Apple's third-quarter financial report for fiscal year 2016 finally came out. Although Apple eventually achieved revenue, profit, and expectations for the next fiscal year that exceeded Wall Street expectations, its stock price rebounded strongly by nearly 7%. However, it cannot be overlooked that the sales volume of hardware products and the core area of ​​revenue of Apple have fallen again this quarter.
Data show that: Apple sold 4.252 million Macs in the quarter, down 11% year-on-year; a total of 40.39 million iPhones were sold, a year-on-year decline of 15%; 9.95 million iPads were sold, a year-on-year decline of 9%. According to IDC data previously, Apple watch sales in the third quarter also fell 55% year-on-year. In terms of revenue, except for the Japanese market, the Americas, European, Greater China, and other Asia-Pacific regions in the core area of ​​Apple’s revenue also showed a downward trend, with Greater China falling by 33% year-on-year. This makes Apple's situation appear less optimistic.
As stated before, the reason behind Apple’s performance is both the iPhone 6S's embarrassing status (as a small-year product, the feature upgrade is not yet attractive for consumers, but it is caught in the release of the iPhone 6 With the upcoming iPhone 7 to allow consumers to wait and see, there is also a strong competitor's momentum (Samsung Galaxy S7 series in the global high-end market acclaimed, applauded; domestic smart phone manufacturers Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Millet's closure in the domestic market) and the impact of high-end markets becoming saturated and the global economic environment are weak.
If we combine this financial report with Apple’s financial report data for the previous financial quarter and its outlook for the next fiscal quarter, we can see that: since the beginning of FY16, Apple’s rapid development engine seems to have stepped on Stayed on the brakes, perhaps in more time after this, the data presented by Apple's financial report is more likely to be flat or even a slight decline. Apple suffered a middle-aged "crisis" at this age of 40 years.
In the face of the crisis, should Apple adopt those tactics to solve the crisis, stabilize its own performance, and achieve a smooth transition? Combining Apple's existing actions and the current state of the industry, personally think that: Accelerating the release of new technologies; enriching the product line; adjusting the time strategy of product release; increasing the cost-effectiveness of products, etc. Six strategies are available for Apple to choose or use.
First, product innovation, accelerate the release of new technologies
Although old-fashioned, no matter from what point of view, product innovation is fundamental to the vitality of a company. Judging from the current state of affairs, it is very likely that Apple will break the rhythm of the current product function update, shorten the technology life cycle, accelerate the release of advanced technologies, and increase product functionality.
As we all know, Apple's non-critical technology, compared with the Android camp's great leap forward feature changes, Apple's product on the pursuit of new features, changes have maintained a good rhythm, and even Apple's ability to change in Android cycles behind. Prior to this, such as large screen, optical image stabilization, 2.5D arc glass, but now such as fast charging technology, Tpye-C, dual card dual standby, as well as battery capacity and operating memory, etc. are evident.
Previously, Apple's ability to get these technologies to keep pace with the slow pace, the emboldened is in the previous Apple products have the absolute leading edge. However, with the overall progress of the industry and the arrival of bottlenecks in the industry, Apple's product has previously had a substantial lead advantage no longer exists, the Android camp's products and their gaps have been greatly reduced, and even some products are still beyond the trend. Prior to this reality, Apple's squeezing toothpaste-type product upgrade strategy apparently did not work, and Apple needed to release new technologies again and expand its comparative advantage to stabilize, absorb, and harvest consumers. Judging from current rumors, on the iPhone 7, Apple will use the dual camera, wireless charging, cancel 3.5mm headphones, three anti-functions, as well as some updated appearance and thinner body.
Second, enrich existing product lines
A good portfolio strategy does not need much to say about sales gains. Samsung and domestic companies have achieved satisfactory sales results through comprehensive coverage of high-end low-product lines and multi-models. The strategy that Apple has chosen before has always been a high-end product strategy for single product models. He allowed Apple to stand at the top of the food chain, but the high-end market, after all, has limited capacity, and the current status of being saturated also makes Apple face difficulties in the growth of shipments.
In practical terms, since Cook took office, he has been doing market segmentation and enriching Apple's product line, so as to extend the reach of Apple products more widely and create new growth points for financial reports. . On the iPhone, in March, Apple has already launched the iPhone SE product, which is intended to use this product to test the mid-range market again, attract different levels of user groups, meet more people's needs, and expand market share. From the current market feedback, there is no doubt that the market performance of iPhone SE is remarkable.
There are currently iPhone SEs, so it is not surprising that there will be a more subdivided product line in the future. From rumors, the industry has talked about Apple may launch a 5.8-inch iPhone Pro.
Third, adjust the time strategy of product release
In today's highly selective smart products, consumers have become more and more short-lived in terms of the heat that they can maintain, but the stimulus for new products to consumers is still huge. In reality, whether it is from Apple itself or other manufacturers in the industry, the quarter after the launch of new products is the sales season. Taking Huawei as an example, this extreme Huawei sales volume exceeds 30 million units, which is not unrelated to Huawei's new product launches during this period.
It can be seen that the product's release time strategy has a significant impact on sales promotion. The traditional tradition of Apple is to launch dual flagship new products every autumn. The product update cycle is one year. This period has a long period of blank period, and this gap period creates opportunities for Samsung and domestic production. As mentioned earlier, the consumer's heat to the product has been greatly shortened. In this reality, personally think that Apple can also change the traditional strategy of new product launch time, and instead learn to learn Samsung's new product release time strategy, and release the flagship product in two parts. In order to shorten the product's open period, it is better to compete with Samsung and domestic manufacturers for the same period of time in the heat, so as to continuously attract consumers' new product enthusiasm and allow consumers to buy enthusiasm for buying and buying. In reality, Apple's influence is still no one can compete with it, then the sales promotion of new products should also have a good effect.
Fourth, improve the product's price/performance ratio
In recent years, domestic smart manufacturers rely on cost-effective performance in the domestic market, occupying most of the market share in the low-end market. However, the weakness of the domestic market share is Samsung, Apple's unwillingness to put aside (reducing profits) to seize the site in the mid-range market.
However, the situation is now quietly changing. Recently, we have also seen that when Apple and Samsung are facing growth pressure, they are also willing to sacrifice some interests to seize more market share. Samsung's midrange A series is more sincere than ever, and Apple has also dropped the iPhone SE pawn in the midrange market.
The iPhone SE's 3288, has already made the market filled with anxiety, but due to the inherent flaws of the iPhone SE I think it hurts the domestic market, but also said so before: iPhone SE is undoubtedly a dangerous signal, it shows that Apple With the intention of seizing the 3,000-speed market and expanding market share. Apple can use the strong configuration and sincerity price on the iPhone SE to attract internal small-screen stock users to upgrade. Then maybe Apple will use this on the big-screen iPhone. Everything is possible, then, at that time, for domestically produced, will face enormous challenges. Therefore, in the face of Apple's current poor performance, domestic production should not be revelry and arrogant, but should be more careful. When Apple is under stress, perhaps the cost-effective approach will not be embarrassing.
Fifth, increase service revenue
Apple's quarterly earnings report, service revenue is still the highlight. Data show that the revenue from services in the quarter was 5.974 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 19% from 5.058 billion U.S. dollars in the same period of last year. Combined with the second quarter financial report, service revenue can be described as the most stable business of Apple. With respect to service revenue, individuals think that this is one of the directions of Apple's transformation. Even Apple's launch of iPhone SE is, to a large extent, a move toward service and expansion of the user base of Apple's latest service. According to the service revenue data, its potential to replace the iPad product line has become Apple’s second largest source of revenue. In combination with Apple's previously launched services such as Apple Pay, Apple Music, and iTunes, the future is even more money can be expected. Apple should spare no effort to accelerate service revenue growth. Of course, service revenue will also face a series of problems, such as equipment base issues, copyright issues, regulatory risks, and so on.
Sixth, capital acquisition
To say that Apple may not be missing is probably the money. Its more than US$200 billion in cash reserves provided Apple with sufficient funds to make mistakes. It also provided Apple with strong guarantees for creating long-term product plans, allowing Apple engineers to work on projects such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and smart cars. Continue to explore. At today's earnings conference, Cooke also said that Apple would not reject the company with huge amounts of acquisitions. After that, it is very likely that Apple will enter into a certain area through acquisitions.
Conclusion :
Currently, Apple is facing the predicament of the growth rate of major core products, which makes the industry quite concerned. Apple's fall from the altar, sitting on the mountain and other discussions are also one after another. However, behind Apple's growth difficulties, we also see Apple's revenue and profit in this quarter is still one of the best, no one can surpass. In fact, Apple still maintains its leading position in products and still has great leeway. His enemies are still only high expectations of themselves and consumers. Look bad apple may wish to wait! You can see the true chapter in September. Of course, this also provides a big wake-up call for Apple: The promotion of toothpaste can't play anymore, and it is still innovative to impress consumers.
This article from the Tencent News client from the media, does not represent the views and positions of Tencent News
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