Tim Cook to Address Q1 Earnings Concerns at All-Hands Meeting With Apple Staff

[MoreRumors?]

Tim, Apple still generated revenue in the billions. As head of the company, stop with the blame game. Maybe you should learn more about what a leader is. Find a solution and not lay blame is what a true leader does.

With that said, I was going to buy a few Apple products in 2018. I was in the market to buy a new laptop but decided against getting a Macbook because of overprice for what I would get and that included extra expense to buy dongles so I ended up buying from another competitor. I would have upgraded to a new iPhone but again, the price was too high for what I use my phone for and where it approached the price of laptops so I opted to replace with a new battery instead that will last me a few more years longer. I was going to buy a Homepod, which was on sale during the holidays, but ended up not buying because I can not use it with my iPod Touch because it was not the latest generation. I don't represent the population nor was this my intention to do so but rather as an individual consumer. So Tim, if you are reading this, this a just a feedback for you from a consumer perspective, not as an investor's perspective. You should be fortunate that there people out there that is willing to upgrade their iPhones every year and buy the Apple Care to go along with it. Be satisfied that Apple still generate billion of dollars in revenue each year because many other companies that would be thrilled just to break the billion dollar mark.

 

[scottrngr]

More TV shows that can only be viewed on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV are the answer.

 

[ipponrg]

If everyday you say there will be an earthquake in San Francisco at some point you would be correct and brag about how you predicted it.

Just admit your knowledge about internal Apple business projections is zero and everything is a guess. (From your post though Apple should be happy to take you on)

Technically, there have been many minor earthquakes near the San Francisco area. After all, it sits on a major fault line
[doublepost=1546524248][/doublepost]

Nah. Tim is doing an excellent job. I agree they could drop prices a little considering we are entering a recession but Apple has a bucket ton of money and they are gonna be fine to ride this out.

The real question is where are they going to be post recession? When companies don’t lead in the right technology sectors, whatever growth they were showing prior tends to to flatten

 

[needsomecoffee]

MSFT very likely has adopted a long-term strategy to move the industry toward Progressive Web Apps. MSFT may also deprecate Windows and adopt Linux. If so, the future of a locked-in ecosystem driven by hardware sales and a walled-garden app store is going to prove limiting. Nadella really seems to be the next Jobs, but in a more technical, nicer-guy format.

With that said, Apple is shifting revenue to services and halo devices. The Apple Watch or AirPods work great with an iPhone 7, so the halo effect is still happening. In fact, Apple could sell less iPhones every year and still grow the install base on iOS users, and thus potential halo revenue.

 

[theluggage]

I think when/if Apple finally release their car or AR glasses that can effectively kill off the smartphone they'll be fine. If someone else beats them to it, they're in trouble.

Tesla have beaten Apple to it. Seriously - if you'd never heard of Elon Musk and someone showed you a Tesla with the logos replaced by Apple ones, you'd be convinced. What are Apple going to do that Tesla haven't? Heck, they've even split the world into Tesla-haters and Tesla-can-do-no-wrong fanboys!

Anyway, "invent the next Mac/iMac/iPod/iPhone" is a great aspiration, but a lousy contingency plan, especially when the person who drove those developments is dead. Apple (and their shareholders) might just have to deal with the uncomfortable truth that they can't extract endlessly growing windfall profits in a world where smartphones and computers are as rare and exciting as washing machines and vacuum cleaners.

They seem to be looking to the fashion accessory market where people will pay $1000 for a brand-name handbag made in the same sweatshop as the $20 no-name version. I'm not sure technology works like that...

 

[Mescagnus]

Yeah, it was the headphone jack the broke the camel's back.

That was sarcasm at its finest

 

[Baymowe335]

I'm disappointed in Apple's execution.

That said, it seems this is very confined to the iPhone in certain markets, mostly China.

Sometimes, the sales just aren't there. I'm not sure lower prices would have saved this quarter.

The slowdown in China is real. Apple's other businesses were quite strong, with 50% growth in wearables, 25% growth in services non iPhone growth at 19%, and strong sales from iPad and MacBook.

 

[majkom]

Tim's greed has killed the ecosystem

If iPhones weren't so overpriced maybe I'd still have one, plus a Watch and some AirPods to go with it

Maybe I'd then also be more inclined to replace my old MacBook with another Apple machine, and wouldn't have cancelled my iCloud storage plan

It all falls apart quickly when offensively high prices encourage you to look around at alternatives, and then Apple arbitrarily punishes users for not being 100% Apple

The HomePod is the perfect example of Tim. A great idea but it's a non-starter even before looking at the price because Tim wanted to lock down the Bluetooth to punish all non-iOS device users.

I was lookingfor some decent soundbar/homepod like speaker to connect to my tv. If the had hdmi in/maybe bluetooths connection with tv enabled, i wouldnt buy samsung one

 

[ginkobiloba]

Oh ok... people are not buying the new iphone not because they're at record-setting high prices , but because of the 29$ battery, the dollar ,the lack of subsidies, and China.
So the solution is : change the dollar, change China, change the carriers, and drop the battery replacement.

Or you could just lower the iPhone prices.

 

[nt5672]

Right now I would buy an iPad Pro except for the fact that it is too thin and too flimsy. I would buy a new iPhone if they had a size comparable to the SE. I would buy a MacBookPro if they had a 17 inch retina, memory/SDD user upgradable. I would buy a Mac if it was modular and maintainable. I've had nothing but Apple devices for my entire computerized personal life, I can afford Apple devices, but Apple stopped making devices I wanted to buy. I know more people that feel the same way.

Years ago I was an advocate for Apple to all of my friends and family. I stopped when Apple started ignoring me and focusing solely on the teenager fashion market. I don't mind that they make a ton of money in this market, but I do mind that they abandoned my needs to do it.

Apple needs to find a way to support all of their customers, not just the fashion toy buyers. I'm not saying all Apple devices are toys, but that they are bought as toys by a large part of Apple's customer base. The fashion industry is fickle, especially without us pro users as backup.

I just hope Apple realizes that they can't call it innovation when most of their products have not been updated in years, when most of the new features are just gimmicks, etc. Apple still has room to make best in class products for the prices they sell at. But they don't have room to make mediocre products for premium prices.

 

[xxray]

Wow, the first page of responses to this article are garbage. Yes, the prices are high, but can you imagine the PR nightmare if Cook admitted that? Current gen iPhone owners would feel ripped off, people wouldn't want to buy the phones because they'd feel Apple already was trying to take advantage of people, the Apple brand would be cheapened, stocks would plummet, etc.

On top of this, people now think this is justification to bring in Cook's politics and sexuality as the reason for lower revenue than the previous quarter? Complete ignorance.

 

[VulchR]

Dear Apple,

Please focus on creating the reliability that used to characterize the Apple ecosystem. Currently I have an iMac that randomly decides to reboot and an iPhone that won't back up to either a computer or iCloud (only generating very unhelpful error messages that mean nothing and do not serve to diagnose the problem). iTunes is a mess, and the Finder still does not adjust columns automatically to show full file names, nor is there a simple option in system preferences that would enable that. In Apple's search for the latest and greatest mobile phone wizardry, unaddressed bugs and design shortcomings are beginning to pile up and the cumulative effect is detracting from the user experience. That is why I have refrained from upgrading to a new iPhone. Also, if you think you're going to make money from me by charging a subscription service for iCloud or music, think again. One last thing: for heaven's sake think about battery life and robustness rather than the thinness of the iPhone. Where is the sport/outdoors version of the iPhone?

-an Apple user since the days of the Lisa

 

[medazinol]

Apple's pricing is the problem, pure and simple. They're pricing themselves out of the market with their increases. If sales are down, they increase the pricing to make up for the lost revenue, you can't keep doing that otherwise you will lose even more sales. Everyone has a breaking point.
I'd like a new 15" MacBook Pro but in Canada the pricing is out of control

 

[redrunner89]

Maybe you don't have a $1000 phone that isn't that impressive...

 

[citysnaps]

It takes courage to keep increasing profit margins. Every product is overpriced.

Apple gross profit margins have not increased. They've actually decreased since Jobs was in charge.

 

[eco7777]

Apple is playing it all on the Phones. If, when a new guy steps into the room with a fancier, better phone, Apple will suffer. They need to go back to what they were, a computer, innovating, company!

 

[UKPoliticsGuy]

Does Apple release its Board meeting dates? Will be interesting to see when the Board next meets.

My own tip of 2019: Tim Cook will not be CEO by December 2019.

 

[VulchR]

Does Apple release its Board meeting dates? Will be interesting to see when the Board next meets.

My own tip of 2019: Tim Cook will not be CEO by December 2019.

Unlikely IMO. I think the issue is the whole Apple corporate culture. The iPhone is adapted to the US/California lifestyle. Well, most people do not live in the US/California.

 

[nt5672]

Apple's pricing is the problem, pure and simple. . . . .

I disagree, the problem is the value proposition. The pricing for the quality received is the problem.

Apple either needs to improve quality (including adding new features that are not gimmicks, that work, and are delivered on time) for the same price, or keep the same quality and drastically reduce prices.

I understand why people think pricing is the solution and that is because pricing can be reduced tomorrow. Quality, innovation, etc. take years to change after the internal structures have been destroyed. As they have been at Apple.

Once Jobs left, the new Apple management destroyed a number of key people that will be hard to replace even if the problem is recognized. Which it won't be as long as Cook, Cue, and Ive reign.

 

[timborama]

Cook needs to own the problem, not place blame elsewhere. No one wants the notch, and they want Touch ID back. Bad hardware designs and software led them to this point.

 

[eco7777]

Apple had their chance to integrate home theatre, home kit functionality, and AR/VR experiences with Apple original programing, Apple Music and the App Store into one beautiful Apple product that could integrate all your Apple devices - the Apple TV. Cook dropped the ball on this product and the "possible" future of Apple because he was completely fixated on the iPhone.

And for that reason I find myself with a POS Firecube at home.

I do have an Apple TV, but everything is working better on the other side. TV, Speaker system, etc.

Apple need to "un-focus" from the iPhone and start doing what I did before. Also, never put all your eggs in the same basket.

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

"As you will see, our revenue shortfall in Q1 is from iPhone, primarily in Greater China." (Cook)​

This "China revenue shortfall problem" is ingrained, systemic and not just one fix away. The problem Apple faces is that China's smartphone use is vendor-agnostic, and it is agnostic to platform, iOS or Android, as well.

Why? Wechat, Weibo, ..., are all meta, all-in-one applications that obscure completely the underlying OS.
That is, iOS and its walled-garden of services and apps have no value to Greater China users -- esp. the young ones.

Add political pressure to Buy-Chinese and Apple has all but its "Chinese roast goose cooked" in Greater China.
[And, no amount of Orangina spewed via "Fox and Friends" will make things different./s]

 

[Narrator Jack]

Down with Bill-Gates-Inertia-Vibes Unjustly-Stock-Buybacking Dork Uncle.

 

[slineaudi]

...Apple either needs to improve quality (including adding new features that are not gimmicks, that work, and are delivered on time) for the same price, or keep the same quality and drastically reduce prices...

I can't understand these comments that attack Apple's quality or features. What company offers better quality and features for less money? Apple isn't perfect, of course, but they're damn good. Look at Face ID. You might think that's a gimmick. Maybe it's not a must-have feature, but seeing as it's the only secure face ID tech on the market (and shockingly reliable), it's far from a gimmick. Everyone's a critic when you're the best I guess.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Maybe you’ve heard about that little $250 billion trade dispute between the US and China? China has stopped buying US soybeans for example. Also, Meng Wanzhou‘s grandfather worked with Mao, so her arrest was the closest to an arrest of Chinese royalty as you can get (Though this is a more recent development).

Soy-beans are grown in China:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_China

so China doesn't need US versions. However they do need a certain American company who strangly enough is willing to comply with them should they want a certain type of phone so no, I don't beleive the Chinese Government are discouraging iPhone ownership.