For the first time in company history, Apple recently posted a year-over-year drop in iPhone sales. During the March 2016 quarter, Apple sold 51.1 million iPhones compared to 61.2 million iPhones sold during the same quarter a year-ago. And seeing as how the iPhone is Apple’s primary revenue driver, Apple’s earnings also took a hit, with the company posting EPS of $1.90, down from $2.33 during the year-ago quarter.
Not surprisingly, shares of Apple opened up 8% lower when trading began earlier this morning. And while shares have since climbed back up from a low of $95.98 to about $98, the stock is still down more than 6% as fears of ‘peak iPhone’ continue to grow.
Like it or not, Apple is still the company that dictates the future of the smartphone, even though the iPhone isn’t the dominant platform by market share. The features introduced by the iPhone are often found on devices from Apple’s rivals, and the same thing will happen with the iPhone 7.
The handset is reportedly going to lack a 3.5mm headphone jack, a standard feature across just about all consumer devices that output audio. And it’s likely that other smartphone makers are going to follow suit in the future. But one company seems so certain that the 3.5mm headphone port is going to die that it just launched no less than three new Android handsets that all lack the audio jack. More →
Andy Fastow may not be a household name, but as the former CFO of Enron, he was an integral part of the company’s vast illegal activities and a key figure behind the company’s deceptive and overtly fraudulent accounting practices. As a result of his deep involvement in the Enron scandal, Fastow would serve six years in prison.
These days, Fastow is a free man who, believe it or not, actually gets paid for speaking appearances. And during one of Fastow’s more recent talks, the disgraced CFO spent some time comparing Enron to Apple. The unifying thread between the two companies, according to Fastow, turns on Apple’s tax schemes abroad.
When Google acquired Nest for $3.2 billion back in January of 2014, many tech observers lamented that Apple didn’t swoop in and acquire the company first. Indeed, many were quick to exclaim that Apple was missing out on a tremendous opportunity. And at first blush, such arguments were persuasive.
At the time, there was still an air of novelty surrounding Nest. In a relatively short period of time, Nest managed to revitalize, if not kickstart, the notion of a connected home. More than that, the company’s Nest Thermostat was seemingly something that could have come out of Apple’s own design lab. Not only was the product sleek and easy on the eyes, it impressively managed to simplify something as boring and cumbersome as home temperature automation.
The parallels to Apple were clear.
The iPhone 6s’s key feature has come under some criticism from some Apple bloggers who dismiss it as just a gimmick that adds no real value to the user. But I believe that 3D Touch, as it is now, is something only Apple has. It’s a feature that has a greater scope for the future of iOS even though for the time being it’s certainly not a must-have feature. More →
It’s no secret that iPhone sales in 2016 may take a dip for the first time in history. Hardly a point of speculation, even Tim Cook conceded this point during an earnings conference call this past January. It’s also no secret that the recently launched iPhone SE, for many users, has been a long time coming. While Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6s models have sold remarkably well, the reality is that large swaths of users simply prefer a smaller form factor. Indeed, Apple noted not too long ago that it sold more than 30 million 4-inch iPhone models in 2015 alone.
All that said, the iPhone SE was seemingly well positioned to help bolster iPhone sales during traditionally lower volume sales months. And yet, for reasons that aren’t exactly clear, Apple launched the iPhone SE with embarrassingly low supply.
When the iPad burst onto the scene in 2010, the tech world had never seen anything like it. Sales immediately exploded as the device became one of the fastest selling consumer electronics products in history.
As a direct result, and in part fueled by bold proclamations from Apple CEO Tim Cook, many people began championing the notion that the post-PC era was upon us. Not to single out Cook, even Steve Jobs believed that tablets were going to one day eclipse PCs as the future of computing. Much like the iPhone transformed the mobile phone landscape, it was widely assumed that the iPad would eventually turn the entire PC industry on its head.
Earlier this week, longtime technology journalist Walt Mossberg penned a piece for The Verge arguing that the iPhone 7 needs to “be spectacular,” particularly because the products Apple introduced at its special media event this week were nothing special.
I found Mossberg’s take in this regard to be a little bit off base. This week’s media event wasn’t intended to show off Apple’s latest and greatest technologies. Rather, it was intended to shore up holes in the company’s product line, specifically as it pertains to a 4-inch iPhone.
Remember, Apple last introduced a 4-inch iPhone more than two and a half years ago when it released the iPhone 5s. The iPhone SE, therefore, is simply Apple playing catch-up and realizing that a large portion of its user base actually prefer using a more compact device. After all, 30 million new 4-inch iPhones were sold in 2015 alone.
Apple on Monday announced a couple of new products that had been revealed weeks before by assorted leaks. Some say the iPhone SE and iPad Pro are boring updates on existing products, but that’s hardly the case. The iPhone SE is as powerful as the iPhone 6s, and the 9.7-inch tablet has some features that are better than what’s available on the 12.9-inch model.
But Apple really surprised audiences with some of its pricing announcements: The Apple Watch is now cheaper than ever, and the iPhone SE has $400 entry price.
Is it possible that the iPhone 7 will be cheaper than expected? More →
There’s no doubt about it: Apple makes the best smartphone chips out there. The company’s mobile chip division has put intense pressure on rivals in recent years and iPhones crush their biggest rivals in performance tests on a regular basis. That’s because Apple controls both the hardware and the software and is able to create efficient chips ready to deliver steady, speedy performance.
The one major component that Apple does not fully control right now, however, is the graphics processing unit. More →
The iPad occupies a unique place in the annals of tech history. Upon its release in 2010, Apple’s first stab at a tablet quickly set sales records. Not only did early iPad sales outpace early iPhone sales, but the iPad quickly became one of the fastest selling consumer electronics products of all time.
In turn, Apple CEO Tim Cook couldn’t help but be effusive when describing the iPad’s longterm potential.
“I really believe,” Tim Cook said during a January 2012 earnings conference call, “as do many others in the company believe, that there will come a day when the tablet market, in units, is larger than the PC market.”
And for a while, it was hard not to get on board with Cook’s optimism. Even those who were initially skeptical of the iPad’s potential to dethrone the Mac couldn’t ignore the device’s impressive and borderline unprecedented sales growth.
It finally happened. On Monday, March 21st 2016 A.D., Apple launched the affordable iPhone you’ve wanted all along. The iPhone SE is a beautiful all glass and aluminum smartphone that is as powerful as the iPhone 6s and as compact as the iPhone 5s… and it starts at just $399.
At that price, the iPhone SE should easily make it to your smartphone wish list. And what’s more, there’s really no excuse for you to even consider a mid-range Android handset anymore. More →
