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Microsoft Passes Apple to Become Most Valuable U.S. Company
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Like it or not, that's the usual lifecycle of a business. Apple have gotten around it so far because doing things 'their way' has worked well enough to satisfy investors.
Cook is doing what needs to be done to satisfy shareholders. I think it's clear to see he is still someone who believes in making exceptional products and being environmentally responsible etc - the issue is that he is under this pressure from wall street to also satisfy ever growing profits. Believe you me, if you got a real investor-facing CEO in there you'd soon see the difference and long for Cook back.
And that perfectly illustrates my point - a bean counter CEO literally would not care a cent if Apple owned the Mac for iOS coding or otherwise. They'd look only at what would drive the share price higher. Having everything in house and locked down is a very Apple mindset, not a general business one. It generates huge expense, and from a business PoV it's not really worth it. It's more a company pride mindset, and having the control to make everything just so. Again, this is clearly something Cook believes in, a generic CEO would not, and again, you'd soon see the difference.
I'm as frustrated as anyone else that Apple has taken the path it has with ever escalating prices, and even a whiff of nickel and diming, but let's be serious, for all the 'oust Cook' comments, I seriously don't think people realise how much worse it could be.
How can so many people make so many stupid comments here?
Microsoft today surpassed Apple to become the world's most valuable publicly traded company as a result of Apple's continually declining share price, reports Business Insider.
Microsoft has reached a market capitalization of approximately $814 billion, while Apple's is now slightly less.
Apple earlier this year became the world's only trillion dollar publicly traded company, but it lost that status in November and its market cap has steadily declined since then over concerns of weak iPhone sales and its announcement that it will no longer share iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales on a unit basis.
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft's market cap has not previously matched Apple's since mid-2010, eight years ago.
Microsoft's growing cloud business and strong PC sales made Microsoft one of the few tech companies to grow in value following its September quarter earnings results. Apple's valuation, meanwhile, has fallen more than 20 percent since its own earnings results.
Microsoft shares hit a high of $105.94 in intra-day trading, while Apple's have dropped to a low of $170.27. As stock prices fluctuate, Microsoft and Apple are now competing for the most valuable company title with the lead company shifting back and forth.
Article Link: Microsoft Passes Apple to Become Most Valuable U.S. Company
So what were your stupid responses when AAPL became a trillion dollar company only a few months ago?
Did their customer service really plummet in that short of a time or did their high prices affect their market capitalization?
Look around and you'll see that all tech companies lost billions while Wall Street over reacts to the news of the day.
Still a great time to buy AAPL even if you believe they suck as a company.
While true, that's a bit harsh. Also, Apple might be well served to actually HAVE a true entry-level phone. Imagine someone switching from Android to 'check it out' who realizes just how good iOS is. Now that they've been introduced, they want better/faster hardware, more features, etc. What do they do? Upgrade to a higher-end phone!
Man, you make a statement at a stock holders report saying you won't report numbers anymore, and down goes the stock, hard.
I have more MSFT shares than AAPL. I typically invest more in companies that are B2B/B2C. Granted, AAPL is one of the easier to manipulate stocks. I've sold some of my AAPL shares when they were at the high, and I'm now deciding when to buy again. I think MSFT is a steal though compared to AAPL though.
I freelance to a couple of businesses and work with directors on on one. I become responsible as the tech guy to do the Christmas shopping for their kids and grandkids, as well as business equipment - plus in my own family circle, no one/not one of these 30+ people in 7 years has asked for or wanted a Microsoft or Windows product, everything is Apple. Once I purchased a 17” dell laptop solely because screen size was the key factor.
Everyone wants the iPad Pro 11, beats solo/studio or Apple Watch this year, none of them ‘need’ new phones and are happy on their 8’s, 8+’s or X’s, one’s still rocking a 3GS!
Admittedly Microsoft are now much more aggressive price wise and have increased marketing 10 fold for the Surface line/Win10 compatible tablets, especially as entry level machines for school students.
People around me are upset an iPhone has now crossed the $2,000 mark, even if they have the money to buy them. But their attitude has changed, they know they can keep their devices longer because they’re well made and usually well looked after by Apple if there’s an issue, iOS just works and MacOS has been optimized for a wider/older range of machines. Microsoft or windows don’t really tick any of those boxes (IMO).
Everyone wants the iPad Pro 11, beats solo/studio or Apple Watch this year, none of them ‘need’ new phones and are happy on their 8’s, 8+’s or X’s, one’s still rocking a 3GS!
Admittedly Microsoft are now much more aggressive price wise and have increased marketing 10 fold for the Surface line/Win10 compatible tablets, especially as entry level machines for school students.
People around me are upset an iPhone has now crossed the $2,000 mark, even if they have the money to buy them. But their attitude has changed, they know they can keep their devices longer because they’re well made and usually well looked after by Apple if there’s an issue, iOS just works and MacOS has been optimized for a wider/older range of machines. Microsoft or windows don’t really tick any of those boxes (IMO).
The golden age of the smartphone is just beginning, there are still billions of people who don't have phones. Apple just won't be the one to sell phones to those people because their prices are too high.
I don't see how Apple can get from where they are now to where they need to be to sell phones to the next billion customers. Maybe they should buy an Android OEM.
All of that is correct. Unfortunately, Wall Street is not looking at any of those indicators. All they are interested in is growth potential, and not at the expense of raising the ASP. The reason is that raising ASP is not sustainable; hence no long-term growth potential.
Untrue. For awhile macs were competitively priced with other top end hardware. Now it’s just insane.
Probably been said.... but this.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-supreme...st-dispute-over-apple-110740783--finance.html
Antitrust is no fun.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-supreme...st-dispute-over-apple-110740783--finance.html
Antitrust is no fun.
Good job Microsoft! Next, release a “surface phone” capable of running x86 windows when plugged to a dock like Continuum and be superior in the market again.
and Apple.. check yo’ prices Tim. Especially here in Europe. like a jewel, it was quite affordable for most of people.
and Apple.. check yo’ prices Tim. Especially here in Europe. like a jewel, it was quite affordable for most of people.
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Apple is losing me on the desktop. Their stubbornness to exclude Nvidia drivers for eGPU usage at the very least will lock me into Windows. I still game a bit as does my son. I am not going to lock him into an OS that, right now, only excels at Final Cut Pro.
The ecosystem is still great and I still love the hardware. From a software/computing perspective Apple is really dropping the ball.
The ecosystem is still great and I still love the hardware. From a software/computing perspective Apple is really dropping the ball.
Agreed. I use Office 365 on my MacBook Pro and iPad, and on my Windows 10 machine and Galaxy S9. It is great seeing changes to emails and calendaring data always synced and being able to select which documents or presentation I want synced.
Microsoft today surpassed Apple to become the world's most valuable publicly traded company as a result of Apple's continually declining share price, reports Business Insider.
Microsoft has reached a market capitalization of approximately $814 billion, while Apple's is now slightly less.
Apple earlier this year became the world's only trillion dollar publicly traded company, but it lost that status in November and its market cap has steadily declined since then over concerns of weak iPhone sales and its announcement that it will no longer share iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales on a unit basis.
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft's market cap has not previously matched Apple's since mid-2010, eight years ago.
Microsoft's growing cloud business and strong PC sales made Microsoft one of the few tech companies to grow in value following its September quarter earnings results. Apple's valuation, meanwhile, has fallen more than 20 percent since its own earnings results.
Microsoft shares hit a high of $105.94 in intra-day trading, while Apple's have dropped to a low of $170.27. As stock prices fluctuate, Microsoft and Apple are now competing for the most valuable company title with the lead company shifting back and forth.
Article Link: Microsoft Passes Apple to Become Most Valuable U.S. Company
This is no surprise is it? Microsoft have been doing everything right of late. Their Azure cloud platform is probably the best of the big 3. Everything is going to be running in the cloud within the next 10 years and I see Microsoft as being very well placed for it. They have been changing their old ways during the past couple of years and their embracing of Linux can only be commended. Their cross platform code editor, Visual Studio Code, is open source and probably the best editor I have ever used and is updated with lots of features every month. It's probably my most used piece of software on the Mac these days.
Meanwhile Apple ... Jeez. I have bought their products since 2002 and spent a fortune on well over 50 of their products. I don't understand them any more. Their product line is not only a mess but they are quite clearly well over priced. They are just way too arrogant now. MacOS and iOs are both very good but they aren't worth the massive extra premium these days.
Ballmer (incredulously): “$600 for a phone???”
Meanwhile, crappy windows phones cost a pretty penny, too.
Game companies simply don't want to make native games for Mac. There's no money in it. And their ports usually suck. Just use Boot Camp to install Windows and game from there. That's what I've done for more than a decade.
I’m sorry, but your analysis makes no sense. First, I’m a shareholder and have complained about Cook’s direction for Apple for years now. I don’t think Cook has acted in my interests, provided I’ve lost over half a million dollars on paper since early October.
There is no way that Apple would let go of the Mac division. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. It would provide such a leverage over the Apple’s core business (iPhone) to whomever would buy the Mac division that no sane CEO would ever do this.
Funally, as a shareholder, i would love for the stock to climb back up, so as far as I’m concerned, Cook is done. Time for him to go.
The problem with technology is eventually it becomes a consumable and cheap or at least a base price is set. You can only push back on that with innovation and perhaps for a short while, some tinsel to dress up the product. The problem with innovation is you get to a point of diminishing returns with any product. Smart phones are at a point where its plenty good enough for most people and the next point is that tech should be getting cheaper as it becomes more of a commodity. That is a huge problem for a company like Apple that needs people to pay more, not less for this years phone and the cracks are starting to appear. The fact that Apple continues to sell old models competitively in the worlds market shows we've reached the commodity point in the product cycle. Innovation isn't able to push the market anymore for smart phones. Apple will still be able to trade on brand and a lesser extent iOS and quality, but a natural threshold to what people will pay will inevitably come along. That price looks for the bulk of Apple customers, to be below what Apple would like.
Apple will have to accept a lower sale price for at least older models or lose market share. Given how much iPhone drives the whole Apple ecosystem, I think they need a course correction and an acceptance that without a new product category to kick things off again, the end of rising prices for existing products is near. The market is mature and that is what happens and what consumers expect.
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Exactly. Although. With the amount of cash that Apple has, they could absolutely invest in a next best thing. Unfortunately, the only thing that Cook knows to do with it is to buy back Apple’s shares.
Buying the next best thing only works if you're psychic and always know what the next best thing is. Not even Steve Jobs was always right.
Spot on that.
Corrupt is too strong other than that Apple today pretty much represents exactly what Jobs cautioned against, a company chasing outlandish profits over market share.