There doesn’t seem like there was a whole lot of R&D dollars behind the announcements at MacWorld. I would imagine Intel paid the brunt R&D to get the chip smaller in the MacBook Air. Other than that there wasn’t much new tech, mostly just new software updates. Could it be that Apple is hedging their bets?
The MacBook Air is priced right between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. It allows Apple to be competitive with more Dells and Compaqs. The notebook market is also a market that Apple is comfortable competing in. Meanwhile, the AppleTV announcement was the equivalent of the 20% off signs you see plastered in front of every retailer in the mall. (US retail numbers were down in December). Time Capsule seems to be little more than a hard drive (those are very cheap) and a wireless access point (those are also cheap). I think Time Capsule might be the highest profit margin item in the Apple catalog.
We have all known for a while that the US economy was teetering. The AAPL stock price drop during the MacWorld Keynote today seems to be further indication that investors are at least skittish. Could Apple be bracing for an economic downturn with products that are “safe”?
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With 2+ years of development and 100 or so prototypes, I’m not sure it’s safe to say that there wasn’t significant R&D expenditure by Apple on the MacBook Air. (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/16/steve_jobs_talks_macbook_air_china_mobile_amazon_kindle_more.html)
And even though no hardware announcements were made, I’d imagine the continuing development of the iPhone and iPod platforms are consuming significant resources. A quick check of stock research notes shows increasing R&D expenditures at Apple for the past 5 years (although the growth rate in R&D trails the absurd growth in revenue).
Rather than reflecting a recessing economy, I’d say Apple’s focus on software updates indicates an emerging strategy of adding/delivering value to products over time. Apple’s accounting methods for iPod and iPhone are specifically built around this approach. In essence, they’re treating the selling price as including a software upgrade subscription.
It’s a lot like the old days when all Mac OS updates were free and an expected benefit of the platform. Buy in to the platform with a hardware purchase and get a regular delivery of new features for free. What other computer or consumer electronics companies do this to a similar extent?