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Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

nytimes.com

121–130 of 527 posts

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#121
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.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#122
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlocking the bootloader, flashing TWRP, and installing LineageOS without Google Play Services is roughly equivalent in privacy to an iPhone. I wouldn’t blame my grandma for choosing to buy an iPhone instead!

A phone with Google Play Services collects less data than an iPhone. To wit: Apple knows every app you ever downloaded, and there is nothing you can do about it. Every time you click on an address link, it sends the address to Apple, and there is nothing you can do about it. Any time an app looks up your GPS location, that location is sent to Apple, and there is nothing you can do about it. If you want to write apps…

How do you stop Google Play services from sending your location to google without disabling Location Services?

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#123

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.

Seems unwarranted to assume they are actively losing customers. I haven't bought an iPhone in years because I still use a SE, and I still use my 2015 MBP. They haven't lost me in any real sense just because I haven't contributed to a sale _recently_.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#124
post #94

I don't understand why these articles think that people will just keep buying, like in the past decade the lifespan of devices has become bigger and bigger. I'm typing this post on a 2013 Macbook and I'm sure a lot of other users are using older laptops than that, that run perfectly fine. Like does the media just expect people to be buying new stuff again and again? I don't know if I'm just missing the point or somet…

2012 Macbook Pro here. Works like I just bought it. 5G is apparently the reason next year for your phone upgrade. I'm not sure how anyone will notice the difference, not to mention plans being throttled to death to begin with.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#125
post #51
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…

While I cannot comment on the rest, Face ID has proven to work surprisingly well for me, beating even the wildest expectations. The unlock time seems to be less than half a second, so as I look at the phone, it is already unlocked. And the detection is really good too. After I shaved my long beard and went fully clean-faced, FaceID had zero issues unlocking the phone with zero hiccups for me.

> FaceID had zero issues unlocking the phone

It will let a sibling in too, or at least at a point in the past.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#127
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A phone with Google Play Services collects less data than an iPhone. To wit: Apple knows every app you ever downloaded, and there is nothing you can do about it. Every time you click on an address link, it sends the address to Apple, and there is nothing you can do about it. Any time an app looks up your GPS location, that location is sent to Apple, and there is nothing you can do about it. If you want to write apps…

How do you stop Google Play services from sending your location to google without disabling Location Services?

If you disable Location Services, which is an option presented on initial setup of the device, apps can still request the GPS permission directly (the default behavior in most location libraries), not sending your location to Google. This is not possible on iOS. Every location lookup will send your location to Apple.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#128
post #94

I don't understand why these articles think that people will just keep buying, like in the past decade the lifespan of devices has become bigger and bigger. I'm typing this post on a 2013 Macbook and I'm sure a lot of other users are using older laptops than that, that run perfectly fine. Like does the media just expect people to be buying new stuff again and again? I don't know if I'm just missing the point or somet…

Sooner or later you will have to buy a new device due to planned obsolescence, i.e. when (security) updates are no longer released. But then you can of course install a free operating system instead.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they will continue to decline as long as a $200 Android phone can do literally ~95% of what a $1400 iPhone can do. Seriously, there's just no good reason for a general consumer to purchase an iPhone today. Build quality on the Android devices even in the $200 realm are damn near what the iPhone offers. For the record: I've used iPhones since 2010. I've never had an Android until this year. It came time to upgrade…

> there's just no good reason for a general consumer to purchase an iPhone today * iOS (I prefer it over android) * customers already tied into the apple ecosystem * more of a focus on privacy (admittedly, this one is probably debatable)

* iOS (I prefer it over android)

- Very subjective. Further, from a feature set perspective, you're not missing out on much (anything?) with Android. It used to be that you could only get certain Apps on iOS. That's simply not the case anymore. So it comes down to a raw, subjective preference... Like what color do you prefer - green or blue?

* customers already tied into the apple ecosystem

- I was in the Apple ecosystem for ~9 years. Switched over to Android this year. Took me all of a couple days to make the switch. Turns out I'm more embedded in Google's ecosystem than I thought. Apple was just a conduit for Google services, in many ways.

* more of a focus on privacy (admittedly, this one is probably debatable)

- A compelling reason for the technically aware. My post however was about the "general consumer" ... 99% of people are going to be just fine on Android v.s. iOS when it comes to privacy. For god sakes, they're likely already using Facebook/IG.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#130

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?

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.

True, but the Microsoft Surface came three years before the Pro. And even if the iPad Pro were dominant, the iPhone and iPad are so closely related as products that counting the iPad 'innovation' is double-dipping a bit.
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