When was it that they acquired PA semiconductors? (that was the company right?)
Better question: when will we know what came of that acquisition?
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Apple Reports $1.21 Billion Profit for Q2 2009
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When was it that they acquired PA semiconductors? (that was the company right?)
Better question: when will we know what came of that acquisition?
It was kinda pathetic how they tried to prop up the MD by releasing MD players with an USB dock included, long after MP3 had become the de facto standard. Oh well, at least they didn't make any external floppy drives with firewire...
I'm pretty sure Apple is also going for market share, but not at the expense of their margins. Which is a fair strategy, since they can afford it. Their products are solid, and I'm pretty sure they will keep on innovating, otherwise they would falter in a few years.
However, I agree that they could do more about their computers. The last few refreshes were all a bit dull and sub-par. Fairly good products still, but I miss the truly cutting edge stuff. More than buttonless, multitouch trackpads please!
You are confusing gross margin with profit. A gross margin of 36% means: If you go into an Apple Store, and you make up your mind whether to buy a MacBook for $1000 or not, then Apple is $360 better off if you buy it. So gross margin is what you pay, minus what it costs Apple to build that one MacBook and give it to you, including cost for warranty repairs. It does _not_ include all the other cost that Apple has whether you buy the MacBook or not. For example, the store is open and costs rent and salaries and electricity and whatever, whether you buy that MacBook or not. Anything that Apple pays for that is not caused by a purchase is not included in the gross margin.
Since Apple posted revenue of $8.16 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, cutting all prices by 20% would mean $1.63 billion less revenues and $420 million in losses.
What would you like to see as innovation?
I ask only because I hear alot of this "more innovation please" yet rarely get any input on what one such innovation should be.
And shucks, am I the only one that loves the multitouch trackpad?
The maker of the capacitors was as far as I know protected by the Chinese government. The battery maker - probably went out of business. You can't sue someone if they don't have any money. Well, you can sue, but it won't get you anything. The melamine scandal - six people convicted and shot if I remember right.
Apple net margin 9%
Dell net margin 6%
(numbers posted by someone else, assumed to be correct)
The way I see it, this doesn't leave room for a 20% price cut.
Of course, everyone would be happy if Apple did it (except shareholders), but that would destroy their business model, which is catering to the premium segment. They managed to escape that segment once with the iPod, but I don't see any other (current) product that could win a similar market share.
No, you are confusing me with the guy who said they could easily cut their prices by 20%. I'm the one who tried to explain that they can't.
I know perfectly well that the final profit is only a small part of the gross margin. The figures I have in my head are from 2005, when the gross margin was 29% and the profit was 9.6%. The same year, Dell had a gross margin of 18% and a profit of 6.4%, so it was down to a 3 point difference which isn't really much to whine about. And it's interesting from the perspective that Apple is notorious for their fat margins and Dell is notorious for their "razor thin" margins, which isn't really true if you look at the profits they rake in in the end.
The interesting part was trying to figure out how Apple, depending on year of course, can have a gross margin twice the size of Dell's, but still have relatively little profits over in the end. There's R&D, sure, but believe it or not -- even Dell spent $437 million on R&D in 2005 (not sure where it went...). OS X development is the one thing that stands out, as PC manufacturers don't have to worry about OS development. But still, OS X doesn't cost *that* much to make (based on existing technology and all), so even after R&D, OS X, salaries, advertising and the stores, there's some mystery costs there that I'd like to know more about.
Edit: Consider also that Dell handles on-site repairs on both laptops and desktops. Apple doesn't. Well, if you have a Mac Pro and the computer happens to be within a certain radius of an Apple service center, they might stop by and fix stuff, but that's all. Dell has some huge running costs there that Apple doesn't have to carry.
Sorry, I had misread your statement.
Very true. This is one of the very weak spots of Apple. They strive to be "professional" but as long as they don't offer professional service and professional management tools for large businesses, they couldn't be further away from it. And did I mention mirror displays? Most business notebooks from HP, Dell et al still come with matte displays and they have a good reason why!
Do we see any improvement in the new iPod shuffle? I thought I had read about an even smaller battery with much higher quality components. I don't know if you can attribute that to PA or not.
I think if the next iPhone has all this great new functionality and the same or nearly the same battery life, you'll have your answer.
I have a feeling the new iphones processor will be why PA was bought. Rumor has it they have a very low power consuming ARM processor in the works.
True. And say what you will about Apple not striving for a bigger market share, but when it comes to creative professionals, it's one market share they would like to more or less monopolize if they could. But their service and support certainly doesn't reflect this.
Dell offers 3-year NBD on-site support for their business machines. That's included in the price. I've put this service to the test a couple of times and it's been great. You just call them and describe the problem, and a guy shows up the next morning with new (or refurbed) parts.
Apple charge extra for their 3-year warranty, but don't expect them to show up on your doorstep. If it's a laptop, you'll have to bring it in. Same for iMac, despite what the agreement states (it used to say Mac Pro, now it says on-site repairs on desktop computers, but apparently only the marketing dpt considers the iMac a desktop model). If it's a Mac Pro, they'll only repair on site if the machine is within an 80 km radius from the nearest service center. I have a client who has bought hundreds of Macs over the years and they have somewhat of a VIP status with Apple because they make a popular piece of software. Their office is two blocks from a premium Apple reseller. Do they get their iMacs repaired on site? Hell no. Back of the line, folks!
I was one phone call away from replacing my two main work machines (Dell + more Dell) with a Mac Pro and an MBP, when "fortunately" my iMac broke down. Being spoiled with Dell's support I figured all I have to do is call Apple and they'll be here tomorrow with new parts. Not! Only then did I learn that the APP was rather rudimentary in nature. I'm still getting those two Macs, 'cause I'm stupid like that, but I dread the day that they break down two days before a deadline, since I live outside the precious Mac Pro radius... Apple might wanna rethink that. I would imagine that many a prospective business client who was wise enough to ask about the actual terms of the APP agreement before they bought a pallet of Macs, politely hung up the phone and called one of the major PC brands instead. Apple aren't two guys in a garage anymore, they have the resources and the responsibility to get with the program.
Yeah, weird that. Though I did notice that Dell's big arsed top of the line 17" pro notebook, the Precision M6400 "Covet", sports a glossy edge-to-edge display. So apparently this is an industry wide trend we're gonna have to live with.
Finding ways to increase profits? Oh, you mean running a business???
Oddly enough, the new iMac I just ordered has a bigger display, 4x the HD space, 4x the RAM, faster CPU, far faster video processor, an aluminum/glass body (vs. plastic on my current iMac) for $300 more than I paid for my current machine 3 years ago.
Cutting corners where exactly?
Hey, they could always just stick it in cruise control and shove the same crappy, unimproved products at exorbitant prices (Windows Vista: Now In 6 Flavors!) down their unwitting customers' throats for years. Like, you know, Microsoft.
Oh wait, Apple doesn't have a stranglehold on the market, so they can't really do that...
Oh wait, they do have a stranglehold on the DAP market, yet here they are blazing trails with the Zune-wishes-it-could-be-one iPod Touch.
Isn't there a Dell forum somewhere waiting for you?
Quietly switching from TI to cheapo Agere chipsets in MacBook Pro...
The antiquated 6-bit 20" iMac screen they were sued over...
Scrapping firewire on MacBooks...
Taking the dock out of the iPhone package...
Taking the remote and display adapters out of the MBP package...
Mac Pro stock NVidia card rebranded as "GT120" to mask the fact that it's an aging 8000-series card...
The really really old LG screen used in Cinema 30"...
...and a thousand other Uncle Scrooge-inspired moves you'd expect from a bargain-bin brand, not a premium brand.
Oh no, that would be totally inappropriate. Come June I will be Mac-only (notice I didn't say OS X only), and that Mac Pro better damn well work flawlessly, or I'll track down the first Mac fan I can find and give him an atomic wedgie.
Yet here they are, carving their laptop bodies from solid aluminum using lasers and water jets.
You want to see corner-cutting bargain-bin, have a look at my employer-supplied HP Compaq laptop. *creak*
Note that Apple did well because of continued strong iPod sales and VERY strong iPhone sales.
Why are they selling well? The reason is simple: these two products have successfully hooked into the PC market, and as such have a HUGE potential customer base.
Why are they selling well? The reason is simple: these two products have successfully hooked into the PC market, and as such have a HUGE potential customer base.
After all the $$$ we pump into our ads, just wait and see........
But Lauren chose a cheap(er) laptop. This proves that PCs running Windows are superior to anything Apple has to offer. In this economy, Apple's profits will plummet - just wait for their earnings report on 4/22.
What? You mean to tell us that wintrolls are really trolls?
Sometimes "no news" is GREAT news
While on some level, the earnings call shed no new data, this is one of those cases where no news is actually GREAT news, something that I blogged about in:
ANALYSIS - Apple Quarterly Earnings Call: When No News is GREAT News
(http://bit.ly/2DmNZ)
Check it out if interested.
Mark
While on some level, the earnings call shed no new data, this is one of those cases where no news is actually GREAT news, something that I blogged about in:
ANALYSIS - Apple Quarterly Earnings Call: When No News is GREAT News
(http://bit.ly/2DmNZ)
Check it out if interested.
Mark
Walmart employee here...last Christmas all our iPod touches flew off the shelves. We couldn't keep them in stock. The nanos and classics also sold well, but the iPod touch was by far the hottest item. (And this was after all the doom-and-gloom reports by the media that the economy is soooooooo horrible and "people are definitely going to be frugal and spending less in this economy.") And this is Walmart
we're talking about here, a company widely known for catering to the "cheapest of the cheap" demographic. But different companies stay afloat in the "horrible" economy for different reasons. Walmart is a huge retail/grocery store, and people are always going to need a majority of the things they sell, like clothes, food, medicine (and iPod touches
) and this makes them pretty much untouchable since many (or enough) people would rather die than shop somewhere else and pay $0.50 more. One thing I did notice, however, is that my store's electronics department is being remodeled and nearly tripling in size (now it's nearly 2 acres, no joke.) Electronics is of course, the department that makes Walmart the most money, and it would make little economic sense to expand it if it weren't selling anything.I'm getting tired of it though...I'd much rather work at the Genius Bar.
They don't care either way. They simply highlight market share when it's favorable, because that's what all the conventional-thinking sheep want to hear and nod their heads about. "Mmm, yes, market share, good, good."
Again I say, if Rolls Royce suddenly had more share than Toyota, sure they'd talk about it. But they couldn't give a rat's patootie either way.