“You can say that a company that can no longer innovate or at least earn decent revenue and profits may have jumped the shark. You might apply that term to Sears and perhaps HP, companies well past their prime,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “Radio Shack jumped the shark years ago, but took a while for the ever-changing management to realize that basic fact and take steps to put the company out of its misery.”
“Today’s argument against Apple is that the company is far too dominated by iPhone sales, which make up the largest part share of revenue. In the last quarter, the iPhone accounted for roughly 70% of Apple’s revenues, and 85% of its profits,” Steinberg writes. “The theory has it that iPhone sales must be reaching the saturation point any day now, so what does Apple do to keep the growth curve? Apple Watch? That’s still a largely untested market, and the potential isn’t certain, though I suppose that’s not a view that’s especially unusual. Maybe we’ll all have a better picture of that potential if Apple rushes to release early sales figures after the rollout weekend. As of now, Apple Watch sales will not even be listed as a separate category in Apple’s financials.
“I suppose some critics might use that as a reason to dismiss the possibility for its success, that Apple knew it wasn’t going to be a sales superstar, so they hedged their bets. But stellar sales could change the reporting scheme real fast,” Steinberg writes. “Regardless of what happens to Apple Watch, it’s clear the iPhone hasn’t reached its potential. Depending on whose figures you trust, iOS is in the teens in terms of worldwide market share, give or take a few points, compared to Android. Apple may not play in the cheaper markets, but as more and more people aspire to something better, iPhone will get its share. So even if the iPhone remains Apple’s top-selling product by a huge margin, the end isn’t near.”
Much more in the full article here.