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Apple Sets a New Record For iPhone Sales (theverge.com)

Apple has reported strong financial results for the first quarter of 2017. According to CEO Tim Cook, the "holiday quarter results generated Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way." The company took in $78.4 billion in revenue and sold 78 million iPhones. The Verge reports: Apple reported a profit of $17.8 billion, and said its earnings per share were boosted by the high demand for the larger models of its iPhones, which have higher margins. On the earnings call, Chief financial officer Luca Maestri said that customer satisfaction with iPads, and the new iPad pro, was very high. He predicted strong growth in that category. But the sales figures don't reflect that optimism, with unit sales and revenue from iPad both down around 20 percent year over year. With over a billion iOS devices active around the world, Apple has been able to shore up its flagging hardware sales growth with an increase in revenue from services to those devices. This includes money from Apple Pay, iCloud storage, Apple Music, and App Store sales. It was by far the fastest-growing segment of Apple's revenue this quarter, climbing 18 percent to $7.17 billion since the same period last year. Cook said Apple is aiming to double service revenue over the next four years. Maestri said Apple's App Store had double the revenue of Google's Play Store in 2016. Apple has more than $200 billion in cash parked overseas. Cook said on today's call that he was optimistic about tax reform in the U.S. happening this year, and that this might allow Apple to bring a lot of that money back home. "With our toe in the water, we're learning a lot about the original content business," Cook said, hinting at one way Apple might deploy all that capital.

131 comments

  1. I'm sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure this has nothing at all to do with the Note 7 exploding... good luck making those numbers again.

    1. Re:I'm sure by Highdude702 · · Score: 2

      Has anybody thought that maybe Samsung was trying to make a new form of Internal Combustion Engine?

    2. Re:I'm sure by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      Has anybody thought that maybe Samsung was trying to make a new form of Internal Combustion Engine?

      Nah, pretty sure they are developing a new skin grafting technique and wanted to jump-start the market.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    3. Re:I'm sure by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      You're probably right.. Business is Business. "Hay sorry we burnt your leg off but for $10k we can use this new technology that will turn your leg into a Galaxy Note that uses your fingerprint to unlock without a visible scanner!"

  2. Jacked and Ported off. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple "jacks off" its fanboys as usual. The iPhone 8 will be completey portless, wireless for everything and will be a glass fondleslab.

    1. Re:Jacked and Ported off. by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      sadly I think you may be right. Here's hoping Droid companies don't imitate all that shit.

  3. Queue the headphone jack comments by iotaborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to slashdot, the iPhone 7 should have failed, just like the iPod.

    1. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 5, Funny

      No headphone jack. Less combustible than a Samsung. Lame.

    2. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      Nerds are crappy at marketing analysis. That's not news. Marketers have to know how people work, and pretty much ignore logic, math, efficiency, and parsimony because customers ignore those.

    3. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      According to slashdot, the iPhone 7 should have failed, just like the iPod.

      Meanwhile in the real world, losing an obsolete port was considered a small tradeoff for the water resistance everyone wanted.

    4. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Informative
      The iPhone 7 IS failing. Notice how Cook purposefully weaved his comment to avoid saying the truth - that the iPhone 6s has more demand:

      the more-expensive iPhone 7 Plus made up a “higher portion of new product mix than we’ve ever seen with Plus models in the past,”

      A direct comparison with products like the iPhone 6/6s are specifically excluded. All we can say from that comment is that the ratio of iPhone Plus models was higher than previous iterations, not that the iPhone 7 sold more.

      Then again, Cook is no Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs brought "Gorilla Glass" to the masses. Tim Cook tried and failed with "Sapphire Glass". Steve Jobs was the iMac, iPad, iPhone, iPod - Cook was iWatch and iBuds - and dwindling sales of computers, iPads, and loss of market share for iPhones.

      Jobs could have made the masses buy this bs thanks to his RDF. Cook - nope.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    5. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      You know, that's a hard argument to make when a) plenty of people (including myself) have explained use cases for that port and b) there are devices with higher water resistance than iphone 7 and which DO include that jack.

    6. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Gumbercules!! · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Then again, Cook is no Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs brought "Gorilla Glass" to the masses. Tim Cook tried and failed with "Sapphire Glass". Steve Jobs was the iMac, iPad, iPhone, iPod - Cook was iWatch and iBuds - and dwindling sales of computers, iPads, and loss of market share for iPhones.

      I'm not an Apple fanboi (feel free to read my years of posts, many of which are not Apple friendly) but if you look at the numbers, Mac sales went up not down. I'm also fairly sure Apple couldn't give a shit about the market share of iPhone considering they make like 100% of the profits, with what marketshare they have.

      I don't really feel inspired by Cook, either - but to say he's failing at making Apple a profitable company is just your own Reality Distortion Field. Apple is the most profitable company on earth and it has been pretty much since Cook starting running it. It's making more money than ever. He's doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing - making a shit tonne of money. That might not be cool for people who really love tech - but he's tasked with making Wall Street and investors happy, not geeks.

    7. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      Jobs certainly had a good understanding of what people wanted and how to sell it to them, but I think the reason that they succeeded as a company had more to do with Cook. You can have as many grand visions for a great products as you want, and whether you're correct about them or not, you'll always fail if you can't execute.

      Cook was instrumental in taking Apple from a level where they could make a nice product that they could sell at a higher price to afford the production costs necessary to meet their artsy design standards and aesthetics and turning them into a company that could demand exclusives and fund manufacturers in order to keep their prices the same but drop their costs to the point that their company is one of the most valuable in the world despite having a low double digit share of the market.

      Cook probably has no grand visions for the next big thing, but he doesn't need to. He just needs to find someone or a group of someones that can see where Apple should pivot to next and Cook can make sure that they can turn out a good product for lower cost than many of the other companies that are using lower tier components or worse materials. I also think people are too quick to praise Jobs as some kind of genius. He had a lot of successes, or perhaps more than most in his position, but he also had a lot of failures and from some of the stories that have come up about them he wasn't completely responsible for the successes himself or sometimes was initially against them or had an alternate conception that probably would have failed.

    8. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Water resistance was a lame excuse. A water resistant headphone jack is trivial. Fewer connections, so easier to accomplish than a waterproof lightening jack.

    9. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by byjove · · Score: 1

      A direct comparison with products like the iPhone 6/6s are specifically excluded. All we can say from that comment is that the ratio of iPhone Plus models was higher than previous iterations, not that the iPhone 7 sold more.

      Not sure that's accurate. ASP went up to its highest ever: http://www.theverge.com/2017/1...

    10. Re: Queue the headphone jack comments by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      You are absolutely correct. Lots of people forget the days when Apple would announce some great product that was made out of unobtainable bits, resulting in massive delays and ridicule. "Hey look, we have this great new computer which trounces the competition in performance, but you won't be able to actually touch it for six months, by which time the competition will have caught up at lower prices!"

      Tim Cook fixed that by straightening out the supply chain. He also helped with getting profitable by managing inventory at ridiculously tight margins in comparison to everyone else, because usually people don't want to buy stale computers after you announce new models.

      None of these things were stuff that the great designers and technologists were any good at. It took a logistics guy to fix it, and that's what Cook is.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    11. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd make a fine Trump media spokesperson.

    12. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by gravewax · · Score: 1

      Galaxy Note's I would think had a lot to do with propping up this number.

    13. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow did you even gag swallowing it down? You can have a waterproof headphone Jaks easily that had nothing AT ALL to do with it. So what could another reason be Applehu? Think it through long and hard...

    14. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to this, Apple is cutting iPhone production:

      https://apple.slashdot.org/story/16/12/30/1950229/apple-to-cut-iphone-production-by-10-nikkei#comments

      The increase in revenue is based on people buying more upgrades to achieve higher profit margins, not increasing their market share.

      (Apple apparently increased production at one point under the assumption the Note 7 disaster would lead to more iPhone sales. I guess that didn't happen.)

    15. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      obsolete port

      heh.

      the overwhelming majority of headphones use (a) bluetooth or (b) a stereo jack?

      practically all high end headphones use (a) bluetooth or (b) a stereo jack?

      which carries the higher quality signal? (a) bluetooth or (b) a stereo jack?

      stereo jacks are "water resistance" are not mutually exclusive.

      in the real world, marketing often trumps everything else. congrats.

    16. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      In the long run if your product isn't good enough you'll lose in the overall computing market. It doesn't necessarily mean your company won't be profitable. IBM has been with us for God knows how long and Microsoft is headed the same way.

    17. Re: Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AFAIK the iMac predated Jobs' return.

    18. Re: Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jobs very nearly ran Apple into the ground in the 1980s picking the wrong products, nearly ran Pixar into the ground, and then NeXT. He seemed to do OK in the 00s, but I don't know how much that was learning from his mistakes, and leaving some elements to Cook, et al.

    19. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Other deceptions:

      - The growth is from expansion into China, not improved sales in the West.

      - The average spent on an iPhone went up by $4, which is less than inflation and...

      - A lot of the sales were for the larger screen models, which are more expensive and which Apple was reluctant to do until other manufacturers proved there was a market for them

      - Sales of 128GB models are up, because no SD card for you

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    20. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile in the real world, losing an obsolete port was considered a small tradeoff for the water resistance everyone wanted.

      Meanwhile everyone else is offering full IP68 rating on phones with headphone jacks, while Apple only manages IP67.

      If anything it looks like they are struggling with their industrial design, and were forced to remove the headphone jack because they couldn't copy other company's IP68 rated headphone jacks, and even then couldn't get their Lightning port to IP68 anyway.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    21. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by blind+biker · · Score: 1

      According to slashdot, the iPhone 7 should have failed, just like the iPod.

      Meanwhile in the real world, losing an obsolete port was considered a small tradeoff for the water resistance everyone wanted.

      Meanwhile, an ounce of common sense tells everyone else who isn't brain-washed that a headphone jack can be made water-resistant just like any other connector.

      iPhones are a Veblen good. That's why they will always succeed with their target customers, no matter what.

      --
      "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    22. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      Then again, Cook is no Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs brought "Gorilla Glass" to the masses. Tim Cook tried and failed with "Sapphire Glass". Steve Jobs was the iMac, iPad, iPhone, iPod - Cook was iWatch and iBuds - and dwindling sales of computers, iPads, and loss of market share for iPhones.

      You realize that none of those things would have been successful without the supply chain management strategy of Cook right? Also as far as the iPhones "loss of market share", you can''t take market share to the bank.....

    23. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      - The growth is from expansion into China, not improved sales in the West.

      China sells were down....
      https://www.ft.com/content/474...

      - The average spent on an iPhone went up by $4, which is less than inflation and...

      As opposed to every other phone manufacturer who is seeing ASPs decline -- especially Samsung.

      A lot of the sales were for the larger screen models, which are more expensive and which Apple was reluctant to do until other manufacturers proved there was a market for them

      Every indication is that the difference between the price of the iPhone 7 and 7+ are greater than the difference in cost to make them. Apple has larger margins on the Plus models.

      Sales of 128GB models are up, because no SD card for you

      How is that a "deception"?

    24. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by ghoul · · Score: 1

      IBM is older than Ford thats how long.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    25. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      If you look at the numbers, Apple sales went up because the last quarter was a statistical fluke - a calendar quarter with 14 weeks instead of 13. Take out the 14th week, and sales were down YET AGAIN.

      Remember back when it was called APPLE COMPUTER? Now it should be called APPLE IPHONE - and they don't have anything in the pipeline to take over when the iPhone gets too long in the tooth.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    26. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Again, that's because people were buying pimped-out iphone 6s. Apple has done everything to avoid putting real numbers on the table. And even the "sales increase in the last quarter" is bogus - it's based on a calendar fluke that gave them a 14-week fiscal quarter. Normalize the numbers to 13 weeks, and sales were down again.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    27. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      And yet it's only because of a statistical fluke - Apple having a financial quarter with 14 weeks instead of 13 - that total sales were up. Take out that 14th week, and sales were down AGAIN.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    28. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Well, let's throw in that Apple sales numbers are down if you adjust for the calendar fluke of a 14-week financial quarter. Based on a 13-week quarter, they're down again. Car manufacturers normalize sales figures by also reporting the number of days in a quarter, as well as the number of weekends, to give a more accurate indication of trends. Saying "sales are up this quarter" without also pointing out that there's an extra week in that quarter - a quarter that includes the extra push from christmas - hides the true extend of the decline in the last quarter, and in mind share overall.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    29. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      You realize that Gorilla Glass (1960) has been around longer than Apple (1976-1977), right? It was only a matter of time before one of the manufacturers latched onto it. It's also why Apple doesn't have exclusivity. It was even used in racing in 1968 for 100 Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas (you need a minimum number of cars with an option, such as Gorilla Glass, to be considered "stock"), and having "stock" cars with lighter window glass was an advantage.

      And if it weren't for the calendar oddity of Apple's last financial quarter having 14 weeks instead of 13, sales would have been down again, even during peak holiday season. We won't have another leap year until 2020.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    30. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      The "extra fluke" of Christmas didn't just happen last quarter. There is a reason that they compare yoy (year over year) sales they are comparing sales to the same quarter the year before.

    31. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      So gorilla gas being around since the 60's negates that under Cook's supply chain management improvements that Apple was able to ship mass numbers of iPhones? You realize that Apple has over 200 suppliers, right?

      And besides there is a big difference between using glass in a few dozen specially made cars and using it in 230 million mass market phones.

    32. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      The "extra fluke" was 14 weeks in a quarter, moron.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    33. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Yes - the cars were harder. Much larger surface areas, higher torsion transmitted by the car frame from bumps or a wheel mounting a curb, etc. Other phone manufacturers have done it too, for a LOT more phones (Apple is now #5, so 4 others are doing more), so the supply chain is not as big a deal as the Apple fans make it. And his failures in the supply chain with sapphire glass speak for themselves.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    34. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      You also mentioned the Christmas quarter as being a fluke that spiked sells. They always compare same quarter sales year over year just like everyone else does. Mentioning Christmas was completely irrelevant.

      So where is the "extra" coming from? There was only one "fluke".

    35. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      Wrong again. Apple is not #5

      In total sells its number #2.

      https://cdn.ampproject.org/ii/...

      And do you really think that every phone that Samsung sells including the cheap $50 phones uses gorilla glass?

      https://www.corning.com/gorill...

      Making a car is not "harder" they don't have to do it mass quantities and they can devote man hours and thousands of dollars to each car. Doing something repeatable and at scale is harder.

    36. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Troll it up, trollface.

    37. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      The extra is the 53rd week in the year because it's a leap year - so their last financial quarter had 14 weeks instead of 13. That was the fluke. Take that extra week out, and sales were down again on a quarter-to-quarter bases - despite it being the quarter where Christmas should have given them a big additional boost.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    38. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After the iPhone 7 was released, all of sudden people started buying the year old iPhone 6s in record numbers? LOL

    39. Re:Queue the headphone jack comments by Gumbercules!! · · Score: 1

      Again, I am not an Apple Fanboi - but when they were APPLE COMPUTER (as you put it) they didn't have anything to take over when the Apple II got long in the tooth. Then they didn't have anything to take over when the iMac got long in the tooth. Then they didn't have anything to take over when the iPod got long in the tooth. Now it's the iPhone.

      What does Microsoft have when Windows & Office are "long in the tooth"? What does Google have when search / ad revenue is long in the tooth? What does Exxon have when petrochemicals are long in the tooth? All these companies, including Apple, are diversifying their revenue as best they see (Microsoft with Azure, Apple with services, like iTunes, Appstores, etc. Google with ideas that never pan out. That kind of thing).

      Why are people always predicting the imminent doom of Apple? For like 30 years, Apple has been "going to fail any day now". Frankly, Apple (and Microsoft and Google and many others) have so much money that even if the iPhone suddenly stopped selling because someone else makes "the next new thing" - Apple can just buy that thing out or buy a team to replicate it.

  4. Open the purse strings by ghoul · · Score: 0

    Good now maybe they will pay their contractors more than 74 Dollars an hour. Cost of living is going up

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
    1. Re:Open the purse strings by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      I once worked a gig where the contract was coming to an end and the manager told me how much the agency charged them for my time. I told them how much I myself got: it was around 1/4 the agency fee. We stood staring at each other in mutual dumfoundedness.

      "Damn, we should be in the headhunting biz!"

    2. Re:Open the purse strings by ghoul · · Score: 1

      Those days are long gone. Nowadays at Apple Infosys and Wipro are actually losing money on the contractors they have on site. They make it up by making 300% on the folks offshore. The business model needs that for every person onsite they have 2 offshore.
      They are kind of ectatic about Trump cracking down on H1Bs. They will either get to raise onsite rates with Apple or get to add more people offshore instead on onsite (claiming the lack of available people). Either will improve their bottomline

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    3. Re:Open the purse strings by rmdingler · · Score: 1
      Left to their own accords, individuals acting as contractors tend to undervalue their work. It seems contractors almost invariably fail to properly value the worth of wooing and keeping customers... for he who has the customers has a corner on the work.

      They paid me this much and charged this much is an argument by workers who fail to understand the proportionate value of having and keeping the customers.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    4. Re:Open the purse strings by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      That's why we go with head-hunters, they (hopefully) do the slimy braggadocios sales for you so that you don't have to wade in the swamp: your own personal Trump.

      "So, I hear you are Yuuuuge with MS-DTS!"

    5. Re:Open the purse strings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last gig I did at Apple, I was getting $150/hr, and I think my agent was marking that up around 15-20%. I don't know who you're talking about that's taking a rate that low.

  5. Re:I guess it's like Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have it wrong. The idiots were With Her.

  6. But I thought the headphone jack was all-important by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 2

    I thought everyone NEEDED a headphone jack and this OBVIOUSLY AWFUL change that EVERYONE IN THE WORLD HATES was going to DOOM APPLE.

    Time marches ever forward. People use the headphones in the box. Apple sells a zillion phones. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

  7. That $13.9bn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That $13.9bn that was "Tricky" shouldn't be too hard to find now should it?

  8. Re: I guess it's like Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You assume the geeks are right. History shows they usually don't have a fucking clue.

  9. Say what now? by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    Good now maybe they will pay their contractors more than 74 Dollars an hour.

    Where do you get that info from? There is no way Apple has a cap that low on contractors or they wouldn't have any willing to work for them.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Say what now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that would explain the quality or lack thereof of apples software.

  10. Someone lost a lot of money over this by quonset · · Score: 1

    This article from MarketWatch talks about a 30-something who was going big or going broke betting on Apple's earnings. In his case he had been listening and posting to the Reddit forum dealing with stock trading. At one point in time he had amassed a small fortune but was reduced to a mere $240,000 which he was placing on his final bet that Apple would substantially miss its earnings and as a result, Apple's stock price would take a nosedive. He had bought options for such an event which would net him millions if the trade played out.

    Fast forward to today's announcement and he's pretty much wiped out. Not totally since he was doing some other options trading to try and cover some of his bet, but on the whole, he lost it all.

    It will be interesting to see what happens next.

    1. Re:Someone lost a lot of money over this by ghoul · · Score: 1

      Rminds me of 2004 when I had 15000 USD to invest. I had two choice Apple at 9 dollars (split adjusted) or AMD at 13 dollar. I put it all on AMD. Wish I had put it on Apple. Today Apple is 125 so I would have had 200K. Stock trading takes a strong stomach

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    2. Re:Someone lost a lot of money over this by hondo77 · · Score: 2

      Stock trading takes a strong stomach

      Next time, try investing your money instead of gambling with it. You had $15K to invest and you put all your eggs in one basket? Hope you've learned about diversification since then.

      --
      I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
    3. Re:Someone lost a lot of money over this by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      That reminds me of Ron Wayne, who was the third founder of Apple with Steve and Woz, but pulled out and sold his stake for $800. He would be worth over 70 billion dollars today if he stayed in. That has got to sting a bit.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    4. Re:Someone lost a lot of money over this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He would have had to ride in the stinkbus with Jobs for literally decades, though. Probably worth the $70B but worth thinking over.

    5. Re:Someone lost a lot of money over this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      just a piece of advice (I'm not saying I'm any good, but I've been pretty bad at trading for a little over 20 years now), stocks aren't the lottery. you aren't required to put it all on black or let it ride. You invest and can change you mind any time. And most important, it is a skill you develop, not unlike coding or whatever job you do. you have to do it a lot to get better at it.

      Unless you have a friend on the inside:
      http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/australian-bureau-of-statistics-employee-national-australia-bank-worker-charged-over-insider-trading-20140509-zr88c.html

    6. Re:Someone lost a lot of money over this by gravewax · · Score: 1

      you didn't invest you gambled. stock trading doesn't take a strong stomach if you don't treat it like a casino as you did.

  11. Re:I guess it's like Trump by Highdude702 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Would be fucking awesome if everybody stuck to being snide about electronics/technology instead of politics. I'm really rather over it. I don't care who you voted for. I don't care who you think is racist or isn't. I want to know your opinion about Hardware and Software and that's all i really care to know about random people on a tech blog/forum whatever you choose to call it. The people like you are ruining what used to be a good site for tech information. Just so you can slide the door of your glass house open and throw rocks at your neighbor, who incidentally have at least some of the same interests as you. But you don't care because you want to call somebody else a moron for who they voted for. There are places you can go as ape-shit as you want on other political parties. Slashdot shouldn't be one of them!

  12. Any day ... Any day now ... by garote · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sometime soon, I swear.
    The company is balanced on a tiny wire, with all its appeal based on fashion and the whims of teenagers, and soon it will trip over itself, and totally bungle it's designs and delivery, on such an epic scale that the whole business will collapse like a soufflé and the stock will tank and huge layoffs will happen and everyone will walk away. And that prediction of demise that I made fifteen years ago will be COMPLETELY ACCURATE. The fact that they've had the most profitable year of any company in recorded history is just another nail in the coffin; you'll see...

    1. Re:Any day ... Any day now ... by Solandri · · Score: 1

      I'm still waiting for Microsoft to collapse. Like I've been predicting since 1988 when I learned that they weren't even competent enough to write DOS, they had to trick a competitor into selling it to them.

    2. Re:Any day ... Any day now ... by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      I'm still waiting for Microsoft to collapse. Like I've been predicting since 1988 when I learned that they weren't even competent enough to write DOS, they had to trick a competitor into selling it to them.

      Bah, Microsoft.

      This story is about Apple, a company that's been going out of business for just over 40 years now.

  13. That wouldn't be good luck by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    I'm sure this has nothing at all to do with the Note 7 exploding

    Why would it? Maybe some small number moved to Apple as a result, but if someone had an Android phone is it not a lot more likely they would get another Android phone?

    good luck making those numbers again.

    Good luck would be making more next year. Making the same numbers is kind of blah.

    Funny how Apple seems to have years and years and years of "luck".

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:That wouldn't be good luck by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      I've never understood why people go from Android to Apple... Why would somebody willingly pay so much more for so much less?

    2. Re: That wouldn't be good luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's a vastly superior user experience.

  14. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time marches ever forward. People use the headphones in the box. Apple sells a zillion phones.

    Ignorance marches ever forward. Millennials use shitty earbuds and don't care about sound quality. Apple confirms iLemmings number in the zillions. Fashion makes more money than function.

  15. Thank God for the Drudge Report by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 0

    ...without Matt Drudge showing them what's news, slashdot editors wouldn't know what stories to run more than half the time.

    1. Re:Thank God for the Drudge Report by unixisc · · Score: 1

      If only we could get Matt Drudge interested in iOS, Windows, systemd, Linux, BSD and other tech related stuff, so that those of us sick of the Trump bashing, Chelsea Manning smooching, Russia bashing, Muslim smooching, Right bashing, Left smooching stories here can have somewhere to go

  16. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    It's undoubtedly the reason they draw so many haters; everyone not a fan germinates dislike for a team that wins too often.

    It's just like saying Brady wins another Super Bowl.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  17. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All headphones are crappy, as is most digital music. So you are just as equally stupid and ignorant using Android with a headphone jack.

    But it's funny that nearly every prognosticator here called it wrong, and Apple is not failing. Typical nerds.

  18. If that were true it would be long gone by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The company is balanced on a tiny wire, with all its appeal based on fashion and the whims of teenagers

    If that were true Apple would have come and gone, blown away by the whims of fashion as all who walk that write are.

    Instead Apple is like a Turtle, a very determined Turtle - not on that wire, but moving forward on solid ground. Many claim the Turtle is slow or lacks fancy features but it always seems to get where it is going despite many attacks that bounce of its pretty shell.. for the strength of the turtle is not in the beauty of the shell, but in the relentless motion forward protected by many layers or hardened experience from those that would attempt to stop it.

    You keep hoping, but the turtle keeps moving... you keep waiting for the turtle to fall, but where is it to fall from solid ground?

    Meanwhile the turtle finds ever larger ponds to explore, each time you claiming the pond they have found will dry up... that may be true, but the Turtle Moves.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:If that were true it would be long gone by baker_tony · · Score: 1

      Try spending more time understanding what you're commenting on, rather than commenting.

    2. Re:If that were true it would be long gone by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      I knew the original was not for real. What makes you think my reply was written in full seriousness? It was subtle I grant you, but come on - I likened Apple to a Turtle. I thought that alone would give the game away.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  19. Back to the future ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 0

    Apple has reported strong financial results for the first quarter of 2017.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:Back to the future ... by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      Apple has reported strong financial results for the first quarter of 2017

      Apple's fiscal year starts 4th calendar quarter.

    2. Re:Back to the future ... by ghoul · · Score: 1

      Yes

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
  20. bad news for this guy by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 1

    http://www.techinvestornews.co... A fool and his money...

    1. Re:bad news for this guy by seoras · · Score: 1

      AAPL is, as I type, down by $0.28
      Someone commented above Nerds are crappy at marketing analysis.
      Well yes and also crappy at understanding the stock market.
      Back in the day, when I worked at Cisco (in the 90's), I'd often get asked by my fellow engineers "why has the stock gone down when we beat expectations this quarter?"
      Because you buy on the rumour and sell on the facts.
      The market had anticipated a good quarter and had adjusted prior to the results today.
      Now that those results have been confirmed there's the sell off and profiting on that safe bet
      So this fool ain't so foolish I think.

    2. Re:bad news for this guy by Bill+Hayden · · Score: 1

      AAPL is, as I type, down by $0.28

      AAPL is, as I type, soaring past $128. Per the article, this man is now bankrupt.

      --
      Protect your browser with the Force Safe Search add-on
  21. Re: I guess it's like Trump by Type44Q · · Score: 1

    You are of course quite right; the only thing dumber than a geek is a... non-geek.

  22. Of course the flock ignore the bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    So it's true, Apple has basically become a phone company. Mac dales down, iPad sales down, dropping routers, dropping monitors, I would say everything Apple is doing is iPhone motivated.

  23. Barnum underestimated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    527040 minutes in a year.
    78 million iphone 7's sold.

    Couple suckers born every second.

  24. Apple represents a mind virus like Microsoft. by Zombie+Ryushu · · Score: 0, Troll

    Apple represents a mind virus like Microsoft. I see Apple as a predatory company, worse than Microsoft in alot of ways. They sort of represent an Ill in American society you don't see elsewhere. A drive to conformity, and closedminded-ness. They fleece their customer base, worse than Microsoft has over and over. They [should] be hit with Anti-trust and Anti-Monopoly suits. But with the irredeemably corrupt government in the US, it won't happen.

    1. Re:Apple represents a mind virus like Microsoft. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck are you even talking about. Anti-Trust? Apple is not the majority player in any market.

  25. Re: poop also booming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Best post ever

  26. Whelp... by tsotha · · Score: 0

    Say goodbye to your headphone jack. The other manufacturers will take this to mean nobody wants one.

  27. Pokemon Go by Bratch · · Score: 1

    I read somewhere that they were on track to make $3 billion just from Pokemon Go app store sales.

    --
    Beware of the Redittor who loans you a Sharpie.
  28. Re:I guess it's like Trump by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    [It would] be fucking awesome if everybody stuck to being snide about electronics/technology instead of politics.

    You must be new here. You should prepare for several years of butthurt from all parties. Frankly, I'm looking to the poopflinging that a presidential impeachment will bring!

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  29. Re:I guess it's like Trump by known_coward_69 · · Score: 1

    no one cares what geeks think and the toys they worship. most people have a life outside of worshiping tech

  30. $200 billion overseas by manu0601 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    $200 billion in cash parked overseas

    If you wonder why we cannot find money to restore aging roads and bridges, you have an insight here. A good tax reform would be to make multinationals actually pay their taxes.

    1. Re:$200 billion overseas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If we do that, it'll make Jesus and Grover Norquist cry!

    2. Re:$200 billion overseas by manu0601 · · Score: 1

      make multinationals actually pay their taxes.

      Moderated flamebait? I wonder if my sin was to criticize tax law, or to note Apple exploits it.

  31. Fudging the Math by ghoul · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Apple had a 14 week Quarter as compared to a 13 week quarter and grew revenue 3.9%. So for a 7% longer period a 3.9% higher revenue looks like a drop . No wonder the profit dropped as 14 weeks means 7% more costs but only 3.9% more revenue so profit has to fall.

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
    1. Re:Fudging the Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not correct.

      It's true that Apple's fiscal year ends on September 26, for some weird reason - but it does that every year. The "first quarter of fiscal 2016" was the same length as the "first quarter of fiscal 2017", which is what they're reporting on here.

    2. Re:Fudging the Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, this is how the market works. If you don't know how to read the numbers correctly then you should not be in the market. All companies do the numbers this way and as long as you understand what you are looking at it is all fine.

    3. Re:Fudging the Math by MatthiasF · · Score: 1

      Uh, Apple's earnings show 14 weeks for Q1 2017 and 13 weeks for Q1 2016. They literally said it out loud during the call.

      So, no. You are either not paying attention what they are reporting or out-right lying.

      Livestream of the conference call from an Apple friendly source if you don't believe me:

      http://www.macrumors.com/2017/...

    4. Re:Fudging the Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, actually it's 13.71... weeks, so not surprising if it gets rounded differently depending how they count their weeks.

      I'm not asking you to take my word for it. Look up for yourself when Apple's fiscal 2015 ended.

  32. ePhone socks! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I ownly whant Gigglez cawk ip me arse!

  33. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Samsung isn't taking the phonejack out of their flagship phone. In fact, their courageous move was taking out the microSD slot on a previous model and they opted to put it back in.

    Apple is a rather zealous operation and probably won't put the jack back in. But people will adopt workarounds like jacks in the case. Or will leave the cult and get an ordinary and less courageous phone from a company who bases feature set on demand, not on forcing $170 pods on fashion-conscious customers.

  34. Re:I guess it's like Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope. You're the idiot.

  35. Ah hah!! by garote · · Score: 1

    A Pratchett fan I see!

  36. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the last time i used jack connector was in the 80's of my walkman.

  37. Microsoft? MICROSOFT? by garote · · Score: 1

    In my day we used to dreaaaaam of having a big gorilla tech company like Microsoft, whose demise we could foretell. We had to content ourselves with big oil, and big coal, and THAT'S if we were LUCKY. Most people had to hate on the auto industry. And those poor buggers were almost proven right!! You kids, with your tech hardware juggernauts and your defense contractors, you don't know easy you have it...

  38. "Informative", but wrong. by garote · · Score: 1

    From the conference call Q&A:
    "We had the benefit of a 14th week, but this was offset by several factors including less channel fill than last year and a one-time $548 million patent judgment receipt last year."

    1. Re:"Informative", but wrong. by MatthiasF · · Score: 2

      That explains nothing. Let me lay out the numbers for you.

      In Q1 2016, Apple made $75.872 billion in a 13 week period or around $ 5.836 billion a week. In Q1 2017, Apple made $78.361 billion in 14 weeks or $5.597 billion per week. A difference of $2.489 billion year over year or a 4% decline in average weekly revenue.

      As far as iPhones, they sold around 3.971 million units a week in 2016 and only 3.884 million units a week in 2017, or a decline of around 2%.

      Then there's the quarterly earnings per diluted share which did you need to put in context of the buybacks Apple made during 2016. Apple repurchased 167.567 million shares of 5257.816 million outstanding or around 3.18%. Diluted earnings per share for Q1 2016 was $3.28 and Q1 2017 was $3.36 or a difference of 2.43, showing yet another hidden decline.

      All of the fluffy language such as "record setting earnings per share" are all meant to throw you off from the truth. Ghoul's quick numbers seem to pan out across the details in the earnings documents.

    2. Re: "Informative", but wrong. by garote · · Score: 1

      You are simply offering a different spin on what are still enormous numbers. The fact that you can spin them to make this look like the _second_ most profitable quarter in the history of any company, relative to the quarter that same company had a year ago, does not matter much.

      Another "more accurate" comparison would be to look at a week-by-week year-over-year breakdown of profits, and subtract off only the profits for that _specific_ extra week. Wouldn't you agree? What's a dull week in October, compared to the second week of December, aye? For all you know, this extra week was _a_handicap_.

    3. Re:"Informative", but wrong. by Pascal+Sartoretti · · Score: 1

      Diluted earnings per share for Q1 2016 was $3.28 and Q1 2017 was $3.36 or a difference of 2.43, showing yet another hidden decline.

      From $3.28 to $3.36 doesn't look like a decline to me. Care to explain ?

    4. Re: "Informative", but wrong. by ghoul · · Score: 1

      The extra week was the week between Christmas and New Year. Definitely not a dull week as all Apple gift cards given as gifts are redeemed during this week and the revenue recorded

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    5. Re:"Informative", but wrong. by MatthiasF · · Score: 1

      Apple repurchased 3.18% of outstanding shares during 2016, reducing the number of shares in total. The year over year increase in diluted earnings per share was 2.43%. So, number of shares reduced by more than earnings increased. Typically if revenue increased and total shares decreased, the earnings per share would be greater than the percentage of shares removed.

      For example, a company that made $100,000 at the end of 2015 has 1000 shares at the beginning of the year for $100 earnings per share. The company purchased 5% of the shares outstanding during 2016 (950 shares outstanding end of year) and also made $100,000 in revenue, putting the earnings per share at around $105 (an increase of 5% year over year).

      Now imagine that same company instead had a decline in revenue of 3%, making $97,000, in 2016 instead. With the reduction in shares, the earnings per share for 2016 would be around $102, which is still greater than the year before at $100.

      In the case of Apple, to beat the previous year's adjusted earnings per shares they would have needed 3.18% increase in revenue and not the 2.43% reported.

    6. Re: "Informative", but wrong. by garote · · Score: 1

      Got numbers and a reference? Otherwise I'm just gonna say that that gift card revenue is not recorded that way, because it does not make accounting sense to do so. That week could just as easily be defined by massive returns of unwanted gifts ;)

  39. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    Why almost nobody here considers the recent Samsung failure as the main reason of this - recent - iPhone success? Headphones vs 3rd degree burns is an easy choice.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  40. What happened to Logo? by tepples · · Score: 1

    Instead Apple is like a Turtle, a very determined Turtle [...] the Turtle Moves.

    Does this turtle move with FD 50 RT 90? It used to.

  41. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    According to the BBC the iPhone 7 is only making up about 17% of iPhone sales. In other words 83% of people want one with a headphone jack.

    What we need are US like-for-like sales numbers, showing US only sales compared to the iPhone 6S at the same time last year. For some reason those don't seem to have been released.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  42. Re:poop also booming by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

    Great now can they pay the €14bn taxes they owe the Irish Government?

    --

    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  43. Re:I guess it's like Trump by Highdude702 · · Score: 2

    No ive been coming here off and on since about 03 or 04 but actually used to like it and spend time reading alot here. But ive noticed this bullshit is driving all of the good members away. and just attracting fucktards. Its sad to see. Social media ruined the internet.

  44. DOOMED!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That courage sure is looking good.

  45. Re:But I thought the headphone jack was all-import by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

    Those numbers are speculation, and you should probably be able to guess that they're bad or incomplete speculation by the ASP numbers that Apple released. I suspect that at best, the 17% number they cite is for iPhone 7 units and not iPhone 7 Plus.

    Also, how would that stack up historically? Is that normal? 17% on its own is a useless number without context.

    But it seems incredibly unlikely that Apple would be able to pull down such a monstrous profit by selling the older phones.

  46. Re:poop also booming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There should be a (-1, Thread Hijacking) mod. You know, for people who give a totally unrelated response to a top-posted thread in an attempt to get modded up, since not all modders read until the bottom.