“We are entering the third age of Apple. A PC company first, and now very much the trillion-dollar iPhone company, Apple Inc. is evidently in search of its next big thing,” Christopher Mims writes for The Wall Street Journal. “Speculation about what that might be runs rampant every time a new Apple skunkworks project is revealed, be it a self-driving car, a health-care push or a pair of augmented-reality goggles.”
MacDailyNews Take: They won’t be “goggles.”
“While the services that come paired with iPhones are themselves a substantial and growing part of Apple’s revenue, they will continue to need hardware to lock in customers. I’m placing my bet on a small but already thriving component of Apple’s portfolio: wearables,” Mims writes. “In the company’s last earnings call, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said the company’s Apple Watch and AirPods headphones generated $10 billion in revenue across the past four quarters… Tech research firm IDC named Apple the wearables market leader, with a 17% global share.”
“Next week, Apple is expected to announce a new Apple Watch and AirPods,” Mims writes. “The new Apple Watch will likely be a more capable health monitor and phone replacement, while the new AirPods will be a bridge to Siri and other apps.”
“Sales of Apple-made wearables may never eclipse those of the iPhone, yet wearables could still be the most important driver of Apple’s overall business. The key is the portion of the company’s revenue that comes from services — a piece of the pie that’s been growing even faster than wearables sales,” Mims writes. “In 2017, ‘services’ was already a $30 billion business at Apple, and in the company’s most recent quarter, it accounted for nearly $10 billion.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, in reality, Apple’s third act is actually: The services company. Even better: The ecosystem company.
All of Apple’s hardware, wearable or not, feed into and out of Apple’s ecosystem.
Shame that Apple abandoned its first act, and its customers.
You have to go and take your medicine right now because Apple has more customers than ever and they(the customers) are happier than ever. Why? Because they buy more. Apple beats the competition 10 to 0.
Apple is not pleasing everyone in terms of its Mac strategy, obviously. And Apple has made some bonehead moves, or lack thereof, especially with respect to the Mac Pro and Mac mini. But to assert that Apple has “abandoned” is ridiculous hyperbole. At the very least, the iMac and MacBook Pro are wonderful and well-designed devices for most people. Admittedly, many pro users would disagree on that last point.
The iWatch, a $400 smart watch that tells you who calling so you don’t have to pull your $800 iPhone from pock.
“Siri” and “Bridge.”
For me, Siri has long been in the wrong league with it’s hardware relatives. Bridge to frustration for me.
With a sliver of hope, I hope John Giannandrea’s tech knowledge can make Siri was she should be.
IDenticals!
Pronounced Aye-dentical
Looking forward to the Watch . Wonder if it will be hard to get or not.