s and Apple is still selling them (in the form of the non-Retina Mini) so that's something of a vote of confidence for them. I know many developers wish the thing would die since it's the only A5 and non-Retina iPad.

My wife is still using my iPad 1, although rather lightly. Upgrading is finally being forced on us as it's obsolete and has become rather crash-prone.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#118

Post by MarkMc »

stephen-mw wrote: post #38

I'm long in apple for several reasons: 1. Apple's P/E is way to low for a company that literally sells the best and highest rated products on the market. Historically you pay a P/E _premium_ for these types of stocks, not a discount. The company is downright cheap. 2. ApplePay has a ton of potential. Just in the other news thread others were complaining that moving to chip & pin cards is basically just changing the f…

I hold the opposite view for one reason: The iPhone itself.

With 85% of new phones running Android [1] I think it's only a matter of time before the 'app gap' tilts in Android's favor. At that point it will be game over for iPhone.

On a more personal note I have found my $420 Nexus 5 to be on par with an $869 iPhone 6 - and that can't be good for Apple's long-term financial health.

[1] http://bgr.com/2014/07/31/android-vs-ios-vs-windows-phone-vs...

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#119

Post by dntrkv »

Kylekramer wrote: post #87
dntrkv wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any reason to believe that is the case. I think a more logical explanation would be that consumers aren't gonna buy a new iPad every year. I bought an iPad 2 for my parents and they're still using it to this day and have no issues with it. Maybe next year I will get them an updated version. But if you look at the iPhone, most people are on a 2 year upgrade schedule.

Upgrade cycles shouldn't affect sales growth unless the upgrade cycle has gotten longer since the iPad's introduction.

Another difference is that many people use the iPad as a secondary machine. They have their phone with them at all times. So if the iPad is a little sluggish at times, you won't be too bothered. But if your phone is being slow, you're gonna want to replace it right away. I think that factor, combined with the upgrade cycle, resulted in many people buying an iPad, and except for the really hardcore Apple fans, have just kept that same iPad up until today. Again this is all based on speculation, but from what I have seen from average iPad owners (not techies in the SF bubble) they are happy with their iPad 2/3 purchases even now.

Also don't forget to consider that when the time to upgrade an iPad comes up, you can decide not to upgrade it and wait until it's completely dead or whatever. With the iPhone, you can usually sell your 2 year old phone for at least $200 and use that for a free upgrade to the next model. Since most people are gonna keep their plans for that time frame anyway, it's stupid not to use the subsidy.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#120

Post by ceras »

onlyfortoday wrote: post #105
rtpg wrote: post #72

Apple is holding onto $200 billion dollars in cash. I do like Bill Gate's whole "Let's be able to survive at least a year even if we have no revenue" but companies holding onto this much cash seems like a social ill (and a pretty good counterargument to the whole trickle-down effect)

social ill? why? what would you rather them do with the cash?

Here's an article of how excessive cash hoarding by corporations hurts Asian economies, and what they could do to improve: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21620203-japanese-and-...
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