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(iPhone) Love Is Gonna Save Us
It might as well have been GDP data. This week when Apple literally blew away even the most optimistic whisper upgrades to its traditionally conservative guidance, wide celebrations echoed through the exchanges, after hours trading went wild and a few commentators even went so far as to call Apple's gain the beginning of the end of the recession. It takes only the slightest bit of analysis to introduce thick cracks into the foundation of these "theories." Of course, thusfar no one really seems to have bothered.
Most telling from Apple's 8K data sheet is a 185% year on year revenue spike in "iPhone and Related Products and Services" (including handset sales, carrier agreements and iPhone accessories) on a mere 7% increase in unit sales in the same category. Futher, a 45% spike in European revenue (25% of Apple's total for the quarter) was on a 25% increase in unit sales to suddenly dollar-rich, Euro bearing customers.
We suppose it is possible that economic recovery in the United States might eventually be fueled by gains from Euro denominated subscription agreements and foreign unit sales. To this end, we suggest the total annihilation of the dollar so that Apple and AT&T can return to the United States the status and trappings of great economic power it so richly deserves.
Shadows walking in the crowd
We are lost and found
but love is going to save us.
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Now we have phones that make pancakes, and 10 million jobs will suddenly materialize on the back of "carrier agreements", and all along I was unjustly nervous about the U.S. Economy.
I should have known it would work out in the end.....
There's an app for that.
LOL JohnKing.
God I love Zero Hedge. While the articles are top notch, the comments and subsequent comments to comments are sometimes brilliant.
Unfortunately when our entire culture is destroyed in one huge thermonuclear explosion of credit derivatives and currency devaluations, these witty remarks will be all I have left.
lol...but what price can you put on witty repartee?
I find it utterly depressing that the vast majority of witty responses seen here and elsewhere are based upon advertising slogans of corporations which we, as consumers (never say citizens) have struck the ultimate faustian bargain with.
God, my cognitive dissonance is killing me.
Got Whine?
:)
How can one relate to a non-descript text box a thousand miles away? Through popular culture, thats how. My rap/lyrical references can be quite witty and profound but at the same time not relatable to anyone outside the fine city of Atlanta (peace up, A-town down...anyone?).
I enjoy wit as I enjoy my cowbell, in abundance...but I'm not so bummed when someone sacrifices wit for relatability. I feel ya tho :-)
I love the fact that we can relate through a common experience. I'm saddened that the shared common experience is the ultimate propaganda and pacification machine, the idiot box lovingly called my friend by so many individuals.
Well to that point as much as I enjoy singing old tv jingles with my peers who watched the same saturday morning shows, it does sadden me a bit that in a world filled with so much beauty thats what ties us together. But thats more relating to all the folk in the universe. I love that rap binds together ATLiens, in many cases you can pull someone on the street and start reciting verses back and forth...poetry in motion as it were.
Shards on the mend...
Party on dudes - on your iPhone!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaMk3kXtRt0
Since youre explaining AAPL's amazing profits based on $-devaluation, you can also attribute that to the rise of the markets on no fundamentals. The US markets are getting cheaper, solely because the $ is dropping. So no need for more posts like 'OMG WTF rally should have stopped in APRIL' since, the only thing driving it, is increasing PP of foreigners. And computers.
Exactly. Why is it so hard for people in the USA to understand that listed companies are "on sale" to foreigners?
Why is it so hard for foreigners to understand P/E ratios?
exactly. with the deflated dollar purchasing power of 25% over the time of this mess, that means the dow is really only back to 7,500 from its low - how you feel about that market now?
Wait till it drops another 50% and the market 'soars' to 20,000. Yea - it's a miracle.
Macs are 44% of revenues I think, and they only have 9.4% share. Scary, imagine if they grab more market share.
That's what I was going to comment on. What seems to have been lost in the talk about Apple is just how small their market share is. And that market share will continue to go up for a two simple reasons: The world is not about to stop using computers and Apple makes the best computer on the market. I bought my first Mac in 1996, I continue to be impressed with it and I will NEVER go back to PC (once you go MAC you never go back?). I bought stock in Apple in 1997 (@8.72 per share!) 12 years and two forward splits later, I have yet to sell a single share (but I will soon). The use of Apple sales as an indicator of an overall economic recovery by the talking heads at CNBC is utter nonsense. But is Apple a company that is gaining market share and broader acceptance?...No doubt about it. And the fact that they remain debt free and cash rich doesn't hurt them one little bit. In a stock market that is littered with insolvent banks and flying pigs...Apple is one of the few companies that is actually doing well by making a good product and properly managing their business.
What's scary is the fact that they have only 9.4% marketshare after a few years of Zero competition (e.g. Vista was so bad and so hated). Now that Windows 7 promises at least to be not horrible, I wonder what that will do to Apple's % of the market.
Second, android phones and the announcement of more use of webkit browsers (e.g. the same foundation that iphone safari is built on) is more bad news for Apple.
Jobs (yes St. Jobs) is making the same mistake he made with early apple, and NextStep...they think their poop doesn't stink, built a closed in system (especially App Store) and when more open, cheaper alternatives appear (like now) they will once again be relegated Apple to a niche.
Let the Fan Boy screams begin...
Also factor in that they charge ~$2000 for a laptop that costs $650 with Windows. Apple will never gain a huge share of the market with the premium they charge.
psssst...you can run OSX on a $200 Acer laptop...pass it on
Agreed, however.
PC With Linux, Problem solved!!
BTW, You can get a refund of your pre-installed windows OS,look at the agreement..
Somewhat off point but....
:) I run linux.
It's also cheaper to buy a Ford Escort than a Porsche. But you're really not getting the same thing are you?
Ultimately, you get what you pay for. In the same period of time I've had one MAC, I've seen friends that would not buy one due to the cost go through three Dell's. In the end, they paid more, lost data and wasted time.
I'd rather not go to far down this thread, but.....
The latest Linux Distro is Ubuntu 9.10 KDE 4.3.2 is a Porsche, and I would tell you that it not only out performs WIN 7 but there is another neat feature about Linux, based on it's EXT4 file structure, NO VIRUSES. You can download an ISO image and burn it to a cd and run it as a live OS from the cd so as to test drive it. Give it a shot..
This public announcement brought to by geopol.
Yup...I run 9.04 and I can't get over how it's all free and how fast it runs. Freeware should be the future
Geopol, Thanks for the info about Ubuntu. I have used Redhat Pro for some time but have become very disinfrachised with how they are incorporating serial number kinda of shit like microsoft into Open Source. Downloading now...
-Michael
Hi mikeyv1970,
Just be advised taht Kubuntu 9.10 is a beta release of the 9.04. But give it a test. I beleive the final release is on Thurs 10-29-09. I don't beleive that ther will be a ton of bug fixes from 9.10 beta to final release.
Hope you enjoy...
P.S. The difference between Ubuntu and Kbuntu is the desktop environment.
Kubuntu= KDE4.3.2
Ubuntu= Gnome..
On another note:
What's this about the U.S. creating a financial iron curtain for those who want to migrate?
Classic GNOME-based Ubuntu consumes less resources, because Firefox and Open Office are GTK-based, and Opera uses only Qt, not KDE-libs.
and, of course $ sudo apt-get install chromium
"It's also cheaper to buy a Ford Escort than a Porsche. But you're really not getting the same thing are you?"
These days? Yes. Yes you are. In the past Apple machines used SCSI drives, PowerPC processors, Firewire external expansion ports. These days? IDE or SATA, Intel processors, and USB.
I think Android will be eating Apple's iPhone lunch pretty soon.
Think of it in terms of taxi cabs.
With a Mac, you not only get a Porsche but also a driver who gets you where you want to go and get there fast. And no annoying conversations.
With a PC running Windows, the driver is half drunk, won't speak english, taking you round the block a couple of times, and rip you off at the end. If you do want to have some thrills you can still put XP in your Porsche. Fasten seatbelts though.
I have/buy a car to go from point A to point B. You are correct though, I am not getting the same thing - the escort is better. More gas mileage. You seem to look at, and value, a car on a different level as a status symbol. Fine, but not the same thing. I mean other than maybe getting more women to go out with you, whats the increased utility from the more expensive one to the cheap one.
I'm glad you brought this up Marla.
Granted the market (apple in this case) is not the economy, but I have always wanted to ask asshat market commentators how the overall American economy is supposedly helped by people buying gadgets made in China, that don't help create jobs in America.
Morevover, how many buyers of I-stuff actually earn money to pay for this stuff? How many kids get these and other wireless gadgets from bumming money off their parents or borrowing lumped in with their student loans? And how about the people that have to have the latest and greatest but can't pay off a credit card?
What is your point ? If i buy my kid an I-phone that's a problem for AAPL ?
Yes some people live beyond their means however many people who are struggling today simply fell victim to the economic/employment collapse. The path that has been shown to many,especially our children, no longer works.
AAPL has enmeshed fashion with their products and it has worked thus far. As we move forward, I think their pricing will ultimately move into line with the competition.
Simple point: Apple's success means very little toward the recovery of the US economy.
Go back and read what Marla wrote, then read my comments again.
Looking at increased competition from andriod based phones but more importantly just talking to the people I know with iphones, I think its very reasonable to call a top in these iphone driven earnings for AAPL sometime over the next 90 days. The street doesn't lie, so just ask around to people you know who have iphones and folk who are on the fence. That will tell you more than any high falutin analyst ever could.
One of the cool things about increased correlation across asset classes is that one accurate call on a bellweather tells you about where the whole market is going. For example XOM showing very bullish technicals right before oil broke out told you everything you needed to know about where the dollar and oil were going. So if AAPL does indeed put a top in this next quarter it will say a lot about consumer discretionary and high beta names generally.
PS: I happen to think that love can do more for our condition than any number of freshly printed fiatcos. Love is many a splendid thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaqYgWc8-vs
^ Google G1 owner... tons of new android phones coming out, including the new Barnes and Noble E-book, that thing is android powered. I wouldn't be surprised to see Android powering vehicle info-tainment units in the future to compete against MS synch and the like.
I see you like the Big Brother unit.
Love will tear us apart. Love stinks. etc.
Nokia suing Apple over Iphone patents.
Looking for release.
"To this end, we suggest the total annihilation of the dollar so that Apple and AT&T can return to the United States the status and trappings of great economic power it so richly deserves."
Why not, it's been working for the US Military for years. "We destroyed the village in order to save it" was one of the more memorable lines that came out of Vietnam, with similar monstrosities spewed from every minor and major conflict since.
It's about time US corporations got up to speed with American military doctrine. After all, they did bring us the always popular Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD).
all the traders and commentators just feel vindicated for going with Apple instead of Android...
google will wipe that smuggness soon enough - just give 'em an itty bitty little more time...
I'm intrigued by this...
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/21/dell-streak-is-a-5-inch-android-2-0-m...
i love iPorn
The rebound in the economy may also help Apple, which lost some market share during the recession as customers avoided pricier Macs in favor of Windows PCs, according to researcher Gartner Inc.
The above is a piece cut from an article in Bloomberg Titiled:
Microsoft Tries to Lose ‘PC Guy’ Image With Windows 7
By Dina Bass
Dina has called the end of the recession, Call Ben as to disseminate.
damn you guys, nade ne listen to that song-its a blast from the past and will probably be stuck in my brain for a few hours...
IMHO, Apple will not survive this depression.
depression????
Geko, surly you jest
Yeah they are so low on cash, plus all that debt they have. And their products are so easily duplicated by others. Plus most people have already bought every one of the 30,000 app store apps and will just junk the phone and apps they paid for any day now. I mean the Zune will take over any day now.
....
Gekko hits on my concern. During currency collapses individuals end up spending >95% of their income on food and heat. I'm not making this up, just Googoo '1922 germany'. Apple had better be paying out a healthy dividend.
Oxytan
Gordon -
Are you thinking that Apple won't survive, or Apple as they are organized now won't survive?
Clearly, desktop Macs are doomed. (Check the 8-K. Only 787,000 units in the quarter? Why keep bothering?) Laptops, however, seem too lucrative to just drop. And the phone and entertainment products are making money, and are important players in their respective markets.
But the two parts together still strike me as a problematic fusion. Could they be split? Is it so far-fetched to think that AT&T would like to sink its teeth into iPods and iTunes, just to grab a chunk of the media market?
It won't survive because ARM + Android nowadays is what Intel + Linux was in 1997.
Whats the difference between the last depression and this one? Folks will wait in the soup and unemployment lines twittering on their iPhones.
Long after the question concerning communications and other entertainment providers following the example set by mortgage servicers of ignoring non payment to preserve the illusion of subscription ratios.
I'm not talking about no revolution.
I'm not talking about no demonstration.
I'm not talking about getting out in the streets.
I'm talking about having some fun.
I'm talking about dancing.
I'm talking about love your neighbor...til it hurts.
I'm talking about love...I'm talking about some love.
~J.M. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DfG1SNydnc
+1
JM was a very wise man, on that point he was truly enlightened. Forget building a better country, or a better financial system...build up those around you, till it hurts.
The thing to remember about US based iPhone revenues is that the many of those dollars from AT&T are deferred from previous quarters. I believe (not 100% certain) that the revenue from AT&T for the iPhone had to be deferred for the 24 months of the contract. So we are seeing an overlap with the earlier sales and the current sales numbers. Those earlier sales will fall out very soon and must be replaced with larger new sales. I don't believe the iPhone revenues in Europe and MOW had the same accounting applied to them. Just a thought since I haven't broken any Apple numbers down to find this. I missed the boat at $80 think even Apple was going to be affected by the recession/depression. I was wrong this time around.
Long iPhones short Kindles!
My understanding of the inconsistency between iPhone unit sales and revenues was that it was primarily driven by a new revenue recognition policy whereby they recognize more (all?) of the revenue for the new activation up front? That would explain the discrepancy far more than the torching of the USD would.
Perhaps next quarter they'll start recognizing revenues on future subscription renewals (or at least 90% of them -- they're a sure thing!) and future phone sales (75% replacements within 18 months seems like a slam dunk!)
1984 anyone ?
Google’s Android to power Raytheon’s RATS battlefield networking system
http://www.intomobile.com/2009/10/21/googles-android-to-power-raytheons-...
Not literally.
Scroll down to the 16th titled BennySTILLedit
http://www.weswallace.com/MP3s/standaloneplayer2.htm
A Nice Rendition of:
Shadows walking in the crowd
We are lost and found
but love is going to save us.
Representing H-Town.
Scroll Down and Click "BennySTILLedit"
http://www.weswallace.com/MP3s/standaloneplayer2.htm
Love is Going to Save Us.
My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,
While comments of your praise richly compiled,
Reserve thy character with golden quill,
And precious phrase by all the Muses filed.
I think good thoughts, whilst others write good words,
And like unlettered clerk still cry 'Amen'
To every hymn that able spirit affords,
In polished form of well-refined pen.
Hearing you praised, I say ''tis so, 'tis true,'
And to the most of praise add something more;
But that is in my thought, whose love to you,
Though words come hindmost, holds his rank before.
Then others, for the breath of words respect,
Me for my dumb thoughts, speaking in effect.
LOVE the song. Play on RZ - Fela
The folks with the revenue recognition answer are right - this posted somewhere (here??) semi-recently and I was curious then what the effect would be.
Palm should also see a big impairs-comparability change as well...