Apple's Post MacWorld Drop - More to Come or Buying Opportunity? 19 comments
January 15, 2008
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UBS analysts said Apple (AAPL) shares could see further weakness following a MacWorld presentation that failed to inspire investors, but noted shares are set up positively long-term.
Other analysts saw the drop as a buying opportunity.
Analysts from Citigroup said they were surprised by the stock's weakness following MacWorld, and would be a buyer at present levels. Deutsche Bank also said it views the weakness as a buying opportunity.
"No big earthshaking announcements from Apple today, but lots of good news on growth and growth potential," said telecom analyst Jeff Kagan.
During his keynote address, CEO Steve Jobs announced:
- Time Capsule, a backup appliance that wirelessly backs one or more Macs on a wireless network using an integrated 500GB ($299) or 1TB ($499) hard drive that resides in a
base station. - A free iPhone update that introduces support for maps with location, web clips, other features; and a $20 iPod Touch update that gives the device capabilities for mail, maps, stocks, weather and notes. Jobs said Apple has sold 4 million iPhones to date.
- iTunes will now carry over 1,000 movies, to rent for $2.99-3.99. Apple lowered the price for Apple TV to $229 from $299, and updated its software.
- The MacBook Air - at $1,799, the "world's thinnest notebook." Air measures 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, and 0.76-inches at its thickest. MacBook Air boasts a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, built-in video camera, and a trackpad with multi-touch gesture support so users can pinch, rotate and swipe. 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive. It can be pre-ordered now, and begins shipping in two weeks.
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This article has 19 comments:
Gaze your eyes upon the coolness of the MacBook Air before speaking.
DJ Apples Jobs Says Speculation Of China Mobile Talks False
3:02 p.m. 01/15/2008 Provided by
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Speculation over Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) talks with China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) is overblown, Chief Executive Steve Jobs told CNBC on Tuesday.
One executive from Apple has flown to China, Jobs told CNBC. Rumors have cropped up that Apple is working with China Mobile to get the iPhone into China.
At the company's MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Jobs said Apple has sold more than four million iPhones worldwide and 3.4 million iPhone in the U.S.
He also unveiled an ultra-mobile PC called the MacBook Air and an online movie download service that works with its Apple TV device.
Apple shares recently fell 6.6% to $167.
-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; roger.cheng@dowjones.c...
And new software for iPhone also. Among other things it allows SMS to multiple contacts. I big gripe from detractors is now removed.
Hang in there folks.
This is simply manipulators at work playing the stock on a dreadful Wallstreet day where the market as a whole has tanked. With Apple earnings coming out next week any long selling is doing so with an uninformed kneejerk reaction. The traders are going to do what they do regardless.
The company is growing gangbusters, the product line up will continue on a growth curve
the make computers, dude. You were expecting an iHelicopter or something? An ifragrance?
Think about the revenue streams from the iPhone contracts.
AAPL's stock price is (should be) based mainly on PC market share which they are eating up by the percent every few quarters... double digits will be in sight by the end of 08. $350 by the end of 08. $205 by the end of next week.
Good luck
From where I stand, the MacBook Air has taken an already "cool" product and made it that much cooler. I think the markets are underestimating its potential to boost Mac market share. Apple would have been foolish to rollout some half-baked gee-whiz technology just for the sake of 'innovation.' Smart move, Apple.
Totally disagree, in 3 parts. For starters, take your criticisms: "brilliant design, ahead of it's time, too expensive, restrictive upgrade, under powered" Which of these did not apply to the initial iPod? Also, what do you think Air v2 or v3 looks like? I think it has 64GB+ flash standard at under $2k. It might have a larger screen. They will shrink the logic board and the components to increase battery size and aim for 7 hours of battery life. In 3 years, the Air should be roughly at parity with today's MacBook Pro's, only weighing a fraction as much and having roughly double the battery life. The Air is the platform for the next generation in notebook computing. The competition doesn't even have prototypes this ambitious, much less actual product.
Second, this will not be a giant mass market product (until they do a MacBook Air Lite) due to its price point and feature set (more than the mass market wants/needs). But neither is e.g. the BMW 5-series. Somehow, BMW makes tons of money selling it. I wager Apple will also make tons of money selling the Air.
Third, hardcore techies will switch to this. We currently expect to pay around $2k+ for a laptop, no matter the vendor. (We can't get the model they give to the sales guys that only runs Office, so we need 2GB of memory, etc.) For that $2k, we get a machine that weighs up to 12lbs. Our employers then need us on a 5:30am to Dallas, so that we can start billing by 10am. 12lbs is just about too much to lug in a briefcase, which is why you can spot techies in airports by looking for adults dressed in business casual wearing backpacks (which you need to carry 12lbs for any length of time). So while you may think the Air is overpriced, etc. what you are really concluding is that "I am not in the market segment for this product," as is probably also the case with the XServe or Sun's products. Don't let this cloud your judgment.
What Apple is offering is a sub-$2k laptop that will last through a transcontinental flight. I am not aware of any other laptop that is claiming this. Note for those who never leave NYC: this is a Big Deal. They are offering a 3lb laptop that is up to hardcore techie stuff like programming. (Note to analysts who have never worked in IT: CPU speed is meaningless for the stuff that most IT folks do, but they DO need memory.) They didn't talk about it, but I am guessing the flash-based Air gets 6+ hours of battery life (duh, no moving parts). At $3k this is still pricey, but I assure you that there is a large set of people who have been waiting for exactly this machine.
Oh, and they run Windows too. So if you want the thinnest Windows laptop, with the longest battery life, this is also it.
> restrictive upgrade, under powered" Which of these
> did not apply to the initial iPod?
Well, it's a computer, not a music player. Pretty much all music players have restrictive upgrade and underpowered. Pretty much all computers are not. Except for the Cube.
fair enough re: the iPod expandability. You didn't address the "too expensive and underpowered" bits, which were some pretty big knocks against iPod 1.0. Remember how it lagged in capacity, and still cost more?
Re: expandability & computers, consider the actual utilization cycle of PCs post-2000. Almost nobody upgrades their laptops, and with good reason. In a laptop you can basically upgrade two components: disk and memory. Most laptops on the market top out at 2GB, which the Air ships with standard. Ergo, you will by default not need an upgrade to RAM. Clearly the disk is limited in a big way. But even for the person doing e.g. Java/Oracle development for an enterprise, 80GB will generally be enough to scrape by. This is a work computer, priced for workers, so they will live with the fact that they can't keep their whole media library on it.
You are also not addressing the other "power" issue, which is where the Air actually is overpowered relative to its comp: battery life. Again, the value prop is a 3lb machine that I can use to work from NYC to LAX. Nobody else is selling this value prop, at any price.
Some of us get it; some don't...