Apple of the Future
This is
when I say, “I told you so”
I have been screaming online ever since 2016
that Apple knows the underlying truth of any successful business evolution and
adaptation: YOU should be the one to put yourself out of business. Apple has
become an iPhone dependent company since around 2012 when basically half or
more than half of their revenue came from iPhone sales. As a result of their
success they could not just sit on their behind and enjoy the ride of growth
that the most popular device sold in history gave them. Getting ready for THIS
past quarter of revenue was something I can assure you they have been strategizing
for.
A TWO DIGIT DROP in iPhone sales and yet they
still had growth year over year… what? How? If you google it, you can get the
numbers, the breakdown, the pessimists and the optimists. THIS is my point of
view, an AppleWormist way of looking at the company whom I trust, criticize,
admire and fear, all at the same time.
Let’s face it, Apple has at the most a 15%
share of the smartphone market worldwide; even so, their price range being high
means they make the most out of the small percentage they have. Plus, they try
to access new markets with brand, quality, customer sat and ecosystem. The iPhone
is FAR from dead, but now it isn’t the driver to the future of Apple, rather a
vehicle through which Apple views its future: services.
Yes, iPhone sales are decreasing by around 12%
but the install base is around 900 million. And therein lies the future, the
truth, the bulletproofing for the crowded smartphone market for Apple to survive.
Tim Cook was dealt a hand and he was not thinking about the present, he brought
the Apple Watch: today’s most sold smartwatch and watch of the entire world
market. He brought AirPods: the most sold Bluetooth earphones ever. AND he is
now showing us how to take advantage of the last decade of iPhones that exist
in people’s pockets: SERVICES.
Services from Apple have a characteristic that
limits its growth opportunities while at the same time creating an enormous
profitable “new” market in which to live: the install base. So many people are
now sitting on a 1 to 4 year old iPhone and are happy with it, it works just
fine and makes them happy because mostly they get updated every year and make
the phone feel and look newer. Apple services are best served in the very
ecosystem that they breathe: iOS + macOS + iPadOS + watchOS.
Continuity, privacy, simplicity and even ease
of payment are just some of the characteristics that have made services grow in
double digits year over year and people are just realizing the true endgame of
Tim Cook and his team.
Now, let’s not forget about the English
elephant in the room: Jony Ive has begun his leave at Apple. STOP! Don’t be
like everyone who jumps to conclusions… Ive is one of the pillars that BUILT
the success at Apple, BUT he also is a creator of company culture and specially
design vocabulary at Apple. In the way that Jobs setup his leave with Cook and
told him NOT to think what Steve Jobs would do, but rather what Tim Cook will
do, Ive has setup his leave starting a long time ago when he left to work on
Apple Retail Stores and had a way more away/oversight approach.
Now Apple has to prove that they have learned
and can evolve from its past and present.
I am excited to see what they do with iPhone
now that it is not their growth factor; with iPad now that it has shown a
recovery in public demand and use; with the Mac now that they finally have cleaned
up their options; with the Apple Watch and AirPods now that they have found a high
success.
And after this latest quarterly earnings I am
excited to see what Tim Cook has been doing is to make his work, his planning,
his team work, his results do the talking for him,
so what now?
