According to Ars Technica, Apple is expected to report its first year-over-year decline since 2003. Today's report is in the shadows of a surge in sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last year which boosted revenue in Q2 2015 to $58 billion. Apple's forecasts of between $50-$53 billion are still higher than the $45.6 billion it reported for Q2 of 2014.
Though I am not personally interested in Apple's products, there are a great many people who are, and their responses to this news can have a major effect on other vendor's plans, as well. It will be interesting to see what comes of it.
For those who can't wait, Ars will be holding a live stream (Javascript required) of the report.
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Apple’s Q2 2016 Earnings Call Starts at 2pm PT/5pm ET (2100UTC)
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(Score: 5, Interesting) by bob_super on Tuesday April 26 2016, @05:16PM
Can I submit a story on my company's earning reports?
(Score: 4, Disagree) by martyb on Tuesday April 26 2016, @05:30PM
Sure, just as soon as it has a market cap of over $500 billion [yahoo.com] and total assets of nearly $300 billion.
But seriously, given that they are such a huge company and their actions have an outsized effect on the tech market, it seemed worthy of being reported.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Tuesday April 26 2016, @06:16PM
Their actions have an outsized effect on the tech market because every stupid little thing they do is covered breathlessly my al;most every media outlet in the world. For them not to be making huge profits at this point with even a mediocre product would be very unlikely given the billions in free advertising they get. Look at the Apple watch as an example. Both the Pebble watches and Android wear watches do more, better, and cheaper in most cases, and they did it first. Do you see any of them being analyzed on tech sites for months?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Tuesday April 26 2016, @07:17PM
I agree that they get a great deal of reporting. Back in the day, IBM, and later, Microsoft, also got very heavy press coverage. If you were in the tech sector, you ignored them at your own peril. To the extent that they could carve out a market for themselves ahead of even having a product to fill it: vaporware [wikipedia.org] — and this dates back to the early 1980s, if not earlier.
Last things first, no I have not seen "Pebble or Android wear watches" "analyzed on tech sites for months." I have no experience with any of those, so I cannot speak to that. What I have noticed, though, is that Apple is an established player and can take great advantage of the network effect [wikipedia.org] of making their watch interoperate with their phones (which have a huge share of the phone market) and thus gain some leverage in that same market. For better or worse, they (Pebble, etc.) are perceived as upstarts against Apple's established base.
Personally, I have absolutely NO interest in buying and/or using Apple products. I like to have fine-grained control of my computing tools, I want to be able to customize them how *I* want, I balk at limitations and restrictions. I'm a nerd and have been writing software since the 1970s. I find their environment confining.
My experience is that most folk find computers to be 'magic boxes' whose complexity easily overwhelms them. It's too complicated! Make it simpler! Where I want my calculator to have all the trig functions (in both radians and degrees) as well as the ability to perform calculations in decimal, hex, (and octal!) most people I know just want the four basic functions: add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
Forgive the anthropomorphism, but Apple knows this. Provide tools that are as simple as possible that let people do what they want. There were many different MP3 players before Apple came out with theirs, but the UI was designed by nerds and confusing to use. Apple simplified the UI to the point that it was easy-to-use and the iPod became a huge seller.
Back to the rest of your comment, it remains to be seen whether Apple has a hit on its hands with the iWatch. My sense is that they are pulling a 'Microsoft' in getting a product out the door, and they will iterate on it as they receive feedback on its strengths and weaknesses. They have their 'foot in the door.' As tech progresses, they can put in a more efficient processor and improve battery life an/or shrink its size. At one time, the utmost of timepiece miniaturization was a grandfather clock, then a mantel clock, and then a pocket watch. The first wristwatches were large and cumbersome. With tech improvements, it became possible to make them increasingly smaller, more accurate, and over time a fashion piece with all manner of design. My sense is that Apple is now following that time-worn (heh!) path.
As for the current iteration of the iWatch, I seriously doubt that they are "making huge profits at this point with even a mediocre product." So far, Apple has not broken out iWatch sales as its own item. I doubt that this will change in the current earnings release. Give it time, and some more iterations, and they will likely correct any shortcoming/glitches and do well in this market, too. I just don't see them there, yet.
As for Pebble and Android wear and the others? I'm sure they knew that Apple would, at some point, market their own watch. They hoped to gain some first-mover advantage. And, to the extent that you and I are both aware of what 'Pebble' is, I'd say they had some success. Were I to buy a tech watch, Pebble would be on my short list; NOT an Apple! Different courses for different horses. On the other hand, marketing is not sufficient. Witness Microsoft's attempts with its Zune, PlaysForSure, and now their phone, as well. You need to have a good[-enough] product, too.
In summary, I do not deny that Apple gets lots of free publicity. But, they still have to come through with a product that works in the marketplace. So far, they've done a good job of finding the sweet spot between functionality, usability, and fashion that works for a large number of people. They have earned a very visible place in the market and it would be foolhardy to ignore them.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Tuesday April 26 2016, @07:50PM
I like your comment, and just wanted to clarify one thing.
Back in the day, IBM, and later, Microsoft, also got very heavy press coverage
The difference is that Apple gets coverage not just in tech media, but mainstream, fashion, music, etc. They get orders of magnitude more coverage than their market share. I'm still of the opinion that much of this coverage is because these media people sued Apple's products long before they became popular, for script, video, audio, etc. Unfortunately, they're not doing anyone any favours by pimping Apple's locked down, overpriced, crippled products. Not that I have an opinion.
Also, I just wanted to reply to say that I really like your sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by martyb on Tuesday April 26 2016, @08:24PM
Thanks! I appreciate yours, as well. I think we are "vigorously agreeing." =)
Yes, they do. My take on it is that they realized there was more to tech than just functionality. In a world of tuples [wikipedia.org], Apple realized that ordered-pairs (a 2-tuple) of (feature, benefit), was wanting. They introduced another factor and made a 3-tuple of (feature, benefit, fashion).
They were aware that many people valued form over function. They didn't want all the gee-gaws and doo-dads.
Off the top of my head, consider a Movado Museum watch. Dot at the top, hour hand, minute hand. No numerals, no tick marks, not even a second hand! Though severly limited as a timepiece, it stands in a league of its own as a fashion statement. Apple gets that, and garnered a large following because of it.
You never forget your first love. For the 'creative types', Apple understood what they wanted and got the 'tech' out of the way so that they could create.
Obligatory car analogy. I prefer a manual transmission on my car; most folk prefer an automatic. If all your life you struggled to master a manual, and then you got a car with a well-designed automatic, sure you're gonna remember it and have fond memories of how much more pleasant it made driving in stop and go traffic. Apple understood that and leveraged that approach, that perspective in the products they've developed. Once hooked, it is hard to change. Witness the 'emacs vs vi' discussions. =)
Wholeheartedly agree. I am not their target audience. Nor, I suspect, are you.
I share your non-opinion. =)
Q: Did you hear what the French farmer said to the veterinarian who restored his female horse's sight?
A: "Mare See!"
Enjoyed the discussion! Many thanks!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Tork on Tuesday April 26 2016, @07:36PM
Can I submit a story on my company's earning reports?
Why not? McDonalds is a Fortune 500 company....
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 26 2016, @05:31PM
I guess that's it, they've failed as a company, since they failed to grow for a quarter.
RIP Apple
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday April 26 2016, @06:50PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday April 27 2016, @01:53AM
When is Apple going to wake up to the enormous enterprise market, leverage its reputation as more safe and secure than Windows, and really go for displacing Microsoft?
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @05:47AM
Almost nobody on my floor runs windows, except ux guys in vms, everyone else is on Ubuntu, osx, or bsd. I'm on osx at work and at home.
Our IT support downsized to 10% of their peak from when we were runnig windows, and our company has quadrupled in size since then.
If your company is still running windows, you will be beaten by those who don't.
Ps. We sell groceries.