MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q317 conference call

15 Comments

1. Thank you Tim Cook and his team, way to go. woohoooooo.

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2. Made a wad today.

   Thanks AAPL.

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   1. For however long it lasts, speaking as a stockholder myself. What investors giveth they usually soon taketh away, for one stupid unfounded reason or another. But yes, let’s hope we go onward and upward from here.

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3. Way to go Team AAPL! Nice job

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4. Apple’s results more or less in line with what I expected.

   Wallstreet sending the stock soaring was WAY more than expected or usual (in the past stock seemed to tank even with good news)

   It’s clear that if Apple update their products sales would increase and the more market share they gain the bigger the services.

   iPad did great after so many disappointing quarters with the $300+ model and the smaller Pro but note Macs still make more revenue. The entry level Mac category is still weak.

   (I’m an aapl investor, haven’t sold a share in years).

   ——–

   What I’m REALLY curious about is China.
   The only big segment in decline. Note China by itself is almost as big a revenue earner as the whole of Europe.

   I would be really interested to see Apple put more info out it as as they make the rounds with reporters in the days following an earnings call (if they follow their usual behaviour ).

   What I’ve researched from China is this:

   1) Chinese users live in apps such as WeChat — they do all kinds of stuff within one app.
   Also In cities they use their phones to do almost all payments but NOT via the Apple Pay type technology but with primitive QR codes which works very well over there.

   Even roadside NOODLE SHOPS have sign boards with QR codes and everybody just aims their phone’s cameras at them and money is deducted. The payments go through two main banks. In cities nobody uses credit cards or even much cash anymore.

   These two things have tied the phones to their localized systems (Visitors without access to either find it hard to even move around. Without bank accounts to do the local QR codes they have to carry wads of cash around with irritates vendors and other customers in line no end as it slows things down — everybody uses the QR codes)

   Polls show that many Chinese think phones that can do these two things are ‘good enough’.

   Which leads to:

   2) Many APPS which make the iPhone a SUPER COMPUTER are CRIPPLED in China like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter , Google services (like Gmail), Amazon , even web surfing. Some not totally but they don’t function like in USA.

   So without such apps the iPhone is an expensive Brick! (sorry I’m going to get one starred but it’s true).
   The super powered chips etc in the iPhone aren’t much use if there aren’t apps (like I said Chinese live in WeChat and use QR codes they just need phones that can handle that. ).

   Apple is working really hard in China like making the automating the camera to read QR codes , appointing a head of China which understands the local conditions to innovate etc.

   Still I am REALLY curious to see more info from Apple leadership on China issues.

   (personally I’d Iike to see more entry level Apple devices, high quality but lower priced, bigger the eco system — Watches, headphones, Mac, iPads all tied together — the bigger the usefulness of iPhone )

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   1. people down voting maybe you can explain why, which of my points are wrong?

      if you are reading this article and commenting you must be a investor I assume and not just a ‘fanboy’ with NO SKIN in the game. An investor who doesn’t look at FACTS is kinda of silly, cheer leading for sake of cheer leading? I’ve made tens of thousands in one day ( if the share price holds tomorrow) , didn’t sell a share when aapl tanked 40% or so in 2007-08 BECAUSE I KNEW from FACTS that the Apple story is intact.

      So one star down voters FACTUALLY CONTRADICT my China research, I REALLY want to know if you have better info about China market.

      (i’ve worked in Asia for over ten years earlier in my life, went to Asia last year going again this year , speak Cantionnese. and another Asian language. My brother had worked there for decades, including several years in Shanghai. SO down voters enlighten me….)

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      1. here have a look at this poor street vendor with QR code .

         :large

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   2. I recently referred to the way that the Chinese have widely adopted digital payment ( different system to Apple Pay ) and contrasted it with the way that America is slow to adopt payment technologies such as chip and PIN or Apple Pay. Those systems are very widely used in other countries and in the case of chip & PIN have been used for decades. Here in the U.K. I use Apple Pay as my usual method of paying in shops, with just hardware warehouse being the major exception due to still not being equipped with contactless terminals. I can’t understand why Canadian businesses readily embrace new payment technology while the in U.S. much older systems are the norm.

      One thing that you can always rely on is for the Chinese to be pragmatic and inventive. Their payment system may not be anywhere near as technically sophisticated as Apple Pay is, but it doesn’t require special equipment at the retailer, works on a customer’s fairly basic smartphone and is almost universally used around China, even in small towns. It has caught on very rapidly and in a way that few would have predicted.

      China often has its own way of doing things and it’s good that Apple has people who understand that China has unique preferences and are making Apple products better suited to the Chinese. It’s also reassuring to see that Apple are now taking a similar approach with another huge market with its own values and traditions – India.

      Don’t ever worry about getting any one star votes. I quite often see non-contentious factual postings being down-voted for no apparent reason. There seem to be people who just do that sort of thing. The important thing is to make an intelligent and insightful contribution and you have certainly done that.

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      1. thank you for your thoughtful post.

         The one stars would have been ok if someone had given me a great argument and REASSURED me why China was alright ! . (I have aapl shares !).

         Thinking about it a bit more : Some of the lost in sales was due to exchange rates and not tech issues Also Some bright spots : I think Tim Cook believes the AR/VR thing might be so big it would transcend the barrier and be a hit (Android with it’s scattered OEM technology and razor margin competition can’t match it for years). — I don’t know enough about the tech but who knows : scan a QR code –so popular over there — and get a AR response ?

         The Growing size of China and it’s middle class also maybe means more Chinese in the future would be willing to pay for a more expensive iPhone even for using WeChat etc (iPhone comes with better camera etc) ( I think there was so much emphasis on the camera in recent ads in China due to this) etc.

         Also Apple setting up research centres in China are manifolded : satisfying the govt. Making Apple more a ‘China ‘ company to counter the recent load of ‘patriotic’ propaganda there to ‘support local’ (just like many countries in the world) i.e to gain consumer mindset, AND building tech SPECIFICALLY to attract the China market.

         Tim Cook is actually pretty good at working at growing in foreign countries and he seems at least focused on the China issues (vs my recent criticisms of him on the pro Mac issues). Apple donating money to China earthquake relief etc is besides just ‘doing the right thing’ is also good for Apple’s image etc.

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         1. Tim Cook started laying the groundwork for Apple’s Chinese operation for many years ago. He’s now doing the same thing in India and having visited both countries, my impression is that the middle class in India are much more aspirational that their counterparts in China and enjoy displaying signs of their success, which makes them a particularly attractive market opportunity for Apple.

5. “Cook ducks question about President Trump’s claim that Apple will build 3 ‘big, beautiful’ manufacturing plants in the U.S.”

   Ha!

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6. All of the various OS’s look to be undergoing an actual exciting positive bump in abilities, now if only Apple had paid more attention to it’s Mac line those profits would no doubt be even bigger.

   Let’s hope the appearance of languishing Mac efforts is really another quantum leap shortly ahead (with the admitted exception of the Mac Pro and that unforgivable debacle). The iMac certainly looks more promising though it’s model is not terrible desirable for a pro who likes to update components on his or her machine without actually completely replacing it.

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   1. Recently, I upgraded my 2013 Mac Pro with a bunch of RAM and a terabyte hard drive from OWC. This will keep it going for a while, but I am steamed that a more robust GPU is just not available. Apple played the wrong Tarot card with that design decision, and hopeful consumers like me who blindly trusted Apple were left holding the bag. Sometimes, and this was one of those times, early adopters get hosed. — it happens with every vendor, and Apple is no exception. You fall in love with the specs, and buy in to the hype, and write a budget for the equipment, it gets purchased, you use it for five years, then scrap it. Then you find out that the vendor has gone EOL, and you’re forced to develop another proposal. At least with Gateway and then Dell it was rubber-stamped every three years, like clockwork. The only downside was that the hardware sucked.

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7. just purchased AirPods at Target (no stock at Apple, six weeks)

   Just one pair left in stock at the local Target.

   Absolutely the finest Apple product in a long while… lots of WOW factor.

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8. Just a thought
   I know how you dislike the s branding
   But is there a correlation between apples low inventory, ability to cut costs and maintain its 37% profits during the s year?
   Does it help them to clear out inventory without write downs?
   Does it help maintain profit margin?
   Along with The SE model does this broadening of there scope and market penetration allow cost cutting to make the s year worthwhile?
   Just some questions to think about
   Sorry no answers

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