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Apple's Q4 2023 Earnings Call Takeaways
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So true. The problem is many here assume that Apple's customer base is dominated by techies who live to talk about "innovation," geek-bench scores, number of cores in an SOC, being able to drive a large number of 6K displays, etc and on and on.
When in fact, that's the minority. And the majority are just regular people who need devices that meet their needs, and have good value without needing to purchase the latest and greatest every year.
Nope, not at all. Just wondering why the screed had absolutely nothing to do with what I posted - which was a direct response to another's post.
Can't actually say 30 billion is little. It's just iPhones bringing in even more.
Mac sales going way down is, to me, more an indication of just how much of a smash hit M1 Macs were than a sign that Macs are dwindling in popularity.
The M1 generation offered high value Macs for nearly all (mainstream) needs at very competitive prices, and it did so while everyone was going in and out of lockdowns, needing fast and cheap computers while staying inside all day.
Apple could only have kept the M1 momentum going if it had delivered M2 Macs that delivered what we're only now getting with M3 Macs but at prices closer to the M1 generation.
With that said, I think Mac sales will continue to dwindle further if Apple won't offer at least one Mac laptop, maybe a new Air, that offers some kind of M3 configuration but at a <$999 price point.
$1099+ might get you a great Mac laptop, sure. But the total dollar amount is just outside the budget of your average consumer.
Especially because a lot of them already paid about $999 2-3 years ago for their M1 MBAs which are still really great laptops.
The M1 generation offered high value Macs for nearly all (mainstream) needs at very competitive prices, and it did so while everyone was going in and out of lockdowns, needing fast and cheap computers while staying inside all day.
Apple could only have kept the M1 momentum going if it had delivered M2 Macs that delivered what we're only now getting with M3 Macs but at prices closer to the M1 generation.
With that said, I think Mac sales will continue to dwindle further if Apple won't offer at least one Mac laptop, maybe a new Air, that offers some kind of M3 configuration but at a <$999 price point.
$1099+ might get you a great Mac laptop, sure. But the total dollar amount is just outside the budget of your average consumer.
Especially because a lot of them already paid about $999 2-3 years ago for their M1 MBAs which are still really great laptops.
Sometimes being a great leader is to recover from your mistakes and grow, and that's what Steve Jobs did. Remember that Tim Cook was next to Steve Jobs for many years, and he learned from SJ mistakes. And while I agree that many products and services launched under his management, none of them had the impact as the iPod / iPhone /iPad, MS Windows / Office / Enterprise software and Google Search.
Apple was already a cultural icon under Jobs, and like I said before, he took control of a company that already was very successful. Although is not easy to what Cook did with Apple, I haven't seen him doing anything close to the CEO's I mentioned before.
IMO, an iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard works exactly as a touch-screen laptop. Maybe even worse, considering the limitations of iPadOS.
Is there a market at all for touch screen macbooks or it's just fantasies of people who will never buy them or buy once and never use touchscreen because ewww screen is dirty ewww doing the same with trackpad/mouse isn't slower ewwww drawing on wobbly screen is not comfortable.
I think all touchscreen laptops before failed miserably.
I tend to agree. It does seem like a situation where Apple relented and gave "the people" what they wanted rather than what they themselves had envisioned, so yes you could argue that if Apple is willing to give people that experience, why not touchscreen Mac?
I do think that adding a keyboard and mouse to a touch interface makes more sense than adding touch to a keyboard and mouse interface, but it's clearly a slap-on.
I wouldn't put it past Apple to introduce M3 MBA at 1099,-, push M2 MBA down to 999,-, and keep M1 MBA in the lineup at 899 (799 for education). There are rumours about a cheaper Macbook - but Apple's "cheap" product is never as cheap or good as we wish it would be.
And, as mentioned before, even Macbook Air is not for "the average consumer". It is a premium device. I'm sure Apple would like 20% rather than 10% market share, but I don't think they are aiming for 50%.
Data:
Services gross profit margin: ~70%
Products gross profit margin: ~35%
I think shareholders are happy services is continually growing to all-time-highs.
I'm not sure where your reasoning comes from, considering smartphones are touch devices. They have all the same limitations you are describing.
Yes. People buy products so it can do something for them: take photos, play music, consume news, control their home, share their media, communicate with others, etc.
The hardware merely enables it. Software and services is what delivers that experience. You can't count on depending people to flip on their devices every single year. But you can build a new device in a new category (VR) to deliver another type of service and experience. Introducing 20 different galaxy phones wont do that.
I wouldn't buy one but I bet it sells very well. Businesses will buy them because it's a larger MBP (than the 13") at a reasonable price, and consumers looking at the Air will jump at this one because it's the "cool" new thing and LOOKS just like the more expensive and powerful versions. For your average salesperson or lawyer running Word, Excel, and a web browser, 8GB is going to be perfectly fine.
The M3 Pro and Max models are very impressive, but from a business standpoint, the base model is the most exciting thing.
Apple bought NeXT for $400 million. If Steve Jobs was "running it into the ground" then I would take that any day. All the way to the bank, in fact.
"Google as a search engine is dying!" This is the funniest comment I've read all week. Buah ha haha haaaaaaaaaa! Thank you for the laugh!! You're right, they only hold approximately 90% of the search marketshare world wide. Death is coming soon for Google search. 🤣😂🤣
SKU bloat can increase revenues for a period but ultimately has a growth cap. Price increases are the last stop on the low-innovation growth line.
There was a massive roadmap setup by iPhone + related accessories (AirPods, Watch). Cook has squeezed a mighty impressive amount of juice out of them. Apple’s products are incredibly refined and complete at this stage (except iPadOS). And sounds like a lot of folk here feel complete / over saturated with simply more expensive variants.
There was a massive roadmap setup by iPhone + related accessories (AirPods, Watch). Cook has squeezed a mighty impressive amount of juice out of them. Apple’s products are incredibly refined and complete at this stage (except iPadOS). And sounds like a lot of folk here feel complete / over saturated with simply more expensive variants.
In a way it was a rare opportunity to buy back innovation… which would lead to future billion $ income streams. One of the most incredible business stories in recent history.
So, you mean, deliver us (the consumers) to shareholders? Where do you think the value comes from?
IMO, business and consumers will go with the MacBook Air, since it has a better price, is lighter and I don't think 0.5" makes a difference for productivity apps.
Amazing how the tables have turned and Apple is in its Ballmer phase.
Listening to all of you the people who need Windows are smaller the gamers are small etc. This is what Microsoft fanboys and Ballmer said for years.
Now Windows plays nicely with Linux and Android. Windows ports their big products like SQL to Linux. Linux fans always wanted a Mac at work now they want Windows with WSL so they can have two monitors.
Apple still doesn’t embrace business needs Apple is playing the my way or the highway game and saying we win more than we lose. It’s temporary.
When M1 came out I jumped at the idea of the innovation of processors with two core types and ARM. I even upgraded to an M2 since I got a great offer on the M1. However the M2 is the only laptop that doesn’t work with my Thunderbolt dock. I can run Windows but it’s all rigging it up and redoing it every few months. I am never going I need the M2 when I have laptops that have dual monitor output, WSL, 3:2 laptop screen for 3D modeling, and Intel processors with efficiency and performance cores etc. I see zero reason to replace the M2 and I see zero reason to get a M2 Pro to do something everyone else does as a basic feature.
Go ahead and say then I’m just not an Apple user other than iPhone. That’s the mentality keeping myself and many others away it’s what’s keeping the marketshare exactly where it is. I don’t see the number shifting in Apple’s favor long term 10+ years down the line.
Tim Cook should demote himself to CFO /COO and bring in someone as CEO who knows how to create new market segments. He's a great bean counter / ops guy, not a technologist. Great engineering companies need a CEO who can do both, like Jensen Huang if NVidia.
Oh, come on! The Apple Watch is also a touch screen, but you are not doing a PowerPoint presentation on that are you? Wildly different use cases for each device class and the fact is you just don’t see many touchscreen laptops out in the wild even though the tech has been around for a long time. Most people just don’t like dirty screens on a laptop (or stationary) monitor, but those same people will tolerate it for a handheld device.
Giving customers every niche feature ≠ value to shareholders.
A CEO is also in charge of cost optimization, mergers/acquisitions and capital management. None of those things require the CEO to increase sales volumes, at all costs.
Bill Gates? The guy who ripped Apple off decades ago? The man now thinks he’s an expert in human health pushing his plant-based propaganda meanwhile his body habitus is androgynous, to be kind.