Michal Ždanský Apple's annual shareholder meeting took place today, where Tim Cook introduced investors to some previously undisclosed numbers and other interesting facts about the company's operations. Apple's CEO has traditionally been tight-lipped about upcoming new products, as well as other activities such as a new sapphire glass factory in Arizona, which Cook said only that it was a secret project and that he could not reveal more.
In terms of new products, Cook reiterated essentially the same thing he did during the last financial results announcement, which is that the company is working on great new products. Some of them are supposed to be extensions of what Apple already makes, others are supposed to be things that can't be seen. He described the secretive approach as important, especially when the competition is copying on all fronts and it would be unwise to reveal the product release schedule.
The most shared was the CEO in numbers. He revealed that Apple has already sold over 800 million devices, an increase of 100 million in about 5 months. 82 percent of them run iOS 7. By comparison, only about four percent of Android phones and tablets run version 4.4. Next, Tim Cook talked about Apple TV. The device, which until recently was considered a hobby by the company, generated over a billion dollars in sales last year. This year, Apple is expected to release a new version that should bring the integration of a TV tuner and the ability to install games, which would turn the TV accessory into a small game console in conjunction with game controllers. iMessage was also mentioned, where several billion messages pass through Apple's servers every day.
Finally, there was talk of the share buyback that Apple started last year. In the past 12 months, Apple has already bought back $40 billion worth of shares and plans to expand the program to another $60 billion in shares by 2015.
At least translate "shareholder meeting" correctly, i.e. as "general meeting"...
Hmmm, and why can't a general meeting of shareholders be described as a meeting of shareholders? On the contrary, it seems to me to be more comprehensible for the average reader... Otherwise, how about enriching the world with something beneficial, unique or interesting in the spirit of Apple's philosophy instead of unnecessary browsing. Don't you think this scraping is a waste of time?
Even a casual reader should be able to see the difference between chatting in a pub over a beer (shareholder meeting) and meeting at a meeting where the future of the company is decided and the outcome of which has a damn big impact on the share price (general meeting).
I vote for "general meeting" :-)
Anyway, 82% with iOS 7 and 4% with Android 4.4 is significant. When I combine it with http://jablickar.cz/behem-cerneho-patku-se-vice-nakupovalo-z-ios-android-zaostal/, where another important figure is: "About $106 million was spent on Android smartphones and $42 million on Android tablets.".
But since the stock price dictated by the stock market does not reflect the economic results, it's a no-brainer. The shareholders' meeting is also a blast...
These numbers are double-edged.
On the one hand, it's admirable and certainly attractive for developers - they don't have to focus on older versions, making development easier.
On the other hand, the iPhone 4 with iOS7 is a practically unusable brick, on which some new applications cannot be launched at all, the others regularly crash or freeze, and the system as such reacts so slowly and choppily that if this were my first User Experience with an iPhone, then I will never buy another one. :) I know from hearsay that it's similar on the 4S.
My friend has a 4S with iOS 7.0.6 and it's not the worst. In addition, not everyone tries to get the most out of their cell phone, so for normal use (calendar, alarm clock, safari, Facebook and a few others) it is sufficient.
You may be right (although a newer version should improve it), on the other hand, we are talking about a device that is several years old and the latest OS. With Android, even if you have a new device, the behavior is often similar :-)
I'll probably buy one share too... it's worth the invitation to the general meeting :-)