Jump to content

AAPL - Apple Inc.


indirect

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 7k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Guest valueInv

I have to say, I don't think they should attack the mid and especially not the low end of the market.

 

Remember Munger's question about instances when a high price can actually increase sales: one such scenario is "mission critical" devices.

 

Is a do-it-all smartphone not a "mission critical" device in people's daily lives?

 

it may do it all...but so do lots of other smartphones, and for less money. I have a $220 (1/3 cost of ip5) LTE smartphone, no contract, that "does it all". I don't believe raising the price of the iphone would yield satisfactory results. A student of history would suggest that, for all who are doing well in smartphones and tablets now, it's time to find what's "next".

 

From the article, your argument:

 

That's why recent releases of competing portable music players take on great significance. Selling for as little as $299, the Dell DJ is about $100 cheaper than the iPod with the same 5,000 song capacity. (A $500 iPod holds 10,000 songs). A third product, a 20-GB unit made by Samsung to work with Napster 2.0, costs $100 less than the 20-GB iPod, or about $300, and boasts a lot more features, including a built-in FM transmitter--to play songs on a car radio--and a voice recorder

 

And the competition is swarming. Dell and Samsung are challenging enough, but this business is about to turn into a battle of the titans. Wal-Mart is launching a cut-price online music store of its own--and now Microsoft and Sony, no less, are joining the fray. So Apple's venture into online music is beginning to look like yet another case of frustration-by-innovation. Once again, Apple has pioneered a market--created a whole new business, even--with a cool, visionary product. And once again, it has drawn copycats with the scale and financial heft to undersell and out-market it. In the end, digital music could turn out to be just one more party that Apple started, but ultimately gets tossed out of.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently, iOS users spend more money on apps and other things, however, the problem with that is that if Android users start increasing their spending on apps, then that gap will start to close, which will be a problem for the attractiveness of the iOS platform.

 

I don't follow...if Android users start spending more, how does it follow that the iOS ecosystem becomes less profitable?

 

Android will be more attractive for developers, and the number and quality of apps on iOS will drop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest wellmont

not exactly earth shattering so far. also doesn't seem to be a low cost iphone. just taking the place of the ip4 and ip4s. stocks dropped after announcement of 5c.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest wellmont

The 5S is powered by a 64-bit "A7" processor and IOS7 will come in 64bit version for it. They claim the processor is 2X as fast and the graphics are 2X as fast as A6 and 40X as fast as the 1st gen iPhone.

 

they claim "up to" 2x. we shall see what real world benchmarks reveal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm very satisfied so far because everything I've seen is user-centric - making life better for people using the device - and will allow developers to create great new stuff. As usual, it'll probably take a while for people to realize how much of a difference all these things make, but I think it'll be very good for Apple.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm very satisfied so far because everything I've seen is user-centric - making life better for people using the device - and will allow developers to create great new stuff. As usual, it'll probably take a while for people to realize how much of a difference all these things make, but I think it'll be very good for Apple.

 

I agree, but I am a little surprised that there is no update for the iPads.  It seems weird that their phones would have more processing power than their tablets.  I would think it would be the opposite or they would at least upgrade the processor at the same time in both.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I find interesting is that they bumped the 5 from the line-up instead of doing the usual current/last year/two years ago models.  Apple swapped the mid-range phone for a less expensive variant.  Using plastic makes the materials cost cheaper and easier to assemble.  It looks like an attempt to improve their margins at the mid range price point.

 

The pricing choice is lame.  There's zero difference from previous years.  So much for all that talk about capturing the low end of the market...  this isn't a game changer for Apple.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree, but I am a little surprised that there is no update for the iPads.  It seems weird that their phones would have more processing power than their tablets.  I would think it would be the opposite or they would at least upgrade the processor at the same time in both.

 

New iPads coming in October is my guess.

 

I'll probably be upgrading my 3rd gen iPad with this new 5th gen. I spend so much time on it, it'll be totally worth it even if they just put the A7 (or maybe an A7X) in it and bump up the RAM. Any extra features are just gravy to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a shareholder, I'm kind of glad that the media is perpetuating that ridiculous standard for Apple of "if they don't blow us away with something totally unexpected at each announcement, it's a letdown"*, which makes the stock sell off after announcements, a good thing now that they have big buybacks.

 

Over the past 10+ years, Apple has had big unexpected surprises only a few times. But they were so epochal that they stuck in everybody's memory and now they expect them all the time... Yet the reality is that 90% of the time, they just announce improvements to what they already have, big enough to stay the best at whatever they do.

 

To me, the iPhone 5S seems like the best phone, the iPads are the best tablets, and the various Macs are the best computers in their various segments. In software and services, I'd say OSX and iOS are respectively the best OSes, and iTunes and the App Store the best paid digital content delivery platforms. I'd say they're doing pretty well on all these fronts.

 

Of course, not everyone will pay up for quality (or even recognize it), but that's fine. Some users are not worth chasing down, while others are worth multiple times what a bottom-market user is; upgrading more often, investing in the ecosystem with app and content purchases, multiple devices, etc. A bit like how a restaurant would rather have patrons that come twice a week and order lobster and good wine, rather than have those that come once every two weeks and split an appetizer while drinking water.

 

*And big surprises will be harder to deliver now that basically the whole internet is running an industrial espionage campaign against the company and its suppliers. It's possible, but for that they'd have to announce something before they start producing it at their suppliers to that prototypes only exist on Apple's campus and don't leak...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of quick thoughts:

 

1.) NTT DoCoMo: finally added; big win - Positive

2.) Very aggressive global launch of both 5S & 5C: will pull lots of sales forward - Positive

3.) 5C Pricing: $549/$99 on contact. MUCH higher than everyone was predicting (mostly $300 to $450 range). The negative with high pricing is will Apple move enough units? The positive is we do not have to worry about canibalization of 5S and margin erosion in phone category. My immediate reaction: Negative.

4.) 5S: looks like a solid upgrade; we'll see what the tech community thinks. Neutral

5.) iOS7: looks good. Positive

 

Wild Card: China Mobile. Not mentioned today; hopefully they announce something tomorrow during the China event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wild Card: China Mobile. Not mentioned today; hopefully they announce something tomorrow during the China event.

 

I thought it was a bit strange that China is so much bigger on this slide:

 

http://live.arstechnica.com/apple-september-10-event/images/IMG_7136.JPG

 

Are they foreshadowing a deal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wild Card: China Mobile. Not mentioned today; hopefully they announce something tomorrow during the China event.

 

I thought it was a bit strange that China is so much bigger on this slide:

 

http://live.arstechnica.com/apple-september-10-event/images/IMG_7136.JPG

 

Are they foreshadowing a deal?

 

No idea about the deal.

But they highlighted China because it is the first time that China has been one of the initial launch countries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That would make sense. I haven't watched the video yet, so maybe that was made clearer than it was in the liveblogging that I was following.

 

edit: I've had a chance to watch the Keynote and you are right. China wasn't highlighted on the slide when if first came up, just when they mentioned that it as the first time that they launch on day one there. They also then highlight Japan for NTTDocomo.

 

After watching the actual video of the keynote, I must say I'm still quite confident that these phones will sell well. Tim says some important things at the end that most people will gloss over because it sounds like fluff, but I think they matter; he says that they don't just pack features in to pack them in (or to follow what others are doing), but think deeply about what kind of experience they want for their users and build technologies to do that. That's still a big difference with Apple and the few companies that think similarly (Tesla Motors is one, IMO).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...