Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's fine; not everything needs to keep growing forever.
Nothing physical can keep growing forever.
Except, maybe, the universe itself?
While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
81–90 of 111 posts
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both companies have a similar release schedule every year, which is why we compare to the same quarter a year ago. Unfortunately for Samsung, falling smartphone sales figures have been an ongoing problem. >Samsung’s mobile phone sales have been taking a hit this year. It’s a downward trend that started during last year’s holiday quarter and has persisted throughout 2018. Both IDC and Strategy Analytics report that Sa…
I don't think that it's fair to say that Apple's release schedule has been similar between now and the previous year. Last year the iPhone X was announced in September and released in November/December (by region) and it was arguably the biggest upgrade Apple made since the iPhone 4. So it's fairly obvious that Q3 2017 was an almost uniquely low year. Compare that to Q3 2018 where Apple announced AND shipped the iPho…
Apple is one of those companies whose fiscal year doesn't match the calendar year.
The numbers that were just released are for their fiscal fourth quarter which covers sales through the end of September, so we are talking about a couple of days worth of sales in 2017 with only the (then) new iPhone 8 variants for sale but not the iPhone X and a couple of days worth of sales in 2018 with only the iPhone XS variants for sale but not the iPhone XR.
I don't really see any calendar related difference for Samsung's flagships between 2017 and 2018.
I don't see any of that being greatly material when you look to explain the difference between a tiny year on year smartphone sales increase for Apple and a massive year on year smartphone sales drop for Samsung.
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#83The average sales priced for an iPhone increased nearly 30% from $618 to $793. Services now account for 16% of revenue. Apple is gradually shifting from a device maker to an ecosystem company that consumers pay a premium initial fee to enter and pay an additional recurring free to use.
Yet services would be better if units sold gets increased. So cheaper models are a must. So it's so far an excellent strategy milking the high end keeping the units sold not fall.
I think that making it more durable, not cheaper, aligns better with the services strategy. More durable means fewer opportunity windows for competitors.
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not entirely true. Stores are also the first point of contact for support and warranty. I know Apple resellers nearby also offer (free) courses to get acquainted with apple devices and applications.
beerlord is referring to the app store
Which still has terrible search.
It’s nice that it’s a bit prettier than it used to be. But it still has terrible search.
I wouldn’t mind the 30% if the store made it easy to find relevant apps. But it utterly fails at useful high quality discovery.
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fact that non-Apple services are limited on iOS platforms also helps push people to adoption. Other companies just aren't allowed to build the same kind of experience. Good for Apple revenue, bad for us users and free market.
I don't think you understand what a "free market" is. This is a free market. A more regulated market would require open hardware platforms from hardware manufacturers and open systems from operating systems implementors. Only government intervention can force that to occur.
I'm pretty sure pretty much every sentence in your post is false.
I'm talking in context of services provided on iOS, where you cannot have equal competition. Calling that market "free" means you're deliberately ignoring the reason why free market is a good force of society - because it allows the competition between providers to drive down prices and improve on benefits to the user. If some are hamstrung when trying to provide you a service by the platform then free market isn't providing you value.
Just blindly following the holy book of capitalism without understanding why it's good will quickly lead you into corporation lead monopoly which isn't all that different from state dictated socialism.
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#86Apple takes a 30% commission on any revenue passing through the store, and 15% on subscriptions. These fees are exorbitant - they are merely ringing a credit card, transmitting a few megabytes of data, and performing a basic examination of the app itself. The oligopolistic position that they hold is their main point of value.
Its also ironic apple are suing Qualcom regarding licensing fees which are paid as a percentage of the hardware cost, as they believe that this means Qualcom profit from apples innovation unfairly, you could argue that Apples policy is the same with the App Store - why do they get a percentage? They add no extra value for high value transactions, surely a low fixed fee would be more aligned with apples values :)
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#87I mean sure 'Stagnant' means that there was no growth, but it also implies that this is a bad thing, which in this case it obviously isn't. Clickbait title.
The real story is that from now on Apple will not be reporting unit sales for their products. Next quarter and from there on there will be just the aggregated sales figure for how much physical stuff they sold with nobody knowing whether that was phones, watches, laptops or dongles. This is their choice and their business. I don't think this is fair on the people that have helped them get to where they are by writing…
Third party data.
There isn't also official sales data for Android and Windows devices.
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#88Stagnant is not a fair way to describe selling 46.8 million iPhones.
Stagnant implies it's not growing, not that it's not selling.
Negative connotation, try telling your partner their attractiveness has stagnated if it has stayed the same.
A fairer way would be to state the iPhone sales have simply not grown.
Do you think Apple should be concerned about the lack of growth?
Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#89Re: While iPhone sales remain stagnant, Apple services hit $10B in revenue
#90Apple takes a 30% commission on any revenue passing through the store, and 15% on subscriptions. These fees are exorbitant - they are merely ringing a credit card, transmitting a few megabytes of data, and performing a basic examination of the app itself. The oligopolistic position that they hold is their main point of value.
Its also ironic apple are suing Qualcom regarding licensing fees which are paid as a percentage of the hardware cost, as they believe that this means Qualcom profit from apples innovation unfairly, you could argue that Apples policy is the same with the App Store - why do they get a percentage? They add no extra value for high value transactions, surely a low fixed fee would be more aligned with apples values :)
Because most of the R&D that Qualcomm does (and as a fabless, IP is their real business) ends up on Android phones, while Apple pays the biggest slice.
Therefore, they are getting their chips from Intel.
Apple doesn't have anything to do with Qualcomm anymore, they get the package from Intel.
Qualcomm can battle Intel in court if they want. Good luck for them...