Microsoft Passes Apple to Become Most Valuable U.S. Company

[genovelle]

$749 "budget" Smartphone... $799 "entry-level" computer... $849 "basic" laptop (the older Air is still available I guess, for education)...

LOL...

Just curious. What is the price of the actual competitors. Google Pixel is how much, their smart phones with the same tech is how much? Similar or higher pricing with less features. Samsung, same party.

So, I guess it’s better to be a company who finally makes a two percent profit after 24 years of trying like Amazon. But hey, their founder is worth $143 Billion. About 140 billion more than the company made in profit last year. Considering they have only made a profit at all a total of 3 years of 24, his networth is telling.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

Can someone explain how Apple got to $1T (and were still there a couple months ago) in the first place if they’re doomed and their products suck so bad?

Because they keep jacking up prices to make up for lower unit sales numbers and because the Apple faithful have so far gone along with it. But that could be beginning to change with the recent price increases and the tarnishing of Apple's reputation for quality.

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[decafjava]

Apple hasn’t been "Apple" since Scott Forstall's firing. That was the end of the Steve Jobs Apple era.

Is Steve were alive ....

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Time for a 5G-capable iPhone in 2019, Apple. Your stock can’t wait until late 2020, especially since you’re still an iPhone company first.

5G will do a lot of good with no coverage in almost every city in the US and only a small handful planned by some carriers by 2020. Heck, Sprint currently hasn't even outlined plans to test it.

It'd be a nice addition but hardly one that will put them ahead and not one they'd want to push. "Here's this thing that only a small group of buyers will benefit from." That's not marketable.

Because of this, we're unlikely to see Apple bother with it until it's more widely available. Hate that all you like but it's simply fact.

 

[DNichter]

I wasn't expecting all the "Apple is doomed" posts, but I probably should have known better.

 

[fastbagger]

Yes it was. In my heart.

And that the difference

 

[Rogifan]

Of course only Apple has quality issues...

Latest Windows 10 update breaks Windows Media Player, Win32 apps in general

 

[swajames]

The decline in stock price was fueled by Apple's decision to not break out iPhone unit sales in future which has lent unwarranted credibility to the usual analyst conjecture about declining demand based solely on orders from Apple to its component suppliers.

In the ordinary course of business, Apple would rightly point out that it's a fool's errand to take data from one vendor and use it to support a theory about declining demand arguing you can't possibly support such claims without access to data from both sides of the deal.

Apple saying they were no longer going to be as transparent about units essentially validated the doom mongering and drover the decline since the last results were announced.

 

[4jasontv]

Canada Goose

I must live in a lavish community because those turkey cobras are everywhere here.

 

[Sabelonada]

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

Very interesting quote.

Although their latest Mac offerings seem much more like a computing appliance than what many think of as a computer. That's how I have come to view them, as computing appliances.

 

[MBAir2010]

did run washington DC ever take action against apples 6% tax they only pay because their headquarters are financially located in bora bora nevada? Apple yearly OSX updates are pathetic and created to force apple owner buy newer products like macbooks, hardware and music services.

 

[Sabelonada]

I believe there are 3 key factors for this:

1. MS Cloud Services are excellent and becoming better and better, you get value for what you pay.
2. Surface line up hardware innovation.
3. Better software. Windows 10 is faster, and currently looks more attractive than macOS with their fluent design.

But as somebody said, these are cycles, currently MS is the most valuable company, we don't know tomorrow. I currently can't relate MS to practices like: cheap hardware, shady software to slow down devices, prices that don't match the value or experience of their products, money and margins first.

I like the Surface line up and think the Surface Pro and Go are quite impressive, Microsoft did drop the ball on the Surface Studio. The new Mac mini proves that they could have put much more power into that form factor.

I would like to see a new Surface Studio with TB3 ports supporting external GPUs and allowing those eGPUs to drive that beautiful screen.

I really like the 3x2 screen ratio on Surface products. That is something they absolutely got correct. 16x9 in a laptop is a silly ratio.

 

[genovelle]

I can't afford to play in Apple's world anymore. Cost of living has gone up too much and my salary hasn't kept up so luxuries like Apple stuff are going the wayside. I hate to say it because I've always loved their stuff, but I think my next laptop will be a PC and my next phone will be a droid. It's been nice while it lasted.

Well you won’t be buying Microsoft or Google and if you pick Samsung it won’t be their flagship. But Good luck. I hope you find what you are looking for.
[doublepost=1543262413][/doublepost]

Microsoft is the future, Apple is the past. All due to poor decision making and greed.
Time to buy a Microsoft phone!!!

You do realize their products of similar power are more expensive.

 

[Haswell]

$60B for Apple in 2018
$23B for MSFT in 2018.

Enough said.

 

[Falhófnir]

It's potential for revenue growth that drives stock price. Not how a company is doing now, but is it likely to do better in the future? Apple and Microsoft are pursuing the same revenue growth driver - services, but Microsoft are doing it better because their services are available everywhere, whereas Apple's are still overmuch tied to the iPhone. Most people will never use an iPad or a Mac, these are sideshows. To put it simply, Apple are still a one trick (iPhone) pony and then they're sat back milking the iPhone for margins rather than really driving the platform forward aggressively. Cut the iPhone XS price, get it out there in more pockets, and get those extra customers using the App store, iTunes, Apple music, iCloud etc etc. That's how you get investors to buy in to Apple and start the price rising again. Obviously, to a certain degree, they are more focused on absolute profitability at the moment, but I think they're going to have to shift back into invest for growth mode soon, particularly if iPhone sales actually do start going into reverse in any meaningful way. They really can't afford to have their install base shrinking anything over anything more than a minor blip.

 

[Johnny Steps]

Glad to see it. I love Apple, but they’re definitely getting their just desserts for the recent choices they’ve been making.

 

[wdwpsu]

The 22 employees and 1 customer just cheered in a Microsoft Store.

 

[apolloa]

Haha I’m waiting for Apple to drop behind Amazon and Google too, wont be long..

That’s exactly what you get for not having enough services to make up for the short fall in your iPhone sales, due to you charging 750 and up for the new ones, then slashing orders for parts by a third 2 months later.. oh and telling your investors you will no longer tell them any sales figures for the iPhone..

Apple’s arrogance has finally come to bite them in the behind. They deserve to be brought down a peg or two, help them remember where their focus should be, and it’s not to have more money then several countries!!

 

[smorrissey]

Still on Windows 7...god save me from 10, hope by 2020 there will be something better.

 

[Soccertess]

Well well well. Funny how these things work in cycles. What's the betting we see Microsoft rise to the top again and Apple will be the lesser of the two and then 20 years later we'll watch the same thing happen in reverse.

I reckon flares will be the next cool thing soon enough!!

I don't know. Steve was there every time when Apple was doing well. Tim's short term vision and hate of Macs is driving Apple to a fashion company.

Tim is Apple's Balmer.

 

[robbyx]

The decline in stock price was fueled by Apple's decision to not break out iPhone unit sales in future which has lent unwarranted credibility to the usual analyst conjecture about declining demand based solely on orders from Apple to its component suppliers.

In the ordinary course of business, Apple would rightly point out that it's a fool's errand to take data from one vendor and use it to support a theory about declining demand arguing you can't possibly support such claims without access to data from both sides of the deal.

Apple saying they were no longer going to be as transparent about units essentially validated the doom mongering and drover the decline since the last results were announced.

Apple made a huge mistake by announcing the decision to not break out unit sales figures at the end of a quarter where sales were flat and prices were up. Had they announced this decision earlier, during a quarter with sales figure growth, it would have been less dramatic. It would have still caused problems for investors, but not like this.

I don't blame Apple for their decision. Most companies do not break out unit sales figures. The obsession analysts and the public have with unit sales overshadows far more important metrics like the number of active iOS devices. It also takes away from focusing on Apple's overall health because most Apple customers aren't buying a single product.

Apple might sell fewer iPhones in one quarter. After all, the smartphone market is saturated and people are holding on to devices longer. But are they selling other products - AirPods, iCloud storage, an Apple Music subscription? - to those users who choose to wait another year for an iPhone upgrade? The numbers suggest they are. Services and Other categories continue to grow.

 

[corebeliefs]

Time for MS to give Apple another $100 million investment.

 

[davechapfilms]

*Briefly* is missing from the MacRumors post, as it was but a short period today where Microsoft was higher. Now, APPL is back above Microsoft. Everyone slamming Apple on here didn't take time to actually look and see what the stock was doing...

 

[brendu]

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.