Apple phone, tablet and TV fail to impress investors

[Great deal]

Source

Apple shares fell 1.9 percent to $110.15 by the close, replicating the recent history of such rollouts but also reflecting the lack of any transformative products that could jumpstart the company's sales ahead of the crucial holiday season.

Apple shares have lost an average of 0.4 percent on the day of iPhone announcements over the past three years, according to BTIG Research data.

"People love to hate Apple announcements because the expectations are so high and they can never clear that bar," said Kevin Landis, portfolio manager of the $111 million Firsthand Technology Opportunities fund, which has Apple as its second-largest position.

Twitter users seemed most impressed by the revamped Apple TV. The product, which the company long called a 'hobby' gets its own app store and will work with Siri, Apple's digital assistant.

Fewer celebrated the iPad, which some saw as too big and similar to Microsoft's Surface tablet, and new iPhones, which are outwardly identical to the enlarged smartphones which made their debut about a year ago.

“3D Touch not good enough reason to upgrade so far,” Ikechukwu Nwanze wrote of the new phones, which start at $199 with a two-year contract.

Apple TV demonstrations showed tricks to make viewing easier: digital assistant Siri, which is behind the voice control, can rewind a video for 15 seconds and turn on subtitles, when a viewer asks something like "What did she say"?

"We've been working really hard, and really long," on TV, Cook said, emphasizing the word 'long' in a nod to the time it has taken the company to produce an ambitious TV product.

A STYLUS?

Many of Apple's new features are based on technology that has been around for some time, but never caught on. Apple has a long history of creating successes where others could not.

Apple TV was the buried lead at event - Max Wolff
Years ago a Blackberry featured force-sensing touch. The new iPad has an optional $99 stylus, called the "Pencil", which amused many on social media: in 2007 Apple then-CEO Steve Jobs told a tech conference, "Yech, nobody wants a stylus."

Apple is coming from behind in the streaming media market. Nearly 20 percent of U.S. broadband households already own at least one media player that streams content from the Internet, according to research firm Parks Associates.

Roku accounts for more than a third of all streaming devices sold in the United States in 2014, followed by Google Inc's Chromecast and Amazon.com Inc's Fire TV, Parks said. The Apple TV box came in fourth.

Landis said that while he liked the updated TV product “the numbers are so small that they won’t move the needle because the iPhone is such a big business now.”

FACEBOOK MESSENGER COMING TO THE WATCH

Cook began the morning by talking up the Apple Watch, saying customer satisfaction for the recently launched product was 97 percent and that a new version of its operating system would be ready by mid-September. Apple is working with French luxury goods maker Hermes on a new watch collection, and Facebook Messenger is coming to the device, he added.

He then rolled out the "iPad Pro" with a 12.9 inch screen and said it had performance similar to a desktop computer. Apple showed off a "smart" keyboard as well as the "Pencil".

Dave Meier, who works on several portfolios at Motley Fool Funds, said that the addition of a stylus and keyboard to the iPad Pro, which starts at $799, could lead to a “refresh cycle” that would lift incremental sales.

He was “impressed with the gumption” to bring Microsoft executives to demonstrate Office products on the new iPad, he said. “This says that the Surface might be dead and Microsoft understands that they are very good at productivity but not at hardware,” he said.

The new phones come a year after Apple rolled out iPhones with larger screens, touching off a frenzy of sales that saw revenue in the most recent quarter increase 32.5 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

"It's getting harder and harder for Apple to compete against itself," said analyst Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research. Apple shares are up about 12 percent over the last year, although they are down about 14 percent in the last three months.

Fortunately for Apple, most consumers buy smartphones under a two-year upgrade cycle, meaning the company will still likely scoop up a lot of sales, said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy.

"The key point of reference is not how the new phone compares to the iPhone 6, it's how it compares to the iPhone 5s," he said.

 

[Pete]

He was “impressed with the gumption” to bring Microsoft executives to demonstrate Office products on the new iPad, he said. “This says that the Surface might be dead and Microsoft understands that they are very good at productivity but not at hardware,” he said.

Well, that's Motley Fool living to it's name again....

But an interesting write up. But obviously the latest range of Apple products will succeed as others before.

 

[MikeX74]

Just makes Apple's share buy backs a lot cheaper.

 

[theefman]

Don't worry, they'll be impressed when the sales figures and profits start rolling in......
Sent from my Lumia 1020

 

[iBandar]

This doesn't mean anything to be honest.

 

[MikeX74]

This doesn't mean anything to be honest.

I guess it was supposed to be evidence of Apple's impending downfall,...or something.

 

[Steve Adams]

Well I would not say downfall, but they are sliding. there is nothing "new" from them since jobs passed. And what they do release is sub par, behind everyone else, and technology that's already in the marketplace and it looks like they, at every release contradict themselves as a company.

 

[MikeX74]

Well I would not say downfall, but they are sliding. there is nothing "new" from them since jobs passed. And what they do release is sub par, behind everyone else, and technology that's already in the marketplace and it looks like they, at every release contradict themselves as a company.

Just to play devil's advocate for a second, what was new when Jobs was there? Not the smartphone, nor the tablet, nor the computer, nor the MP3 player. It's not as if they invented all of those things when Jobs was there, then suddenly became bereft of innovation or inventiveness when he died. Apple does now under Cook what Apple did under Jobs: take existing products and(arguably) make them better.

 

[Steve Adams]

Just to play devil's advocate for a second, what was new when Jobs was there? Not the smartphone, nor the tablet, nor the computer, nor the MP3 player. It's not as if they invented all of those things when Jobs was there, then suddenly became bereft of innovation or inventiveness when he died. Apple does now under Cook what Apple did under Jobs: take existing products and(arguably) make them better.

Actually. I agree with you in part, but the products apple desgined when steve was alive, were I don't know how to put it but they pushed technology forward. Like, the first 4 iphones (not the s versions). Each one advanced the last by a fair margin. Now, the 5 and 6 were not WOW. Same with the ipad, the new ones are just the same old same old. They go back on everything they said when jobs was in command, no big phones, no small tablets, no stylus, etc. NOW they back pedal and tout it as ALL NeW, revoloutionary, and "magical". So I guess when I say New I mean. there is no first "new thing" The only thing NEW is the watch and that is a massive dud, compared to the other offerings out there.

 

[MikeX74]

Actually. I agree with you in part, but the products apple desgined when steve was alive, were I don't know how to put it but they pushed technology forward. Like, the first 4 iphones (not the s versions). Each one advanced the last by a fair margin. Now, the 5 and 6 were not WOW. Same with the ipad, the new ones are just the same old same old. They go back on everything they said when jobs was in command, no big phones, no small tablets, no stylus, etc. NOW they back pedal and tout it as ALL NeW, revoloutionary, and "magical". So I guess when I say New I mean. there is no first "new thing" The only thing NEW is the watch and that is a massive dud, compared to the other offerings out there.

I understand your perspective, but I don't share it. As for things that Jobs said, he was known inside the company for saying no to something, then changing his mind if it made good business sense. He didn't want native apps on the iPhone, or a video iPod, but those things were made because they made sense. The biggest example I can think of is iTunes being on Windows. He had no intention of making a version of iTunes for Windows, but if he hadn't changed his mind, or at least been convinced to do so, it's quite possible that the iPod would've been a massive flop. Why? Because limiting iTunes to Mac users would've limited the possible customer base for the iPod to, at best, a few million people, but with iTunes on Windows, that base became tens of millions. There are, of course, some things that he said that Apple should always stick to(attention to detail and focus on the user experience), but limiting themselves when it comes to products they can make just because Jobs may have said some stuff once upon a time is stupid, in my view. They're reaping enormous financial benefits and gains in market share because they went against what Jobs said about bigger phones. Holding on to that belief for so long is one of the things that allowed Samsung to experience its rise to dominance, and now that Apple has seen the error in holding on to that belief, they've corrected course and are putting the boots to the competition.

 

[libra89]

Well, that's Motley Fool living to it's name again....

But an interesting write up. But obviously the latest range of Apple products will succeed as others before.

Agreed. Of all of the things that people claim to be dead, I have never heard that Surface is one of those things...