Apple’s active devices (2016-2020) DAN RUNKEVICIUS
Posted on 08/12/2020 8:04:56 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Rumor has it that Apple (APPL) AAPL -3% will release its cheapest ever top-tier phone this fall.
Influential tech magazine Tom’s Guide recently posted a leak claiming iPhone 12 will retail starting at $549. That’s almost half of what Apple charged for iPhone X a few years ago.
This raises the question: Why is the most premium tech product maker all of a sudden selling itself short? I’ll show in a moment, Apple’s business is entering a new era where iPhone profits won’t matter anymore.
Low price tags might seem like a desperate move to fend off competition. But like a chess master plotting several moves ahead, Apple is using cheap phones to seize what Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, calls the “mother of all opportunities.”
iPhone is hands-down the most successful product in history. Since its introduction, Apple sold more than a trillion dollars’ worth of iPhones. And for years, iPhone generated more than half of Apple’s total sales.
But iPhone was more than Apple’s biggest money maker. It was Apple’s gateway into the pockets of over a billion people.
Take a look at this chart. It shows the growth of Apple’s active devices all across the world:
Thanks to iPhone, Apple now has 1.5 billion active devices—phones, watches, etc.— used by over a billion people from all across the world. The company added a whopping half billion devices during the last few years alone.
Think about it, nearly one in seven people now carry around an Apple device every day.
Today, those 1.5 billion active devices are the single most important driver of Apple’s business.
Apple makes tons of money outside an Apple store
It does so through a myriad of services connected to Apple devices.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The -3% at the top scared me, but that must have been yesterday.
Y'know, we should put out some snacks and beverages for the topic visitors, even though it's gonna get nuked. :^D
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If I’m interpreting this correctly, the iPhone is now following a Printer-like business model. A company like Brother will sell you a printer real cheap. They don’t care. They expect to make all their money selling you ink.
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The only recurring charge Apple gets from me is 99 cents a month for cloud storage. And I buy the occasional app.
Printers are “cheap” because ink is expensive.
DVD players were “cheap” because movies were expensive.
If you get a cut of the apps people buy for their phone, you want them to be using your phone.
Etc.
Then there is price competition.
I still have an old Radio Shack catalogue from the early 70’s that lists a bulky and simple hand calculator, “with memory” for $149.
It’s about time Moore’s law applied to smart phones.
I want a dumb phone,
One that doesn’t run apps,
One that is just a phone,
And only that.
One that won’t spy on my movements
Or que ads on what I should buy
One that that just makes calls and IDs those on the line
IDs those on the line, yeah yeah....
I only pay recurring charges for having connectivity. I even avoided satellite radio because it was a monthly plan.
And the only app I’ve ever purchased for a phone is Winamp, many years ago, because I’d been using it for free since its inception and decided it was time to give them some money. It was five bucks.
But that’s it.
Apple is now within 4% of being a 2 trillion dollar company!
It’s gone up a trillion dollar just over the past 4 months.
Simply amazing!
I know. It just worked in the song.
But then again I don’t even carry a cell phone. I don’t value being able to reach out and certainly don’t care if I can be reached.
I have a cellphone because I can keep track of my bank and credit card balances (having been burned once when someone stole my bank account number). Besides, with my iPhone X, I can do a lot of “contactless payments” that a lot of retailers are now demanding.
I don’t shop where they don’t take cash.
Most people wanting something is all the more reason to not want to go along.
Well I still have a 10-year old Samsung flip phone. I think it has a bad antenna design because I have trouble making connections in dialysis or maybe it is my service because everyone else is playing with their phones or talking on them.
I’m considering getting a smart phone, but that considering has been going on for years. My phone has only cost about $100/year. This cheap Apple phone is interesting.
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