Hasta La Gadget!

This week during the Apple earnings call that also saw Apple report a record quarter for iPhone sales, CEO Tim Cook suggested that the higher end of the smartphone market has not reached it’s peak. This was in response to a question about the iPhone and how possible it was that the “high end” was “reaching saturation”. This was in spite of, as the user asking the question made clear, the increase in iPhone sales this quarter.

It’s not as if the iPhone is hurting for sales – even with the iPhone 5 being the newest model on the market and rumors of a next-generation device already saturating the airwaves. Instead, Apple’s attitude during the Q and A section of the earnings call this week remained wholly positive.

“From a growth point of view for Apple, our key catalyst will always be new products and new services. In addition we have opportunities in distribution, carrier partnerships, the online store, and the indirect channel.” – Tim Cook

Cook added that he saw the iPhone’s market as healthy – not a place where too many devices on the market means no one will want a new machine.

“I don’t subscribe to the common view that the higher end of the smartphone market has hit its peak.” – Tim Cook

Does this mean no iPhone budget model? While no one asked such a question directly, Tim Cook’s representation of Apple as a company whose one goal is to make great products remained solid.

“We think if we focus on great products and do it well, the financial performance will also come. We don’t see those things as being mutually exclusive.

…

The most important thing is that the customers love the products – if you don’t start at that level, you end up creating things that people don’t want.” – Tim Cook

What do you think? Do you think it’s time the smartphone market started seeing innovation in ways we’ve not yet thought of? Consider the Nokia Lumia 1020 and it’s massive 41-megapixel camera setup. Is that enough?

Or does Apple – in this case – need to create a smartphone that’s got something we’ve not even considered?

SOURCE: Apple

Tim Cook: high-end smartphone market hasn’t reached its peak is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple’s quarterly results are up, and the one thing that many of the financial big brains are paying attention to is the average selling price of the iPhone: It currently sits at around $580, compared to $613 last quarter, which is a big change sequentially. There’s a couple of reasons that could be happening, and they aren’t necessarily bad for Apple.

AT&T introduced some considerably aggressive pricing promotions this past quarter, including giving away free iPhone 5 devices with iPhone 4S trade-ins. AT&T said on its earnings call that it sold more iPhones this quarter than in the year ago quarter, even though it isn’t revealing exactly how many it sold. That likely means it did very well, which means it may have given away a lot of free iPhones. Recall also that T-Mobile introduced the iPhone 5 this past quarter, and that it initially began selling the iPhone at a reduced price compared to its competitors (though it isn’t clear who was absorbing the loss).

This could also be a strong indication that Apple is selling a lot of older devices, like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, which are still available. Apple charges considerably less for these, and ASP on those are often lower, too. Walmart discounts on iPhone also began in late June, on iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S models, which would also result in lower ASP.

So why would that be good for Apple? 31 million iPhones is one very good reason. Apple increases its market share by pushing ASP lower, which is a long-term boon for the platform and for its overall device sales, since the company finds a halo effect for iPhone owners who tend to buy other Apple kit. And lower ASP could mean it’s making bigger inroads into new and emerging markets, which is also a long-term benefit for the company. Should it introduce iPhone models that are lower cost and cheaper to produce in the fall, that market could open up further, too.

Still, Apple said on its earnings call that “iPhone 5 remains by far the most popular iPhone,” but also noted that they “were also very happy with our sales of iPhone 4 and 4S.” So promotions, more than older devices, may have been a bigger part of the ASP change.

This week Apple let loose their quarterly earnings for investors and the public alike, letting it be known that a quarterly revenue of $35.5 billion along with $6.9 billion in quarterly net profit is all well and good. This quarter saw the sales of 31.2 million iPhones, this a record for this quarter of the year, along with 14.6 million iPads – that’s up for iPhones, down for iPads.

Meanwhile the company has declared a cash dividend, Apple’s Board of Directors bringing a dividend of $3.05 per share of common stock in this period. This dividend is payable on the 15th of August, 2013, and shareholders of record as of August 12th, 2013 will be eligible for the payout.

“We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services. We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.” – Apple CEO Tim Cook

This same quarter last year saw Apple bring in $8.8 billion in quarterly net profit one year ago, while revenue has also gone down from $43.6 billion this past quarter.

This past quarter didn’t exactly come in as one of Apple’s most mind-blowing when it comes to hardware, this resulting in an expected set of numbers as reported. What we did see, on the other hand, is previews of software such as OS X Mavericks and the next iPhone’s iOS 7.

This Fall, Apple says, we’ll be seeing some exciting new products – and if you’re surprised by that suggestion, you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years. Without an iPhone, at that.

Stay tuned to SlashGear for additional analysis on this quarter’s results, and stick around for the Q and A as well!

Apple Q3 2013 earnings bring dividend despite less-than-eventful market period is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It hasn’t been a particularly quiet quarter for Apple, at least in the announcement department. But, as far actually shipping new products, Q3 of 2013 has been relatively uneventful. Perhaps that’s why the company’s revenues are down to $35.3 billion, from $43.6 billion in Q2. Still, while its revenues are down significantly from the last two quarters, things are pretty stable year-over-year. In fact, it’s enjoyed a small increase over the $35 billion it raked in during Q3 of 2012. Still, while revenues are up, profits are down. $6.9 billion in net income is hardly anything to snub your nose at, but it does represent a notable drop from the $8.8 billion Apple pocketed in the same quarter last year. That’s at least partially attributable to a year-over-year drop in both iPad and Mac sales, though the 31.2 million iPhones sold is a record for the June quarter — up 20 percent from last year. The decline in iPad sales is particularly notable. After selling 17 million iOS tablets in Q3 of 2012 and 19.5 million just last quarter, Apple only managed to sell 14.6 slates in the three month period ending June 30th. Mac sales were down less dramatically, from 4 million to 3.8 million, year-over-year, though those numbers are roughly flat sequentially.

The iPod line continued its rather swift decline in Q3, with sales dropping 19 percent sequentially and 32 percent year-over-year. The impressive uptick in iPhone sales does help balance out the drop, but it appears the writing is on the wall for the product family that helped kick start the digital music revolution. All the blame for Apple’s declining profits can not be blamed on the iPod, however. Sales are down pretty much across the board, both sequentially and year-over-year, with the exception of the iPhone. All the while, Cupertino’s expenses keep increasing.

You’ll find updates and more numbers after the break from Apple’s earnings call.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Mobile, Apple

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Those looking for a win sooner than expected from Motorola in this week’s earnings announcements from Google will not be finding themselves overjoyed. According to Google’s report, GAAP operating loss for Motorola Mobile was up significantly compared to the same quarter last year, this shown in stark contrast to Google’s own operating income, the larger overarching company’s fortunes increasing at a rate that’s ever-so-slightly smaller than Motorola bleeds.

It would appear that though Google remains a growing business, they’ll be pushing for a big with with the upcoming hero phone “Moto X” when the company releases it later this year. As GAAP operating loss for Motorola mounted to $342 million in the second quarter of 2013 – compared to last year’s $199 GAAP operating loss during the same quarter, it’s nothing compared to the same quarters for non-GAAP operating loss. These same quarters had Motorola lose $49 million in the second quarter of 2012 and $218 million in the second quarter of 2013.

Google itself is doing quite a bit better with a GAAP operating income at $3.47 billion for the second quarter of 2013, up from a GAAP operating income of $3.44 billion this same quarter one year previous. As for non-GAAP operating income, Google hit $4.21 billion here in the second quarter of 2013 up from $3.99 billion one year ago.

We’ll see Motorola pushing not only the Moto X this next quarter, but three new DROID-branded smartphones with Verizon in the USA as well. It’s likely these devices will find themselves released in slightly modified iterations for international markets and/or non-Verizon carriers in the USA while Moto X leads the way through the end of the year. Have a peek at SlashGear’s Motorola tag portal for more through the future as well!

VIA: Google

Motorola loss mounts as Google places faith in Moto X is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.