Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 527 posts

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#171

Post by SomeOldThrow »

noncoml wrote: post #142
gonational wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

At the minimum I’d like to be able to disable the touch bar. I only ever activate it accidentally and there is zero feedback. I never look at my keys. I really like the fingerprint scanner but it’s not worth the disruption in productivity.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#172

Post by rubicon33 »

mruts wrote: post #163
rubicon33 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you miss this? > Build quality on the Android devices even in the $200 realm are damn near what the iPhone offers. It's not just the software. I'm guessing you haven't used any of the new + cheap Android phones? They might surprise you.

Veblen goods (which you good argue an iPhone is) are very sticky and very profitable. To say that veblen goods shouldn't exist is kind of missing the point.

Please show me where I said they shouldn't exist? There's definitely a market for them, so I think they should exist. It's just - if I'm being honest - you're either a fool, or very rich, to be buying some of these "veblen goods" (given the more than adequate alternatives)

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#173

Post by dkarl »

threeseed wrote: post #143
dkarl wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the gestures, but the unpredictability of when FaceID is going to work is maddening. Sometimes it works with sunglasses, sometimes not. Sometimes it works in the dim light of my bedroom, sometimes not. Sometimes it works when I absolutely don't expect it (half my face hidden in my pillow, towel wrapped around my face, complete darkness with face illuminated only by my lock screen) which only fools me into half…

TouchID fails because of a wet or dirty thumb. FaceID fails when your face is not fully visible.

FaceID fails when your face is not fully visible.

That would be nice and simple if it were true, but it's not. Sometimes it fails when my face is fully visible. Sometimes it works when my face is not fully visible. It can work or not work with the same pair of sunglasses depending on... who knows? Maybe I'm just not smart enough to figure out the exact meaning of "fully visible."

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#174

Post by ksec »

n1000 wrote: post #76
skrowl wrote: post #23

iPhone sales continues to decline (down another 13% vs this quarter last year), but services are making up for it

Apart from Apple Music and iCloud storage space what services does Apple offer / sell?

Apple attribute $10 ( or $20 I can't remember ) per Unit ( iPhone, iPad and Mac ) into Services for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Apple Map.

There is roughly $10 per user paid to Apple ( iPhone, iPad, Mac ) for using Google as default search engine. Last estimate were $9B. Before you ask the Active User and $9B don't align, Keep in mind this is users excluding China, where Google is not available.

And App Store purchase, that is the 30% cut Apple received.

These three item likely combined to be 80%+ of Apple Services Revenue. The rest are iCloud, Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Card etc..

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#175

Post by gumby »

vannevar wrote: post #120
zepto wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignoring the Apple Watch, which dominates the category and is a clear success.

Fair, but the Apple Watch has largely been an iPhone accessory rather than a standalone product. You could also point to AirPods. They sold a lot of them because a lot of people had iPhones. But neither is anything like the iPhone or the Mac in terms of defining a product category. Eventually, the Apple Watch is just going to be an iPhone on your wrist. More of a derivative, like the iPad.

The iphone went from being a bit of a computer accessory to a standalone platform. The next watch OS release is likewise transitioning to not needing a phone in order to be set up.

I assume they want the watch to become a standalone platform (or at least, similarly to the ipod, a companion device to either an iphone or android phone), ultimately replacing your need for a phone at all.

That last statement of mine sounds absurd to me, but then again who would have predicted 10 years ago that many people would have a smart phone but no laptop nor desktop?

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#176

Post by pas »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #165
S_A_P wrote: 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…

I'm fairly shocked to find that a community of seemingly technically competent people would forfeit their 4th amendment rights in order to save a few seconds keying in a passcode. This small detail feels like a microcosm of tech in general currently :/

Fingerprint reader is convenient, but were I to travel a lot, I'd disable it.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#177

Post by rimliu »

mffnbs wrote: post #54
Roboprog wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirPods sound like a PITA to me. Oops,time to charge them again- no wait, I just dropped one and it bounced into the gutter/ drain. I should I charge the one I can still find, or throw it away, too? No thanks. Regular corded earbuds are a tolerable pocket size alternative to a set of studio cans, but that’s as far as I would go. I miss the old Walkman style headsets that had decent size drivers, but still fit into a…

For most people it goes something like: Take off the earbuds and never worry about charging them because the case they go in does it for you and continue on your day without thinking about it or being concerned about imaginary scenarios where one of your random products fell down a gutter/drain in the middle of the office because who has the time or energy to worry about storm drains stealing from you?

And if you got the new model with the wireless charging case and have a charging pad you may even forget they need to be charged at all.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#178

Post by computerex »

ses1984 wrote: post #159
hanniabu wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They removed the escape key? What the..... I'm never going to retire my 2013 MBP at this rate.

It's very easy to remap caps lock to escape.

That's not the point. You shouldn't have to map caps lock to escape.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#179

Post by 0xffff2 »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #165
S_A_P wrote: 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…

I'm fairly shocked to find that a community of seemingly technically competent people would forfeit their 4th amendment rights in order to save a few seconds keying in a passcode. This small detail feels like a microcosm of tech in general currently :/

Thank you. Reading the comments on HN always leaves me wondering if I'm the only one that doesn't have any interest in any kind of biometric unlock feature.

Re: Apple Reports Declining Profits and Slowing Growth Again

#180

Post by throwaway542134 »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #165
S_A_P wrote: 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…

I'm fairly shocked to find that a community of seemingly technically competent people would forfeit their 4th amendment rights in order to save a few seconds keying in a passcode. This small detail feels like a microcosm of tech in general currently :/

The fourth amendment covers search and seizure by the government, not the willful disclosure of information to a company by a user.

But I get what you mean. Even without getting into my inherent distrust of facial recognition systems and the security/privacy implications of creating the infrastructure for it to work reliably, biometrics are usernames. They shouldn't be used as passwords.

Post reply on HN