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Apple Is Suddenly Spending Billions Of Dollars On Secret Projects (AAPL)
In the quarter ending June 2011, Apple spent less than $1 billion on property, plants, and equipment.
By March 2012, the number had spiked beyond $2 billion, beyond $3 billion, and approached $4 billion.
Horace Dediu thinks that number will zoom past $4 billion in 2013.
Here’s a chart he made to show what the spike looks like so far:
Here’s the the interesting part about all this massive spending.
No one outside of Apple knows where it’s going.
“The capital is being deployed almost silently and, though vast in scale, barely gets a mention from analysts,” writes Dediu. “Not even a single question has been raised at any earnings call about this spending.”
His theory is that Apple, which prefers an “integrated” approach in everything it does, will soon make more of the components inside its gadgets, like chips.
That would explain why Apple has been so busy hiring former Texas Instruments employees, for example.
The truth is, Apple is a very secret company and it doesn’t have to say, specifically, where it’s spending that money.
For all we know, it could be building TV set factories.
One thing one know for sure is the Apple is always working on products that would cannibalize its current lineup.
Maybe Apple is investing billions in a product that could kill the iPhone, like computerized glasses.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/vip/~3/kxnvLJen2SQ/best-buy-to-price+match-the-internet
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Best Buy plans to match the price of internet retailers like Amazon over the holidays this year, as well as offering free home delivery when stores are out of stock.
According to a good ol’ “person familiar with the matter”, the electronics chain is assuming the strategy over the holiday season to draw customers away from shopping purely online. That’s something that will appeal to many consumers—especially those who prefer a traditional shopping experience.
It does, however, seem to contradict comments made by Best Buy’s new CEO Hubert Joly. He recently claimed that the prevalence of “showrooming”—where consumers head into shops to check out goods before ultimately buying online—has been blown out of proportion.
Maybe that contradiction is just reflective of the conundrum all big-box retailers face: they need to keep up with online retailers, but they don’t want to lose sight of what once made them successful. That’s a tough call.
Either way, price matching would inevitably draw in more custom. Would you buy something at Best Buy instead of ordering online, all prices being equal? [WSJ]
Image by Lynn Watson / Shutterstock.com
Teenagers In Europe Have Given Up Candy, And It’s Hurting Our Business
Kraft Foods Inc. reported Thursday that its second-quarter profit rose 5 percent as higher prices helped offset pressure from commodity costs and currency exchanges rates. The company said that it continues to see strong demand for its power brands such as Oreo and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. However, the company is still feeling the pinch of the tough global economy and said that its gum and candy business in Spain, France and Greece suffered during the period as teenagers there struggled financially.
Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld discussed the matter further with analysts in a conference call.
QUESTION: Your results have obviously been very resilient through the first half of the year but you did highlight more difficult macro-conditions during the second quarter. You spoke to gum and candy in southern Europe. Could you go into detail on what you’re seeing in key markets and where on the margins may be becoming a bit more difficult outside of southern Europe? And if you look at market share in aggregate across your categories, are you still comfortable you’re gaining share?
RESPONSE: Again, I feel very good about our performance in Europe. … As I mentioned in my remarks, we still are still growing share in 14 of 17 countries so we’re feeling quite good about our performance across the continent including the U.K.
The challenge really has been southern Europe and there it has been disproportionately a gum category. But our four categories are doing exceptionally well across the landscape there. … We’ve got some exciting new campaigns in support of Cadbury dairy milk as well as Milka and some terrific innovation in the pipeline that I’ve talked about a couple times on this call, all of which together are helping to fuel our strong performance. I expect that that will continue as we exit the year, despite the challenging macroeconomic conditions.
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Amazon reportedly acquires UpNext, 3D map wars begin in earnest
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/02/amazon-reportedly-acquires-upnext-for-3d-maps/
We might as well call 2012 the year of the 3D map. We’ve seen both Apple and Google show their cards, but GigaOM now hears that Amazon has jumped in by acquiring newcomer UpNext. The details are scant, but the approximately $2.5 million deal would give Amazon the startup’s 3D, Android-native maps of 50 US cities, complete with navigation and extra information about notable buildings. The online reseller hasn’t confirmed whether or not the acquisition is happening, which leaves it very much in rumor territory for now. That said, it’s not hard to imagine Amazon taking that leap. The Kindle Fire is cut out of the official Android ecosystem and won’t get built-in 3D maps without effort on its creator’s part — a buyout would certainly put that mapping on the fast track.
Amazon reportedly acquires UpNext, 3D map wars begin in earnest originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A Bird-Man Crashed The Trophy Ceremony At The U.S. Open
We have seen hundreds of fans crash major sporting events. But this might be the first time that a fan jumped in front of the cameras during a trophy presentation and started making sounds like a bird call before being ushered away by security.
Here is the video (via NBC Sports) and the subsequent zingers from both US Open champion Webb Simpson and Bob Costas…
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Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.
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