“Perhaps the most important number in Apple’s quarterly release on Tuesday came from China, and it’s not the good news Apple makes out. The company’s over reliance on the Chinese market is starting to hinder its progress despite management’s attempts to give it a positive spin,” Leonid Bershidsky writes for Bloomberg View. “During Tuesday’s earnings call, Apple chief executive Tim Cook sang the praises of the Chinese market, saying it will one day be Apple’s largest. In fiscal 2015, which ended for Apple on Sept. 26, Greater China provided 25 percent of the company’s revenue, for the first time overtaking Europe, responsible for just 21.6 percent of Apple sales. An economic slowdown? Not according to Cook.”
Frankly, if I were to shut off my web and shut off the TV and just look at how many customers are coming in our stores regardless of whether they’re buying, how many people are coming online, and in addition looking at our sales trends, I wouldn’t know there was any economic issue at all in China. And so I don’t know how unusual we are with that. I think that there’s a misunderstanding, probably particularly in the Western world, about China’s economy, which contributes to the confusion. That said, I don’t think it’s growing as fast as it was; but I also don’t think that Apple’s results are largely dependent on minor changes in growth. – Apple CEO Tim Cook, October 27, 2015
“The statistics Cook cites in support of this view are impressive: 87 percent growth in iPhone sales year-on-year in Greater China (which includes Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau) despite the entire market’s 4 percent growth; revenue almost twice as high in the last quarter as a year ago; and the iPhone 6 now the bestselling smartphone in China, with the iPhone 6 Plus at number three. These numbers are less relevant, however, than two others: a drop in quarter-on-quarter sales in Greater China and an erosion of Apple’s overall market share there,” Bershidsky writes. “Cook is wrong to say the Chinese slowdown isn’t affecting his company’s sales. The effect has been immediate and quite obvious.”
“Cook is banking on the future growth of the Chinese middle class, and that’s an obvious long-term bet to make, but under the current economic conditions, this growth is not likely to be explosive. Besides, Apple won’t even be able to grow its sales at the same rate because many Chinese consumers will opt for better-value devices from local producers, as they’re already doing, judging by the market share data,” Bershidsky writes. “There are no more miracles coming out of China, however, and no more technological rabbits coming out of Apple’s hat. It’s time for some stagnation and retrenchment — at least by this company’s remarkably high standards.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As if the claim that there are “no more technological rabbits coming out of Apple’s hat,” is not enough of a neon sign flashing “baseless FUD,” there are other issues besides just ignorant anti-Apple fomenting to address. For example: There were only two days of iPhone 6s/Plus sales during the 2015 quarter versus none days of iPhone 6/Plus sales in the 2014 quarter.
That explains Bershidsky’s little “China Syndrome” chart above, even if it doesn’t explain why he’s labeled the quarters so perplexingly. Labeling a bunch of different quarters seems less than intellectually honest, even if he did label them correctly, which Bershidsky didn’t. Why are there only two quarters between Q414 and Q415 when there were, in reality, three? Shady.
We’ve iCal’ed this article for future reference.
OK, so this is just outside of my “Attaboy Apple” 4-hour window I mentioned in a previous post. Still, it didn’t take long for the nattering nabobs to start prattling. 😠
Paid propaganda… ,,or this guy is a 100% bonafide idiot !
Wow.. Its shocking to see bloomburg associate itself with this trash …even remotly !
He’s auditioning for a guest spot on CNBC 😉
I’ve read, heard and watched a lot of puerile kiddy crap come out of Bloomberg this year. I think they gave up on professionalism in favor of teen appeal, with the accompanying teen immaturity of thinking, consideration, experience, foresight, insight…. That sort of thing.
Manufacturing doubt, because, you can’t put on “WINNING!”
“It’s time for some stagnation and retrenchment”
Thank GOD this guy is not in charge of Apple.
Leonid Bershidsky who writes for Bloomberg View certainly is eloquent with his baseless FUD. How sad that he couldn’t bother to look at Year Over Year data. It simply didn’t fit his baseless FUD; Therefore, ignore it.
Why are weasels continually in season? I’d think they’d be extinct by now, seeing how many have been shot down this year. Desperate, stupid little weasels. Either than or…
You get more attention yelling “There is a storm coming tomorrow!” than you do yelling “The sky will be blue tomorrow.”
IOW click-bait. I suppose it’s an old journalism trick.
That’s rule number two in Yellow Journalism.
To learn rule number one, please click on the subscribe button below.
😆
I noticed that the tick marks in the graph are not year to year, so as to confuse the viewer, where the pattern year to year is clear…. UP !-)
just some idiot trying to tank the stock
What’s really sad is that in this dumbed down internet age even an ignorant idiot like this has a following/ influence sometimes…
Apparently 2015 is some sort of crazy leap year with only 3 quarters in it. we skipped either Q1, Q2 or Q3. Very odd.
They’re all back the trolls and FUD media maggots…
Nothing will help you pathetic idiots not even The Donald.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It’s as if the “big lie” principle espoused by Adolf Hitler (repeat something often, it will eventually be accepted) is part of the operational machinery of the alien invaders. (OK it might be human plutocrats or Luddite fanatics, but same difference.) Urban myths and old wives’ tales have a fantastic shelf life. Face it, we all believe in leprechauns and an afterlife. The Donald may be our only hope.
Market share… Here we go again.
another FUDtard MORON given “journalistic license” by Doomberg!!
Bloomberg …. Yet again, right on cue with their anti-Apple rhetoric … They HAVE to be in Samsung’s back pocket.
Blind and irrational support for Apple and its incredibly poor CEO continues to accomplish absolutely nothing. Keep call it FUD and bashing those of us pointing out the reality of what’s happening with the extraordinary weak leadership and wait for the inevitable results.
Hell-looooo, Jay. You promised to stop your drivel.
Aw Jay, you pop up from your mom’s basement again to get some fresh air? Guess what, it didn’t help your IQ.
Let me fix that for you, Jay…
Blind and irrational criticism of Apple, the most successful company on the planet, and its incredibly competent CEO continues to accomplish absolutely nothing. Please keeping calling it FUD and bashing my baseless fantasies of what’s happening. All you need to do is look at the actual results.
Sorry, I can’t accept the “irrational” part.
Extraordinarily weak leadership seldom results in extraordinary social and financial gains, which Apple has posted on a regular basis. You haven’t made a convincing case for Tim Cook’s removal on those grounds. It’s just a cheap magic trick to claim that another CEO could have done far more. Think of the Apple Board of Directors, who control the destiny of the company. They have profound concern for the value of your shares and of everyone else’s. The CEO serves at their pleasure. BODs have power in the tech industry and they have wielded it with brutality at times, even famously in the original ousting of Steve Jobs in 1985.
The current Apple BOD hasn’t shown the slightest inclination to remove Tim Cook. And that has to be because under his leadership the company has exhibited success in every market it has entered.
Let’s see what this author previously wrote about Apple. Ah, here we go: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-10/apple-will-leave-no-ipad-behind from just last month and I quote:
“The new iPhone 6s has just one truly novel feature — so-called 3D Touch, a screen that reacts differently to pressure of varying force, like the one in the Apple Watch. It’s of questionable value…The 6s generation probably won’t be as successful as the previous one…”
Hmm, well, at least he’s consistent(ly wrong).
Just another idiot that knows nothing about Apple or Tim Cook.
Is it just me or is anyone else curious what smartphone is in the number 2 position selling better than the iPhone 6 Plus? Reading the main article makes it sound like a Huawei or Xiaomi device.
Another BSer. He probably rates Amazon a buy.
The chineses numbers are phenomenal considering that a new iPhone was being released. This normally means a slowdown in iPhone sales while folks wait for the new iPhone. I bet the numbers will be tremendous all the way through the Chinese New Year.