Malcolm Owen for AppleInsider:
Observations from JP Morgan of the 10-K filing seen by AppleInsider reveals Apple’s retail strategy is “driving greater direct purchases from customers,” with Apple Stores and its website accounting for 31% of total revenue for the financial year. This is an improvement from the 29% seen for the 2018 fiscal year and 28% in 2017.
JP Morgan also noticed an uptick in share repurchases during August, when Apple had low share price levels hitting $193 per share. While in July Apple rebought 24 million shares, the pace accelerated in August to 35 million shares, then went down to 27 million in September.
This apparently demonstrates a “willingness to use repurchases opportunistically and limit downside for investors,” JP Morgan reckons. The activity still leaves Apple with repurchase authorizations of $78.9 billion outstanding at the end of the year.
MacDailyNews Take: Despite vociferous complaints about how much they’ve changed over the years, Apple Retail Stores are obviously thriving and continue to grow sales to record levels.
Gateway wonders, “how did we get it so wrong”.
I was in an Apple store a week ago, and the place was absolutely packed with people; easily over 150 customers. Most were buying, but some were in classes. Kids were in an area playing/learning with computers. The store was casual, employees were friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable.
My wife and I left the store (after spending over $1K), and visited some other stores in the mall. We walked by the Apple store a couple of hours later, and the store was even busier than when we were first there.
In stark contrast, the Microsoft store in the same mall might have had 20 customers, in addition to the 15 or so employees.
I’ve been using Macs since 1993, and see real differences in the company post-Jobs, but Apple still has the edge.