Apple diversity delights, Amazon flop now plastic waste
Apple's new figures show that the course to profit has been set correctly. Online shopping giant Amazon, on the other hand, has to cope with a setback that is mainly the fault of consumer protectors.
Winner of the week: Apple
At first glance, Apple could have been called a loser after the publication of its quarterly figures. After all, the importance of its major driving force, the iPhone, is shrinking more and more. Not even half of the income comes from the cult mobile phone from Cupertino these days. But is that bad? On the contrary! Under Tim Cook, Apple has obviously set off down the right road in recent years, because promising areas are becoming stronger and stronger: services, especially the ecosystem of content, wearables, including the Apple Watch, and even tablets are running better and better at Apple.
This reflects a trend in the entire industry, at least in large parts. The market for smartwatches and fitness trackers is growing largely unnoticed, and the right products, including convenient presentation, continue to attract customers. Meanwhile, smartphones are becoming more and more interchangeable: even inexpensive devices can handle most tasks well, and there are hardly any real superstars at the top of the market. The iPhone has shaped the market for a decade and filled Apple's pockets full of cash. That was good, but also dangerous, because anyone who has to rely on just one column risks complete collapse if it falls away or becomes noticeably weaker. Apple is working to better balance its revenues, and the current figures show that it is on the right track.
Loser of the week: Amazon
Meanwhile, Amazon has had to admit defeat with an innovative product. The Dash buttons, with which consumer goods such as detergents, toilet paper or condoms can be reordered at the touch of a button when stocks run low, are being switched off at the end of the month and will become nothing but plastic waste. Consumer protectors had complained that the customer did not know whether a price change had taken place for a product when using the Dash buttons. That's true, of course, even if they're usually quite small fluctuations for such products. Anyway, there will be no more button-hugging at Amazon. Does Jeff Bezos' team have to come up with something different?
What were your tops and flops of the week?
