End of an era "iPhones"

[DARPA]

A very peculiar US stock market yesterday reacted to the important presentation of Apple: the more information the public gets a new "iPhone" and "iPads", the stronger sags shares of Apple and other US companies. The rapid growth of the morning on the stock exchanges gave way during a presentation at least the rapid fall, and in the afternoon the market has slipped a half percent down from the levels of the early days.

In the English-speaking ZeroHedge appeared amusing diagram on which the most important news from the presentation were imposed on the graph shares collapse Apple: I learned this illustration at the beginning of this article.

Of course, the behavior of the US stock market is dependent not only on the presentations of Apple. But let's not forget that a week ago, amazing time "found" a letter from Tim Cook, in which he talked about the good sales in China, greatly supported by falling US stocks.

It is clear that the situation when the US market with a market capitalization of $ 20 trillion under depends on the sales of trendy gadgets in China, can not be called healthy. All the markets are very unstable, and even a relatively small event like a presentation of Apple, could be a catalyst for a large-scale collapse:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-0 ... pe-crushed

Meanwhile, more and more doubt there is about the future of corporation Apple. The reasons that helped the first "iPhone" take over the world, no longer work, and now the end of "the era of iPhones," probably is not far off. I present to you my translation of English-language blogger articles that examines the challenges faced by today has become in recent years a symbol of the American economy a corporation:

http://omidmalekan.com/have-we-reached-peak-apple/

Title: Have we reached Peak Apple?
Author: Omid Malekan (Omid Malekan)

Technological changes often occur faster than the blinkered people can recognize them. Not so long ago, you and all your friends use to communicate the program AIM, but this guy has issued his famous ad, "you'll get Dell». In one day you have stopped using it. BlackBerry phones once became so popular that the expression «to bbm someone" even entered the internet slang, but then these devices have disappeared. Such points of inflection rarely have their cause mistakes companies tend buyers simply move on to new products.

Last year, Apple's success with the sixth "iPhone" was so spectacular that it seemed as if the corporation certainly will develop it. Unfortunately, when a fracture occurs, it is usually no one notices. We can not say that Apple passed the peak of its popularity due to the fact that that it overtakes one of the competitors. It is not MSN Messenger or Hewlett Packard knocked out of the market the big players of the day: did the apathy of their clients. Apple is currently facing the same precipice.

The main threat to the continued success of "iPhone" - a continuing success "iPhone." Apple long before his competitors realized that wearable items - it is rather a fashion item, and to position their products accordingly. But now "iPhones" have so many different groups of people, it is no longer the cutting edge of fashion. If the popularity of the world's art can be self-sustaining, the fashion world is dangerous to be too popular.

The second threat to the "iPhone" for smartphones in general, it is the success that Apple and its competitors had in vpihivanii all conceivable functions in the latest gadgets. Modern smartphones are more like handheld computers, rather than on the device for communication, and it hinders them. Once smartphones become small computers, all the improvements can now be only quantitative. The next model will be a little faster and a little better with the camera, but it probably will not be a revolutionary feature that will radically change the user experience. The PC business was a time when the release of new versions of Windows or the new Intel became a milestone in the development and led to a surge in sales, but the changes will eventually become quantitative, and PC makers have suffered from it.

Not all aspects of the domination of "iPhones" have analogues in history. Thanks to the unique position of smartphones, Apple (and to a lesser extent its rivals) enjoyed subsidies from mobile operators. When smart phones just appeared, it was unclear as to force users to upgrade to expensive rates to the Internet. To facilitate the transition of the main operators such as Verizon and AT & T, we decided to subsidize the sale of smartphones in return for a two-year contract subscribers. It was good for sales of "iPhones".

The total cost of ownership of an expensive phone and regular upgrades are now dropped. Since the monthly bill for the connection does not change depending on whether you have been a long term contract or not, customers had an incentive to always buy their most expensive smartphone immediately after its release. Owners of "iPhones" take advantage of it, as "iPhones" the average cost more than their competitors. Since mobile operators have decided to establish a fee for the conclusion of the contract in the $ 200 - no matter if you get together with the contract "iPhone" for $ 700 or smartphone on Android for $ 500 - the owners of "iPhones" subsidized by the owners of "non-iPhones" .

All these advantages have almost stopped working. As smartphones become the main direction of development of the industry, operators no longer need to subsidize phones to force users to use a more expensive rate plans. The operators already do not care whether you use an iPhone or the latest phone two years ago. That is why operators are moving to a monthly payment system, and Verizon, the largest operator in the US, recently announced the cessation of all tariff plans with subsidized phones. Subscribers can now bring your own, or phone, or buy a phone at full height of the operator, paying him at once or in installments.

This move is bad for all of Verizon smartphone manufacturers, as consumers for the first time forced to choose how much money they spend on a new phone. In the past, when all the new phones cost $ 200, they have an incentive to choose the most expensive option (what was almost always the iPhone), and regularly update it to the new model. But now customers can save money if they use an old phone or choose a cheaper model. This is expressed in the economy or a single amount on buying or saving on your monthly payments, so that the likelihood of impulse purchases and because of the latest most expensive models will decrease. If the user will not update your phone to the new model, its monthly fee decrease significantly after the payment of an old telephone, and thus the cost of a new phone will be especially noticeable.

Apple dominates the market and makes maximum cheat on their phones, so the corporation will lose from the changes the most. Premium brands are always derive maximum benefit from the industry-subsidies, and they also lose the most when subsidies are canceled. It would not be so important if Apple could oppose to the actual increase in the price of iPhones significant improvements, but, alas, smart phones are now increasingly resemble each other and, therefore, stand at "iPhones" will fail. Consumers are about to start asking to pay more for a phone that stands out from the less the total number.

In recent weeks, Apple shares have fluctuated erratically along with the rest of the stock market. Although part of the decline of Apple shares can be explained by economic problems in China should not ignore the changes in the American market. Current reports indicate that Apple has ordered a record number of units from its suppliers in anticipation of the iPhone 6s. Record uncertainty is preparing to meet with the record volume of deals.

While Apple offers a host of other products, none of them comes close to the "iPhone" in terms of sales and profits. That is why in the coming years the company will live or die together with its flagship product. As they say in advertising Apple, unless it is "iPhone", it is not "iPhone."

Looking back at the history of Dell Inc. is now quite obvious that the company's shares and the company was doomed to fall to the ground after its products have become more common, while the prices of our competitors declined, and more sexy gadgets such as smart phones have taken a major niche. Perhaps someday the future, analysts say the same thing about Apple and its historic success with the iPhone.