On June 9, 2014, Apple (AAPL) did a 7:1 stock split. This made the stock a little more affordable to buy at $100/share ($99.76 as of 9:42am PST 10/03/14) compared to $592.74 on 05/15/2014. Since the split, Apple announced and released their new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phone models to compete in the "phablet" market. On pre-order weekend, Apple said that they took 4 million units for pre-order. This is a high number considering their Apple Store website failed to open and take orders on time. This failure added to the stress the carrier websites experience as they also struggled to take in pre-orders. On launch weekend, Apple said they sold 10 million phones and that is not even including China (Which they are about to sell on Oct 17).
I expect Apple to sell maybe another 5-10 million phones if Fortune.com's article is accurate. Nevertheless, these new iPhone models are hits and we'll find out in Apple's next earnings call just how much of a hit these new phones are.
Apple also announced new products and services. The Apple Watch which will come out early 2015 is meant to be a fashionable companion to the iPhone. Since no one outside of the few media outlets have seen the watch in real life, I would have to reserve judgment on whether it would be a success. Personally, I'll have to wait for version 2 or at least a price cut. A watch that starts at $349 is a huge gamble and I expect an increase on watch thefts so I hope Apple also includes a "kill switch" on these new watches.
The Apple Pay service is the true product I am excited for. Apple is now positioned to make money on every Visa/Mastercard transaction (both brick & mortar and online) each Apple Pay user makes. This is huge. With over half a billion accounts on file and partnerships with Visa/Mastercard, Whole Foods, McDonald's to name a few, Apple is about to make NFC transactions mainstream. Sure, Google Wallet may have done it first but Apple's "It Just Works" philosophy is going to ease in the non-techie consumer. I will keep an eye on Apple Pay.
As usual, I received dividend payouts from April 2014 thru today:
Upcoming Dividend Payouts:
I am so sorry for being absent these past few months. School and vacations took up majority of my time and I don't see it getting easier in the near future. Nevertheless, I'll try my best to update this blog and keep track of my portfolio. I have a few ideas that I'm researching on and hopefully on my next post, I can share these new positions I'm looking into.
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