Research archive for AAPL

Apple will open its first retail store in India next year. Wait, what? Surely the world's most valuable company has been trading for years in India, which is one of the most populous nations on Earth. Apparently not. For a decade, Apple has solely relied on third-party sellers, stores and marketplaces to sell its products in India.

According to new data from a research company called Omdia, the Apple XR was the world's most popular smartphone in 2019. Other notable smartphones in third and fourth place included the Samsung's Galaxy A10 and the Samsung Galaxy A50. That alone was so painful to write!

Apple results are always very exciting. It is a polarising company when it comes to analysts. Fortunately, we have been on the long side of the argument. Since 2006 the share is up 3 000%, I would say that the longs have been right so far?

Today marks 10 years since the birth of the iPad, Happy Birthday iPad! News is out that the top-end iPad, which is called the iPad Pro will be getting a massive update in the next few months. The next generation iPad Pro will have a Smart Keyboard that is out of this world, this is according to Taiwanese tech website Digitimes.

Apple have stepped it up a notch in the race for content. They have just signed former HBO boss Richard Plepler as a producer for Apple TV Plus for five years. Plepler spent 27 years at HBO which won 160 Emmys while he was in charge.

Apple is at all time highs with a share price of $303 and a market cap of $1.3 trillion. If you had bought the share one year ago you would have doubled your money. Just astonishing considering the size and scale of the business.

Globally the number of installed 5G networks is growing rapidly. In South Africa Rain has already launched its 5G network. To use the super fast network though will require a special cellphone or router, so your current iPhone won't cut it.

One could argue that Apple is the most important holding in Vestact New York portfolios. Although we have slightly more customers who hold Visa, we have held Apple for longer, and it is an easier company to understand. We started accumulating them November 2008 when Steve Jobs was still the CEO and they had just released the iPhone. Our first client purchase was at $13.70 per share. Believe it or not, we switched all of our clients then out of Nokia and into Apple.

According to Yahoo finance, Apple is back on top of the charts in terms of market capitalisation. It is often hard to tell because the companies are in the middle of big share buyback programs. The throne is currently changing hands between Apple and Microsoft.

This is why it is so important to have a closed ecosystem with over a billion loyal subscribers. How do you spell MOAT? Apple is reportedly considering a subscription bundle for Apple Music and its Streaming service Apple TV Plus.

I was interested to read recently about Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Fund which invests in partnerships with suppliers to support and develop key research projects in the US, at companies that make parts for Apple devices.

Ben Evans is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz (also known as 'a16z'), a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley that invests in software companies. His biography page says "I try to work out what's going on and what will happen next".

The new three camera iPhone has arrived! The three lenses are Telephoto, Wide and Ultra-wide; all so that you can take that perfect Instagram shot. Here is a 2-minute video from Apple, summing up what they launched at the event last night - Apple Event in a flash. When I watched the video this morning, it had 9.5 million views, then I refreshed my page 30 minutes later and it had over 10 million views. So Apple will make a few bucks from Google. Nice.

My favourite academic of all time Prof. Scott Galloway once said that "the things that we're afraid of, are not the things that usually get us." For example, I'm deathly afraid of sharks but I am more likely to die from falling off my bed than a shark attack, while learning how to surf in Cape Town's Atlantic seaboard.

Did you see that Apple has finally released its credit card? They are partnering with Goldman Sachs and Master Card (unfortunately). The card is designed to integrate with your phone to make it easier to track your spend, there are increased security features, and it is easier just to tap and pay. They are aiming at having low interest rates and no fees. Oh, and the card is made out of titanium. Fancy!