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I anticipated higher numbers than what the analysts were predicting, so 5 minutes before the markets closed today, I bought an additional 425 shares of AAPL for $109.72. It's looking like a very good decision at this point!

Bryan
 
Dude, they just sold a record number of iPhones - a record by a considerable margin.

I don't think they need to worry about their iPhone business suddenly shutting down. Remember, what you think is a "better phone" and what I think is a "better phone" could be two completely different things.

As far as marketing and brand loyalty goes, Apple is second to none in the smartphone industry. I think they'll be ok.

And besides, where else is the smartphone going to go? It's a maturing industry. There aren't many more breakthroughs to be made. What COULD hurt Apple is being slow to move into new areas as their cash cow matures.

We're just now entering into that maturity and it'll be a while before the industry starts the decline. Apple has the Apple Watch, new iPads and MacBooks and lord knows what else on the horizon.

He's right in the sense that there are a lot of threats for Apple. What you're saying about maturing is also true. After maturity comes commoditization - and then what? Every big company can fall. Even the biggest one ever. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it's something that should be actively managed.
 
I will still stick to what I said some time ago.

As years go by, it's going to be harder and harder and harder for anyone to justify high priced phones and tablets.

Less expensive models from other brands will get better and better, year after year, closing the gap between low end and high end.

You only have to look now.

iPad from 5 years ago against some other cheap tablet around that time, the cheap one was utter garbage.

Same with phones.

5 years on, and 5 years is nothing.
You can get some amazing phones and tablets, far far better than Apple's product were 5 years ago. But for a fraction of Apples prices today.

This won't stop.

Apple, and other will hit technical walls, and year after year, Apple's next model's improvement over the previous model will get less and less.

At the same time the cheap models will get closer and closer.

More and more people will realise, hey, this cheap model is amazing.
It's 95% as good as, say Apple's model for 1/4 the price.

It's inevitable this will happen.

Just with DVD Players, Microwaves, Washing machines, Laser Printers, there will always be a market for the very high end items at very high end prices. But that market will shrink and shrink and shrink, as more and more people realise the cheaper models are by then really good and so much less expensive.
 
The iPhone was responsible for over 2/3 of Apple's revenue last quarter. Wow. Can you say cash cow?!
 
Huge beat for the quarter, though the revenue outlook of $52-55 billion straddles the market's expectations of $53.7 billion. It's likely linked to currency risk. The stock was up 7% at one point, but is now down to about 5% up.
 
Regarding the iPad, this is a natural decline given longer upgrade cycles for the typical iPad owner and the fact that many people skipped an upgrade this year to focus on the 6/6+. I did.

That said, with all the rumors about the iPad Pro, I have a feeling Apple is going to kick the iPad up a major notch in 2015, which will reignite the growth.
 
I'm concerned about the fact that the iPhone makes up nearly 70% of Apple's revenue. If somebody makes a better phone, Apple crashes. I know that's unlikely given that people have been trying quite hard even since the first iPhone and haven't managed it yet, but still, talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.

Go back and check the graphs; the iPod and iTunes used to be the money spinners. As long as they keep moving forward with their new categories new opportunities will arise.
 
Regarding the iPad, this is a natural decline given longer upgrade cycles for the typical iPad owner and the fact that many people skipped an upgrade this year to focus on the 6/6+. I did.

That said, with all the rumors about the iPad Pro, I have a feeling Apple is going to kick the iPad up a major notch in 2015, which will reignite the growth.

Given that the average selling price of iPads was $419 vs. estimates of $436, this suggests that perhaps they ought to give the iPad mini a "real" upgrade to the A8 processor. I.e. the lower priced models are selling better.
 
So, looking at the percentages, it turns out that Apple is a mobile phone and tablet company (81%) that happens to sell computers on the side (9%).

Or they're just, you know, a technology company that sells technology.....

Why are people still so butt hurt about this whole "they're not selling computers anymore!!!!"

The iPhone is a computer. The iPad is a computer.

The iPad is more powerful than this POS Dell I use at work.

People need to rethink their definition of "computer" - because its changing.
 
I'm concerned about the fact that the iPhone makes up nearly 70% of Apple's revenue. If somebody makes a better phone, Apple crashes. I know that's unlikely given that people have been trying quite hard even since the first iPhone and haven't managed it yet, but still, talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.
Who's going to do that? Making a better phone than the iPhone takes $, and nobody else is going to have that now that Android is being commoditized and Android profit margins are tending to zero.

Also, keep in mind that Apple's other businesses, while dwarfed by the iPhone, are still more than big enough to keep Apple in the Fortune 500. Hell, even the app store, which is a rounding error on Apple's balance sheet, brings in more revenue than most other companies.

To sum it up, Apple isn't dependent on the iPhone. Their record-setting profits are. There's a difference.
 
iPad really needs something to improve it's popularity.

When iOS 7 came out, many were shocked by how unoptimized the OS feels and looks on iPad. iOS 8 hasn't introduced any iPad-specific feature nor design changes either. And it's laughable how badly these OSs felt on then 1.5 to 2.5-year old iPad 3.

Having said that, I love iPad and I really wish Apple would turn its head toward iPad. Multitasking is probably useful for some segment of users, but I am hoping Apple has something more substantial in mind.
 
I anticipated higher numbers than what the analysts were predicting, so 5 minutes before the markets closed today, I bought an additional 425 shares of AAPL for $109.72. It's looking like a very good decision at this point!

Bryan

Don't pat yourself too hard on the back, pal. If Apple hadn't beaten the analysts you would have looked pretty dumb, because the markets always expect a beat.
 
He's right in the sense that there are a lot of threats for Apple. What you're saying about maturing is also true. After maturity comes commoditization - and then what? Every big company can fall. Even the biggest one ever. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it's something that should be actively managed.

How long until the PC market is such a commodity that Apple can't capture a huge portion of the high-end? Let's say that process hasn't finished yet and the home PC is in its 25th year or thereabouts. If we still have a decade of run left in the smartphone market, then why worry about this issue?
 
iPad really needs something to improve it's popularity.

It's very popular, trouble is that not a lot of people "upgrade". Most of my circle has iPads 2 and 3, no one has an Air 1 or Air 2.

For $500-$1000, there isn't a tremendous change between each model that a non-MacRumors user would enjoy/appreciate. Even as a poster, I'm still on a very old iPad because it still works well.
 
Can you post a trend graph?

The graph of quarterly earnings has all the ups and downs of seasonal variation. I suggest you crunch the same data to give a graph of the "four quarter trailing average" -- this will show the lon-term trend more clearly.
 
They saw a really nice iPhone ASP jump from $603 last quarter to $687 this quarter. A jump was expected, but that was a little more than I expected.

EDIT: I'd add that the iPhone ASP for the year ago quarter - the first full quarter for the iPhone 5S - was $577. So that's an even more impressive jump to this quarter.
 
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