Apple Reports 3Q 2018 Results: $11.5B Profit on $53.3B Revenue and 41.3M iPhones

[cuencap]

I haven't had time to listen to the conference call yet, so I'm only going by what MacRumors has summarized. However, I'm shocked that it appears nobody asked about augmented reality, autonomous cars, or ongoing Apple Map work? Analysts must not be too worried about the next revenue generator...yet...
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I understand this but the number is so huge, I had to ask for re-assurance.

Your question made it appear you didn't understand. I agree, the numbers that Apple is dealing with are huge.

 

[Feenician]

I haven't had time to listen to the conference call yet, so I'm only going by what MacRumors has summarized. However, I'm shocked that it appears nobody asked about augmented reality, autonomous cars, or ongoing Apple Map work? Analysts must not be too worried about the next revenue generator...yet...

Analysts are well aware that they will get the “We’re excited about X but don’t talk about future plans” answer, so they tend not to waste their chance to ask a question on it.

 

[cuencap]

Analysts are well aware that they will get the “We’re excited about X but don’t talk about future plans” answer, so they tend not to waste their chance to ask a question on it.

I see your point, but Tim has proven to be somewhat open about discussing these new endeavors. And by somewhat, I mean he at least gives an answer. Mostly a generic answer, but if asked enough, we can piece together the snippets given over the last few quarters! Would sound something like "We see this as the ultimate challenge...super excited about it...have big plans for it....etc"

 

[DeepIn2U]

Incredible to think that $7.5b in a quarter is there because a Microsoft exec annoyed Jobs one too many times.

Hahahaha. Was it Ballmer?

ROFLMAO! Most likely it was lol. I could see Steve being very violent towards Ballmer if it wasn't for leading an incredible company. I'd PAY big $ to watch that battle! Then again I already have by purchasing so many iPhones over the years

For the relevant section of the interview, skip to 1:43:57

THANK YOU for this. Tevanian was amongst the great HUGE innovators for NeXT, Jobs, Apple and many of use OSX users! Like Forstall they stayed the course in making OSX and Apple healthy and successful again ... they did not defect only to come back again.

They all will. Target will be next. The only brick and mortar companies that can financially withstand adoption is WalMart.

I really dislike Walmart for this! I cannot understand their need to place camera's right overhead of where consumers use debit card terminals that are fixed in place making it VERY hard to cover your PIN. I cannot even recall if they enable tap to pay???

 

[Feenician]

I see your point, but Tim has proven to be somewhat open about discussing these new endeavors. And by somewhat, I mean he at least gives an answer. Mostly a generic answer, but if asked enough, we can piece together the snippets given over the last few quarters! Would sound something like "We see this as the ultimate challenge...super excited about it...have big plans for it....etc"

You’re right. In that vein I think about the only really teased out piece from today’s call we can speculate on was this

2:45 pm: Brian White of Monness, Crespi, Hardt asks a question about original content and Apple Music subscribers.

2:47 pm: Tim Cook: We think we can do some original content together [with Oprah Winfrey]. As you know, we hired two highly respected television executives in the past year... they've been here for several months now. Working on a project that we're not really ready to share all the details of yet. I could not be more excited about what's going on there. We have great talent in the area that we've sourced from different places -- and feel very good about what we will eventually offer. In terms of the key catalyst of changes, cord-cutting is probably going to continue accelerating, and likely at a higher rate than many expect.

2:48 pm: Tim Cook: We expect dramatic changes in the content industry. We're happy to be working on something, just not ready to talk about it today.

The “we expect dramatic changes in the contest industry” part may have been an intentional or unintentional signal that Apple’s dabbling in content has a longer term and wider ambition behind it.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Tim Cook mentioned how he's seeing more and more people wearing the white AirPods.

I'll never use white earphones. Not the wired Apple ones, and not the white AirPods, either.

When I see someone using white Apple earphones, those people look like clones to me.

Sorry, Apple. Make your earphones in some color other than white, because until you do, I'll buy elsewhere. I won't wear something so tasteless and garish to help you advertise. Not at those prices.

And yet you're helping another brand advertise by purchasing elsewhere as well. Most wireless headphones using bluetooth have a unique enough design and if not, surely (either way), have their brand emblazoned
right on your ear. I don't like the white, especially since I'm black and have black hair around my ears. I spend more time tweezing out the fine hairs that show against the white ... I'll find another way, but I can always use stickers.

I'll jump on purchasing Matte Black AirPods!

 

[Abazigal]

No I’m not saying that Apple is doomed. They have so much capital they will be around for a long time still. I’m saying that Apple needs to get back to what really makes Apple Apple.

Well, Apple seems to be doing an excellent job of polarising people, so that bit hasn’t changed in the very least.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Mac sales down due to
Outdated machines
Ridiculous pricing

 

[FFR]

You should know by now..... it is always the case, always have been the case.
People call a product a failure, then it turns out it isn't, people retreat in the dark areas of the internet and wait to strike again
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The fascination of people with ports amazes me. I had a MacBook pro, one of the first to only have 2 usb c ports and coped very well with only one USB c to standard usb dongle (from Amazon) And I do a lot of photography and video editing.
I can only imagine the outrage of people when floppy disk was removed

They love to call Apple products failures.
All others were suppose to be successful remember:
Microsoft with the zune, Kin, courier, Windows mobile, Windows mobile 7, wm8, wm10
Nokia, Motorola, HTC, BlackBerry.

All were praised as successful over Apple by bloggers. All failed due to lack of sales.

Every single time.

 

[baryon]

It seems like the iPad never really caught on, and it's already less and less popular. Also the stagnating Mac sales seem sad to me, I wonder if Apple is going to do anything to improve that. Just my thoughts, but a more affordable, upgradeable Mac Mini with higher spec options (GPU), a repairable MacBook Pro, a repairable iMac Pro, an actual Mac Pro, and hardware that doesn't freaking fail all the time would probably help.

While iPhones are great, they can't replace computers, and neither can iPads. Apple is forgetting that the world depends on computers, while smartphones and iPads are more a luxury. If you can't take great photos or if your phone is slow or ugly, it's not going to stop you from doing your job. But if your computer sucks and is constantly in repair or you can't afford to upgrade it, then you are going to be in trouble.

 

[FFR]

Bad products sell all the time: Windows Vista, Ford Pinto, cigarettes

Not really.

The first two were very bad products that didn’t sell and nearly ruined each company.

If your looking for a comparison for that exp ample look no further than Samsung and the note 7, exploded and recalled just like the pinto.

Cigerettes is a great product and it sells but it’s what’s considered an inelastic item and it is a detrimental to a persons health. Doesn’t really compare to an what Apple is doing.

First time I have ever heard anyone comparing Apple to vista the pinto or cigerettes. I wouldn’t recommend you say that in public, people might think less of you.

 

[dilbert99]

What happened to all the "iPhone X is a failure."?

They saved that for Apples biggest ripoff - the i9 -

 

[FFR]

They saved that for Apples biggest ripoff - the i9 -

You can’t even find another laptop that offers 4tb of ssd.
Let alone offer it with an i9 in a 14mm package.

Just more fud.

 

[I7guy]

Apple and Huawei are both Chinese made phones with comparable build quality but Huawei has higher battery capacity and better value. So, not surprised that Huawei surpassed Apple.

Chinese made and designed are not the same. Stop with the FUD.
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What would you expect the CEO of Apple to say? He wants Apples customers to look forward to new and exciting products for the future (I.e iPad Pro with Face ID, Verison two of the Airpods, Series 4, ect) Tim Cook helps market the company and wants to the consumer to look forward to whatever surprises for the upcoming months hold. I would expect the CEO to be uplifting and positive about the future.

No matter how well the company does, the same, tired complaints about how cook runs the company seems to surface.

 

[dilbert99]

You can’t even find another laptop that offers 4tb of ssd.
Let alone offer it with an i9 in a 14mm package.

Just more fud.

Whats the point of a 4tb ssd in a pro machine that is no faster than an i7?

The i9 obviously doesn't work in Apples 14mm package

 

[macbookhair]

This is a prime example of sweating the assets. Sales have remained virtually static, but extra profit has been gained by raising prices so that the average revenue per unit sold has gone up considerably. This was the reason for breaking the £1k barrier with the iPhone X.

History shows that in industries that rely on product inovation to drive growth, this can only ever be a short term strategy. You can only squeeze so much extra profit out of a product. What eventually happens is customers start to notice the rising costs, the diminishing product quality due to cost cutting and the lack of innovation and differentiation in new products. They start looking elsewhere. What also happens is an upstart competitor comes in and offers the same value for considerably lower prices, making it difficult to continue pushing prices up.

So while Apple's financial results continue to impress (if that is what turns you on), I see fundamental faults with their strategy which will ultimately come back to bite them. This is precisely what happened in the late 80's under Scully's leadership.

 

[Shanghaichica]

This is a prime example of sweating the assets. Sales have remained virtually static, but extra profit has been gained by raising prices so that the average revenue per unit sold has gone up considerably. This was the reason for breaking the £1k barrier with the iPhone X.

History shows that in industries that rely on product inovation to drive growth, this can only ever be a short term strategy. You can only squeeze so much extra profit out of a product. What eventually happens is customers start to notice the rising costs, the diminishing product quality due to cost cutting and the lack of innovation and differentiation in new products. They start looking elsewhere. What also happens is an upstart competitor comes in and offers the same value for considerably lower prices, making it difficult to continue pushing prices up.

So while Apple's financial results continue to impress (if that is what turns you on), I see fundamental faults with their strategy which will ultimately come back to bite them. This is precisely what happened in the late 80's under Scully's leadership.

I think Apple can charge higher prices because they have no competition if you want ios/Mac OS.

 

[I7guy]

This is a prime example of sweating the assets. Sales have remained virtually static, but extra profit has been gained by raising prices so that the average revenue per unit sold has gone up considerably. This was the reason for breaking the £1k barrier with the iPhone X.

History shows that in industries that rely on product inovation to drive growth, this can only ever be a short term strategy. You can only squeeze so much extra profit out of a product. What eventually happens is customers start to notice the rising costs, the diminishing product quality due to cost cutting and the lack of innovation and differentiation in new products. They start looking elsewhere. What also happens is an upstart competitor comes in and offers the same value for considerably lower prices, making it difficult to continue pushing prices up.

So while Apple's financial results continue to impress (if that is what turns you on), I see fundamental faults with their strategy which will ultimately come back to bite them. This is precisely what happened in the late 80's under Scully's leadership.

So in terms of Apple “doing well”, should we look at sales/results and apple’s continued success (after the TC “Apple is doomed”tm)or a random poster in the internet stating there are fundamental flaws in apple’s strategy, which will ultimately bite them? You’re right it could happen...anything can happen including continued success.

 

[macbookhair]

I think Apple can charge higher prices because they have no competition if you want ios/Mac OS.

They can, but there is an end point.

Also, the other risk is the perceived extra value of those platforms amongst customers. Some would say that this is diminishing as competitors catch up to Apple for features and ease of use.
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So in terms of Apple “doing well”, should we look at sales/results and apple’s continued success (after the TC “Apple is doomed”tm)or a random poster in the internet stating there are fundamental flaws in apple’s strategy, which will ultimately bite them? You’re right it could happen...anything can happen including continued success.

They might well be able to keep squeezing the profits out of existing lines and their existing user base, yes. But business logic says there is an end point.

But yes, I might be wrong, I can only comment from a third party perspective based on my knowledge of business and the history of how companies have fared when pursuing a similar strategy.

 

[ravenstar]

This is a prime example of sweating the assets. Sales have remained virtually static, but extra profit has been gained by raising prices so that the average revenue per unit sold has gone up considerably. This was the reason for breaking the £1k barrier with the iPhone X.

History shows that in industries that rely on product inovation to drive growth, this can only ever be a short term strategy. You can only squeeze so much extra profit out of a product. What eventually happens is customers start to notice the rising costs, the diminishing product quality due to cost cutting and the lack of innovation and differentiation in new products. They start looking elsewhere. What also happens is an upstart competitor comes in and offers the same value for considerably lower prices, making it difficult to continue pushing prices up.

So while Apple's financial results continue to impress (if that is what turns you on), I see fundamental faults with their strategy which will ultimately come back to bite them. This is precisely what happened in the late 80's under Scully's leadership.

The fault in your analysis is that it assumes that Apple is just sitting back on relying on the increased revenue from raising prices to secure the company's future. There's no evidence at all that this is what's happening, while there are plenty of rumors that Apple is exploring a variety of new technologies and products.

An equally plausible way to look at this is that Apple's products as they are appeal to a large customer base. Creating instability in a product line by constantly changing it isn't a benefit to sales even if a few tech fanatics are clamoring from something radically new every six months. All the time Apple is generating these enormous profits, it can be exploring new product directions, and developing and refining its next generation of products allowing them to start with strong entries when they enter new markets. This has been the Apple way even back in the Steve Jobs era, and that's why they've been so successful.

 

[Abazigal]

This is a prime example of sweating the assets. Sales have remained virtually static, but extra profit has been gained by raising prices so that the average revenue per unit sold has gone up considerably. This was the reason for breaking the £1k barrier with the iPhone X.

History shows that in industries that rely on product inovation to drive growth, this can only ever be a short term strategy. You can only squeeze so much extra profit out of a product. What eventually happens is customers start to notice the rising costs, the diminishing product quality due to cost cutting and the lack of innovation and differentiation in new products. They start looking elsewhere. What also happens is an upstart competitor comes in and offers the same value for considerably lower prices, making it difficult to continue pushing prices up.

So while Apple's financial results continue to impress (if that is what turns you on), I see fundamental faults with their strategy which will ultimately come back to bite them. This is precisely what happened in the late 80's under Scully's leadership.

Your theory completely disregards the stickiness of the Apple ecosystem. That’s basically the innovator’s dilemma repackaged, which was used back in 2013 to explain why Apple would lose to Samsung (the ironic thing was that Samsung would end up suffering the very fate they were supposed to have inflicted to Apple, who appears to have emerged unscathed).

As long as Apple continues to own the whole stack, they will be a lot more resilient to disruption than what critics give them credit for.

 

[macbookhair]

The fault in your analysis is that it assumes that Apple is just sitting back on relying on the increased revenue from raising prices to secure the company's future. There's no evidence at all that this is what's happening, while there are plenty of rumors that Apple is exploring a variety of new technologies and products.

An equally plausible way to look at this is that Apple's products as they are appeal to a large customer base. Creating instability in a product line by constantly changing it isn't a benefit to sales even if a few tech fanatics are clamoring from something radically new every six months. All the time Apple is generating these enormous profits, it can be exploring new product directions, and developing and refining its next generation of products allowing them to start with strong entries when they enter new markets. This has been the Apple way even back in the Steve Jobs era, and that's why they've been so successful.

There is evidence to suggest this is the present strategy, and there has been since around 2013, but as you rightly point out this doesn't mean that is the only strategy they intend to pursue.

The problem with the rumours about new products is that we have been hearing these rumours since 2011, but have seen little to no results and what additional products have been released have not made the impact one would have expected. The company is still relying firmly on the iPhone as a cash cow.

But your challenge is totally valid. We can only comment from a distance and nobody knows what is going on behind closed doors except Apple's management team.
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Your theory completely disregards the stickiness of the Apple ecosystem. That’s basically the innovator’s dilemma repackaged, which was used back in 2013 to explain why Apple would lose to Samsung (the ironic thing was that Samsung would end up suffering the very fate they were supposed to have inflicted to Apple, who appears to have emerged unscathed).

As long as Apple continues to own the whole stack, they will be a lot more resilient to disruption than what critics give them credit for.

The quality of that ecosystem, combined with the tangible benefits to customers of staying within it is vital. There is evidence that the Apple ecosystem is not as compelling as it was several years ago and that the benefits to the majority of customers of staying within it are not as dramatic as they once were. But you are correct, there are still benefits and this remains one of the key drivers for customer loyalty to Apple.

 

[I7guy]

There is evidence to suggest this is the present strategy, and there has been since around 2013, but as you rightly point out this doesn't mean that is the only strategy they intend to pursue.

The problem with the rumours about new products is that we have been hearing these rumours since 2011, but have seen little to no results and what additional products have been released have not made the impact one would have expected. The company is still relying firmly on the iPhone as a cash cow.

But your challenge is totally valid. We can only comment from a distance and nobody knows what is going on behind closed doors except Apple's management team.
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The quality of that ecosystem, combined with the tangible benefits to customers of staying within it is vital. There is evidence that the Apple ecosystem is not as compelling as it was several years ago and that the benefits to the majority of customers of staying within it are not as dramatic as they once were. But you are correct, there are still benefits and this remains one of the key drivers for customer loyalty to Apple.

I choose some apple products over the competition. They are better than android alternatives. I view the ecosystem the same as I did years ago and for me the line in the sand has not changed.

 

[macbookhair]

I choose some apple products over the competition. They are better than android alternatives. I view the ecosystem the same as I did years ago and for me the line in the sand has not changed.

Good stuff.

 

[FFR]

Whats the point of a 4tb ssd in a pro machine that is no faster than an i7?

The i9 obviously doesn't work in Apples 14mm package

Point is if you need 4tb you can’t get it anywhere else, except Apple.


I purchased one and it’s on its way, so guess it works for me.
And I’m not the only one.
Just doesn’t work for you.