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iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

nytimes.com

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Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#411

Post by TorKlingberg »

abalone wrote: post #217
overcast wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.

The best 3D touch feature is the trackpad keyboard. It's also very not discoverable (who thinks to force touch the keyboard?) Having said that, 3D touch is far from the only improvement on the 6S. If it didn't have 3D touch I'd still recommend the extra $100 to get MUCH better internals (processor, cameras, touch ID sensor) and a stronger body too.

I git exited about the trackpad keyboard when I heard about it, but the cursor always jumps a character or two when the lift my finger.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#412

Post by tluyben2 »

r00fus wrote: post #367
yourapostasy wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has no one to blame but themselves (history may be rhyming here) if they lose that market. Apple had many, many quarters where they sat on Siri and did not open it up to developers via an API, and could have killed Echo in the cradle.

They still can, and that's the truth - Echo may have momentum but Apple has a 1 billion device installed base. Any opening up of Siri via API would suck the air out of the market.

Yep and as I read in another thread here, Echo is US only basically because it's localization features are based on a US zipcode. The US only market is not very big while the richer part of China in cities like Suzhou, Hangzhou and ofcourse Shanghai and Hongkong have sold a lot of iPhones which you can see on the streets. The subsidy plan is still in place there. In the EU people with money got iPhones as well : in my friend group I am the only one with an Android phone (p8 max because of the battery life and my huge dutch hands can type with one hand on it) and everyone is waiting for the 7. I think Echo is an easy kill for Apple if done right and timely aka now.

Offtopicish: I think the first to offer the battery life my phone has in an iPhone like package will sell a lot: even my mother got an iPhone because the battery life on her Samsung was too miserable and in her head this equals 'Android' so no more Android... work to do this reunion'

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#413

Post by HappyTypist »

prewett wrote: post #363
epoch1970 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might inflation due to quantitative easing, for example, be at least partially responsible for the higher valuations we see today?

The inflation rate for the last 12 months was 0.9%, and has varied from 0.1% to 3.2% over the past 5 years. [1] So, no, inflation is not responsible for the higher valuations. Higher valuations come partly from businesses having more cash because they are not spending money expanding, and because the low interest rates encourage companies to borrow money to buy back stock, which increases EPS and dividends, which inc…

Consumer price inflation is not responsible for the increase in equity valuations, but quantitative easing and bond buybacks certainly do. QE reduces the yield of bonds, making stocks look more attractive and hence resulting in more money flowing into stocks.

It additionally devalues the dollar, which leads to assets to be worth bigger numbers. QE has been mainly flowing to investors and the financial sector, and ts been staying there, hence not translating to consumer price inflation.

So yes QE is responsible and QE caused inflation and inflation is also responsible. This inflation is confined to investment assets.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#414

Post by TorKlingberg »

ericabiz wrote: post #156
revelation wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you source parts from? Does Apple sell these like a car manufacturer would? The whole electronics repair business seems rather immature and shady compared to something like car repair. For a car make, you can easily get the software manufacturers give to repair shops which has all sorts of exploded assembly views, instructions and part lists.

No, Apple doesn't sell parts, though it would be nice if they did. The main way screens appear in the repair business is from companies in China that buy back screens with broken glass but functional LCD. They then replace the glass with new glass. Most of the screen is OEM, but not the top glass. They then ship these to repair shops and distributors, who use them to replace screens. That's why I mentioned in a previ…

Thank you for all the information. This explains the volatile prices: it depends on the supply of broken screens. I assume when you replace a display assembly, you sell the old one?

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#415

Post by lmm »

hiddencost wrote: post #266
reddytowns wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. If a company makes a profit, then theoretically so do your shares, whether in terms of share price increase or dividends.

So, actually, fun fact, this is false! The stock price doesn't just reflect the amount of money the company has. The stock price reflects the "fully loaded" expected value of that stock. That means it prices in ALL expectations. If the company you buy performs exactly as expected, then you don't actually make any money because you paid the price that reflected those expectations, so whatever dividends the company iss…

Using that logic you could say it's never worth buying anything. A loaf of bread costs the fully-loaded expected value of that loaf, so it's never worth buying a loaf of bread because it's always going to be worth exactly what you paid for it. But actually trade is a wealth creation mechanism because different people put different value on things: to you the loaf is worth more than the money you paid for it, while to the shopkeeper the money is worth more than the loaf.

The stock will cost a fair market-clearing price for its expected return, risk-adjusted. But often a stock, or a perpetuity, is a good purchase for one or other market participant - no different from a loaf of bread bought at a fair market-clearing price.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#416

Post by lmm »

rtpg wrote: post #379
adventured wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually an even more astounding 8.65% of the current market cap ($578 billion). I'm glad to see them returning capital to shareholders. However I worry about the debt they're taking on in order to do so, due to most of their cash being overseas. If things continue to slide for them, for whatever reason (iPhone loses favor, smartphone sales keep contracting globally, something replaces the smartphone, etc), it w…

Well, they can always bring their cash back right? (it will be taxed, but it's still a formidable warchest) Or somehow pay back debt through some overseas shenanigans.... Not a great situation to be in but I can't imagine it getting big enough to where Apple could no longer handle it. Maybe I'm underestimating interest rates

If they ever start losing money couldn't they just move the same amount in from overseas? It wouldn't be profit so it wouldn't be taxed, no?

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#417

Post by signal11 »

overcast wrote: post #15
ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.

I mainly use press down on the screen's left side to invoke the app switcher, so that I can switch apps without using the home button. It's nicer for one-handed use. Apart from that I haven't seen a compelling reason to use it -- even within first-party apps for example.

EDIT -- I also use the keyboard trackpad thing. Not often though.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#418

Post by Balero »

yoodenvranx wrote: post #140
skywhopper wrote: post #105

It probably doesn't help that the subsidy model has completely changed. But personally, I think iPhone performance has hit a point where one doesn't really feel the need to upgrade right away. I was so ready to upgrade when the contract on my 4 expired. It was really a pain to use after a couple of years. But my 5S has now lasted me two and a half years and other than wishing I had more storage capacity, there's real…

> I think iPhone performance has hit a point where one doesn't really feel the need to upgrade right away I have a cheap 2014 Motorola Moto G and I have the same "problem". Yes, there are hundreds of modern phones out there which are several times faster and have way better hardware but the Moto G is fast enough for me. I usually just browse the web, type a few messages in Whatsapp, take a few pictures, ... and the p…

I actually did this with my Moto just the other day. But they've stopped making the model I had!

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#419

Post by s3bast0m »

brianwawok wrote: post #293
shawkinaw wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can anyone shed some light on why the subsidy model is going/has gone away? It seems to me cell providers would not want to stop essentially requiring 2-year contracts, so why have they? Fear of government action, or market competition? Or was the subsidy model actually bad for the networks somehow?

T-Mobile changed so others had to to keep up. Basically most cell phone contract innovation in the last 5 years has been through T-Mobile.

You do realize that US and T-Mobile was one of the last holdouts with this "bundled"system and in Europe we had this "new" system in place for at least 5 years.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#420

Post by Ayaz »

overcast wrote: post #15
ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.

I wholeheartedly agree. I find 3D touch very helpful. But it really begs the question if you consider that unless I am consciously aware of 3D touch every time I interact with my phone, I am very likely to forget that it exists and go back to performing actions the way I am used to.
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