http://news.sky.com/story/1686319/body-found-in-conference-room-at-apples-hq
Well, someone couldn't take the pain anymore.
Well, someone couldn't take the pain anymore.
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Apple Reports First Year-Over-Year Revenue Decline Since 2003: $10.5B Profit on $50.6B in Revenue
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Pause for a moment, think, does it make any sense for Apple to make a car?
Apple is a computer company, smart phones are essentially a pocket computer. They use similar software, they require similar teams to produce and they require similar hardware. So they can be produced by the same or similar team of engineers, can be manufactured in a relatively similar process and can be coded for by a similar team of programmers.
When you consider it was an extension of the iPod it makes even more sense. People wanted an iPhone for years because they were tired of carrying around two devices, one phone for communication and one iPod for music. They wanted something which went together.
If Apple was getting into car software or designing car dashboards that would be one thing. It wouldn't be a huge change, the modern car dashboard is basically a built in computer. It would actually be something Apple could do really well, especially considering the sorry state of most car dashboards. Apple could easily release an amazing car audio system and I could see many running to the store to buy it and remove their built in ones.
Full cars aren't computers on wheels, they are very different products. The car requires totally new hardware, a new team of engineers, and new factories and assembly techniques. Apple is completely stepping outside their traditional field of expertise and into something new and something unfamiliar. Something which Apple is not equipped to produce. Apple is a computer company not a transportation company.
Google is getting into cars, but Google does it as a research project, one designed to loose money. Its more of a hobby project and Google doesn't plan on producing the self-driving car, their goal is merely to invent it.
http://www.cio.com/article/3028743/consumer-electronics/google-admits-most-moonshots-lose-money.html
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Didn't read any of the other comments (sorry).
I knew I should have sold my Apple stock a while back. The moment Jony unleashed the horrible UI overhaul I knew they had jumped the shark. Since then, more and more products have disappointed. The Watch is just plain awful on nearly every level (square design with huge black borders, way too expensive, and locked-down so devs can't offer custom watch faces). Ugh.
I'm certainly not going to sell my stock today, though, since I just hope that the drop is way overstated and driven by too much emotion. But hopefully it rebounds soon so I can dump it and move my money to some Vanguard index funds.
I knew I should have sold my Apple stock a while back. The moment Jony unleashed the horrible UI overhaul I knew they had jumped the shark. Since then, more and more products have disappointed. The Watch is just plain awful on nearly every level (square design with huge black borders, way too expensive, and locked-down so devs can't offer custom watch faces). Ugh.
I'm certainly not going to sell my stock today, though, since I just hope that the drop is way overstated and driven by too much emotion. But hopefully it rebounds soon so I can dump it and move my money to some Vanguard index funds.
This is where you show no forward vision whatsoever.
Apple was saved by moving away from PCs into other markets. One story goes is that in the early iPod days, there was a lot of internal opposition to doing the project. Some disgruntled talk around The Loop at the time was like "We are not Sony. We do not do consumer electronics. We are a computer company." What Steve Jobs realized was that mobile systems were getting big and music was getting digital. It was a perfect move using Apple's talent into a new market. Part of Steve's mass firing was getting rid of this dissent. Supposedly there is one story that he fired over a hundred people at once in the Town Hall after hearing many arguments against doing the iPod.
Now we have a seismic shift that the gear-heads in Detroit, Yokohama and the Rhine to not get due to a century of mechanical centrality. Functionality of automobiles are going from mechanical to computer driven. While most of the world automakers are going "me too" with electronic services in cars, they are still have a mechanical centered mindset. This is why old GM Delco spun off into Delphi as they saw these problems (... and getting rid of the unions in Indiana.) Tesla is a huge breakaway where they consider the computer the center of the automotive design and not the engine nor drive-train. Before Tesla, automotive computing was second hand to the engine and drive train design groups -- not anymore. Thus, Apple's move into making an electric car is a natural progression similar to their "early iPod" days.
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This will be one to rock the boat even harder. The local Sheriff is very good at handling these things to keep the tech companies in a calm scene.
As I remember, the last time there was a suicide on the Apple campus was in the 90's during the development of the Apple Newton. They had an an easter egg for him in effigy of him in the Newton UI.
Just wait until the Magic Apple Ring hits the market. The iPhone and Apple Watch will go the way of the iPod.
I disagree there is a major difference between jumping into consumer electronics as a PC Manufacturer than there is into jumping into cars.
What is at the heart of a MP3 Player of the era: a processor, memory, a motherboard, and software, an input device, a display. What's at the heart of a smart phone of that era: same as a above except a wifi chip, and cellular modem.
Apple had familiarity with all of the above. All of it existed in the Macs of the time. Except the cellular modem but it had things quite similar. Think about it another way, at the most fundamental level, the iPod was just a dumbed down pocket iBook. Apple had already developed an expertise in making these things.
What about a car, even a electric self driving car: a drive train, brakes, a suspension, hydraulics, wheels, tires, axles, mirrors, cameras, motors, ignition switches, transmission, cooling system, fluids.
Does Apple have any familiarity with any of it: nope.
The Tesla with all its fancy computerized equipment, still has more in common with the Honda Civic than it does with an iPhone or a Mac. The Honda Civic is just a dumbed down Tesla with older technology. At the most fundamental level the Honda Civic is to the Tesla what the iPod is to the iBook.
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You are way too drowned in details to see what the hell is going on. Tesla is a computer company first and then an auto company second. The engineering talent to put all the mechanical stuff together is easy to find.
Keep the UAW out and the quality will stay in the builds. A time will come when cars are sold as a loss item with wireless services being the real profit center. GM tried this with OnStar but totally screwed it up.
This is not a bad Quarter. This is a phenomenal quarter! Year over year comparisons are inapplicable if not downright malicious… read on.
Apparently nobody remembers a year ago iPhone sales experienced an extraordinary boost because it was the first year Apple sold larger phones. At the time it was clearly stated this was the reason, then Q2 had extraordinarily strong iPhone sales because Apple was unable to satisfy demand the previous quarter. All this is forgotten. Also being ignored, the dual factors of electronics sales being in a slump and the US $ being extraordinarily high making decent products (like Apple's) horrendously expensive in other countries. You might have noticed Apple makes more in other countries than the US.
Given all these factors, to be anywhere in the ballpark of last year's figures is a feat of unprecedented skill on the part of Cook and his team. Apple gives guidance, if Wall St ignores it, Wall St has only itself to blame, not Apple. Wall St demands guidance and ignores it anyway. Year over year comparisons only make sense if the environment remains constant. The environment has changed. Apple is still the most profitable company in the history. Raw number comparisons are a deception perpetrated by individuals for personal gain- NOTHING to do with reality, just big boys' gambling and bluffing other participants out of their money!
Apparently nobody remembers a year ago iPhone sales experienced an extraordinary boost because it was the first year Apple sold larger phones. At the time it was clearly stated this was the reason, then Q2 had extraordinarily strong iPhone sales because Apple was unable to satisfy demand the previous quarter. All this is forgotten. Also being ignored, the dual factors of electronics sales being in a slump and the US $ being extraordinarily high making decent products (like Apple's) horrendously expensive in other countries. You might have noticed Apple makes more in other countries than the US.
Given all these factors, to be anywhere in the ballpark of last year's figures is a feat of unprecedented skill on the part of Cook and his team. Apple gives guidance, if Wall St ignores it, Wall St has only itself to blame, not Apple. Wall St demands guidance and ignores it anyway. Year over year comparisons only make sense if the environment remains constant. The environment has changed. Apple is still the most profitable company in the history. Raw number comparisons are a deception perpetrated by individuals for personal gain- NOTHING to do with reality, just big boys' gambling and bluffing other participants out of their money!
My 6S+ typically ends the day at over 40%, and barring exceptional cases, the only time I plug in my phone for charging is at night, right before I go to bed.
My iPad Pro is fast and speedy and the writing experience offered by the Apple Pencil is second to none.
I have my own Apple TV in my classroom for the awesome AirPlay mirroring experience. This is just the tip of the iceberg with why I have chosen to thrown in my lot with Apple.
So basically, the things that I value - simplicity and ease of use and an integrated ecosystem, only Apple can do it (and has done it).
Maybe plan prices went up in those two years?
Services don't tend to get cheaper over time... especially not major cell carriers
It's weird though... my Verizon family plan actually went down this time around. And we get 6GB of shared data versus the 4GB we got before. And that's with two iPhone 6S Plus on the payment plan.
So maybe they did get cheaper.
I dunno... there are soooo many variables you'd need to look at.
The plans we had in 2013 are gone.... replaced by different plans in 2015.
It's difficult to make a true comparison between the two.
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let me breakdown the diversification of microsoft with the diversification of apple:
iphone: ~33 bn
ipad: 4 bn
mac: 5 bn
services: 6 bn
Other: 2 bn
Microsoft:
Productivity and Business Processes: 6.5 bn
Intelligent Cloud: 6 bn
More Personal Computing (windows & XBOX): 9.5 bn
deferred revenue (from windows licenses is an example): -1.5 bn
So more like: $7bn on both
You can spin it that hey why can't every segment in apple be a 33 billion dollar business, but microsoft does creative accounting segments to make it seem that way. Apple can lump ipad and mac together into a 9 billion dollar business as well. Than it'll look very diversified, but is it?
As for cars… The game has changed. It's been said the electric car is no more sophisticated than a washing machine. There's more to it than that, but anything anyone knows about cars is completely lost when it comes to electric cars. No gears, no transmission, no brakes, there's the body and chassis and suspension, but their reasons for existence have changed entirely. An electric car is a motor on each wheel and a computer controlling the show. Conventional car manufacturers don't have the vision to understand that the game has changed and it will be the Blackberry all over again. Tesla is an excellent start, but Apple has particular and proven skills at disruption and I suspect Apple will not only turn the conventional car industry on its head, I suspect Apple will disrupt even Tesla, which is why Musk is so worried, sniping at Apple, like the Blackberry CEO of old.
The car is no watch. Nobody wanted a watch. Everyone wants a car. It really is going to be Christmas Eve for a very long time in technology terms. But watch this space…
The car is no watch. Nobody wanted a watch. Everyone wants a car. It really is going to be Christmas Eve for a very long time in technology terms. But watch this space…
the problem with cars is that tesla proved that it can't operate only in a high margin space. tesla as a company would be a gigantic failure if all it had was a model s and a model x. It needed a cheaper car. Margins for the better cars are already lower than apple's margins (~24% gross margins) and i doubt the new model 3 would make it any higher.
maybe apple will transition into a low margins company soon just to prop up it's revenue.
maybe apple will transition into a low margins company soon just to prop up it's revenue.
Just wait until the Magic Apple Ring hits the market. The iPhone and Apple Watch will go the way of the iPod.
Indeed. MAR will be the next one more thing
What you're forgetting is that the Consumer is much more fickle and much easier for them to jump ship than a Microsoft corporate customer who's locked into the Microsoft eco-system. In other words Apple is on much more precarious ground as their main customer base (soccer moms, teenagers etc...)doesn't even know the name of the OS that's running on their iphone vs their buddy's S7.
that i'd agree with. but i think it's unfair to point to another company and say look at how they diverified. apple iphone sales can drop a long way and still be considered "diversified" in terms of straight revenue. Unfair to blame apple for making too much money off of iphones.
again, it's odd to really think of it apple as a company versus apple as a stock. microsoft has similar woes. people aren't upgrading to windows as fast as it used to, that's why they lumped it with xbox.
They have services to do this with. Apple has nothing to offer here.
Azure fills a need. It can replace a physical server network. M$ has been a seller of services for a while. Buy your hardware from wherever....you come see us for the software. Azure just a logical extension of that. Now they offer the option to not even buy the physical hardware to run their server applications. Apple doesn't even allow VM installs of their OS. Virtualization kind of a thing in the cloud.
Google uses open source tech to provide a wide range of options. Apple is more into the whole we are apple, its our way or the highway. seen clearly in mac os CLI where if I didn't like someone I'd say work with vanilla CLI on Mac OS. But I could not hate someone that much....and tell them to install homebrew. Of importance here as in the cloud the main go to applications (or stacks of them) are based on open source tech. And usually CLI based...want a gui, make or find a premade web interface made by someone to work with the core app.
Google has also had a strong interest in in-house development for their stuff. yes they buy out tech...but they assimilate and then continue its development for what they cared enough to buy it out for (nik was not bought out for he nik tools suite, google wanted their other stuff still in development as an example).
Apple at this time CBA to show they care about the 2 remaining pro applications they have left. for office work they are pushing M$ hard as they cba to work their stuff much anymore. In short...they have all but said unless a doodad in an OS they make they just don't give a rat's ass about pro level application development anymore. Insert my emo rant of why did aperture have to be murdered in cold blood here....
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No, I don't think so. I can only hope that a car operated by Apple software will not be released until I'm dead. It took forever to get that silly watch to market so I may have a shot.
On an entirely ridiculous note I was thinking of Apple car as I fell asleep last night. Do you remember back in the day when the HDD crashed on a Mac it made a car crash sound? I wonder if the Apple car will play the startup chime when it crashes?
Nah. Steve Jobs original "save Apple" position was "less product lines, more simple"
So all the stuff Apple was bad at, was axed. That included Printers and Cameras. If we were to re-apply this to Apple today:
OSX devices, reduce PCB designs and use the same PCB across all models:
MacBook - canceled, keep Macbook Air, drop 11" model.
MacBook Pro - Drop the 13" model
iMac - Use same 3.3Ghz Quadcore model for 24" and 27" model. Put the GPU on a separate removable PCIe Slot which will allow extending the life of these machines to 7 years instead of 3.
Mac Pro - Drop the trashcan model and go back to the previous tower design with new Xeon CPU and PCIe Video cards.
MacMini - quit dropping the ball on this. The Mini should have the same PCB as the current iMac model.
The Mac Pro and MacMini should be a BTO-only options. The stores should not stock low-end models.
iOS Devices, no more 16GB tier on any model, reduce the number of PCB's used:
iPhone - No more "Plus" or S model segments. Next device is an iPhone 7 and iPhone SE 7, where the 7 continues on the "6Plus" design, the SE7 continues on the 5S/SE size and design. Only 64 and 128GB models for iPhone 7, 32GB and 64GB, 128GB models for iPhone SE 7. Use same A9X (in iPad) in the iPhone at a lower clock.
iPad - Too much brand confusion. iPad Mini stays iPad Mini, iPad Pro replaces iPad Air. Cellular available on all models except 32GB model. Drop 16GB models. Use same A9X chip across all models.
iPod - Drop iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle (there are cheaper more useful products out there by third parties), the iPod Touch becomes essentially an iPhone SE 7 without the LTE radio available in 32GB only.
There are too many color SKU's as well. The iPod has 16. The iPhone/iPad have 2-4 each.
Like, it would actually make more sense to factory BTO the iPhone/iPad/iPod, as it would save building 4 colors, 3 capacities, and 2 radio configurations of each model (24 each.) Each store can stock whatever models are selling the best in their regions, and leave the rest to a BTO configuration.
TV and Apple Watch:
TV - going in the wrong direction. Use the same iPad Pro/iPhone SE 7 PCB with the same capacity configurations. Allow an external hard drive/blueray to be physically hooked up via USB-C or accessed over the network. The current AppleTV seems to want to be a "headless iPad" but without 4Kp60 support it's actually not a compelling thing to have except as an extension of another more-capable Apple device.
Watch - I can't help but think this is an interesting product line, but until it lasts a week between charges and does everything the Fitbit can do http://www.fitbit.com/surge , it's kinda stuck halfway between fitness tracker and cellphone-extension.
The cellphone already replaced the wristwatch, and the wristwatch replaced an earlier "pocketwatch" so everything old is new again. Ironically you can use the pocketwatch pockets that still exist on modern clothing to fit a smartphone.
I'm quite positive his roadmap only went up to the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 6 received its "smashing success" mainly because of its larger screen which attracted many Android users.