Apple is finally paying for its hubris or something

“Color me surprised. Just a few months ago, Apple announced its new phones, iPhone XR, along with the XS and XS Max — and I thought they had hit it out of the park. At the high end, the XS and XS Max continued the push toward bigger, more powerful phones, while the XR featured most of the benefits of its more expensive brethren at a more reasonable price,” Navneet Alang writes for The Week. “With Apple covering a broad swath of the market, I predicted a huge holiday quarter.
“It seems I was mistaken. Though it’s still too early to tell how bad things are, a pall now hovers over Apple as reports of cut production targets and weaker sales have sent the stock plummeting 25 percent,” Alang writes. “Goldman Sachs has downgraded the stock twice on worries Apple’s lineup is too expensive, too familiar, and just not appealing enough. Suddenly, it seems the sheen has come off the world’s most valuable company.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s a lot of bullshit to spread with a shovel made only of thinly-sourced supply chain rumors.
“If I am a bit surprised,” Alang writes, “one imagines the execs at Apple are only more so.”
MacDailyNews Take: One imagines. The conceit of this piece takes quite a lot of imagining. The only thing surprising execs at Apple is how much they’re laughing while executing buybacks at a breakneck pace.
“The company has become perhaps the defining emblem of the digital age, its products and brand ubiquitous, its profits unprecedented,” Alang writes. “But perhaps it was just that success that led to the current situation — a mixture of hubris and comfort leading it to rest on its laurels.”
MacDailyNews Take: Plus monkeys like dry toast and ping pong balls while flying jet planes and… Hey, laaadddyyy!!!
“It’s hard not to get the sense that Apple is Icarus, and the wax holding its wings together is starting to melt,” Alang writes. “For years, Apple’s fanbase seemed willing to follow it anywhere, including the land of higher prices. But the company might be pushing that goodwill too far… Perhaps this was inevitable. There is a cultural effect that comes with market dominance in which companies become both complacent and defensive precisely because of their success.”
Full article – Think Before You Click – here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Seems.” “Might.” “Perhaps.” We sense a theme here.
Amid all of the noise of mindless Dvorakian blather, listen, here’s all you need to know:
When the lemmings, er… “analysts” start their upgrade parade, then you’ll know the bottom has been found. – MacDailyNews, November 26, 2018
In the meantime: Don’t get mad, get rich.
SEE ALSO:
Morgan Stanley projects Apple’s Services revenue to grow to $100 billion by 2023 – November 29, 2018
Apple VP: iPhone XR has been company’s best-selling model every day since it launched – November 28, 2018
Is Warren Buffett adding to Apple under $175? – November 26, 2018
Explaining the recent Apple selloff, and why the stock looks undervalued – November 23, 2018
Apple is no longer worth anywhere near one trillion dollars – November 23, 2018
Apple to lower iPhone XR pricing in Japan in order to boost sales – November 23, 2018
Why the bad news on Apple keeps on coming – November 23, 2018
In the darkest hour of Apple’s ‘white-knuckle period,’ some investors are loving it – November 21, 2018