Once again, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer has offered conservative and “disappointing earnings guidance for its current quarter. Not that Apple’s guidance is worth much — Apple blew past analyst estimates by a full 20 cents a share for its fiscal third quarter,” Caulfield reports. “The explanation for the weak guidance: higher component costs, back-to-school discounts and a mysterious ‘product transition’ will cause Apple earnings to come in lower than expected. Translation: Apple is going to shake up its product lineup.”
Caulfield reports, “Oppenheimer told investors to expect earnings to come in at only 65 cents a share for its current quarter, well below expectations of 82 cents a share. After Apple’s blowout quarter, at least one analyst wasn’t buying it. ‘You just guided to 66 cents and came up with 92 cents? Why should I believe it should be 65 cents when you’ve been so conservative?’ UBS’s Benjamin Reitzes asked Oppenheimer on a conference call after Apple announced its results.”
Caulfield reports, “Oppenheimer said, there will be a ‘product transition I can’t get into.’ Could that mean Apple is about to introduce some new products? If so, the possibilities include anything from a new version of the iPod music player to fresh versions of its hot-selling notebook computers. With Apple reporting surging sales of both its computers and music players, that would mean the company is about to go from one strength to another.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dave” for the heads up.]
how about a Macbook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo Duo Dock! or a tablet.
iPod will upstage MS’ Zune by renaming it:
iPune by Zpple
Seriously though, who cares? Right now, Apple’s product line is unlike ever before, let’s be happy with the current products and allow Apple space to work it’s magic.
Transition: 10.4.xx to 10.5?
The new iMac will be released as one more thing…
First Gen will be eaqal to MacBook Pro in specs but be 42 inchs.
It will include PVR software that will allow file distribution to PC’s and Macs anywhere in the home via ATV.
Apple custom orders for MacBook Pros will end, 5 week delivery is inexcusable.
“transition – passage from one state, place, stage or subject to another: change.”
I predict the mini will become the headless Mac some of people have been wishing for, including myself.
iMac in 20, 24 and 30 and maybe a 32 inch BTO model and will have a TV Tuner built in.
That’s my take.
Product transition? Leopard is due in October.
New monitors are LONG overdue.
I’m assuming that Apple is waiting to transition their entire line to LED backlit monitors, hence the delay?
I saw a new Sony 24″ advertised the other day and may just take the bait.
When I think of product transitions I think OS 9 to OS X, Power PC to Intel. I think there might be something a bit more up their sleeve and it will be coming within the next three months. I just dont think new iMacs are enough for Oppenheimer to stress that it will impact their earnings that drastically in the future.
This is juicy. At first I thought it might me an iCar, or an iPlane, or an iSub or something more exotic. There has always been the possibility of OSX on PC’s, but the legacy driver issue could be a problem for Apple and they make more money with there “small” market share selling the whole widget. Maybe its something more focused like a deal with IBM for the iClone. After all OSX is Unix which is infinitely scalable to the biggest iron and runs on their powerpc chips. IBM has the enterprise with its legions of handholding marketing/support staff. What better way to crack this nut. All Apple has to do is rake in the licencing fees while IBM does all the enterprise heavy lifting. Anyway, it would have to be something that would impact Mac sales. Just a theory. Rumor sites, get to work!
I don’t think that the word “transition” would mean a new product. I think that it is referring to replacing one product design with another. Probably some of the desktops, iMac, mini.
OSX for PCs? Blasphemy!
Oh, wait, You weren’t talking Leopard, or even Tiger, but Jaguar (no) or Panther (YES!). I can actually see how that could work – a new version of “Panther” that will run on just about any PC. Not perfect, no support and not a whole lot of drivers (etc), but more than enough to give the curious young a taste. Going back to 10.3.10 (new version, remember?) introduced with – or shortly after – Leopard, would provide some distance while maintaining the “modern” feel.
Cost? Download for free, packaged (CD with OSX/Panther, the missing manual) for $35 – NO support included beyond “how do I load this up and boot it?” basics.
OK … this is a pipe-dream. A Marketing pipe-dream. Still … 10.6 will be introduced before Seven, and 10.7 at about the same time. That would give Vista owners a year to play with 10.4.(11-15) before Seven hits the street … major dis-satisfaction!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page Pod Cast – currently discussing Mumbet
Some of Apple’s product transitions have included changing what’s under the hood, like when the Motorola CPU became the IBM CPU, and then the Intel CPU. Those were “transitions” that Apple was understandably insecure about, especially the Intel switch which some loyal Mac users still haven’t completely gotten over.
So Oppenheimer’s under-the-breath comment about product transitions might be little darker than simply more new and awesome products from Apple. There could be something that’s going to change that’s leaving Apple wondering how the faithful are going to initially react.
And on a final note, I really hold in high disregard the language that is used to describe Apple’s earnings guidance – “…disappointing earnings guidance…” My feeling is that it shows the better part of wisdom to be reasonably conservative when it comes to the market place whether you’re buying or selling, or offering. Among other things, being conservative allows some fudge room for Apple to make changes as it feels it needs to being that Apple is still relatively early on in what is still going to be a real power-house corporation, eventually on the order of MS, but with a much more diversified offering.
By the way, @IT Guy, every Mac that has ever come out has always been the true desktop computer of the time –
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
Product Transition: The 6G iPods will migrate from its current embedded OS to OS X.
I think Zune Tang is secretly Steve Ballmer visiting MDN. Our favorite Troll… is Ballmer, he looks like a troll, so why not.
Good to have you on-board ZT, you always give me a good laugh.
Something’s up, for certain.
Several weeks ago, a poster on a forum of another Mac site reported getting a brand new MacBook to replace one needing some minor repair.
A couple of weeks ago, I get a call from the tech guy of an Apple authorized service center (not an Apple store). I have a 5 year old, 17″ iMac that’s been waiting (since about April) for a part on back order. He says that Apple has an offer for me. They can send the replacement part for my old Mac, or I can buy a brand new, mid-range 17″ iMac for only $300. All I have to do is ship them the old Mac…and Apple will paying shipping.
Apple just got $300 (plus local taxes) of my money.
It’s just anecdotal I know, but I’ve heard similar stories for years and they always precede changes to the Mac lineup.
Here’s my guess:
New machines with much higher-DPI displays. Leopard is ready for resolution independence, and the higher-quality LCDs are going to be much more expensive. Apple will keep their price points nearly the same, and take lower margins for a while.
I can’t wait for a 17″ laptop with a 160 DPI or higher screen. That’s going to be sweet.
-jcr
Here’s my guess:
New machines with much higher-DPI displays. Leopard is ready for resolution independence, and the higher-quality LCDs are going to be much more expensive. Apple will keep their price points nearly the same, and take lower margins for a while.
I can’t wait for a 17″ laptop with a 160 DPI or higher screen. That’s going to be sweet.
-jcr
Here’s my guess:
New machines with much higher-DPI displays. Leopard is ready for resolution independence, and the higher-quality LCDs are going to be much more expensive. Apple will keep their price points nearly the same, and take lower margins for a while.
I can’t wait for a 17″ laptop with a 160 DPI or higher screen. That’s going to be sweet.
-jcr
Here’s my guess:
New machines with much higher-DPI displays. Leopard is ready for resolution independence, and the higher-quality LCDs are going to be much more expensive. Apple will keep their price points nearly the same, and take lower margins for a while.
I can’t wait for a 17″ laptop with a 160 DPI or higher screen. That’s going to be sweet.
-jcr
Everything goes multi-touch. That’s what I’m callin. MBs and MBPs screen becomes multi-touch. Cinema display becomes multi-touch. iMac becomes multi-touch. Ok, it’s more like, that’s what I’m hopin, but still, it’d be cool.
Oh I just thought of something else. The reason going to multi-touch now would affect sales? Because you need Leopard for multi-touch. So a lot of people hold off until Leopard’s out in order to buy their new Macs. Now of course, that begs the question, why on earth would Apple do that? I dunno, they’d have a reason I’m sure. I just really really want everything to go multi-touch.
PPC?
Multi-Touch, Multi-Touch, Multi-Touch.
Think about it: OS X Leopard on the iPhone; it’s already there– just release the hardware. This will be like having the bridge of the Star Trek Enterprise in your home!
Perhaps the new rumored video ipods will also priced lower, which may not only explain the lower profit forcast for next quarter, but Apple’s idea to further separate it from the iphone. A stand alone widescreen multitouch ipod may indeed canibalize iphone sales.
My Dream Mac:
Something bigger than a mini but much smaller than the Pro.
A computer that we can open and add more RAM or switch out the HD without using a putty knife!
You could select one of three keyboard/mouse options:
1. Wired keyboard & mouse
2. Wireless keyboard and mouse
3. No keyboard or mouse.
It would connect to my LCD TV and become my home computer/media center.
Pretty please?
I’m hoping Apple are going to introduce iCamera and iCamcorder. Why should we have great iLife apps but sucky UI’s on our cameras?