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How Will Wall Street React to No Headphone Jack?
- Thread starter Mac 128
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People are acting like Bluetooth headphones and speakers are some new technology.
Mostly people just like to fuss about change.
Personally one less wire is fine by me.
Mostly people just like to fuss about change.
Personally one less wire is fine by me.
How it will unfold...
At first Audiophiles and complainers will be like:
Then the other 90% of Apple customers will be like:
And finally Tim Cook will be like:
Its inevitable to happen, it might as well happen now while a company is strong enough to start the trend. Everyone will follow within a couple years because Apples phones will get thinner and noones will be able to, they will have to conform.
Eventually we are going to get to phones that are only a mm or two thick, and beyond that we are talking paper thin devices within 15 years most likely, they already existing with oled panels but need outside hardware to hook up to them in order to function. As electronics/cpu chips get smaller and smaller they will be so small they will fit in the paper thin displays.
Eventually we are going to get to phones that are only a mm or two thick, and beyond that we are talking paper thin devices within 15 years most likely, they already existing with oled panels but need outside hardware to hook up to them in order to function. As electronics/cpu chips get smaller and smaller they will be so small they will fit in the paper thin displays.
I doubt there will be any reaction what so ever.
Apple's stock will act but only AFTER the sales number of the 7 come in.
Apple's stock will act but only AFTER the sales number of the 7 come in.
Exactly.
The negative hit to the stock will occur when it's disclosed that iPhone 7 shipments are off 10-20% to the iPhone 6, that's when they'll start anecdotally referring to the loss of the headphone jack as one of the features that the "common man" feels kept them away from upgrading.
The real bad guy in this isn't a feature added here or a feature subtracted there; it's the loss of the carrier subsidy which completely changes the cost of the phone at the outset (2x more) and it's resale value at the end of the two year commitment (50% less) not to mention the data-hog features causing overage charges that Apple keeps adding (theoretically 4K video, 3D photo, HD audio) all of which makes the cost of upgrading very expensive.
BJ
Agreed. For me, it really won't impact me. I don't use headphones all that often. From what I've been hearing the lightning port will be able to output sound and I would imagine that Apple will include a set of ear buds that will use that.
I don't think it's going to be a big surprise to Wall Street as the rumours been flying around for ages.
The Lightning port won't be as robust as the 3.5" jack.
The problem is that it won't be apparent until months later. Mark my words!
The problem is that it won't be apparent until months later. Mark my words!
Agreed, I can not see any thing being released today that is a real surprise as most of the info, the important info, is out.
Genuine question as I'm seeing a lot of chat about this stuff, for those of us outside the US - what's happening with carrier subsidies, and why? Legislation or just the market?
Just the market. Back as little as 2 years ago, Apple and the carriers were caught up in the market share game, get as many customers as you can to commit to an ecosystem like iOS and a provider like AT&T, and that meant giving the hardware away at no profit.
I got my daughter an iPhone 5C 18 months ago for free, just needed to pay $15 a month to add her to my family plan and pay $25 for data. Today that same commitment would cost me $549 for the entry level iPhone plus the $15 family add and then $30 for the increased cost of data. Very different financials.
What's going on now is that smartphones have maxed out their featuresets, the hardware just can't get much better than the current generations. So consumers are slowing down and aren't an automatic to upgrade anymore.
And when this happens in the consumer electronics industry, it's all about signing a different song to Wall Street. It goes from "look at our market share!" to "look at our profitability". With Apple and the carriers raising prices they can survive a 10% to 20% loss of unit sales, keep the stock prices fairly flat as a result. At least for a short spell. The last time this level of saturation occurred it was the HDTV boon of 2004-2012 and the industry crashed, still hasn't recovered. Turns out a 2010 LED HDTV still meets expectations in 2016, no need to upgrade.
BJ
I don't know... Personally I think it's a bad move since it's a feature I use and I know many businesses use the headphone jack in their iPhones to swipe credit cards.
...It does look like Sennheiser may be including detachable 3.5mm to Lightning Jack and 3.5mm to USB-C cords in their new HD 5 line. They have an Android / iPhone logos on their new "available soon" products. Companies including the cords in their products would make it less painful, although still annoying.
https://en-us.sennheiser.com/around-ear-headphones-stereo-mic-hd-569
...It does look like Sennheiser may be including detachable 3.5mm to Lightning Jack and 3.5mm to USB-C cords in their new HD 5 line. They have an Android / iPhone logos on their new "available soon" products. Companies including the cords in their products would make it less painful, although still annoying.
https://en-us.sennheiser.com/around-ear-headphones-stereo-mic-hd-569
Wall Street doesn't like nasty surprises. There is going to be nothing surprising about today's announcement regarding Apple pulling the jack off.
Once it becomes clear there is no "One more thing" or that Apple has not in fact cured cancer or developed time travel, the stock will drop.
The loss of the headphone jack will not prevent me from buying a new iPhone 7 but it makes things worse when the rest of the features aren't compelling, gives me good reason to stay with my 6.
I still don't believe Apple will do it. I still believe that they will launch a transitional iPhone that has both the headphone jack and the new Lightning protocol. It makes no sense to get rid of it without a critical mass of third party hardware supporting the standard.
BJ
Most card readers (iZettle, Paypal etc) have Bluetooth readers now, I don't think a headphone port one has been available since the switch to Lightning.
In my 3rd. world country, iZettle still uses exclusively the headphone jack for its card readers.
This is a deal breaker for me.
I came here to ask this: Do you think the audio-card readers would work with the lightning-to-audio dongle?
It would look weird, but if it works, it doesn't matter.
This is a deal breaker for me.
I came here to ask this: Do you think the audio-card readers would work with the lightning-to-audio dongle?
It would look weird, but if it works, it doesn't matter.
Stock went up after the phone was revealed, so there's your answer.
I haven't checked but I suspect companies that make headphones specifically for Apple products will also see an uptick in their stock values.
I haven't checked but I suspect companies that make headphones specifically for Apple products will also see an uptick in their stock values.
Square's new reader is contactless/chip only. Paypal's new reader is $150. The headphone port ones are still available everywhere.
