Apple: The Real News Is What Wasn't Announced 16 comments
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Let’s recap, shall we? Apple’s news event is over and we now know that there’s a new version of iTunes and some tweaks to the lineup of iPods. Here’s what there isn’t:
No Tablet Mac. Well, that shouldn’t come as a big surprise, given that the buzz around the launch of a tablet Mac started to fizzle a while back.
No iPod cameras. It’s tough to say whether the rumors over the past week or so about technical problems with the camera that was supposed to go in the iPod were true or not. Aside from a video camera feature in the iPod Nano - now a competitor to the FlipCam - there was no mention of a camera in any of the iPods.
No major price drops. Sure, the lower-end iPod Touch dropped by $30 but everything else was a capacity upgrade for the same price. Does that count as a price drop? Personally, I think not.
No upgrades to the IPhone - which wasn’t expected either, seeing how this “It’s Only Rock n Roll” event clearly seemed to be about music.
No real news. Sure, there were some cool new features in the all new iTunes 9 and I plan to do some upgrading to my home machines right away. But even the return of Steve Jobs to the center-stage was more exciting than some of the other headlines.
The critics are already chiming in - many on my liveblog post - about this event really being more of a non-event. And, for the most part, it’s hard to argue against that assessment. Clearly, Apple (AAPL) needed to make some sort of announcement about its holiday lineup and early September seems to be the time of the year that the company chooses to release news. But the fact that this particular event devoted so much time to partner demos of new iPod Touch video games and a full demo of iTunes kind of offered a hint that that was as good as it was going to get.
And it was.
But make no mistake - the iPod remains the 800-pound Gorilla among portable music devices with nearly 74 percent market share. And little things like new colors and small tweaks here and there will be enough to bring the kids - and parents - into the stores to take a look this holiday season.
Right about now, Mac fans are likely thinking about the next big announcement, traditionally made as part of MacWorld in January. Only problem is that Apple is no longer affiliated with the annual trade show so don’t expect some big keynote speech and major announcement about a tablet Mac there. Tech bloggers - myself included - still think early 2010 will be the time frame for a Tablet Mac announcement but I guess we’ll have to wait for another event invitation to fall in our inboxes.
Sure, today’s event may have been more of a non-event - and there’s a risk that the next Apple announcement could also be a disappointment. But until Apple falls off the pedestal that tech geeks have put the company on, I’ll continue to attend and write about their news events.
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Personally I think that would be a dead end for the product line and I hope Apple thinks so too. The conspicuous refusal to allow the Google voice app on the iPhone should tell sophisticated pundits something about Apple's plans; they don't want voice apps from Google because they plan to do that themselves.
The iPhone is the ideal platform for a piconet master device. An iPhone coupled with a Bluetooth 2.0 headset (video glasses, microphone, earphones) makes the perfect voice operated internet device.
The future of portable computing is not bigger, it's smaller.
Can you say 'education'? Or 'Netbook'? Or Site Manager? Or Deliveries? Or Waiters? Or any mobile information gathering?
Far from a dead end, OSX on a tablet will one of the biggest steps yet for OSX.
And as frequently predicted, not until January....
As for this being a non-event. How ridiculous can you get, it was a major event just for the appearance of Steve Jobs. But, it was also extraordinary for the complete and utter demonstration of the lead Apple has over all others.
I feel the bloom is off the rose and Apple will slowly fade from center stage.
i'm sure you all are aware the target for traders is 200, with smart money getting out anywhere above 190. The people at "Fast Money", (admittedly long the stock) were trying hard to justify reasons for the stock to go up last night, I didn't hear anything that would convince me to hang on to a position.
On Sep 10 09:56 AM mollytjm wrote:
> Of course there's a reason to invest in Apple. It's a great company.
> They won't take 7 years (Vista) for their next product and they won't
> put out a Zune. They make great products and great improvements.
> This stock is a great long term investment. They have no debt, tons
> of $$$, multiple streams of income, lots of smart innovators, great
> name recognition, terrific customer relations, and very profitable
> retail space. They keep capturing more and more market share every
> month. All this makes for a great long term investment.
> Your obviously one of the Apple faithful, with the cheerleader mantra
> that you just spilled out. I personally don't care about the companies
> products, etc. I just look at the price of the stock and the potential
> price for the near future.
...
>I didn't see anything in the presentation yesterday
> that would lead me to believe the stock will be higher next week.
See, there's your problem right there. Re-read what you replied to:
mollytjm wrote:
> This stock is a great long term investment.
You're probably right that Apple has no real reason to make any significant short-term gains. But you're looking at it as a daytrader. From the wide-angle view, Apple is an extraordinarily influential, well-run company with no debt and a heap of cash. There's no reason to think they won't continue to grow and grow.
"... little things like new colors and small tweaks here and there will be enough to bring the kids - and parents - into the stores to take a look this holiday season."
But that might not be enough to entice people to upgrade their iPods. And with high market saturation, Apple needs to offer a compelling reason to upgrade.
I agree that the event was a little uneventful, and that the stock has a premium value on it now (would like to see it back in 150's), but don't let one event suggest a trading or long term view of the stock.
As said above, they are a cash machine, $30+ billion cash (insane), have the highest grossing $psf in retail space, great margins on their products (cause we all pay too much ; ) ), etc...also, we don't even know what their real eps is since they are ammortizing iphone rev. streams.
Apple is an extremely strong long term stock choice, and far an away the best of breed. And remember, they still only have 6%-7% of the PC market.
You can't change a HD in a MacMini without a technician's certificate. If the screen goes mad on the i-Mac after warranty, you may as well toss the whole machine.
There are constant incompatibilities with programs that don't support it, particularly financial streaming tools. The Java base needs constant resetting, as Java issues have been a constant headache with Apples.
Yes, the operating system and user-friendly platform has a lot going for it, but let's not worship at the feet of Apple - it really gets tired real fast.
Apple is hardly as great as it appears.
thats what apple is
a brand.
congrats to them for being able to turn a computer in a fashion desirable accessorie.
On Sep 10 11:17 PM Tradestar wrote:
Apple's share price has gone through the roof, and $170 a share is
not justified no matter how you turn it; they are tight with their money, offering no dividend.
As an investor, this is why I will never put money into Apple, they also, as it seems to me have a very arrogant stance with regards to their shareholders. The only good thing that has happened recently is Schmidt resigning from board
> I don't understand the fascination with an iPad. Why would Apple
> want to build the biggest small screen on the market?
To watch the small puck on a hockey game. lol!!
I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks. No one refers to the 'Apple Faithful' anymore, that was tired back in the 90's it makes absolutely no sense now.
Soon, people will be referring to the 'Windoze faithful' --that would make a lot of sense. Why would anyone think, for instance that they will ever have a compelling smart phone? Or that Windows 7 will sell? No pressure on Microsoft to have a successful OS release this time, right? LOL!