back to article Apple CEO: 'Best ever' numbers would be better if we'd not fscked up our iPhone supply

Apple recorded its best quarterly numbers ever despite an admitted shortage of iPhone 7 Plus phablets. CEO Tim Cook said that the Cupertino Newton builder underestimated the holiday demand for the iPhone 7 Plus, and as a result they were unable to get enough handsets onto shelves and into the hands of customers. "We did not …

  1. J. R. Hartley

    Paul O'Grady's let himself go.

  2. jamesb2147

    Repatriation

    Not a finance expert, so please forgive my ignorance.

    I would have thought that acquisitions costs would be recorded as just that, a cost, and therefore could reduce tax burden. Where does repatriation fit in?

    1. Syntax Error

      Re: Repatriation

      That was the most interesting point in the article. I think it refers to the trillions of dollars stashed overseas by Apple and other American companies to avoid paying tax. Trump has been to see Cook and so it seems Trump has done a deal with Apple to bring the money home and pay less tax.

      So Apple and co are going to repatriate trillions of dollars into the US.

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: Repatriation

        So Apple and co are going to repatriate trillions of dollars into the US.

        Only if this can be done in a tax-efficient way, which usually means share-buybacks coupled with debt issuance.

        Numbers were better than predicted but only 7% more Macs doesn't look good considering this was the first full quarter with new, more expensive models.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Repatriation

      Acquisitions are a capital expenditure, which does not reduce taxes owed. If Cook was talking about repatriation opening up potential acquisitions, he must be talking about something big in the US (since the cash has to be in the US first to buy a US company)

      I really really really really really hate the idea of any company making a big acquisition. As an Apple shareholder, that's my biggest fear with that big cash pile. It just sits there and begs fools to "spend it on growth". It should be returned to shareholders via buybacks and dividends, not used to buy some big company. Those big acquisitions are almost always huge failures. Look at Microsoft's history with their many large acquisitions, or Google buying Motorola, or the king of bad acquisitions in tech, Hewlett Packard.

      1. Ashley_Pomeroy

        Re: Repatriation

        Do you remember when Apple bought NeXT? NeXT itself wasn't much use but some of its technology was worth the price. Which raises the question of what Apple needs in the near future to keep itself relevant. What if it bought a mobile network and offered all of its subscribers free data for life?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Repatriation

          NeXT was cheap. I have no problem with the sort of small acquisitions Apple has been doing for years. I don't want to see them blow $50 billion on a cellular provider or cable company when the odds of it actually being worth that much over the long run are near zero.

          Buying a cellular provider would be doubly stupid because they'd become a competitor to all the rest who operated in the same market(s) it did. The competition would probably stop selling iPhones or push Android so much you'd be hard pressed to tell they sold iPhones.

          1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

            Re: Repatriation

            Buying a cellular provider would be doubly stupid because they'd become a competitor to all the rest who operated in the same market(s) it did.

            Possibly, but the current wave of vertical integration is heading this way anyway with AT&T buying Time Warner and Verizon's plan for Charter. So maybe go the whole hog with Disney and buy Sprint or T-Mobile (both have owners who'd like the cash). While I'm sure they'd be able to convince a lot of I-Phone owners to switch to their network, the bigger problem is that the change in the business culture: they don't want to become HP after Compaq!

      2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: Repatriation

        Look at Microsoft's history with their many large acquisitions, or Google buying Motorola, or the king of bad acquisitions in tech, Hewlett Packard.

        While I agree with you generally it's probably worth looking a bit deeper: Google bought Motorola for the IP and flipped the carcass to Lenovo in a textbook "private equity" move. Google now has a nice patent portfolio for "patent trumps". Microsoft buys were probably more a mixed bunch: AQuantive stands out as a real turd hence the write-downs but some of the other deals (Skype and Nokia) were bad "business" but probably good for investors. These purchases were done with some of the cash stockpiled outside the US so they were very tax efficient for some investors.

        HP, well poor HP lost its way when it bought Compaq and it's been downhill all the way since then. Maybe, just maybe, the split will a technology company to step out of the "consultants and services" shadow that is the real money pit.

  3. joed

    Did he mean supply of audio jack and other useful features on new iPhones? Anyone with cash can buy one, not necessarily everyone one wants to buy current offering. And so for Macs.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Nah, he meant supply of iPhones.

      It appears that the iPhone 6 is still available (including from such high street stores as John Lewis), so people have still had the option of buying a iPhone with headphone jack if they really want one. Apple's iPhone 7 sales resulats (as per article) suggest that many people haven't been that bothered about just leaving a Lightning dongle attached to their favourite headphones (or using the earbuds supplied with the iPhone 7).

      1. gnasher729 Silver badge

        iPhone 6s and 6s+ is available everywhere, including Apple's store website and Apple Stores. iPhone 6, that is the generation before iPhone 6s, is hard to find. There's one on the John Lewis website, but it's a lot more expensive than an equivalent 6s, so I think it will stay available for a while :-) O2 sold out of iPhone 6 a month or to ago (iPhone 6, not 6s).

  4. MrDamage Silver badge

    they'd have even better figures

    If they stopped paying their IP lawyers to patent someone else's prior art.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: they'd have even better figures

      The remarks about Qualcomm are very ironic.

  5. PhilipN Silver badge

    IPad - down

    Not surprising at all. I have about 6 of them of various pedigrees floating around home and office, all working, but I'm just as likely to pick up the phone to check something on the Internet. I shan't buy another unless it can do something outstanding - such as producing a decent plate of bacon and eggs.

    1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

      Re: IPad - down

      Say what?

  6. What? Me worry?
    Flame

    Cupertino Newton builder

    <rant> You know what I miss? Graffiti. Not the Graffiti 2/Jot one, but the real deal. You could use it on Newtons, but it really came to the fore with Palm PDAs. Okay, okay, the keyboard on modern devices with high density screens is probably faster and more accurate. But, damit, I want Graffiti! On iOS. Without rooting. ;P </rant>

  7. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Our numbers are good. Huge! The best!! No - the bestest!!!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What is it?

    Hmmm, best results ever? Compared with the Register article a few days ago "Apple eats itself as iPhone fatigue spreads" suggesting that iPhone sales are flagging. What is it then?

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