Apple reported results for its fiscal second quarter ended March 30,2013 and they are not pretty.
The company’s profits for the quarter fell 18% to $9.5 billion ($10.09 a share) from $11.6 billion ($12.30 per share) in the same quarter a year ago.
Apple observers note that this is the company’s first profit drop in over a decade, a period during which it turned into the darling of both consumers and the stock market.
Revenues in the quarter were up 11% to $43.6 billion.
Gross margin fell to 37.5% (47.4% in the year-earlier quarter).
Placating Investors
To mollify investors incensed about the 42% fall in Apple’s share price since hitting a high of $702.10 on September 19, 2012, the company announced it’d return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015, mainly through share repurchase and higher dividends.
This represents a $55 billion increase to the company’s previously announced program to return capital to investors.
Apple shareholders have lost $284 billion since September 19 following the the tumble in its share price.
The company ended the second quarter with $145 billion in cash, much of it stashed away in overseas subsidiaries to avoid U.S. taxes.
iPhone Sales
Reflecting lower consumer interest in its flagship iPhone and increased competition from rival smartphones running the Android software, unit sales of iPhones fell on a sequential basis to 37.4 million.
However, iPhone sales were higher when compared to the 35.1 million units sold a year earlier.
Rival smartphones have larger screens, better cameras, more advanced features and are priced lower than the iPhone 5.
iPad Performance
Sales of Apple’s iPad tablet device in the quarter rose 65% to 19.5 million units compared to 11.8 million in the year-ago quarter but were off by 3.36 million units from the preceding quarter.
Mac
Mac sales were down 2% in the quarter reflecting overall weakness in the PC industry as consumers flock to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
Apple sold just under 4 million Macs compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Third Quarter
For the current quarter, Apple is projecting revenue of $33.5 billion to $35.5 billion with gross margin of 36%-37%.
It’s anyone’s guess if Apple’s cash sops will energize its shares and give the company’s angry investors something to cheer about.
Apple’s Profits Fall, Placates Irate Investors with $55b in New Cash Sops added by SearchIndia.com on
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At least their sweat shop workers aren’t rioting…yet 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
That’s likely because…they’ve been laid off since Apple has cancelled their contracts owing to slower sales!
Don’t forget the many Foxconn (what a fucking name for a company…on park with Dick Cheney) employees who died…killed themselves.
And how the sick bastards at Apple pretended to be shocked! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
Steve Jobs deserved his early tryst with the grave! Don’t shed any tears for the SOB.
Sweetie, behind every great fortune lies enormous crimes!
Don’t ever forget that!
Remember how Bill Gates’ company Microsoft vowed to cut off Netscape’s “Oxygen supply” in the 1990s That was against the law for a monopolist to talk like that…you were probably still in your Jetties, too young to remember the Microsoft anti-trust trial. 😉
And now Bill Gates goes strutting around the world wanting to conquer Cholera, Malaria, Diptheria etc…first that beast should clean the cobwebs from his sick mind!
Unfortunately, those kind of evil forces with cunning mind win big time (i.e, Gates, etc) , both in business and politics.
Regarding foxconn, we can read about a journalist’s undercover operation, and see how stressful the job is.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/undercover-journalist-lands-job-building-iphones-foxconn-confirms-fears-about-working-conditions
http://www.geek.com/apple/journalist-goes-undercover-making-the-iphone-5-at-foxconn-1515257/
SearchIndia.com Responds:
From your second link, “70 ways you can incur a penalty, but only 13 ways to earn a reward.”
As I’ve said on countless occasions, Man has always been Wolf to Man.
Behind every great fortune lurks terrible crimes against humanity and the culpability of millions who willfully ignore the crimes for their happiness!
Yes 🙁
“He was expected to do a minimum of 5 back plates every minute. So that’s an accurately placed oil pen mark every 3 seconds, with his shift lasting 10 hours without a break. That’s a minimum of 3,000 back plates per shift.”
I would not be surprised if similar conditions exist in Nokia’s plant at Chennai too.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-09-16/news/30165148_1_nokia-s-chennai-finnwatch-mobile-handset-manufacturer-nokia
Although, Nokia will not need to mark a back plate every three seconds 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Maybe, you should go as an undercover reporter and find out the truth.
Sweetie, what happened to your promise to explore the food at Jaya’s Canteens for Chennai’s poor and do a post for SI?
I’m drowning in inquiries as to when your post will appear. 😉
I plan to be in Chennai around end of May. I will be checking it out…
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You should do a series of pieces or a short movie on the Jaya Canteens a la Super Size Me!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/
Have you seen Super Size Me? It’s on NFLX. Nice one!
I meant the Jaya canteen!
I saw it a few years ago when it was released… it was interesting and kinda amusing.
Not to mention…this “philanthropist” has offered $100K grant for someone who can develop ‘next generation’ condom.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Wouldn’t it be nice if some “philanthropist” invested in finding a way to boost infertility, thereby easing the pressure on the finite resources of our beleaguered planet.
It would be nice to do that in incredible India, but it’s too late coz I think we are way behind that point.
How about a highly unlikely scenario like this: A benevolent dictator comes and shuts down entire India for 10 to 15 years by making our people strictly stay at home providing them with basic needs… food, shelter and education — strengthen our border defense — hire a group of administrative champions and restructure the entire country and its operating system.
10-15 years of freedom definitely won’t be a heavy price for us to pay for the way most of us have led our lives. I think this is the only way India will develop. Otherwise India will remain the same not just for decades. But for centuries!
Off topic:
I just sent you another email. Shall I go ahead?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
India is beyond all hope!
Relentless breeding, the whackos and the kleptocrats will not let the country get anywhere! And the Middle Class is preoccupied with Bollywood, H1B, IPL and Samsung Galaxy S4 or whatever the gadget of the month is.
N.B.: I responded to your note a short while ago.
Howdy SI!
I don’t know why Gates is doing whatever he is doing now but it is good stuff. It is quite noble of him and his foundation.
All corporations are profit oriented isn’t that how a capitalist economy functions.
The “greedy” ones are labeled as “Evil”. Microsoft, Apple, Google etc. are all “Evil” in that sense.
Every corporation works towards monopoly and it is what the shareholders indirectly push for when they buy stocks. That makes the people also “Evil”. There is no end to this vicious circle.
I think Bill Gates should be commended for sharing his wealth for good causes. Microsoft has paid/been paying the price for its actions.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Hello Sweetie!
1. You write: All corporations are profit oriented isn’t that how a capitalist economy functions.
I am not against the profit engine keeping the economy humming and employment high.
But as recent history demonstrates, record profits have not been accompanied by higher employment.
For example, Walmart opened 484 U.S. stores in the last five years but employee count at Walmart/Sam’s Club fell by 120,000 employees in the same period!
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-05/retail-employment-slumps-most-in-year-as-stores-cut-back.html
The picture is not much different in other sectors.
Given the base qualities inherent in human nature, profit often degenerates into profiteering.
2. I agree, the vast majority of people are silent participants in this conniving activity.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen no viable challenge to Capitalism. The Socialist model too has proven disastrous time and again.
Personally, I’ve found the Singapore model of controlled capitalism under Lee Kuan Yew best suited for achievement of the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
3. I’m not convinced Bill Gates or anyone else ought to earn plaudits if they spend their fortune, when a lot of it is earned through illegal monopolistic tactics, on “curing” the world of its “ills.”