Apple Reports $1.67 Billion Profit for Q4 2009, Most Profitable Quarter Ever

[DeepIn2U]

Many financial advisors would consider it foolish to have huge piles of cash, vs investing (that is, "spending") that money on improving the product lines.

So, with Apples' smaller market cap and larger "cash" position than Microsoft, those analysts would say that Microsoft is the better managed company.

Interesting take. I'm sure Apple is investing that many in other preferred stocks or shares in other corporations, or changing the monetary exchange of the US dollar especially with how weak the US dollar is currently performing this month. Also take note that Apple's CFO, COO, CEO and board most likely have bonds as part of that liquidity.

Initially, when it comes to loosing lawsuits more liquidity to pay what is owed in the judgement loss usually is a good thing.

I'll agree that Apple needs to further invest in technologies - especially their XServe, XSAN, XRaid and business software/feature lineup. I'm not too versed with this about Apple but I'd LOVE to see a major campaign into the corporate office from simple things like deskspace, uptime, reliability to speed & reliability of data, costs/per year of running a MacOS X server/infrastructure/backend with OpenDirectory supporting multiple platforms and how seemless such a transition could be.

 

[spazzcat]

Does 7% increase of iPhone seem low to other people?

Compared to 35% increase of laptops and 100% increase of iPod touch.

How long would it take for people to start arguing iPhone sales has already reached plateau?

The cell phone market it way more competitive then the computer market. Any increase is a good thing.

 

[Dreamail]

I've got my blinkers on and just thinking iMac iMac iMac. But good point about the tablet.. would be a smart move having it ready for the holiday season.

I don't think it's iMacs. Airlifting them is probably too expensive, especially the big screen models.
And most rumors seem to agree the tablet won't be ready until 2010.

What's interesting is that currently 73% of all Macs sold are laptops. So my guess would be another mobile product.

There have been rumors of updated iMacs and MacBooks (not MacBook Pros).

So I'd say we'll see a new, cheaper MacBook model.

My guess: pretty much the same feature set as the 13" MacBook Pro, but with carbon shell and no Superdrive (just the SD card reader). CD/DVD drive as external option akin to MacBook Air.

Imagine a $799 'netbook' from Apple...
This could be a big Christmas seller!

 

[Frisco]

How quickly everyone forgets about the iPod Hi-Fi

 

[dip]

Wow just think all that profit and we still pay top dollar for everything! Way to go everyone!!!

 

[Frisco]

High prices + Made in China = Big profit

Legal slave labor. Neither Apple nor the USA is responsible.

 

[Chaszmyr]

I don't think it's iMacs. Airlifting them is probably too expensive, especially the big screen models.

Quite a lot of Apple's products are shipped via air freight. Flying a plane is expensive, yes, but you can fit a heck of a lot of iMacs on one plane. My guess is a plane full of iMacs would cost Apple about $10-20 per computer. Not inconsequential, but entirely affordable.


As far as the tablet, I see Apple as having no incentive to ship it in time for the holidays. From everything that has been reported, that might be rushing the development, and there isn't any need. Being a hot new Apple product, they are guaranteed to sell as many of them as they can have manufactured by launch, whether it's during a holiday season or not.

 

[wizard]

Who really cares what is in the Pro?

Such a statement indicates to me you really don't understand what is driving demand for XMac a desktop mac or any of the other terms used to describe this device.

Apple could still give us G5's and they'd still be having record sales.. LOL

Actually there is little chance in hell of Apple having this much success with the G5.

They offer a dual core in the mini, and a quad core in the pro. I don't think they're gonna offer a tri core in a bigger case just for the hell of it.

Again you don't understand the issues or why there is even growing demand for a desktop Mac. As to tri cores, AMD sells a boat load of them, it isn't something to laugh at. As to the case the idea is that the average user has a greater demand for storage these days than can be easily addressed in Apples current desktops. We however don't need all the features of the Mac Pro. This doesn't have to be a massive block sitting on ones desk or off to the side. Rather we are talking about more of a blown up Mini, with a far better GPU, a modern SMT quad core CPU and room for RAM. It is basically everything the Mini isn't but still in a case that is relatively small and can hold four or more storage modules.


Dave

Dave

 

[BlueRevolution]

What's with all the positive votes? I don't work for Apple. I don't own Apple stock. All this means to me is that Apple is overcharging and I want some of my money back.

 

[Chaszmyr]

What's with all the positive votes? I don't work for Apple. I don't own Apple stock. All this means to me is that Apple is overcharging and I want some of my money back.

Whether it is reasonable or not, most of us have an emotional attachment to the company. Also, a lot of us do own AAPL shares.

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Just update your freaking iMac, Apple.

 

[LagunaSol]

So, with Apples' smaller market cap and larger "cash" position than Microsoft, those analysts would say that Microsoft is the better managed company.

SHOCK! AidenShaw and 4 out of 5 of his dentists prefer Microsoft to Apple.

But it would be a dim bulb of an analyst indeed to think that Microsoft's silly cash burning escapades over recent years (Zune, Xbox, Windows Live Search/Bing/Whatever They're Calling It Today and just about any other new market they've tried to bulldoze their way into) is great management.

But then rational thinking from you about Microsoft is about as likely as rational thinking about Apple from most of the folks here.

 

[wizard]

Sadly I can't every imagine my father trying to earn cool points ever!

I've got my blinkers on and just thinking iMac iMac iMac. But good point about the tablet.. would be a smart move having it ready for the holiday season.

I'm not even sure it will be a Tablet of an iMac. Obviously the iMacs are past due for an update and are basically the equivalent of used computers at retail prices. So even if the holidays were off far into the future Apple needs to update the iMac.

What ever it is, it is interesting they are claiming that margins will be lower next quarter. Originally I took that to mean they had plans for aggressive sales on the iPod line up and possibly the laptops. However they could also have a new product coming with a lower margin.

Imagine how many parents would be going "whoa I could get some serious cool points" for getting their kid the latest and greatest gadget, whatever it is

The statement above truly shocks me as I can't ever imagine my parents ever attempting to earn cool points. In fact Christmas wasn't a time for us to plunder the tech world, if you where lucky you got some cloths to wear and maybe some ammo, tools or other practical things. Gadgets and cool where never a concern at Christmas.

Dave

 

[Michael CM1]

OK, video editors. Time to take that creepy "happy happy" Windows 7 girl and put her looking at a screen with Mac sales numbers. "This is getting goooood."

 

[thisday]

So why they dont hire stuff to fix all the freakin SL bugs and make iphone developers life easier with support lines etc?
The fact that i "like" most is that even though they dropped the prices of macs, they still make a ton of money. Imagine how much over the cost the prices were and still are. At least 200%.

 

[phytonix]

Legal slave labor. Neither Apple nor the USA is responsible.

And Americans criticize mandate family plan of China. Just imagine more cheap labor in China than right now.

 

[RazHyena]

It's interesting to note that all articles relating to this story seem to mention the fabled Tablet that's supposed to be coming.

 

[BobbyCat]

OK, here's my new line up for the holiday season (starting today tuesday october 20th):

* All iMac prices go down 100 $ or 100 euros;
* No more 20" model;
* All 24" models move down the scale, the cheapest iMac becoming the currently 24" 2.66;
* A new high end model offers the i7 quad core at a premium price, with an expensive option for Blue Ray, available in 10 days;
* All graphic cards get upgraded to ATI.

Now that would be nice wouldn't it? At least I'd jump on it.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

I feel sorry for those paying so much for a Core 2 laptop on a stick then.

So, take that laptop off it's stick and see how much it'd cost ya. I just bought a 17" 3.06GHZ MBP w/8GB & a 500GB drive. And it's still got enough oomph to run two OS's simultaneously, with photoshop running in OSX and a full parametric solid multipart assembly running in AutoDesk Inventor running in XP Pro, without so much as a hiccup.

For less money, I could have doubled the HD and gotten it with a 24" monitor, as you say, on a stick. And you know what, I still wouldn't despair.

Or you could spend $18,000 on a proper cad workstation. Then whine about an imac being too spensive.

iMac's are the best value in the mac line.

 

[wizard]

Don't care or Don't understand the market has changed.

The market has changed and that they don't have the right product to service market needs.

Yup. They’ve been down all year. They ruined their year over year growth trend for desktops.
...........
I’m beginning to think they don’t care about desktops anymore.

I'm thinking they lost it thinking they could do no wrong and feed ****** hardware to the public and not have a backlash. That is basically what the iMac is now a outdated piece of runny crap that should have been cleaned up a long time ago. It has a number of issues that just aren't digestible by the average consumer anymore.

I'd like to see a roll call or vote set up just to answer a few questions from the forum users.

1.
Is the iMac a good value for the average user?
2.
Can you recommend it to friends as a reasonable purchase? Especially friends with less cash than you.
3.
Do you consider the architecture outdated?
4.
Does the machine effectively meet the users needs especially in the digital media context?

I just see the iMac and Apples general lack of desktop sales as an indication that the consumer is smarting up and not putting up with Apples attempts to force feed the users hardware they don't want. People go on and on defending the iMac but the fact that it needs defending should say a lot about its usefulness in a modern world.

I really hope that the clowns one the west cost wake up and realize that iMac is a stale concept that needs a dramatic refresh and that the desktop market needs a fleshing out.

Dave

 

[OldCorpse]

OK, here's my new line up for the holiday season (starting today tuesday october 20th):

* All iMac prices go down 100 $ or 100 euros;
* No more 20" model;
* All 24" models move down the scale, the cheapest iMac becoming the currently 24" 2.66;
* A new high end model offers the i7 quad core at a premium price, with an expensive option for Blue Ray, available in 10 days;
* All graphic cards get upgraded to ATI.

Now that would be nice wouldn't it? At least I'd jump on it.

They'll never get rid of the 20" model, because for some people, desk space is at a premium, so they actually can't use the 24".

What would impress me far more is if they made at least the 24" models LED screens with a matte option. A case re-design that gave you easy access to the hard drive and an SSD option would be nice too. But I don't see it happening. Apple is sadly clueless about desktops. Sure they got nice sales overall, but they got declining unit sales as well as revenue from desktops, which tells its own story. They need to get a clue and give customers something better for the desktop or watch sales keep declining. If they don't do something, and soon, one day they'll find themselves getting out of the desktop market altogether. You can charge a premium, but not double the price for half the performance compared to the PC world - at some point you lose even your most loyal customers. With the old tech in their present minis and iMacs and the overpriced MP their desktop offerings are simply not competitive. We'll see what they do over the next few months. If they don't change course drastically, I predict disaster. I'm hoping they have the brains to avoid it... so, I'm looking forward to a mid-tower

 

[Val-kyrie]

"We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

Does that mean no new macs until after the holidays?

I would read this positively--new Arrandale MBPs coming soon in early 2010!

 

[hashholly]

The market has changed and that they don't have the right product to service market needs.


I'm thinking they lost it thinking they could do no wrong and feed ****** hardware to the public and not have a backlash. That is basically what the iMac is now a outdated piece of runny crap that should have been cleaned up a long time ago. It has a number of issues that just aren't digestible by the average consumer anymore.

I'd like to see a roll call or vote set up just to answer a few questions from the forum users.

1.
Is the iMac a good value for the average user?
2.
Can you recommend it to friends as a reasonable purchase? Especially friends with less cash than you.
3.
Do you consider the architecture outdated?
4.
Does the machine effectively meet the users needs especially in the digital media context?

I just see the iMac and Apples general lack of desktop sales as an indication that the consumer is smarting up and not putting up with Apples attempts to force feed the users hardware they don't want. People go on and on defending the iMac but the fact that it needs defending should say a lot about its usefulness in a modern world.

I really hope that the clowns one the west cost wake up and realize that iMac is a stale concept that needs a dramatic refresh and that the desktop market needs a fleshing out.

Dave

Or maybe most people would rather have a laptop than a desktop? Id like to see the numbers on laptop's vs desktops in the general pc market.

 

[jonnysods]

Wow, there are a lot of iMac haters out there tonight.

I can't see them dropping the iMac or making any significant changes to it's insides. Imagine the discount they get from Intel for ordering a million (and then some) plus mobile processors in one hit.

A hardcore iMac with desktop pieces would be huge though - I would have bought that instead of my MP.

 

[Creative One]

Anyone else notice the part about new carrier in Canada?