I’m not sure why some people are expecting Apple to suffer so poorly. I’ve seen the stock slide of late, and for no real good reason. Shit, profit from fiscal Q4 this year rose 26% over last year- can’t be too bad. Kick in the fact Apple is sans debt and has plenty of cash, and they are a very solid buy.
Sure, I understand the worries of the recession and the upcoming ‘Google Phone.
As far as I’m concerned, Apple has the best products in nearly all the fields it has a presence in. Not just great products, but almost must-haves. Steve Jobs feels the same way:
“We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple,” he said in a statement. “But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most-talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”
Besides, when times get tough, companies usually create new opportunities to spur consumer spending; i.e. new products and innovations!
Thanks, AdAge, for a lovely article.
Can’t say I’m surprised by the news that Starbucks is closing 600 stores nationwide. First of all, they were over expanding to the point of cannibalizing other stores, but were OK with it as long as consumers were still drinking Starbucks coffee.
In college, we spent a lot of time reading case studies about Starbucks. They were sort of the ideal company; great growth strategy (we thought), unbelievable brand strength and even admired for being a good employer. Starbucks apparently over-estimated their domestic growth capabilities, and it wound up biting them. We don’t know a lot about the closings yet, but we do know that most of the 600 stores were opened since the beginning of fiscal year 2006. To me, this suggests poor location decisions. Whether opening in new, unproven communities or blanketing existing locations, these stores did not have the customer base to support them and even dragged down other successful locations. The tanking economy doesn’t help either.
Unfortunately, the real loser in all of this is the 12,000 or so employees that will soon be jobless. Starbucks does hope to relocate many of these employees to continuing locations. Lets hope they do!
Overall, I think Starbucks will rebound from their recent struggles. Their ‘return to their roots‘ strategy will pay off in the long run as Starbucks redeems itself as the world’s best coffee experience. I also like their new WiFi agreement with AT&T, as well as the Starbucks iTunes music store. Their brand is strong enough to carry them, and new innovations such as iPhone ordering is just awesome.
