Greg Bates on Apple's touch screen teaser - 'I suspect that Apple will solve the concern Steve Jobs expressed. How? I have no idea. But if they do it, it will be both popular and classic Apple.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Netflix, which gained $1.88 in Thursday’s session to close at $84.59, is up overnight $7.36 at $91.95 after formally announcing it will not match the latest Paramount Skydance offer for WBD. The offer to buy WBD had been a serious overhang on the share price. The current all-time high for Netflix of $134.12 was set on June 30, 2025. Netflix first made an offer for WBD on October 21, 2025. Paramount Skydance jumped $1.02 or 10.04% in today session $11.18 and is up $0.72 or 6.44% overnight.'
on IDC: The "memory crisis' will clobber the <$100 phone market - 'May be Apple will respond with generous trade in offers for used iPhones to help sales of new iPhones this fall, including the rumored foldable. Then turnaround and match pricing (or increase used iPhone pricing only a little) in the used iPhone market to gain market share (because a higher prices used iPhone is still better than some of the Android low ends junk) and enjoy a broader user base to sell those Apple services and maintain their margins that way to recoup higher memory costs. So basically play around more with used iPhone pricing to pay for increased memory costs and while also try to increase user base to have better services revenues and associated higher margins to maintain overall margins despite margin loss due to higher memory prices.'
on Apple's touch screen teaser - 'Yes. I wouldn’t be touching the screen all the time, but there have definitely been times when it would have been convenient to have the ability to touch it to manipulate something. I’d like the ability. But I wouldn’t pay much extra at all for it.'
on Evercore: Apple's 'AI Companions' are waiting in the wings - 'My favorite German word: “Quatsch!” The usual translation is ‘nonsense’, but this word has a lot more force to its sound. And it’s Safe For Work.'
on IDC: The "memory crisis' will clobber the <$100 phone market - 'Yes and… If we see a foldable, it taps into a price insensitive segment, raising ASP. They’ll also pay up for memory upgrades. Some goes for Mac, which can raise prices and take share.'
on Apple's touch screen teaser - 'After using the iPad a lot, I find myself touching the screen on my laptop. I agree that there is probably not a high use need, but it will be used, more by some than others.'
on Apple's touch screen teaser - 'Personally I’m not hankering for a touch screen Mac when we already have the iPad but we shall see what Apple has cooked up.'
on IDC: The "memory crisis' will clobber the <$100 phone market - 'Good points all. I’m just not sure Apple is going to rely on the used market to save its derrière. When the 18 comes out, Apple will be offering the 16 and 17 as both new and refurbished models, all of which were produced with older, less expensive memory. I think price increases (smaller discounts from original price) will offset potential memory cost increases, allowing Apple to closely maintain YoY pricing structure for the 18, but focusing (through feature enhancements) that drive Pro and Pro Max adoption (upward product shift mix). This reinforces the rumor that Apple is going to split base from Pro launch dates, with base model launch delayed a month or two. Mechanically adjusted aperture settings, future proofing for AI use and status driven color options can be those features. Inevitable price increases among competitors won’t hurt.'
on Will Apple buy PayPal? - 'Hi, John. How would Apple Pay be made to work with a non-profit? I have one in mind. Thanks for any hints!'
on Evercore: Apple's 'AI Companions' are waiting in the wings - 'Michael, Just one man’s opinion: I think AAPL will stay in the roughly $260-285 band until the next earnings call. After the last increase in earnings which lowered the P/E the price jumped to bring the P/E back to ~35. I suspect it will stay there till earnings change. The next earnings call will be around early May. Next week’s announcements could change this if a really good story is presented. Also, the release of a really good Siri AI agent could be a big boost. War in the Middle East or Eastern Europe or new tariffs could drag the economy down and Apple with it.'
on IDC: The "memory crisis' will clobber the <$100 phone market - 'Not sure? Of course you are sure. No way.'
on NATO approves Apple's iPhones and iPads for 'restricted' use - 'Let’s hope the implications actually sink in to their tiny brains.'
on Evercore: Apple's 'AI Companions' are waiting in the wings - 'Several others also have $300+ targets. Looking forward to breaking that number perhaps before WWDC in early June.'
on These institutions were buying Apple last quarter - 'Blackrock manages a lot of investing funds so they might want to be close to being fully invested in the large Caps like Apple, Nvidia and a few others when they structure their funds. I searched for Blackrock assets under management in 2025. Here is what Google AI said “BlackRock finished 2025 with a record $14.041 trillion in total assets under management (AUM), driven by $698 billion in full-year net inflows and strong market performance.” So 319 Billion in Apple might be just what they need and not much more. This is one way the big caps size influences the asset managers holdings.'
