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Sucks you can’t afford it! Go to dollar tree, I’m sure there are plenty of off brand phones you can get for cheap.

Apple is never entry level. It’s a premium brand like Gucci, Canada Goose, or Mercedes.

If you can’t shell a measly $749 for quality, get a Honda Accord!

Ok but a cheap off brand phone is still a piece of turd that can’t compete with an iPhone. A Honda Accord is a quality and reliable car that will outlast most luxury brands for years and miles after they’ve turned to rust.
 
What ruined Apple wasn’t growth … They got very greedy … Instead of following the original trajectory of the original vision, which was to make the thing an appliance and get this out there to as many people as possible … they went for profits. They made outlandish profits for about four years. One of the most profitable companies in America for four years. And what that cost them was their future. - Steve Jobs, 1995

For Anyone that wants to see the question asked and the full quote, it's:


Apple’s growth
Apple had a reputation as a company that absolutely broke the mold and set its own course. Looking back from where you are today with NeXT, do you think that, as Apple grew larger, it could have sustained that original approach? Or was it destined to become a big standard American company?


That’s a funny question. Apple did grow big and sustain that approach.
When I left Apple it was a two billion dollar company. We were Fortune 300 and something. We were 350. When the Mac was introduced we were a billion-dollar corporation; so Apple grew from nothing to two billion dollars while I was there. That’s a pretty high growth rate. It grew five times since I left basically on the back of the Macintosh.

I think what’s happened since I left in terms of growth rate has been trivial compared with what it was like when I was there. What ruined Apple wasn’t growth. What ruined Apple was values. John Sculley ruined Apple and he ruined it by bringing a set of values to the top of Apple which were corrupt and corrupted some of the top people who were there, drove out some of the ones who were not corruptible, and brought in more corrupt ones and paid themselves collectively tens of millions of dollars and cared more about their own glory and wealth than they did about what built Apple in the first place — which was making great computers for people to use.

They didn’t care about that anymore. They didn’t have a clue about how to do it and they didn’t take any time to find out because that’s not what they cared about. They cared about making a lot of money. So they had this wonderful thing that a lot of brilliant people made called the Macintosh and they got very greedy. And instead of following the original trajectory of the original vision — which was to make this thing an appliance, to get this out there to as many people as possible — they went for profits and they made outlandish profits for about four years. Apple was one of the most profitable companies in America for about four years.

What that cost them was the future. What they should have been doing was making reasonable profits and going for market share, which was what we always tried to do.
Macintosh would have had a 33% market share right now, maybe even higher, maybe it would have even been Microsoft, but we’ll never know. Now it’s got a single-digit market share and falling. There’s no way to ever get that moment in time back. The Macintosh will die in another few years and it’s really sad.
The problem is this: No one at Apple has a clue as to how to create the next Macintosh because no one running any part of Apple was there when the Macintosh was made — or any other product at Apple. They’ve just been living off that one thing now for over a decade and the last attempt was the Newton and you know what happened to that.

It’s kind of tragic, but as unemotionally as I can be, that’s what’s happening. Unless somebody pulls a rabbit out of a hat, companies tend to have long glide slopes because of the installed bases. But Apple is just gliding down this slope and they’re losing market share every year. Things start to spiral down once you get under a certain threshold. And when developers no longer write applications for your computer, that’s when it really starts to fall apart.
 
Guess it only means something when Apple is on top right? :rolleyes:
To be fair, those are still two REALLY large numbers. Too soon to worry, at least about the stock price. Common sense says that their ridiculous product pricing won't be helping things, though.
 
To be fair, those are still two REALLY large numbers. Too soon to worry, at least about the stock price. Common sense says that their ridiculous product pricing won't be helping things, though.
People aren't worried, they're glad. They think apple is going to be taught a lesson.

My own, imho, is that apple is going to stay the course. You don't like apples products, prices or mgmt, as everybody says, competition is great. People who have shorted and didn't go down in flames at $1T, may now make a killing. People who are long will be rewarded.

At any rate, the vitriole is amusing.
 
Imagine 20 years ago someone told you that you'd be reading this headline in the future. You'd check to see if they were high.
 
Maybe they should have said “while he had a full head of hair”
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I am all for choice and people should use the products that bring them the most value (not bashing your choice at all), but I am not really sure on the innovation part. What do you feel that Microsoft and Samsung has done as of late that was truly innovative?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/development-kit
 
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Things used to be better in the 'old days', did they? :-\

You can't compare 20, 30 years ago to now. Apple products just 5 years ago were decent prices, but in the past couple years, Apple have hiked up prices significantly. People have a right to be fed up with the recent price rises. To a lot of people, the price hikes haven't been justified by new features.
That apple hiked up the prices is not really true. In 2012 an iphone 5 went from $649 to $849. Carrier subsidies were in full swing then so the price was really hidden in the contracts. In 2018 iphones range in price from $449 to $1500. A much broader range. Top tier in 2012 is different than top tier in 2018.
 

Then the consumer should stop buying every new version of iPhone that comes out like a consumerist zombie, just to look cool with their new shiny apple toy and show off to the world.
What's the big deal exactly? People can't live with the same iPhone for say 2-3 or 5 years?
If that's the case, humanity isn't worth a dime.
 
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I was actually thinking of MacBook pros at the time of writing that post.

iPhone: I’ve only paid for iPhones outright, so no contract and at full price. some of the increase is related to exchange rate changes. I purchase, including taxes, iPhone 6, 128GB for just under $1k... the iPhone XS goes for several hundred more. Again, some of that is exchange rate.

That apple hiked up the prices is not really true. In 2012 an iphone 5 went from $649 to $849. Carrier subsidies were in full swing then so the price was really hidden in the contracts. In 2018 iphones range in price from $449 to $1500. A much broader range. Top tier in 2012 is different than top tier in 2018.
 
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Are those numbers net profits per GAAP or cash flows? Because regardless what accountants might tell you all that matters is cash flows to shareholders.
That is net profit, cold hard cash, bottom line, after everything. That is what is calculated to EPS.
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Then the consumer should stop buying every new version of iPhone that comes out like a consumerist zombie, just to look cool with their new shiny apple toy and show off to the world.
What's the big deal exactly? People can't live with the same iPhone for say 2-3 or 5 years?
If that's the case, humanity isn't worth a dime.
How about settling with China? If that doesn’t happen, a lot more pain is in store for a lot more stocks.
 
Seriously, do any of you own stocks? Have you ever owned a stock?

Stocks go up and down, on average of 50% from high to low in a 52wk period.

Apple was valued at $1.1T just about 6 weeks ago. Do you really think anything has changed? Stocks move for all kinds of reasons and the latest is based on speculative articles surrounding Apple's supply chain, unit sales reporting, and fake news about iPhone production cuts that we get every year.

Once APPLE posts numbers that show the story has changed, we can start panicking. Until then, look around the stock market.

FB
GOOGL
NFLX
AMZN
NVDA
AMD

All these stocks have been crushed. This isn't an AAPL story. Welcome to owning stocks. The people who are good buy during times of speculation to the downside. The BUSINESS is doing great, as we just saw in the reported Q4 numbers.
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What is? A short term price drop that is literally 6 weeks old? THIS is the end of Apple? Seriously, do you own stocks?

Thanks for letting us know how the stock market works. We get money from the trees.

Hope the news below makes you understand and realise that Apple is indeed having a hard time to not only sell shares but also their iPhones!

https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/22...duction-resumed-weak-demand-2018-models-rumor
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Then the consumer should stop buying every new version of iPhone that comes out like a consumerist zombie, just to look cool with their new shiny apple toy and show off to the world.
What's the big deal exactly? People can't live with the same iPhone for say 2-3 or 5 years?
If that's the case, humanity isn't worth a dime.

Consumers have already stopped buying around the world, it's only US.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewansp...ow-supplier-weak-profit-warning/#c58f1f43dc44

https://www.ft.com/content/c9e0f94c-e689-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3

https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/21/mac-market-share/

https://www.livemint.com/Technology...nePlus-6-Apple-iphone-samsung-smartphone.html

But guess what? even after poor sales, Apple has managed to profit from every country!!!!
 
Time for another bailout with Internet Explorer being made the default browser on the Mac again in return?...

Hahahaha! That’s hilarious to those of us familiar with the history!
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The point is that it only covers a tiny user base of a small user base of Mac computers.

Since when is tens of millions of anything—including iMacs and Macbooks—“tiny”? The real issue may be that Apple prices its peripheral appliances and accessories—which aren’t necessarily proprietary—too high when affordable alternatives exist.
 
Windows 10 is horrible. Leaving aside the various upgrade fiascos, the UI is awful, it's as idiotic as any previous version of Windows, functionality is locked out of both Home and Pro versions. (I had a right song and dance trying to get a Windows 10 Home laptop to see an Apple file share - it couldn't do it and the change needed was only available in the Pro version and I found Pro users on a forum complaining that there were some things they couldn't do even with the Pro version).
Apple are greedy - this nonsense about calling "counterfeit" any replacement part not bought directly from them is an awful policy. Going after the Refurbishers is awful too. This is how they are damaging themselves - by forcing everyone to have uber-expensive repairs done when there's no need - financial or quality.
Microsoft are almost certainly in the "embrace" stage of their plan to destroy Linux. Microsoft have changed? I've heard that so many times over the last 15+ years and every single time, without fail, it has been wrong. Microsoft turn up late to every party, with a bottle of cheap nasty muck that no one wants, they stand around looking suspiciously at everyone, then sneer and leave early.
 
Good for MSFT. They are the more interesting company right now.

In some ways they are interesting. They are embracing open source and what they’ve done with dotnet core and visual studio code is amazing. The Linux subsystem is neat as well. But Windows is still awful. The UI is better than it has been, but it sits on top of a pile of junk

Microsoft’s cloud services are killing it. Good on them.

Corporate clients are still the key to MSFTs success. That is a nice business to have. People may replace home computers with tablets but for a while they’ll still have a Windows work PC.
 
That apple hiked up the prices is not really true.

That doesn’t jive with this market research firm’s analysis...
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/infographic-q3-2018-mobile-market-monitor/

According to them, Apple’s total unit sales have been flat for years (one reason Apple doesn’t want to disclose unit sales any longer), yet revenues from iPhone sales have increased 29 percent! So some customers are clearly buying the more expensive models—and paying a premium on top of a premium.

Unlike pre-X models, the majority of customers aren’t upgrading to the latest flagship. The latest improvements and features aren’t incentive enough to justify the cost.
 
That doesn’t jive with this market research firm’s analysis...
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/infographic-q3-2018-mobile-market-monitor/

According to them, Apple’s total unit sales have been flat for years (one reason Apple doesn’t want to disclose unit sales any longer), yet revenues from iPhone sales have increased 29 percent! So some customers are clearly buying the more expensive models—and paying a premium on top of a premium.

Unlike pre-X models, the majority of customers aren’t upgrading to the latest flagship. The latest improvements and features aren’t incentive enough to justify the cost.
I just quoted the prices for a iPhones 2012 vs 2018. The prices of the highest tier phones in 2018 are more than 2012; the components are more expensive also. And top end s class is also more expensive than the cla.

Whether you want to believe these market research firms guesses are up to you.
 
Thanks for letting us know how the stock market works. We get money from the trees.

Hope the news below makes you understand and realise that Apple is indeed having a hard time to not only sell shares but also their iPhones!

https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/22...duction-resumed-weak-demand-2018-models-rumor
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Consumers have already stopped buying around the world, it's only US.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewansp...ow-supplier-weak-profit-warning/#c58f1f43dc44

https://www.ft.com/content/c9e0f94c-e689-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3

https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/21/mac-market-share/

https://www.livemint.com/Technology...nePlus-6-Apple-iphone-samsung-smartphone.html

But guess what? even after poor sales, Apple has managed to profit from every country!!!!
You’re just posting the recycled speculation that has been circling for weeks. No one has confirmation they’ve done anything meaningful or different than all the other years production cut articles were proven false.

You read the last Apple 10-Q? Looked pretty outstanding to me, but I don’t get my data from the verge.
 
Apple has two choices as I see it. Either they break into more new product categories and make new things people actually want or they get back to making amazing products at competitive prices. As it stands now the iphone is too expensive, the ipads are too expensive and the macs are outrageously overpriced. The pricing of macs is absolutely insane and there really is no justification other than "we know you idiots will pay it". I havent bought a mac since 2009 because of that greed. The mac mini is my next but even that I am waiting to get on sale somewhere, im in no rush.

I seriously do not understand this. Are you one of the many people that are complaining that the Mac mini starts at $799 now? The fact that they no longer have a HORRIBLE base edition with an absolutely idiotic 5400 rpm spinning drive in 2018?

When I got my 2010 Mac Pro, it was $5,000. The graphics card wasn't even that great at the time. Besides, Microsoft's hardware is not THAT much cheaper. And Windows 10 is absolutely horrible. Windows 7 was great. Windows XP was great. Windows 10 at launch was great. However, Windows 10 is getting worse and worse over time.

Do you honestly think FCPX or Logic Pro is valued at only $300? The "Apple Tax" also goes towards those software. When Creative Cloud first came out, I purchased it (7 years ago). I payed monthly for the entire suite at $50/month for over 6 years. That totaled to $3,600. I had to cancel due to expenses and having Affinity Photo / Affinity Designer blow Adobe's products away. Do I still have access to Photoshop? Premiere Pro? No. I am happy to simply pay $300 for FCPX and have it forever with no monthly charges. I believe that product would normally run around $500 or so (boxed versions of Premiere Pro 8+ years ago were $1,000 if I remember right).

You get an amazing office suite for free. Do you think those programs are valued at $0? The price of the hardware includes this as well. I much prefer Pages, Numbers and Keynote to the Microsoft versions.

Bottom line: I have purchased so much hardware from 2007+ from Apple. Including the beefy 2010 Mac Pro at the time. I am not finding these new releases to be "skyrocketing" in price.
 
Ugh. A crappy company like that passes Apple. I don't care about Apple anymore and would like to see them passed, but only by anyone else. Seriously, Microsoft is stuck in the early 2000s, even with the new CEO, and everyone working in Silicon Valley knows that. Every piece of software they make is considered a cancer that people are trying to figure out how to rid their companies of.

Except for Excel. Excel rocks.
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Besides investors who cares?

Oh yay Apple is worth a whole lot of money, it has zero meaning to me. Apple products continue to sky rocket in price and heading toward "no afford" territory for me. Oh wait it's been there for awhile.
Well if you bought Apple stock instead of Apple products back then...
 
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