“Apple stock has been hammered today, dropping almost 6 percent or $25/share as investors are taking cues from an important Apple component supplier, Cirrus Logic, which forecast lower-than-expected sales of its chips for iPhone and iPad in the coming quarter,” John Koetsier reports for VentureBeat.
“The new drop means that Apple is now more than $300/share down from its high point in September 2012, when the company was worth over $650 billion,” Koetsier reports. “And that it has now dropped an absolutely massive $250 billion in value since then — the equivalent of an entire Google or a Microsoft.”
Koetsier reports, “Apple’s quarterly results are coming next week Tuesday, and company better hope Tim Cook has a rabbit to pull out of his hat in order to impress investors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: All Apple did last quarter was to post the most profitable quarter for a tech company in history.
Cook did pull a rabbit out of his hat and look what that got him.
By now, Cook has to be seeing that The iMac Launch That Wasn’t, the epic-yet-rarely-mentioned screwup that actually started AAPL on its plunge into the abyss, just might end up doing him in. That would be a most ironic nail in the coffin of Tim Cook, Operations Genius.
Apple is too big and too rich to screw up things like iMac availability for Christmas shopping season. This isn’t 1996. Steve Jobs would have gone on a spree with an axe. Tim Cook, operations genius, is ultimately responsible for Apple blowing some 800,000 iMac sales in fiscal Q113 (holiday quarter). (Hopefully, he blew them into this quarter.) If Apple had those iMacs ready like they should have, not two months late, then they would have handily beaten the street in all respects and we wouldn’t be having this conversation today. — MacDailyNews Take, March 5, 2013
Again, hopefully those Christmas iMac sales were pushed into this quarter and the “surprise” will be a boon for Apple, Cook, and AAPL shareholders.
Related articles:
Obviously, Apple’s autumn iMac launch was badly botched – March 19, 2013
The curious case of Tim Cook, operations genius, and the missing iMacs – February 4, 2013
It doesn’t matter if Apple had “blown out” numbers last quarter or does so this quarter. The meme Apple is doomed is in full swing. Nothing will stop it, not even facts.
MDN–your comments are spot on, very very well said and true, I have been long Apple for 10+ years, and the price action the last six months is completely unacceptable, but dropped ball after dropped ball will do that to a stock–good luck Tim !
Guys, girls, it’s the stock market. Expect nothing more, expect nothing less. If you don’t like the game don’t play.
Sorry, it is the loss of about 4 years of my income that pissed me off. It is the lack of anything from Tim Cook and Apple for 7 months to support the investors. We are told to “Be patient”. What! The easy way to raise AAPL share price 10% to 25% is one small piece of paper. It is called a resignation letter.
MDN is showing it has just as much understanding as the other analysts. Finding a random reason for problems does not make it so.
Coincidentally, this morning I shed the equivalent of a Zune….
Coincidentally, was that before or after your equivalent of a “squirt”?!
Sometimes timing doesn’t work out. We don’t know why the iMacs weren’t ready when Apple wanted them to be – any component or technology might have been responsible for the timing to be off. Developing new products doesn’t always meet a marketing schedule.
Alternatively you could just as much focus on the fact they they got at least some of the iMacs out in time for the holidays, or at least got them announced so some people would hold off purchasing someone else’s computer until the iMacs became available. Unless you are saying that they shouldn’t have even announced them before January.
It’s all speculation and spilt milk, and it’s impossible and irresponsible to assign blame without facts.
Let me get this straight:
1. Condemn Apple for releasing Maps to early and not getting it right to begin with!
2. Condemn Apple for NOT releasing the iMac early enough because it was not ready!
Sounds like the analyists and hit-whore bloggers.
wow…even apple’s failures are hyperbolic…yaaay…I mean….what?!
I blame Johnny Ive for the iMac debacle. It didn’t have to be so thin and use some apparently untested process to manufacture. It’s a desktop. Sure, it looks cool but in the end if it had been a few mm thicker who would have cared?
blame Tim Cook – the master supply chain architect is screwing up both his positions.
The MDN editor has never admitted that his/her mantra — “No company is invincible. Not even Microsoft.” — applies equally to Apple.
To be clear: No company is invincible. That means … not even Apple.
Apple has holes in the bulwark, and water is pouring in. And Apple one-eyed zealots believe the ship is unsinkable. eg. have you ever heard MDN say that Apple is not invincible. No, Captain Smith.
Apple’s biggest vulnerability is its past success: namely, that it does not listen to customers. For a blip, this refusal to listen to customers worked because Steve was in charge. Steve knew what customers wanted.
But for millennia – apart from the blip of Steve’s tenure – the rule is, the customer is right.
e.g
– no replaceable batteries in iPhone
– dumbed down iOS with no filing system (why not have a preference where the USER can select between (i) dumbed down and (ii) smart features – i.e. turn a filing system on and off, so that morons who can’t cope with a filing system can select the dumb option, while normal people can select the on-switch to turn the filing system on. Why not give us a filing system like Finder, but have an option to hide it for morons who can’t cope. Even hide it by default, but let the smart people have a preference to turn it on. But, no, Apple totally removes the filing system. Why? Because it can’t care less about user requests for a Finder-like filing system in iOS.
– no matte screens for iMacs.
The lie that Apple has swallowed is that you cannot have marketshare AND profits. But you can. Just give the customers what they want, and do it at premium quality. That’s the way to get both marketshare AND profits.
Look, MDN readers, let’s take a 20 year bet. If you think Apple will hold up, you place all your retirement funds into Apple. See whether you really believe in Apple – a company whose DNA does not listen to customers (they don’t know what they want).
The only reason Apple survives is because the competition is so woeful. e.g. Windows 8 is far worse. PC designs are just plain ugly.
If you think Apple got to where it is today without paying attention to its customers needs, you are very much mistaken.
And giving all customers ‘what they want’ isn’t always a good idea. Apple tried that already. In those days it made 745 (I exaggerate) kinds of Macs at the same time, and almost went under. No need to go there again…
Get OVER YOURSELF and your goddamn replaceable batteries!!!!
WHO THE F*CK carries a backup battery EVERYWHERE they go? Are you F*CKING kidding me?
I hate people who ALWAYS use that as a reason why the iPhone is not a better phone.
Furthermore, the STORES just don’t carry that all important back up battery… anyways.
Specially with all the models Samsung squeezes out of its butt. You won’t find it – so whats the advantage?
the battery in iPhone is totally replaceable Dude… just not intended for you to do it yourself
I say Apple can use the lower price to buy back stock a bit cheaper.
Besides, Apple shouldn’t care one bit about its stock price. They have enough money at hand to ignore their market cap.
They should concentrate on their products, and leave a place which is largely populated with money grabbing fools and fed by rumors for what it is.
If you’re long Apple, you know it’ll bounce back eventually.
Steve Jobs wouldn’t care about stock price over what Apple knows how to do. People want cheap iPhones to flood the market, they want new products almost every 6 months. I hope Apple is busy working on the next best things than the fools concerned about the current markets and stock price.
SJ Quotes to remind all the fools:
“And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”
“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.
“The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.”
> Apple has shed the equivalent of a Google or a Microsoft since September 2012
So, Microsoft is Apple’s rounding error… 🙂
Take a look at how old Apple’s current lineup is:
1- The Mac Pro is based upon a form factor that dates to the G5 Power Macintosh introduced in June 2003.
2- The iMac is based upon a form factor that dates to the G5 iMac introduced in August 2004.
3- The iPhone is based upon a form factor that dates to the iPhone 4 introduced in June 2010.
4- The iPad is based upon a form factor dating from April 2010.
5- The Macbook Air is based upon a form factor introduced in January 2008.
6- The MacBook Pro is based upon a form factor introduced in October 2008.
7- The Unibody Mac Mini is based upon a form factor introduced in June 2010.
8- The Apple TV is based upon a form factor introduced in September 2010.
9- The Apple Thunderbolt Display is based upon a form factor introduced in October 2008.
10- iWork’s last major iteration was in January 2009 even as Microsoft has developed two iterations of Office for Macintosh since that time.
Then there is the whole fiasco of the mishandling of Pro Apps for Music, Photography and Video Production. Add in the abandonment of server hardware and a serious server OS.
When news was reported about Apple from 1997-2008 or so it was always about Apple introducing new products or groundbreaking updates to existing products. Other news on Apple centered upon new hardware or software developed by third party developers. Now the news about Apple refers to lawsuits, earnings, stock speculation, tax evasion, labor issues or office drama.
What is wrong with this picture?
What is wrong with this picture?
Well, from #1 to #10, Apple’s products are way ahead of the competition.
It is only a lack of competition that is holding Apple back from looking for newer, better, more advanced form factors.
Apple still produces the best hardware and software on earth.
Apple Inc. is not Apple computers.
You fail to understand the change in Apples’ direction thats was set forth by Steve. But that alone explains what is upside down in your picture. Hold it differently in the light. Think beyond.
iOS is what Apple is focused on now… integrating software on small appliances – post computers. Not desktops and the video editing world. Intel is not pressing forward with incredible processing advancements – hence – an iMac with quad core can suffice. Remember, Apple doesn’t make everything… it harnesses and harvests upcoming technologies – gathers and cooks up innovation WHEN ready… look around you.. what do you read… technologies in glass, metals, solar, hydrogen fuel cells, flexible screens, larger thinner televisions… these are the TOOLs and parts for the NEXT big thing… Apple researches and will be ready… don’t worry.
OSX is now a much smaller part of the puzzle. Agreed that some serious attention is required. Streamlining the line of hardware and catching up on software fixes – is in deed time. Lets hope so.
Don’t worry. The plan is coming along nicely.
When the stock hits $300, Apple will be in a unique position to borrow money to buy back 100% of their shares.
Apple doesn’t need the “stock market” distraction. They will do far better as a private company. They have never been closer to that goal.
Phil
stop defending MDN. apple is done. it shows limitation to grow. stock will fall more than you think. it is just beginning. I said before that APPL will be below $400. I was right. something is wrong in apple inside. leadership of Tim Cook doesn’t prove that apple is growing anymore. he fired all important people last year to survive himself. now what result hits apple so badly? unfortunately, Tim Cook can’t develop apple more unlikely Steve era. do you think that iphone, ipad sale is good outside of US? think again.
That is one of the most stupidest things I have heard. To hell with the stock, what are they doing with the products!
Those of you who judge “Apple the stock” versus “Apple the best product makers” have your heads buried in the sand. Focus on one and let the other go. Dual focused will bring both down. Product focus in the same manner as it is now – will carry the company forward for years into the future; But a misguided focus on “Stock Price” for the sakes of pip squeaks will destroy the company.
Yes MDN.Yes! You state it perfectly! Heads should have rolled over that fiasco. It was inexcusable. It wasn’t as though something just happened at the last minute either. You were the biggest company in the world. How could you possibly mess up something like the iMac production and delivery? It’s not rocket science. If the monitors had to be glued together and that was an impossible task then you shouldn’t have proceeded with that method. Results. Results are what matters in business. That’s something I would expect from Dell.
Who cares what quarter the iMac ships in?
The customers don’t care, so the shareholders shouldn’t care.
In the long run the share price will reflect the fundamentals. In the mean time it’s a good time to keep buying up shares.
The missed iMac sales would have helped Apple meet it’s numbers. Earnings. Q1 2013. Investors care that’s who cares.
That is PRECISELY the problem – focus on how much money I’m gonna make, PURE GREED! You want to ship something that is not yet “right”. For all of you misguided “Steve woulda done this” folks, well, the real Steve will not allow a product to ship KNOWLINGLY that is not Ready! In this case, Steve would be the one to say to hell with the stock, get the product right!
iMac availability had nothing to do with it, nor has Apple profitability past present or future. Two words: stockmarket manipulation.
What I don’t understand: I Apple still believes in their own business model (and I guess, they do), why they don’t buy any AAPL share they can get. I thought that would be a much better investment in itself than having the cash on the bank for about zero income from it.
Competition.
Apple should just ignore Wall Street and the analysts whislists and do what they always do, create high quality products. Let them drive the shares to zero if they want to.