Summary
Investors too often approach Apple from a cold, calculating approach of valuation only, with pessimism and skepticism of future growth prospects.
Investment is an art. Numbers alone should never be the basis for an investment. My own calculations place AAPL at fair value.
Apple has seeped into the daily fabric of our lives, whether we realize it or not. The iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch are iconic products.
Apple’s growth prospects remain misunderstood by certain investors because they fail to accept one crucial fact: Apple is here to stay.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images News Apple – A Business Or A Way Of Life?
Would it surprise you to learn that even now – in the midst of one of the most indelible pandemics in recent human history – Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) has lines outside of its stores? Would you be startled to learn that the average human being spends anywhere from 1 hour 37 minutes to 5 hours 54 minutes on mobiles (smartphones) per day?
In the USA alone, studies estimate that we attain an average screen time of 3 hours and 15 minutes per day . Some people spend the equivalent of a ~40-hour work-week on their iPhones spread over a 7-day period. Would it astonish you to learn that nearly half of Americans consider themselves addicted to their smartphones? Or that 80% check their phone within 10 minutes of waking? Or that 83% feel uneasy leaving their phone at home? That 62% sleep with their phone at night? That 52% say they have never gone longer than 24 hours without their phone? Would it amaze or scare you to learn that globally in 2021 consumers spent ~$9B on food while spending ~$133B on mobile apps (Android / iOS), a factor of ~14.8 greater? A 2017 survey by Deloitte reveals just how prevalent smartphone use has become. An average person uses their smartphone before going to sleep, uses it as an alarm, peruses their phone upon waking, observes the weather, checks upcoming meetings and engagements, scrolls through social media, and even uses their phone while on the toilet.
We use our smartphones to check our bank accounts, to do shopping, to read on the internet, to do work, to dance, to listen to music, to review our health vitals, to watch videos and TV, to date, to exercise, to text, to call and to video, for cooking instructions, for navigation, for gaming, for sex, for sleep, for art, for writing, for ordering food in restaurants, for ordering and paying for coffee, and in the case of emergencies.
iPhones have become essential for business, education, creativity, travel, healthcare, research, innovation, communication, relaxation, record-keeping of crucial information, connectivity, safety, and security.
According to research by Universities of Würzburg and Nottingham-Trent, 37.4% of smartphone users rate their phones as equally or more important than close friends . According to the Royal Danish Academy, smartphones have transcended our lives to be valued as a “transportal home.” Source: Royal Danish Academy
The trend is not unique to the United States, though the perceived reduced cost of iPhones in the USA, in particular as compared to Europe, helps to partially explain the iPhone’s dominance and popularity in the country of its origin. In Finland, in a controversial video that angered many parents, a black raven swooped down and carried away a little girl on a beach while her mother focused on her smartphone.
In Asia, the statistics reveal rampant reliance and use of digital devices and media , smartphones and iPhones included. A typical user in Asia logs 439 minutes, or over 7 hours, of screen media per day compared with the global average of 417 minutes. Out of those 7 hours, Asians spend nearly 2 hours looking at a second digital screen while watching television. With the advent of new digital devices, multi-screening – the use of more than one digital screen at the same time – has increasingly become the preferred method to consume news, entertainment and data. In emerging countries, mobile connectivity is essential to social status, education, wellbeing, prosperity, and in gaining a competitive edge. Often, a smartphone may be used as a person’s sole access to the internet, without a computer or tablet at home.
Source: Pew Research Center
Smartphones, and iPhones, are endemic to our way of life, yet only 80.63% of the world’s population owns a smartphone as of 2021 . The rates of penetration are highly contingent on the country’s infrastructure and economic status.
Source: Pew Research Center
Not only are […]
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