In response to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Apple recently announced further steps. Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster applauds the leadership role Apple has assumed in taking these steps, including allowing Apple Card holders to skip their March payment without penalty, despite the near-term negative impact on revenue.
Currently, according to the latest figures from Caixin, there are 81,077 confirmed cases in China and 3,218 deaths. As of Monday morning, at least 13 countries outside China had reported caseloads of more than 1,000 infections, including a combined total of more than 3,200 deaths, according to government data and media reports. Italy recorded 3,590 new cases on Sunday, bringing its total infections to 24,747, according to the country’s health ministry. The country’s total deaths rose to 1,809.
The U.S. reported 3,807 confirmed cases as of Monday morning with 69 deaths, 42 of those in Washington State.
Gene Munster for Loup Ventures:
Closing all stores for two weeks outside of China adds about 1-2% revenue headwind to the March quarter. Some of the sales that would have happened in-store will shift online, which will somewhat offset the negative impact.
Apple is matching employee donations two-to-one related to the COVID-19 response.
Apple is doing it right, winning the long game in the hearts and minds of consumers by treating them with compassion.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s coronavirus response shows once again that Apple leads, as usual. Here’s hoping the rest will now follow Apple, as they so often do, and social distancing will become the norm while we all work together to flatten the curve of this outbreak!
Please Read: Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve” – Washington Post https://t.co/Ahl8qsY1SG
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) March 16, 2020
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
I applaud Apple on this. We are all in this together. It is what my parent’s America was known for (they lived through the great depression). I am grieved by the “me/us first” attitude that has been encouraged in the country (the basis of which is “us vs them”). We can get through things much better when we band together.
Great post and EXACTLY why this is no time for politics and doomsayers.
It always starts from the top perhaps we need a new top.
Sounds more like it’s coming from your bottom.
Hope you saved those CVS receipts….
A shame that their leadership has been rewarded by a 35-point drop this morning. No good deed goes unpunished.
….whoosh!…
Brilliant.