- Apple stunned analysts when they said they are not going to report iPhone or Mac sales numbers.
- The new iPhone, despite the buzz, has not lived up to analyst expectations in sales.
- The new MacBook Air and iPad Pro are overpriced and the buzz on social media indicates that consumers are going to pay extra money for Apple products.
Let me be up front. I have an iMac, iPad, iPhone and MacBook Pro. They perform very nicely, but if I had to replace them, I don’t believe I would spend the extra 20-30% for another Apple product.
Apple, last week, did not impress Wall Street with the sales numbers of new iPhones or Macs. Based on comments via social media buzz a lot of people are not willing to shell out $1000 for a new iPhone when their current model works just fine.
At the “Apple event” last week, Apple introduced a new, updated MacBook Air and iPad Pro. The problem with them is that they are priced as luxury items compared to some great Windows machines and products like Microsoft’s Surface Pro.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Consumers, today, are tough to sell to. They want new and better products without having to pay a premium.[/inlinetweet] In this sense, I believe that Apple has misjudged their brand equity. Nobody today needs to stay with Apple products as competitors have made huge leaps to close the gap.
I saw this coming a long time ago. Tim Cook is not a visionary leader is an operational leader. When was the last time you can say that Apple truly introduced an innovative product?
Under Mr Cook Apple has stripped the Mac team and boosted the iPhone team because that’s where the money is but in doing so the new iPhones that they are introducing are cash eating paper weights.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]So Apple is taking their marbles and pouting. They’re no longer going to play nice with Wall Street and frankly consumers could care less. In the meantime Microsoft’s revenues have shot up and Dell’s 13″ XP laptop is getting rave reviews at a fraction of the cost of a MacBook Air.[/inlinetweet]
Brand equity is great, but consumers are NOT willing to pay the extra money when they know your profit margin is around 40-50%.
