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back to article Post-PC era? PAH! Apple says Macs OUTSOLD iPads in Q4

In case you'd forgotten that Apple is making money hand over fist, the company announced on Monday yet another record financial quarter – thanks to its iPhones and Macs, but no thanks to its iPads. The House that Steve Built said the fourth quarter of its 2014 financial year – ending September 27 – was its best ever Q4, as Mac …

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  1. JEDIDIAH
    Devil

    Lies, damned lies, and marketing masquerading as journalism...

    It sounds like someone has an axe to grind. I looks like some fanboy wants to distract from the fact that the PC part of Apple's business is now only 15% while mobile devices in general account for more than 2 thirds of Apple revenue based on the fanboy's own numbers.

    Apple is an ARM shop pushing consumer electronics. It ceased to be a PC company a long time ago.

    0 28 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lies, damned lies, and marketing masquerading as journalism...

      @JEDIDIAH

      >Apple ... ceased to be a PC company a long time ago.

      Would that have been about the time they changed the name of the company to "Apple, Inc." from "Apple Computer, Inc."? Eight years ago, I mean? Yeah, we got that memo.

      13 0 Reply
    2. Salts
      Reply Icon

      Re: Lies, damned lies, and marketing masquerading as journalism...

      That is a Maggie Thatcher argument, it may be only 15% of the unit sales, but they produce a much higher margin.

      1 0 Reply
    3. Handy Plough
      Reply Icon

      Re: Lies, damned lies, and marketing masquerading as journalism...

      Sorry, I don't see your point. Literally.

      1 0 Reply
    4. Gordon 10
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      @JEDIDIAH Re: Lies, damned lies, and marketing masquerading as journalism...

      Your point being? apart from mindless trolling of course.

      Regardless of whether its 15% or 50% it still makes Apple a major player in the PC space. Many other manufacturers make/made both CE and PC's. Samsung and formerly Sony spring to mind.

      You also have a weird definition of what an ARM cpu is - last time I checked it was a general purpose computing chip found in a whole range of electronics from Laptops, to mobile computing to routers to name but a few.

      I think El Reg should introduce a FAIL of the Week - just for you.

      2 0 Reply
  2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Share repurchase

    I assume there are legal/accounting reasons but

    Does it really make sense to announce record profits, record growth and then go out and buy your own shares?

    Shouldn't you say you are going to hire Balmer as CEO, license Clippy as new Apple logo, that you are switching to VMS - and then go out and buy your shares?

    2 0 Reply
    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Share repurchase

      Apart from the fact that share repurchases almost never make sense for a company, the whole point is to buy them when they are the most expensive as this "returns" the most money in the most tax efficient form to shareholders: repurchases are taxed as capital gains, dividends would be taxed as income.

      However, taxpayers should also note: the whole repurchase scheme is debt-funded. The loans used to do the buying can, therefore, also be offset against tax.

      3 0 Reply
      1. gnasher729 Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Share repurchase

        Buying shares when they are expensive never makes sense. And the share holders that return their shares are then ex-share holders and Apple owes them nothing.

        Buying shares makes sense when they are undervalued, because that way the share holders that didn't sell will have more value per share.

        0 0 Reply
      2. Eddy Ito
        Reply Icon

        Re: Share repurchase

        The repurchasing is debt-funded because bringing the cash currently held by 'foreign' business units into the US means it would be taxed which would likely mean instead of this mornings ~$102 per share it would effectively cost them about $157 per share. The interest rate on the debt would have to be startlingly high to make it more expensive over the repayment period.

        0 0 Reply
  3. An nonymous Cowerd

    Correcting slightly 'beefier MacMini's"

    The entry level is now a low speed dual-core i5, with soldered RAM. People have been buying remnants on eBay/other resellers of all of last years' quad-core minis. It's obvious that Apple don't wish the potentially powerful mini to steal sales from Mac Pro and 5K iMac.

    3 1 Reply
    1. johnnymotel
      Reply Icon

      best news yet

      Apple just nicely handed me a nice bonus on my fully upgraded MM when I come to sell it and buy the MacPro.

      Oh, in case you ask why sell the MM for an MP? Basically, I need lots of cores and fast ones for Compressor and I still use FCP7 which like cores to render out.

      0 0 Reply
  4. Fenton

    what beefier mac minis

    They are now all dual core only.

    The previous starter model is now £100 more and the new starter model whilst £100 cheaper run only at 1.4 GHz.

    2 0 Reply
  5. Ted Treen

    Just askin'

    Is Jasper off with stress, lying down in a darkened room?

    4 0 Reply
    1. Semtex451
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      Re: Just askin'

      I think that's why the story has this headline, and not "39.3 MEEELION IPHONES SOLD in last quarter.

      0 0 Reply
  6. Matthew 17

    Still think tablet computers are a gimmick

    Long live the PC (& Mac)!

    0 1 Reply
  7. David Lawton

    Interesting they sold 5.5 million Macs, up by 1 million from the same quarter the previous year, and also the most Macs EVER sold in a quarter making a new record.

    0 0 Reply
  8. Arctic fox
    Headmaster

    Looking aside from the tempations of tribalism (which some can clearly not resist)........

    ........this is a very interesting report. If Macs (which whilst their sales have been on a gentle upward trend in recent years cannot be described as having gangbusters sales) are outselling the Fruity company's tablet which has been the biggest single seller in the upper end of the market since it was launched (suggesting that the i-Pads current sales are to say the least of it less than stellar) then this indeed says something about the post-pc era - like its a load of spherical objects. What appears to be happening is that, in common with the private retail pc, the replenish rate is not what it once was and that is not entirely surprising. Anyone running, for example, an adequately specced Win 7 pc has absolutely no need to upgrade their home office at the present time and it would appear that tablet customers (we are seeing the same phenomenon with Sammy's high-end offerings) are not endlessly buying new kit if they are satisfied for the time being with what they have got. The post-pc era may one day dawn but the degree of frenzied prognosticating amongst some in the media and other parts of the blogosphere is very clearly showing itself to have been largely powered by hot air (and/or other less pleasant bodily substances).

    2 0 Reply
    1. Semtex451
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Re: Looking aside from the tempations of tribalism (which some can clearly not resist)........

      Or more succinctly, mature market saturation.

      3 0 Reply
  9. Salamander

    PC are not sold in the same way as smartphones. You do not buy a PC and internet bundle on a two year contract with an upgrade option if you renew the contract.

    Hence people will by and large keep using a PC until they have to upgrade.

    Tablets are a little different as you can buy a tablet as part of a mobile wifi deal. However, most people do not bother and hence will treat the tablet more like a PC.

    Smartphones sell in such huge numbers as most people are on a two year contract and hence upgrade theirs phones every two years, regardless of the condition of their existing phone.

    If the network operators stopped bundling sim car contracts with smartphones, then you would stop seeing smartphones selling in such huge numbers. The public would start treating smartphone purchases more like PC purchases.

    1 0 Reply
  10. joejack
    Facepalm

    Yosemite should help stifle that sales boom...

    0 0 Reply
    1. Mike 16
      Reply Icon

      Stifling that sales boom

      Indeed. While currently there are reasons to buy a Mac rather than an iPad, they have been diminishing with each release since Lion. As the Mac becomes ever more locked down and yet somehow less secure, the distance between the two narrows. Plus, of course, they are really trying to get Mac users on a "three years old is total rubbish, better replace it" treadmill, without hiding that upgrade cost in a phone contract.

      0 0 Reply

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