Filed under: Macworld, Apple Corporate, Apple Financial
Apple shares slide following keynote
Here's a shocker -- Apple shares slid 0.7 percent (as of this writing) after Phil Schiller concluded the company's last official keyonte address at Macworld Expo. Robert Francello, head of equity trading for Apex Capital hedge fund in San Francisco, blamed "...no true blockbusters" for the market's reaction.With that, we have a large part of why Apple has abandoned the show. Ten or twelve years ago, Apple needed such a high-profile event to get its products noticed by as many people as possible. Additionally, they'd pack as much into those precious 90 minutes as they could, while they had everyone's attention.
Today, that's not the case. Phil Schiller noted that 3.4 million customers visit their retail stores per week, worldwide. The "lesser" press events, like the annual September iPod announcement, attract all the attention Apple needs. These are much less expensive to produce and allow Apple to release products when they're ready, not when the calendar reads "January." Therefore, there's no cache of goodies waiting for the Moscone Center, which always disappoints Wall Street and adversely affects Apple's stock price.
Sure, it's sad to see Apple go, but the "why" is clear.
[Via MacDailyNews]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Fred said 4:20PM on 1-06-2009
Meh. They'll bounce back. 17" Macbook!!!!! Plus the iTunes changes, which I think will make that side of the business more profitable. Apple's fine.
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nikster said 7:35PM on 1-06-2009
iTunes change is huge for me - makes it interesting to me for the first time in a long time. I bought some tunes about 5 years ago and now they have been copied too many times so I can't play them anymore. I could probably contact customer service but to be honest my time is worth more than the $5 I bought the songs for.
DRM needs to be removed, that's all. It's the only way.
I am also going to plunk down $3k for the MBP 17 - I have been waiting for a long lasting Mac portable for ages and now it's finally here. At an incredible form factor and weight, no less.
tony said 4:26PM on 1-06-2009
That's probably the best summary of the situation I've seen.
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David said 4:32PM on 1-06-2009
I guess this is an acceptable reason for today's disappointment. I also understand why the stock price fell - there was nothing for the masses today. I was VERY disappointed - I even sold my iMac hoping to pick up a fresh mini this weekend. Looks like I will skip the multi-media hub concept and get the LCD TV instead.
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Fred said 5:21PM on 1-06-2009
You're either BS'ing or you're not very smart. Why would you sell your current computer on the hopes that a new one would be announced? And anyway, just because it didn't get announced an MacWorld doesn't mean it isn't gonna happen. Did it ever occur to you that maybe has some other stuff up it's sleeve to justify it's own event in the near future?
Dave said 4:43PM on 1-06-2009
When I saw the article title on Twitter I thought it was something completely different. I thought you were saying Apple was SHARing the SLIDEs that Phil used in the Keynote.
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Something Bacon said 10:31AM on 1-07-2009
That's exactly what I thought. :)
planetMitch said 4:46PM on 1-06-2009
And when in the last xx years hasn't the stock fallen? Ok, once, after the iPhone announcement. This is a non-story
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Ross said 4:56PM on 1-06-2009
My thoughts exactly.
brian said 5:17PM on 1-06-2009
Same here. Hasn't this guy been watching for the last decade? "Buy on the rumor, sell on the announcement" has become a cliche in the last few years. Which is the OTHER main reason that Apple is abandoning the show--who wants to go through all this effort just to watch the stock dive every time?
I'll miss the annual event--it's like geek Christmas for me--but there is no good reason for Apple to keep doing a show this big. 1) Everyone knows it's coming so they get all worked up. 2) The rumor mills and spy networks go into overdrive so the BIG surprises are usually known ahead of time, thus making it almost pointless. 3) The rumors usually wind up over-inflating expectations so the show disappoints no matter what. (eg. $799 MacBooks last fall) 4) The unwavering schedule of the show (early Jan) leads to "available in 2 months"-itis. I'd rather hear "... and it's available TODAY" in March.
1-3 face their special events, too, but a) they cost a lot less and b) Apple can pick when they happen. :-)
quandmeme said 6:45PM on 1-06-2009
Hence the opening line: "Here's a shocker . . ."
I was disappointed by no Snow Leopard (reason, I'm sure not glamorous), no updated mini, and no blu-ray authoring, in that order.
worth said 4:52PM on 1-06-2009
Predictions on timing of the upcoming hardware event, when the new Minis (and maybe other updates) will be rolled out?
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Tim said 5:21PM on 1-06-2009
Yeah, the Minis really was the big thing needing an update. And if OpenCL turns out as great as Apple's pitching it, they'll want a recent Nvidia or ATI card in every machine so they can have that feature. The Nvidia 9400 chipset would be fine. I'm frankly disappointed by that the most, even though I think the new iLife looks good.
My personal guess would be that there will be an event somewhere in Febuary to March that shows off a nearly-finished version of Snow Leopard, featuring lots of side by side demos to show how it's faster than Regular Leopard or Tiger. Then, at the end of that presentation, the presenter says, "Yeah, it's great what you can do with an Nvidia chip running OpenCL and a multicore CPU. Speaking of which, one more thing..."
I predict the hardware event will have all or most of the Macs updated to the new Unibody with an Nvidia 9400 chipset in the base configuration, including the cheapest MacBook, the Mac Mini, and maybe the iMac. I say maybe on the iMac, as it still agrees with the motif of the whole line short of not being unibody. It's glass and aluminum with a black bezel, and the unibody process is more expensive. Plus, it doesn't need to be as durable as the laptops.
The Mac Mini, however, has had the same shape since day one, and it needs to distance itself from the older, slower models. An aluminum body that's curvier will make it look more like the new machines, so people will automatically recognise it.
As for why they didn't announce new hardware today, it probably is to avoid customers predicting when the upgrades come, which keeps old inventory around and causes people to buy hardware when it's least profitable for Apple. I think they also might be wanting to keep the cheapest models the same so that they can move inventory and old hardware when people are more willing to settle for a cheap machine but still want the Apple brand, especially since frugality is big right now. And, of course, when the speed bumps/upgrades come, Apple gets to pitch them on value as well. If it's the return of the Cube, upgradability becomes a selling point that increases value.
worth said 5:33PM on 1-06-2009
Looking back at previous Mini product announcements, there was one back in late Feb. '06.
Feb would be a good time to do it again, as it would give them a nice stage with which to remind everyone that iLife '09 is "available now," unlike today's announcement.
Pete said 4:00PM on 1-07-2009
I agree with you about the Feb. release of Mini.
But the first week of January is absolutely the worst time for new hardware. The Macbook Pro 17" is an exception because with the 15" refresh no one was buying it last quarter.
The reason it is a bad time for releasing new hardware is that a lot of people who bought Apple hardware over Christmas will be positively pissed that in two weeks their new product is obsolete.
A software update for iWork and iLife (but not Mac OS) is a better idea for this week if Apple is obliged to announce anything in the first week of January.
frogbat said 5:08PM on 1-06-2009
it made sense for apple no matter what analysts may have read into apple pulling out. Also, it's been part of their strategy - pulling out of international expos and speciality shows like NAB. As the post pointed out, apple just needs to hold a press conference to make a splash. Products which would have made the tail end of press coverage such as iwork and ilife at previous macworlds were given centre stage.
i wonder if the timing of new products will coincide with CES announcements from their rivals? kinda to put spokes in their wheels
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BKO said 5:18PM on 1-06-2009
The point of computers is to run good software.
Apple discusses good updates to good software.
Everybody complains.
Makes sense to me.
And yes, completely understand why Apple doesn't want to put up with this crap anymore. The annual post-keynote whine-o-rama is insufferable no matter what the announcements are. Three strong product announcements sounds like a good day to me, but in Apple fanboy fantasy land, that's a letdown. Sure thing.
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balls said 5:42PM on 1-06-2009
I'm guessing the "surprise" part is sarcasm; I thought after every keynote, the stock tumbles a bit, because of the rumor vs actual announcements.
Didn't TUAW run a story on "What if you had purchased apple stock prior to each apple keynote event, then sold it after?"
Anyway, the economy is in a tough position, and despite apple marketing "premium" products, I believe they are in better shape than many other companies.
Still, I'll wait for AAPL shares to drop to $40 before buy more :)
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frogbat said 5:59PM on 1-06-2009
oh another reason for apple to abandon these shows is that they can set their own agenda and schedule! - maybe not having to have updates to hw and sw on set dates and at set intervals will improve QA
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lj said 7:07PM on 1-06-2009
if the stocks did NOT fall after a keynote, my eyes would burst out of my head. it just shows how ludicrous wall street is that they overreact to simple product announcements EVERY TIME. and said overreaction is ALWAYS negative. it a ridiculous pattern. i've learned to ignore it. guess i won't have to anymore.
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