Stop the presses! The Apple ship is finally sinking after it was reported that the company’s annual revenue has dipped for the first time since 2001; from US$233. 7 billion in 2015 to US$217 billion in 2016.
Jokes aside, the company has successfully innovated a business model around the annualisation of its products and enjoyed great success from it, with each new product satiating the appetite of legions of rabid customers. That's what makes this year so different.
The revenue decline is largely attributed to iPhone sales which has been trending downwards 5 percent year over year.
The Verge reports “iPad sales are also down from last year (6 percent) and Mac sales took a huge hit (down 14 percent). ” Thankfully, Apple’s cloud services (iCloud, iTunes, Apple Music) experienced a 24 percent uptick attracting US$24. 3 billion - making Services the second biggest revenue earner after the iPhone line.
It is becoming apparent that with each new iteration of Apple product the desire to immediately splash out for the next model decreases. But that’s not to say the company has lost its touch yet. Apple has been resting the Macbook Pro series for an unprecedented four years. This has generated a huge amount of interest over what tomorrow’s announcement will bring.
Apple are also preparing to usher in the iPhone’s 10th anniversary which could reinvent the very convention of a smartphone, similar to when it first launched in 2007. If anything, Apple are experiencing a sophomore slump that has taken 15 years to catch up to them. Whether or not we have reached ‘peak Apple’ will ultimately be decided in the next fiscal year when the next ‘ground breaking’ product is unleashed.
. digitalrev.com2016-10-26 03:00