Just what the world needs, some more comments on Apple? Since it’s our largest position or near largest position and I have a blog, well, I can’t resist.
1. The new iPhone 6 and + is boss. Everyone wants one. I’m getting the big one, the really big one, the 6+. Yes, I’ll look ridiculous making a phone call with it but actually making phone calls is one of the least used functions of my current iPhone. Everything I do on my phone but phone calls benefits from a larger screen.
2. The Apple watch, well it looks kind of cool on my wrist with all those personalized options. I’d like to have something to play with but then again I will have the giant phone. Until the Apple watch can do something really cool like replace my Jawbone UP and warn me of an impeding heart attack, I don’t think its going to replace my beloved Rolex. My 16-year-old son, though, that’s a different matter. He’s dying to get one and that pretty much guarantees a mega hit as that age group is the sweet spot for future generations of Apple product serfs.
3. Apple Pay or whatever its called looks like a grand slam home run and royal straight flush combined. Game changer, is one word for it. Apple will also benefit from good timing. Credit-card networks are pushing retailers to install payment terminals that accept cards embedded with a chip. If they fail to do so, the merchants, instead of the banks, will be liable for any fraud stemming from chip cards starting in October 2015. In the process of upgrading the terminals, many merchants will also include the contactless readers and thus will simultaneously become NFC-payment ready. In a few years, I predict you won’t find a vending machine or parking lot that doesn’t use this technology as their core payment solution. Walmart and big retailers may have more options to delay but this is the future. Even if it’s not- the perception that it is will be will propel Apple stock higher. Do you really think the stock will be lower by the end of the year?
4. Apple’s computer business, tablets, cloud synching keep powering ahead. I recently went to four schools in California as part of my parenting duties. I would really be concerned if I was Microsoft about the future of Windows. I can see a time five years from now when all vending machines are NFC payment based and no computers run on Windows.
5. Last but not least, so much cash generated almost guarantees more dividends and buy-backs. All companies and especially technology companies run the risk of technological obsolescence. Apple is no exception but it’s not happening anytime soon.
If you read through this lengthy post and haven’t gotten enough Apple, here is the coolest thing I’ve seen from the endless Apple press
http://srogers.cartodb.com/viz/d0a7e72a-38ac-11e4-8eb2-0e73339ffa50/embed_map