by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Technology
Tim Cook
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : Apple CEO Tim Cook, who skipped mentioning India directly during the company’s earnings call with analysts, has said that there are several factors why iPhone sales are not picking up in the emerging markets like India.
“The customers are holding on to their older iPhones a bit longer than in the past.
“When you pair this with the macroeconomic factors, particularly in emerging markets, it resulted in iPhone revenue that was down 15 per cent from last year,” Cook told analysts late Tuesday.
The Apple CEO said foreign exchange is another key factor behind the slow iPhone sales. “The relative strength of the US dollar has made our products more expensive in many parts of the world,” he told analysts.
However, the growing competition in the premium segment — led by OnePlus, Samsung and Huawei — has made a major dent in Apple’s market share in India.
According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung led the premium smartphone segment in India in 2018 with a 34 per cent share, followed closely by OnePlus at 33 per cent which was the best-selling device of the year. At third position, Apple had 23 per cent market share in 2018.
Industry experts say that it might be a continuing struggle for Apple to build upon volumes in a very price-sensitive India market (85 per cent market below $200), where it currently holds a share which is less than even 2 per cent.
“The new iPhones are costlier than the previous generation, making it unaffordable to the larger masses. Here vendors like One Plus are gaining as they have competitive specs at much better pricing as compared to Apple,” said Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.
“The newly-launched iPhones are also costlier for the super-premium segment (which is the focus segment for Apple in India), as one can buy high-end products like Smart TVs at the same pricing,” Joshi told IANS.
Apple has already begun reducing the price for third-party distributors in China and may follow the same in India soon.
The iPhone maker is currently seeking tax relief and other incentives from the government to begin assembling more handsets and open its branded stores, and its proposal to set up a manufacturing unit is reportedly under evaluation.
Apple shipped 1.7 million iPhones in 2018, almost 50 per cent lower than the 2017 shipments of 3.2 million units.
“We can expect some kind of price correction going forward as Apple has given indications that they will look at pricing outside the US closely now,” Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint, told IANS.
“India continues to be a critical market for Apple as the premium segment is likely to grow faster than the overall smartphone market,” he added.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
San Francisco : As Apple posted a healthy revenue of $61.1 billion for its fiscal 2018 second quarter — defying global reports of a weakened demand for its iPhones — the company’s CEO Tim Cook said he will now put great energy into the growing Indian market.
During the company’s earnings call with media late Tuesday, Cook said: “Let me start with India, and then I’ll talk more about China. India, we set a new first-half record. So we continue to put great energy there… Our objective over time is to go in there with all of our different initiatives from retail and everything else.
“And so we’re working toward those things. It’s a huge market and it’s clear that many people will be moving into the middle class over time, as we’ve seen in other countries.”
The quarterly revenue of $61.1 billion was an increase of 16 per cent from the year-ago quarter and international sales accounted for 65 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We’re thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iPhone, services and wearables,” Cook said in a statement.
“Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter.
“We also grew revenue in all of our geographic segments, with over 20 per cent growth in Greater China and Japan,” he informed.
Apple also announced $100 billion in additional stock buybacks.
“Given our confidence in Apple’s future, we are very happy to announce that our Board has approved a new $100 billion share repurchase authorization and a 16 per cent increase in our quarterly dividend,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.
The iPhone maker reported $13 billion in revenue from Greater China.
“China, I continue to believe is a phenomenal country with lots of opportunity from a market point of view, but also lots of opportunity from an app developer’s point of view,” Cook said during the earnings call.
“We have almost two million application developers in China that are writing apps for iOS and the App Store, and they’re doing unbelievably creative work and innovative work. So we look at China holistically, not only as a market, he noted.
Apple will complete the execution of the previous $210 billion share repurchase authorisation during the third fiscal quarter.
“Our business performed extremely well during the March quarter, as we grew earnings per share by 30 per cent and generated over $15 billion in operating cash flow,” said Maestri.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Markets, Social Media, World
Mark Zuckerberg
San Francisco : Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hit back at Tim Cook saying that the recent criticism from his counterpart at Apple was unfounded, the media reported.
In an interview given to Vox on Monday, Zuckerberg defended his company’s business model by saying: “You know, I find that argument, that if you’re not paying that somehow we can’t care about you, to be extremely glib. And not at all aligned with the truth.
“The reality here is that if you want to build a service that helps connect everyone in the world, then there are a lot of people who can’t afford to pay.
“Having an advertising-supported model is the only rational model that can support building this service,” he was quoted as saying.
In a Recode and MSNBC interview last month, Cook had called for increased regulation of social media, and questioned the practice of monetising user data on free platforms by selling ads that allow advertisers to target specific groups.
The Apple CEO was asked how he would handle the crisis.
“I wouldn’t be in this situation,” he said.
“The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetised our customer… If our customer was our product… We’ve elected not to do that.”
Apple makes the vast majority of its money selling hardware, including iPhones, iPads and Macs.
Facebook, on the other hand, has built an entire business on selling ads that target users based on information they provide.
Apple executives have used privacy and transparency as a sales pitch, drawing a contrast with other companies especially Facebook.
Cook called privacy a “human right” and “a civil liberty”, reports CNN.
Zuckerberg told Vox that Facebook was dedicated “serving people”, despite its reliance on advertising.
“If you want to build a service which is not just serving rich people, then you need to have something that people can afford,” he said.
“I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm Syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you,” the Facebook CEO added.
Facebook is currently facing the heat over the leak of personal and other data of some 50 million users to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
Zuckerberg admitted that the social media giant “made mistakes” over the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a “breach of trust” had occurred between it and its users.
He has apologised for the data debacle and said he was ready to testify before Congress.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, World
San Francisco : After US President Donald Trump announced that Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised to build three new manufacturing plants in the country, the Cupertino-based tech giant has announced plans to build a $1.3 billion data centre in Waukee, Iowa.
“Our new data centre in Iowa will help serve millions of people across North America who use Siri, iMessage, Apple Music and other Apple services, all powered by renewable energy,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement late Thursday.
“Apple is responsible for 2 million jobs in all 50 states and we’re proud the investment will add to the more than 10,000 jobs we already support across Iowa, providing even more economic opportunity for the community.”
The investment to build the 400,000 sq.ft facility will create over 550 construction and operations jobs in the Des Moines area.
The company is contributing up to $100 million to a newly created Public Improvement Fund dedicated to community development and infrastructure around Waukee.
Construction on the data centre is expected to start early next year and Apple plans to bring it online in 2020.
Last year, Apple spent over $50 billion with more than 9,000 US suppliers and manufacturers.
Since the launch of the App Store in 2008, US developers have earned over $16 billion in its sales worldwide.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in July, Trump said he had a phone conversation with Cook.
“He’s promised me three big plants — big, big, big,” Trump said, referring to Cook.
“I said you know, Tim, unless you start building your plants in this country, I won’t consider my administration an economic success. He called me, and he said they are going forward,” Trump was quoted as saying.
The President has reiterated several times that he would bring jobs back to the US.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Media, News
New Delhi, (IANS) On his maiden trip to India as Apple CEO, Tim Cook on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and launched an updated version of the “Narendra Modi Mobile App”.
“Thank you @tim_cook! Friends, welcome and happy volunteering. Your views and efforts are always enriching,” Modi tweeted.
Cook replied: “Thanks PM @narendramodi for a great meeting. Already looking forward to next visit to India. Best wishes on the app!”
The updated version contains a new volunteering network on the app.
“I am delighted to share that Mr Tim Cook launched an updated version ofAAthe ‘Narendra Modi Mobile App’. Thank you, Mr.Cook,” said Modi in his tweet.
