Apple Set to Become First $4 Trillion Company

[Chungry]

Part of a ceos duty is to the shareholders. You don’t like the product, fine. But the market has spoken.

Arguably this is the source of Apple's malaise. Very often, likely because of the strong personality prior to Cook, Apple's fiduciary motivations overlapped broadly with CSAT. That's no longer the case but Apple is more profitable than ever. And while they are good at making money the lack of incentive to deliver what customers want created an umbrella/space for competitors to thrive. Apple is a prestige brand so they will succeed, if nothing else, on name alone.

 

[citysnaps]

Apple is like Coach. They have a prestige brand even if the purses aren't well-made anymore and fall apart. So it's. Win-win unless you care about quality

Are you saying the overwhelming majority of happy and repeat Apple customers are stupid, don't care about quality, and willingly purchase Apple products that fall apart; year after year after year?

I guess that secret of success should be adopted by other tech companies so they too can also hit 4 Tillion dollar valuations.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Are you saying the overwhelming majority of happy and repeat Apple customers are stupid, don't care about quality, and willingly purchase Apple products that fall apart; year after year after year?

I guess that secret of success should be adopted by other tech so they too can also hit 4 Tillion dollar valuations.

We all know that Apple is good a lock-in, and to act like it's (or isn't) always a purely rational decision is disingenuous. I know a few people that buy Apple because it's easier rather than what they believe is better.

Coworker sitting next to me has several times complained that he would like to go back Samsung (he's been on iPhone for at least a few years) but it's easier to not because he and his family all use Apple and Apple services.

 

[Chungry]

Are you saying the overwhelming majority of happy and repeat Apple customers are stupid, don't care about quality, and willingly purchase Apple products that fall apart; year after year after year?

I guess that secret of success should be adopted by other tech so they can also hit billion dollar valuations.

Stupid?! I never said that don't put words in my mouth and calm down. Arguably other companies have adopted Apple's angle and tried to move in to "lifestyle" branding- just look at Samsung for instance.

What I am saying is that platform lock-in is a thing, so is sunk cost. Despite Apple software quality declining what's an alternative that's even tenable? Right, there isn't one so people suffer through the mess because there is no real competitor in the space. You just need to listen to an episode of ATP to get a picture of the fractious relationship most of us have with Apple. It's Stockholm syndrome Lite

 

[citysnaps]

We all know that Apple is good a lock-in. I know a few people that buy Apple because it's easier rather than what the believe is better.

Coworker sitting next to me has several times complained that he would like to go back Samsung (he's been on iPhone for at least a few years) but it's easier to not because he and his family all use Apple and Apple services.

Nope.

All people have agency in their lives; and use it. If Samsung or some other tech company developed superior tech products I'd drop Apple in a minute.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Nope.

All people have agency in their lives; and use it. If Samsung or some other tech company developed superior tech products I'd drop Apple in a minute.

Yes, everyone has agency. No, not everyone buys something because it's superior. Purchase decision have always been a balance of several factors, like price/performance/ease of transition/familiarity/access/popularity/etc.,

As I said earlier, the physical hardware is fantastic and nothing is "falling apart" but the software is going down the toilet, and I'm getting real tied of being pushed towards paid services, be it Apple apps or otherwise.

 

[citysnaps]

Stupid?! I never said that don't put words in my mouth and calm down. Arguably other companies have adopted Apple's angle and tried to move in to "lifestyle" branding- just look at Samsung for instance.

What I am saying is that platform lock-in is a thing, so is sunk cost. Despite Apple software quality declining what's an alternative that's even tenable? Right, there isn't one so people suffer through the mess because there is no real competitor in the space. You just need to listen to an episode of ATP to get a picture of the fractious relationship most of us have with Apple. It's Stockholm syndrome Lite

I think most people would agree with my asseement for people who are willing to purchase products that fall apart year after year after year, and don't care about quality.

 

[Chungry]

Nope.

All people have agency in their lives; and use it. If Samsung or some other tech company developed superior tech products I'd drop Apple in a minute.

No, not all people have agency. An indeterminate chunk of Apple customers buy solely because they don't want to look poor. These types have no inner monologue so it's just going with the flow

 

[DocMultimedia]

15.95 years ago on 20-Jan-2009 I had money to buy 4,000 $AAPL shares.

After a total of 28-for-1 Stock Splits today it would be 112,000 $AAPL shares.

At $259.02/share price that portfolio would be worth $29,010,240.00 or ₱1,685,610,895.03.

Last 4 Quarters Dividend was $100,800.00 or ₱5,851,021.84.

I think I'd retire comfortably in the Philippines if I cash out when Apple Inc hits $4 trillion or just enjoy the dividends in a country where over 4 of 5 adults made no more than $4,300 or ₱250,000 annually.

This did not occur because the eTrade documentation was intimidating even when my HS buddy who was into stocks for a decade was with me and I had parents & uncles who were financially literate.

Opportunity loss for at the time a late 20-something.

Definite bummer in hindsight.

I bought a wee bit earlier than that date. Got to retire younger than many and have been traveling the world for several years. Very very lucky to say the least.

I hope they up the dividends a bit more than they did the past two years, but I'm not arguing with the overall growth the past five years since I retired. 😀

Go $AAPL

 

[Chungry]

I think most people would agree with my asseement for people who are willing to purchase products that fall apart year after year after year, and don't care about quality.

Butterfly keyboards prove people will stick with a brand that abuses their trust because of, I guess, tribalism and in-group preference

 

[citysnaps]

Butterfly keyboards prove people will stick with a brand that abuses their trust because of, I guess, tribalism and in-group preference

That is your personal assessment, and far from a proof. I had no issue with butterfly keyboards - they worked fine. I suspect that goes for many others as well.

Apple's 2 Billion active and repeat customers speaks volumes.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Butterfly keyboards prove people will stick with a brand that abuses their trust because of, I guess, tribalism and in-group preference

True, but in some defense, they did fix that. I intentionally skipped the entire butterfly generation (went from a 2012 non-retina MBP) to an M1 Air. If they kept such keyboards, I would still be using the 2012, or would have moved on to another brand laptop.

Similarly for iPhone. I would have left by now if they hadn't switched to usb-c.

 

[Chungry]

That is your personal assessment, and far from a proof.

Apple's 2 Billion active and repeat customers speaks volumes.

It's not an opinion though- they released unreliable keyboards for years despite complaints and people stuck around- zero agency. Stockholm syndrome my dude. Apple rides their past success all the way to the bank. It's commendable really and I don't begrudge them doing it. But let's not pretend their success is magical. It's familiarity. The fear of the unknown. Suffering through the thousand cuts is less of an identity crisis than being othered because you don't have something like iMessage. These are the people that never remove "sent from my iPhone"

Edit to add: Apple is wise to further lock in this type of user and make it nigh impossible to switch. "Where are you gonna go, no one loves you like I do baby"
I want this as a shareholder.

 

[Mazda 3s]

Worth nearly 4 trillion, and we still get a 💩 Photos app 😄

 

[I7guy]

Sure, he will leave a great share price behind i'm sure. As for product, not much beyond iPhone is there?

You would have to ask apple’s 2 billion customers that question.

 

[I7guy]

Arguably this is the source of Apple's malaise. Very often, likely because of the strong personality prior to Cook, Apple's fiduciary motivations overlapped broadly with CSAT. That's no longer the case but Apple is more profitable than ever. And while they are good at making money the lack of incentive to deliver what customers want created an umbrella/space for competitors to thrive. Apple is a prestige brand so they will succeed, if nothing else, on name alone.

As a shareholder it’s great to hear apple will survive. How they will survive will have to ask apple’s two billion customers.

 

[citysnaps]

It's not an opinion though- they released unreliable keyboards for years despite complaints and people stuck around- zero agency. Stockholm syndrome my dude. Apple rides their past success all the way to the bank. It's commendable really and I don't begrudge them doing it. But let's not pretend their success is magical. It's familiarity. The fear of the unknown. Suffering through the thousand cuts is less of an identity crisis than being othered because you don't have something like iMessage. These are the people that never remove "sent from my iPhone"

Edit to add: Apple is wise to further lock in this type of user and make it nigh impossible to switch. "Where are you gonna go, no one loves you like I do baby"

That's still an opinion, and not proof.

Many people, including myself and others here on the forum, had no issue with butterfly keyboards. If I (we) did, I/we would be dropping Apple in a minute. That's what having agency is about.

Try and give credit to people (2 Billion) who have great/outstanding experiences with Apple, contrary to your views and opinions. We're not sheep.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

You would have to ask apple’s 2 billion customers that question.

Not really we can see it for ourselves.

iPhone 50% of the company, wearables (Apple Watch and Airpods which are basically iPhone accessories) are another 10%. Services a huge amount being purchased by the install base for the iPhone another 25%.

 

[sw1tcher]

Apple is on the brink of becoming the first company in history to surpass a $4 trillion market valuation, Fortune reports.

I've been told stuff like this doesn't really matter.

Is that sentiment still true? What say all of you?

 

[wdfly]

it seems they have plenty of room to reduce the prices of their products and get them closer to costing what they are worth.

 

[I7guy]

Not really we can see it for ourselves.

iPhone 50% of the company, wearables (Apple Watch and Airpods which are basically iPhone accessories) are another 10%. Services a huge amount being purchased by the install base for the iPhone another 25%.


View attachment 2466204

All that proves is that wearables revenue is more than the gdp of many countries. Additionally apple has buffer in revenue with diversified earning categories.

 

[9081094]

This year, it is estimated Apple spent $32,000,000,000,000 on R&D. I think they’ve done a bit…

How come there comes so little out of Apple? Minor incremental upgrades at best. Siri is still the joke it has been for many years. Three year cycle hardware upgrades and if you count in the processor swap maybe even less.

Wonder how many Google or Samsung spent on R&D. Because innovation seems at a much higher rate over there.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

All that proves is that wearables revenue is more than the gdp of many countries. Additionally apple has buffer in revenue with diversified earning categories.

Yes that's a great soundbite for the investor call but it proves that beyond iPhone Apple has got Macs that are still too expensive to make a dent in the PC market, a shrinking iPad business and ski goggles that nobody wanted.

 

[9081094]

Sure, he will leave a great share price behind i'm sure. As for product, not much beyond iPhone is there?

Even the iPhone is getting way behind in what the competition is offering. Hard- and software are nowhere on parity with the kinds of Samsung, oppo, xiaomi, etc. And when considering the Google pixel pro… AI offerings from Apple are for kindergarten.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

That's still an opinion, and not proof.

Many people, including myself and others here on the forum, had no issue with butterfly keyboards. If I (we) did, I/we would be dropping Apple in a minute. That's what having agency is about.

Try and give credit to people (2 Billion) who have great/outstanding experiences with Apple, contrary to your views and opinions. We're not sheep.

My previous company (hospital) used MacBooks. Over 70% had keyboard problems within the first year. Company ended up advising us to use them docked when possible.

Apple acknowledged they were a problem, and decided to get rid them. I applaud them for that, though they did do it under duress.

This has nothing, whatsoever, to do with agency, and I don't know why you keep bringing it up. Consumers are not rational actors, never have been, never will be, and are influenced by many outside factors outside of their direct interests. You learn that in the your second year of economics. Hand-waving away peer-pressure, popularity, lock-in and marketing is just ignoring reality.