Apple Reports $3.07 Billion Profit for Q2 2010, Best Non-Holiday Quarter Ever

[gibbz]

Many people, including 3rd year medical students, think that the high point of computers in medicine is running ePocrates. Well, ePocrates is fine, but I can run that off any old PDA. The other stuff everyone always likes to point to, like the Merck Manual, or anatomy texts, or diagnostic software, is all stuff that might be important to medical newbies, like third-year medical students, but much less so to their teachers.

That kind of stuff, they're just doo-dads. That's not where the value of computers in medicine is today.

It never fails in any generation for the elders to dismiss the youngsters as doo-dad loving goofs with no realization of what is important. The fact is that the current generation of students and residents coming through are far more tech savvy than the average family practitioner who has been in the field for 20 years. While complete solutions for a device like the iPad aren't in full force right now, that will change in the very near-term, especially when these third-year med students and such enter the workforce.

<Removed. I misunderstood you>

 

[wovel]

...that will take longer than 17 days to implement. I don't know how the accounts of doctors using it now are working. Someone enlighten us.

There are existing iPhone apps and there will be iPad specific apps. It is not actually that hard to understand. I have mentioned several times that all of your consumer notions of the device is clouding your understanding of reality.

 

[Hmac]

It never fails in any generation for the elders to dismiss the youngsters as doo-dad loving goofs with no realization of what is important. The fact is that the current generation of students and residents coming through are far more tech savvy than the average family practitioner who has been in the field for 20 years. While complete solutions for a device like the iPad aren't in full force right now, that will change in the very near-term, especially when these third-year med students and such enter the workforce.

No, that wasn't the point I was making. The point is that medical content for the iPad (or other PDA's) is rudimentary - perhaps valuable to someone like a medical student with a limited knowledge base and in need of what we call a "paper brain". The kind of stuff that a medical student would find useful because they're newbies. I can assure you that after your girlfriend has been in practice for a few years and has some experience, she'll put the Merck Manual away too, whether it's the paperback pocket version that medical students and residents have been carrying for 30 years, or the electronic version on her iPad.

The concept of walking around the hospital or clinic carrying around a portable computing device isn't the future...it's the present. The problem is that those devices just don't work very well...not convenient. It remains to be seen whether the iPad will ultimately become useful, but that's going to require a concerted software effort, not some "app developer" to be useful. IOW it's the content, not the device. For the present, most hospitals and clinics have desktop computers everywhere - every patient room and every exam room. For the most part, no need to carry anything around with you.

The attractiveness of the iPad or other tablet devices that are used now is that the doctor can go into a patient room, pull up a chair and pull out the device without it becoming any more of a relationship impediment than the paper chart everyone always used to use. That's as opposed to going into their room and immediately burying yourself in the computer keyboard and screen that may be across the room. The iPad has potential, but it will be unrealized for awhile. In the meantime, there are many, many other devices that have a big head start on the iPad in medicine, and I include netbooks in that category.

.

 

[Rocketman]

And I have to PAY Apple for the privilege of developing an in-house solution for MY business?!?!?

I DON'T THINK SO!

It's like $100 and that is to have a license to use their SDK for it.

Rocketman

 

[gibbz]

No, that wasn't the point I was making. The point is that medical content for the iPad (or other PDA's) is rudimentary - perhaps valuable to someone like a medical student with a limited knowledge base and in need of what we call a "paper brain". The kind of stuff that a medical student would find useful because they're newbies. I can assure you that after your girlfriend has been in practice for a few years and has some experience, she'll put the Merck Manual away too, whether it's the paperback pocket version that medical students and residents have been carrying for 30 years, or the electronic version on her iPad.

My apologies. I misunderstood your post.

Now are you personally going to get an iPad? I am always interested in how people view the device for personal use.

 

[Hmac]

My apologies. I misunderstood your post.

Now are you personally going to get an iPad? I am always interested in how people view the device for personal use.

I have a wifi, have a 3G coming on April 30. My expectation was to use it as a media browser for books, magazines, newspapers, TV shows, and movies and spur-of-the-moment internet. Works great for that. Exceptional, even.

As a secondary purpose, I am working with our IT guys trying to get a way to get Citrix access for the iPad. They're enthusiastic, but stymied so far. I am skeptical that the cumbersome-ness of booting up a Citrix client and working over the VPN (from in-house LEAP-encrypted WIFI) will make it useful, but maybe the touch interface of an iPad on our EHR software will be so compelling that it will be worth it.

 

[LagunaSol]

In the meantime, there are many, many other devices that have a big head start on the iPad in medicine, and I include netbooks in that category.

The horse had a big head start on the automobile.

The future is clear: the tablet form factor is the future for a great portion of portable computing needs. Even, I'll wager, for doctors running medical practices. *shock*

It's amazing how easily dismissed a 2.5 week old platform is.

It never fails in any generation for the elders to dismiss the youngsters as doo-dad loving goofs with no realization of what is important.

I'm sure the old-timers will be clutching their netbooks and shaking their heads with disapproval at all the young whippersnappers in residency toting around their tablet computers, just as the previous generation of old-timers shook their heads with disapproval at computers before them. You gotta love the consistent shortsightedness of technology skeptics. Because if there's no solution today, obviously there will be no solution tomorrow, right?

 

[carmenodie]

I like the line about the ipad vs the netbook:
The netbook doesn't do anything well.
Amen!
I was in my local Apple store today and I swear I wanted to jack that ipad. When the ipad update arrives in the fall and the devs start rolling out ipad-centric apps. OMFG!
And when the new iteration of ipad drops next year! Good lord!!!!!!

F*** a netbook.

 

[skyehill]

What an idiotic statement about netbooks. It does EVERYTHING the giant iPod Touch doesn't. In other words, it's a computer. Not just a giant single-threaded overpriced joke. LOL at the Apple fanboys trying to pass their turd off as a computer.

 

[Hmac]

The horse had a big head start on the automobile.

The future is clear: the tablet form factor is the future for a great portion of portable computing needs. Even, I'll wager, for doctors running medical practices. *shock*

It's amazing how easily dismissed a 2.5 week old platform is.



I'm sure the old-timers will be clutching their netbooks and shaking their heads with disapproval at all the young whippersnappers in residency toting around their tablet computers, just as the previous generation of old-timers shook their heads with disapproval at computers before them. You gotta love the consistent shortsightedness of technology skeptics. Because if there's no solution today, obviously there will be no solution tomorrow, right?

The point I'm trying to make isn't difficult.

It's not about crotchety old doctors clutching their netbooks in disapproval of this new-fangled iPad. Nor is it even about the march of technology in medicine. Doctors as a group have always embraced that with open arms. And much to the complaint of, well, virtually everyone, regarding the impact that that has had on health care costs. I don't know any doctors that I would even remotely apply the term "technology skeptic" to.

The problem is that this "new-fangled iPad", cool as it is, just simply isn't useful in medicine. Yet.

Maybe it will be someday. That would be cool. But those of you who think some 15 year old just has to sit down and write an app for that....you don't even begin to grasp the complexity or expense involved in developing computing devices that would be day-to-day useful in patient care. I've seen this same song and dance over and over and over going back to the original Palm Pilots, and how pundits predicted how doctors would now have an entire hospital in the palm of their hand. Every single medical meeting has at least a couple of exhibitors with some new interface software. I was at a meeting two years ago. A fancy exhibit for a monitoring package that would wirelessly interface operating room monitoring functions with a Palm device (don't remember which one). It was VERY cool, and I lusted after it. It was $250,000 for the package. Hospital CFO just laughed when I proposed it after I got back.

It's going to be awhile. For the time being, if your doctor comes into your hospital room with an iPad, he's probably playing Peggle on it.

 

[ctakim]

Magical even?

 

[mtbdudex]

Q: Any plans for Apple TV?
A: Units were up 34%, but absolute number of units still small. Still a hobby. Comparing the Apple TV's small market to that of Mac, iPhone, iPod.

I'm hoping the TV becomes more than a hobby, obviously it's not "hit the mark", missing something to really attract people?

-with Blu-ray player IMO @ say $350 total would be the killer ticket
(I could even live with 1080p via Blu-ray and 720p via iTunes stuff)

 

[Eidorian]

The point I'm trying to make isn't difficult.

It's not about crotchety old doctors clutching their netbooks in disapproval of this new-fangled iPad. Nor is it even about the march of technology in medicine. Doctors as a group have always embraced that with open arms. And much to the complaint of, well, virtually everyone, regarding the impact that that has had on health care costs. I don't know any doctors that I would even remotely apply the term "technology skeptic" to.

The problem is that this "new-fangled iPad", cool as it is, just simply isn't useful in medicine. Yet.

Maybe it will be someday. That would be cool. But those of you who think some 15 year old just has to sit down and write an app for that....you don't even begin to grasp the complexity or expense involved in developing computing devices that would be day-to-day useful in patient care. I've seen this same song and dance over and over and over going back to the original Palm Pilots, and how pundits predicted how doctors would now have an entire hospital in the palm of their hand. Every single medical meeting has at least a couple of exhibitors with some new interface software. I was at a meeting two years ago. A fancy exhibit for a monitoring package that would wirelessly interface operating room monitoring functions with a Palm device (don't remember which one). It was VERY cool, and I lusted after it. It was $250,000 for the package. Hospital CFO just laughed when I proposed it after I got back.

It's going to be awhile. For the time being, if your doctor comes into your hospital room with an iPad, he's probably playing Peggle on it.

I was just a small fry back in IT but I do remember sitting through all those EMR meetings a few years ago. Magic I say! MAGIC!

 

[AidenShaw]

For the time being, if your doctor comes into your hospital room with an iPad, he's probably playing Peggle on it.

I was just a small fry back in IT but I do remember sitting through all those EMR meetings a few years ago. Magic I say! MAGIC!

You just gotta love those midwesterners....

(Born, elementary/high school, college and graduate school in Iowa),

 

[jragosta]

How about some dividends for a change? Keeping $50 billion sitting in the bank would not make me happy as a stockholder.

Short sighted, uninformed post. Apple wants the cash to make acquisitions, invest in R&D, and so on. And given their results over the past 10 years, they seem to know what they're doing.

Would you rather have your stock double in a year or get a 10% one time cash dividend? If you choose the latter, stay out of the stock market.

I think the 450,000 people who just bought the ipad at release will scream bloody murder if Apple revises it only 4-6 months after release of the original.

Not me. I want to see them continue to improve it. When it improves enough to make me want the new model, I'll just pass the old one on to someone else.

I guess you've been ironic . Those iMacs are toys for kids, I couldn't use one of those bloody things to do graphics with their infamous yellow screens.

The 0.1% of iMacs with yellow screens have been fixed. If that's all you can come up with, there's not much reason NOT to use a Mac.

I'm wondering how much of the difference is due to taxes.Does the VAT apply?Has apple ever given a reason?Some blog should research it.

Simply, take the US price and add 17 to 21% to it for VAT. That would be the equivalent selling price in Europe.

Q: Any plans for Apple TV?
A: Units were up 34%, but absolute number of units still small. Still a hobby. Comparing the Apple TV's small market to that of Mac, iPhone, iPod.

No advertising
Limited press (and what press there is is typically luke warm to negative)
No prominent placement on Apple.com

Unit sales up 34%? Why is this a hobby?

Because, as you accurately quoted, the absolute numbers are still small. A 34% growth doesn't mean much if the base is small.

How are budgets "difficult" with a $3 Billion profit from a single, non-holiday, quarter??

SCHOOL budgets are difficult. Not Apple's.

The continued arrogance regarding lack of Flash Support is astounding. Maybe, over time, websites will abandon Flash, but at the moment, sorry Apple, Netbooks still have the Flash advantage.

Oh, by the way, Netbooks also have the COST advantage. It's ridiculous that the cheapest iPad is more expensive than most NetBooks.

I'm an lover, but I REFUSE to blindly accept whatever the executives say.

And, yet, Apple's executives have shown an uncanny ability to be right over the past 10 years.

As for Flash, maybe you can explain why not a single smart phone has a full version of Flash today. NONE. Flash is not suitable for mobile phones. MAYBE, if Adobe does what they claim, they MIGHT get it running on very high end (800 MHz A8) phones this summer, although initial reports are that it's still choppy and eats batteries like popcorn. It's not an Apple vs. Adobe issue. It's a "Flash is not suitable for mobile devices so NO ONE uses it" issue.

Good to hear but nothing worth buying besides the stock.

Millions of people disagree with you. And millions more think Apple products are worth buying but just don't want to or can't spend the money. Are you that far out of touch in the rest of your life?

I just feel Apple should just buy Dell, just for principle.

Or Adobe - for the same reason.

I said that iPad 1.0 isn't capable. I guess that's arguable but in my opinion it's just not ready.

And, yet, thousand of doctors are buying iPads for just the application you say it can't be used for. So should we believe the doctors who are actually spending their own money to buy them for their practice or some anonymous nobody who says it won't work?

{AppStore} 30% net profit?

I am not sure what world you live in where that constitutes a big cost. That is a huge margin for net profit for pretty much any business or industry. I understand Apple has large margins, but 30% net profit is not exactly showing them loaded down with costs. That means over a billion dollars a year in profit from the Apps store.

Why don't you start by learning a little bit about finance before commenting on it? Apple gets a 30% GROSS MARGIN on the App Store, not net profit. From the 30%, you have to subtract delivery costs, advertising, R&D, support costs, administrative overhead, and so on in order to get net profit. Apple reports that the App Store operates just above break even so net profit is a very low number.

Sheesh. I wish people would stop cluttering up web sites with their blather about things they don't understand.

 

[Eidorian]

Millions of people disagree with you. And millions more think Apple products are worth buying but just don't want to or can't spend the money. Are you that far out of touch in the rest of your life?

Frugality is much more gratifying for me currently and I don't seek to be materialistic.

Why would I buy something that wouldn't make me happy?

Or...

If all those Apple product owners jumped off a bridge, would you too?

Investment would be a much better expenditure of my resources than a new irrelevant or unsatisfying product.

 

[mcmlxix]

Yes, the TV is a hobby, because you treat it as such...red headed stepchild indeed.

1. why is my TV so wonky? It has the latest firmware and isn't hacked, but it hangs and crashes often. Is it hardware or software? Whatever it is Apple, fix it.

2. apps that use the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad as an input device. Win for the consumer and win for Apple.

3. expand it to a gaming console, but correct me if I'm wrong, don't consoles require the power of raw specs? That's not Apples strong suit, and I don't think their firmware will close the gap. Increasing specs will increase price, and the low price is one of its strong point.

4. open it up to non iTunes content. While this will be a win for the consumer, I think it will be a lose for Apple, as restricted media content is a cash cow for Apple. I think this is the reason it's still a "hobby". Until Apple can find the right business model, it will remain a hobby.

 

[gohanmzt]

I know

It's like $100 and that is to have a license to use their SDK for it.

Rocketman

I know, and on the Mac we pay $129.00 for a license to OSX and the developer tools, but this is another area where apple shows the kind of control it wants to exercise. You can't even make a proprietary app for your own internal use without going through them and paying them (unlike on Mac OSX), even if you are not going to sell it you have to deploy it through their portal. I hope it doesn't have to go through the approval process (maybe it will, I don't know) and that's another difference between the ipad and a netbook, the openness of the device besides the fact that a netbook even if it is REALLY basic and slow is self-contained and autonomous, it doesn't need a host device to feed itself data and/or programs and that's my frustration with the ipad, because the device has a huge potential but until apple forfeits the kind of control it has and wants to have it will be no more than a shiny toy. It will sell, but it will not be the revolutionary device that can become. Hopefully in the not-so-distant future.
</Rant>

 

[rtdunham]

Down from their peak of $19 up....educate yourself before making statements

Wasn't it down 2.48 for the day, then up 19 at it's peak in after hours trading? We should all educate ourselves first, and avoid pontificating, too.

 

[Antiloop]

It is too bad they are not doing more with Apple TV. My guess is that it has to do with content rather than anything else. Though iTunes is pretty good for providing shows and movies what Apple TV is really missing are channels. If in addition to everything else if you could have subscriptions to live streams of the BBC, CBC, CNN, Discovery, local stations.....then that would probably make it a huge success. I haven't had cable in years and won't because it is just to expensive to get the content you want. But if you could subscribe to channels individually over Apple TV, and create content bundles as well for heavier users, I would get a unit in a second.

I think other things like 1080p would be good. But again, why invest too much into it right now until the content has a wider appeal. I have no doubt though that one day it will be something big though.

 

[beebler]

Apple needs to open more stores in Japan as well as China.

 

[thecheda]

China

Stores in China should be even more of a boost to Apple's income.

 

[naco]

No. I wouldn't buy it.

The problem with netbooks are: small, low resolution screen; Small, cramped keyboard. Why would Apple build anything like that?

Also; a mix of OS X and iPhone OS? Just... Just no. Firstly, iPhone OS was built for touch interaction, not a cursor. Secondly... Just no. And being able to run standard OS X apps, and iPad/iPhone apps? Are you high!?

You have much to learn.

The iPad IS supposed to be the answer to the netbook market but it fails at completing all the requires tasks.
It is small (9.7" which is SMALLER then my Macbook Mini at 10.1")
Has a decent screen resolution (imagine what could be with 2" more?)
Small keyboard that is usable ONLY because of the addition keys on different pages (my HP is 92% standard size. With 1" more you could fit a standard iMac keyboard)

Hell, Apple even has made accessories to make it more like a netbook. Keyboard docking station. 32 pin connector to USB port for adding photos.

But Apple has limped it's way into the market because of it's lack of being able to use more powerful apps that people WANT to use.

I couldn't even attempt to try and describe to you how the two operating systems could combine to create the best user experience ever. The only way that I could put it for you to understand is this: Simplicity like an iPhone, application prowess like a Mac.

If you can't imagine a perfect blend of what's best from both, I feel sorry for you.

 

[LexaGrey]

The problem is that this "new-fangled iPad", cool as it is, just simply isn't useful in medicine. Yet.

I'm sure the medical profession as a whole will do their best to make no use of the iPad until it meets whatever exotic specifications required then.

http://www.imedicalapps.com/

Personally I think the onus is on the Practice Management software providers is to provide decent multi-touch web interfaces as no patient data should be stored on an easily stolen device anyway.

 

[gnasher729]

How completely ignorant. It's all the things a netbook can do that an iPad can't that are stopping me from buying one.

The netbook works so poorly in fact, that there's a whole community of people building "Hackintoshes" from PC netbooks, since Apple refuses to acknowledge the fact that there's an audience for a netbook-style computer.

So what things can a netbook do _well_ ?