“For companies that make tech gadgets, the last few months have been leading up to this very moment,” Emily Bary reports for Barron’s. “Apple, Fitbit, GoPro, and Garmin all came out with new products in the second half of the year, and Black Friday weekend provided the first real hint of how well those items will sell during the crucial holiday season.”
“Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt thinks the early signs look good for Apple, Fitbit, and Garmin, but not for GoPro,” Bary reports. “McCourt is encouraged by search trends for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X over the weekend, and he thinks that Apple is addressing its supply issues for the iPhone X. Supply and demand for that phone may balance out after the holidays in many developed markets, though it may take longer in emerging markets.”
Garmin and Fitbit, both of which released new wearables in the last few months, seemed to also have strong showings,” Bary reports. “GoPro, meanwhile, appeared to be one of the weekend’s losers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s earnings for this hiliday quarter are goint o be immense! Imagine if they had several million HomePod units to throw into the mix this Christmas, too!
Even several million would be to the right of the decimal point in terms of Apple earnings. Get it right, then ship it.
Apple Watch and the new iPhones will more than satisfy guidance. Bumping HomePod was a no-brainer.
I don’t know why all this constant moaning over a late HomePod. What Apple really needs is to improve Siri and then ship the HomePod. A not-so-smart HomePod isn’t worth buying even if it’s available. Since when does shipping a product late mean a company is on the verge of collapse? A late product doesn’t have to have any major significance. Certainly of no greater significance than a product that’s shipped before it’s ready. Outsiders get worked up over such meaningless things despite having no skin in the game.
I can’t believe Apple is going to be financially hurt by not offering the HomePod by Christmas. Won’t consumers be tapped out after buying all those other Apple offerings. Save the HomePod for later in the year when wallets get refilled.
The moaning is because it’s resulting in losing market share to the Amazon Echo. Similar to how Apple TV’s shortcomings cost it the race against Roku, the delays in the HomePod are costing it the race against the Echo.
Apple probably didn’t see much if any uptick as a result of Black Friday. Apple didn’t offer any sale prices (No a card to be used later doesn’t really count), so they are a winner because sales are hi not because of BF.
I think the iMac Pro will have a bigger sales impact than people are expecting:
• extremely powerful CPU
• extremely powerful GPU
• > 16/32 GB RAM
• new black colour box, keyboard and mouse i.e. distinctive
• pent-up demand for new Mac Pro (those who can’t wait)
• lots of professional graphics, developers, etc can afford/justify the best
• supports two 5K monitors (3 total with internal) for the ideal workstation setup
MDN: No comment / mention on huge security gaff by Apple?