Apple

[Slamz]

I also think that MP3 players and smartphones were new (emerging) markets. Apple took a good idea that wasn't getting a lot of good marketing or good design and they launched it into the stratosphere.

I don't think they can do that with TV or set-top boxes. I see "television" related tech as an area that's already saturated and no company is going to drive massive new sales in those fields. I also think that Apple's proprietary bullshit and horrible iTunes experience is going to keep undermining the ability to be the top dog in content providing, which is going to hurt anything they try to do in the field of television. Apple getting into bed with DRM demands has also hurt their long term image and ability to deliver a good product. They should have fought the manufacturers and publishers, like Amazon did, rather than side with them against consumers.


"Smart watches", at least, have SOME potential. Like MP3 players, it's a big enough new spin on old technology that maybe there's room for good marketing and good design to cause a new explosion of consumerism but I have my doubts since ultimately a smartwatch is just a smartphone with a tiny screen and less functionality.

I'd be more excited if Apple was trying to do an "iEye" or some competition for Google Glass. That's at least a totally new technology that could flop or go huge in the foreseeable future. The fully integrated plug-in home might be another good emerging field for Apple to get into though frankly with their proprietary bullshit I would never buy their line of goods -- I'd wait for Belkin or Google or someone else.

[Grieve]

Waiting for Maul to comment that Apple's 7 for 1 stock split and extra buyback is just to divert attention from the lack of new products in...3...2...1...

Oh well, I'm happy either way. Stock is juiced by $40+ after hours. Of course...this is after I sold half my AAPL at an average price of $531 ($33 lower than now) to buy AMZN (down 13% since I bought it), GOOGL (down 6%) and Splunk (up 4%)...should have known me selling would be the trigger for the stock to shoot up...

[Vanraw]

Apple buy back.... About time. If you cant introduce new products through investing your hoard of cash then you need to give the money to your owners.

Is that what you were looking for?

[Breand]

I'm just sitting here shaking my head. Been sitting on this goddamn stock for 2 years, and I finally give up and unload it and dump it all into TNA and then not a week later it skyrockets. The market is a harsh mistress.

[strife]

I'm just sitting here shaking my head. Been sitting on this goddamn stock for 2 years, and I finally give up and unload it and dump it all into TNA and then not a week later it skyrockets. The market is a harsh mistress.

That's why Jake just invests in hookers and blow... and why I'm too dumb to play with stocks...

[Vanraw]

I'm just sitting here shaking my head. Been sitting on this goddamn stock for 2 years, and I finally give up and unload it and dump it all into TNA and then not a week later it skyrockets. The market is a harsh mistress.

Note to self; When Breand sells, Buy!

[Grieve]

I'm just sitting here shaking my head. Been sitting on this goddamn stock for 2 years, and I finally give up and unload it and dump it all into TNA and then not a week later it skyrockets. The market is a harsh mistress.

It is because your faith was not strong, young Breand.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F15dgBzwOrc[/youtube]

Up another $20 today, new 52 week high.

[Airyth]

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So if I use an iphone to buy a new iphone from verizon it will cost only $1500 + applicable taxes and fees

Luckily there is a 50% discount if you call your bank and apple and wait on hold for a few hours.

[Grieve]

http://recode.net/2014/10/22/bank-of-ame...xed-today/

Bank of America is in the process of correcting a technical error that resulted in a subset of its customers getting charged twice when they attempted to use the new Apple Pay mobile payment service, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company expects to have a fix in place today for the problem, which happened between the bank and at least one payment network and did not involve Apple, this person added.

[strife]

That's why you don't use bank of america. They are the devil

[Jakensama]

I've had my checking account with them since I was 15 and have never had any issues. The few times I got hacked and someone bought shit on my account online they immediately refunded my money and I haven't paid a fee in 13 years.

[Breand]

I've had my checking account with them since I was 15 and have never had any issues. The few times I got hacked and someone bought shit on my account online they immediately refunded my money and I haven't paid a fee in 13 years.

You make good money, you shouldn't be banking with the proletariat's choice.

[Jakensama]

They partner with my Kraut bank, it makes it easeir to go back and forth with my rental income from there.

[Grieve]

Apple is losing / has lost confidence in investors that it can come up with a "new product categories" that is significant revenue.

Maul, I introduce to you…the Apple car!

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If this is all Apple has in its pocket, then we all need to buy aggressive long term "puts" on Apple. The stock will be a $2xx stock by year end.

You overshot it, it was actually a $1xx stock by year end.

Unless you meant pre-split-adjusted, that is

[Vanraw]

Apple is losing / has lost confidence in investors that it can come up with a "new product categories" that is significant revenue.

Maul, I introduce to you…the Apple car!

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-working-electric-car-project-233622615.html">http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-wor ... 22615.html</a><!-- m -->

Yea Apple needed something they could whisper rumors into to drive the stock price up. I mean Apple TV and Apple Watch are over done....

A question for you. Do you think the Apple watch will dent revenue numbers? I dont know of anyone, even appleites sworn to the cult, that are actually wanting to buy one.

[Grieve]

A question for you. Do you think the Apple watch will dent revenue numbers? I dont know of anyone, even appleites sworn to the cult, that are actually wanting to buy one.

In the short term, probably not.

But what I think the doubters (not mentioning any names... :wink don't take into account is the power of a sticky ecosystem. The more cohesive the overall experience, the more people are likely to stay in the Apple world, and buy more Apple products.

It's like ApplePay. That's never going to generate more than a rounding number in terms of overall revenue/profit, but it makes owning an iPhone more attractive - especially with all the banks and stores pushing it. Same with the watch. If all your friends have it and it's really cool, it makes you want one, which means you need an iPhone. So Apple sells a watch AND an iPhone that maybe they wouldn't have otherwise.

Plus you know those $10,000 gold iWatches are going to sell like crazy to the rich in places like China, Russia, and India...

You can say the same of Google apps, which makes owning an Android more attractive. That's the real battle going forward - the services and ecosystem, more than incremental increases in the hardware.

[Vanraw]

Yea got it. Sticky glue is what its all about in most businesses today. That is my biggest gripe with Apple's business plan, what I call a closed hardware economy.

Google has sticky glue as well, but its hardware agnostic, which means that price points will impacted by competition.

[Breand]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHZ8ek-6ccc[/youtube]

[Jakensama]

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[Jakensama]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-watch-may-not-be-ticking-with-customers-2015-07-07">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple- ... 2015-07-07</a><!-- m -->

Well, that de-escalated quickly.

[Grieve]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-w...2015-07-07

Well, that de-escalated quickly.

In other news, Jurassic World took $81million on it's first day, but only took $4 million yesterday. That's a 95% drop! The movie is a flop! It's a disaster!

Amazing how people are surprised when a new product sells less after a few months than it did on it's first weekend. Because that NEVER happens. I guess that's it for Apple. The Apple Watch may have sold more units in it's first quarter than the iPhone sold in it's entire first year (making it the fastest selling Apple product in history), and it may have sold more units in a single day than Android sold in an entire year, but that's no doubt...it's a disaster.

[Jakensama]

I know the default position to defend the church at all costs, but you have to recognize the difference between a product which is supposed to be 'the next big thing' and a form of entertainment which has a small lifespan built into the metric of measuring it's success. The iPhone sales went up, they didn't precipitously drop once easily fooled rubes emptied their wallet.

They proved they can sell to rubes, as a product for the masses - the numbers are in..

[Grieve]

It may seem like I'm defending Apple at all costs, but I've seen this so many times before. A couple of weeks before earnings the doom and gloom predictions come in, and then Apple crushes numbers.

I think the watch is following the path that the iPhone and iPad took to the T. Start out big, then taper off through the summer months, then surge again over the holidays. Especially if a new model comes out.

I particularly loved the Daily Mail headline - "Apple Watch is a FLOP".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...laims.html

Really? It's sold millions, more than all other smart watches combined, and it's a flop? It's just sensationalist journalism looking for clicks.

I don't actually have an Apple Watch, but my wife does and loves it. You just have to recognize it for what it is - a way to be connected without lugging your phone around everywhere. We have four kids, and my wife has about 10 alarms a day setup on the phone - Emma's bus, Hannah's bus, Owen preschool, Ella's dance, etc, etc. Getting those and quickly dismissing them on your wrist is so much easier than hunting down your phone and turning them off. And we were at a theme park this weekend. So much easier to field phone calls, text messages, and even phone calls on your wrist than dig through a backpack to find your phone. Plus it works great as a fitness tracker. And is very waterproof, based on the torrential thunderstorm it survived.

Is it a must have device? No, but neither is a phone, a tablet, a laptop, etc. It it worth $350 to make your life easier? Absolutely, when you use it every day. May seem like a lot, but let's face it...you're paying $1000s for your phone over it's lifespam, counting what the phone company fleeces you for. This is no different from paying more to get more minutes or data. You're paying for a convenience.

[Jakensama]

The smart watch idea is like the Kinect.

Sold strong at first. Seems really neat. Not one really good reason to own one (not as if carrying a phone is onerous, especially with the wide variety of sizes available... oh wait, apple), nor does it really do anything interesting, and lack of purpose and word of mouth will eventually kill the thing.

The cell phone killed the watch. Making a watch that talks to your phone was a terribly short sighted idea.

I don't think it will kill them economically, but I highly doubt this stupid concept will take off significantly. Smart phones blew up because they are useful and filled a void.. Watches bring very little to the table once the novelty wears off.

If the purpose of it is women who keep their phones in purses rather than pockets, I'm not sure its the best marketing strategy.. Women as a whole aren't the biggest tech gadget demographic.

[Grieve]

Pretty sure you said the same thing about tablets... I think watches and wearables will continue to grow. Don't make me start another bet I won't honor... :wink:

Another point I saw elsewhere is that this is online sales only. The bottom appears to fall out of the chart right around the time Apple finally started selling them in stores. Before that they were online only. Also US only. You know the Chinese are going to love those gold versions...