Linked List: August 4, 2013

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Obama Administration Vetoes ITC Ban on Apple Products ★

So how does one square this with the notion that Washington — including, if not especially the Obama administration — is putting the screws to Apple to punish them for their meager spending on lobbying and campaign contributions?

My cynical take: the e-books case pits two American companies against each other, Amazon and Apple. The DOJ has sided strongly with Amazon, a company decidedly in the Obama administration’s good graces. This ITC dispute, on the other hand, pits Apple against Samsung. A U.S. company that plays ball will be favored over another that doesn’t play ball, but even one that doesn’t play is preferable to a South Korean company, especially one like Samsung with a long history of cheating and playing dirty.

Washington doesn’t want to see Apple fail; they want Apple to continue making massive profits. They just want a bigger slice of those juicy profits kicked back.

Washington vs. Apple ★

Steve Friess, Politico:

The company marches to its own iTunes, spending little on lobbying, rarely joining trade associations and, in a pattern that’s become more pronounced this summer, refusing to negotiate or settle in many lawsuits.

Experts say Apple’s tried-and-true approach is starting to backfire, as the company has already taken at least one big hit in a high-profile e-books trial. A recent landmark D.C. appearance by CEO Tim Cook may reflect a new reality for Apple: that direct engagement with lawmakers, regulators and rivals is more effective than trying to remain above it all.

In other words, word on the street in Washington is that it’s a shakedown, pure and simple. The smart move for Apple would be to just pay up, but that’s sad.

Update: Do I believe this? Let’s file my take under “Wait and see”. But it’s worth noting that this piece is from Politico, a DC insider site (if not the DC insider site) — not an Apple site.

Less Brightly, Indeed ★

Ian Sherr and Joanne Lublin, reporting for the WSJ, “Apple Stores Glow Less Brightly”:

To be sure, Apple Store sales continue to be the envy of other retailers. It raked in $5,971 per square foot in 2012, up 17% from the $5,098 per square foot the year before, according to retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners. By comparison, Tiffany & Co. had sales of $3,453 per square foot in 2012, and popular yoga-clothes retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. pulled in $2,464 per square foot last year. However, even Apple’s metrics in this arena have begun to fall, Customer Growth Partners says. So far this fiscal year, sales per square foot have fallen to $4,542, down 4.5% from $4,754 the same time a year earlier.

So the gist of this story is that Apple Stores, despite remaining the most profitable per square foot in the world, by a long shot, are faltering due to a lack of leadership and Apple needs to change them somehow.

Is not the simpler explanation for the 5 percent drop in sales last quarter, from the year ago quarter, that last year Apple had debuted the first retina iPads in this quarter, and this year they haven’t had a major new product introduction in nine months?