In 5 days time, Apple will be commencing its WWDC.

Rumours floating around the Internet at the moment suggest Apple is ready to launch its streaming music/radio service at WWDC.

iOS 7 is meant to be a more flattened design. I noticed that the official Apple WWDC app, featured a flat icon and this surely is a clue of what the rest of the icons will look like. The notification centre on the iPhone will also get a slight makeover with some extra options.

Other rumours suggest Apple will announce wifi sharing with the iPhone range, new Macs and potentially the iPhone 5S.

However, apart from the visual makeover and a number of new features, I don’t expect iOS 7 to be a night and day difference from iOS 6. Why? iOS 6 is already polished. So to make it substantially different would be impossible.

Apple’s top brass faced a hearing by the US Senate over the company’s tax arrangements.

Despite the tough questioning, and the attempted character assassination by Senator Levin (I personally thought he was an idiot and arrogant as he seemed to ignore what he was being told) ,I thought Apple demonstrated that they paid a fair share of tax, and well within the legal system.

What it did show was how antiquated the tax system is in the US and globally. And I thought Tim Cook did a stellar job.

Over the last 5 years I have steadily increased my iOS apps and games. As I backup on my computer it is easy to see what apps and games sit in my library.

Scarily I have acquired nearly 1,700 apps/games. Far too many but that is another story for another day. So at the weekend, I started to delete apps and games no longer used, never would get used or those that hadn’t been updated so would not work on newer devices.

A few hours later, and 1,100 apps/deleted and nearly 80gb memory saved, my iOS library looked much cleaner. And only 600 now to manage 🙂

So how big is your iOS apps/games library? And have you slimmed it down yet and if so how much did you crunch away?

Apple’s stock price hit new this week, setting 52-week records and hitting the lowest points seen since late 2011. The price has traded beneath the $400, with AAPL having not traded that low.

Today’s slide follows a lower-than-expected revenue forecast for Cirrus Logic, a major supplier for chips used in the iPhone and iPad. Traders believe the lower forecast indicates weak Apple sales over the next several quarters.

Now my take on this nonsense, is a cash rich company, making more profits than most companies in the world, with more cash in the bank than most countries. So what is going on?

Stock market analysts manipulating the markets to make money for themselves. If you have noticed, Apple has not released any new products for months. Apple has clearly altered its product cycle and probably has a few surprises up its sleeves.

I expect Apple’s share price to shoot up again, when it launches a sleuth of new gear, and hopefully some surprises too.

Updated – following Q2 earnings call the stock price has risen. Next quarter is predicted to be flat but last quarter and next year should help Apple rebound with new products.

Tim Cook

We’ve sold 85m iPhones and 42m iPads. These are unimaginable results, even to us. We acknowledge our growth rate has slowed and our margin has decreased from our exceptional 2012. Our average weekly growth has slowed to 19 percent, and our margins are closer to a year ago. Cook says the iPad mini was strategically priced at a lower margin. Decline in Apple’s stock price over the last couple quarters had been very frustrating to all of us, but Apple remains strong. The most important objective at Apple will always be creating the most innovative products. We see great opportunities in front of us. Cook references the potential of an exciting new product category.
Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software, and services that we can’t wait to introduce. We remain very confident in our product plan. This is the same company that brought the world the iPhone and the iPad and we’ve got a lot more surprises in the works. Cook goes over the share repurchasing program to give capital back to investors.

Peter Oppenheimer

Peter is going over the numbers. Strong growth in iPad and iTunes sales. 95 percent loyalty rate among iPhone customers. Thrilled to sell 19.5 iPads, compared to 11.8m last year. iPad sales more than doubled in China and Japan. Able to sell significantly more iPad minis, and expand into China.
Overwhelmingly majority of iPad mini purchasers are first time iPad owners. 96 percent satisfaction rate among iPad owners. Sold just under 4m Macs, down 2 percent, but Peter says IDC says overall PC market shrunk 14 percent. iPod touch continues to account for over half of all iPods sold.
New quarterly record revenues for music, movies, and apps in the iTunes Store. Total up 28 percent. iOS is pretty cool, say Oppenheimer. People like it. iOS devices have a strong lead over Android in the enterprise. iPad accounted for 82 percent of all North American tablet web traffic in March. 800 apps downloaded per second. 300m people using iCloud. We will continue to invest in the ecosystem, new features and capabilities in the pipeline. Apple retail store revenue increased 19 percent to $5.2bn. 30 new stores in 2013, remodel at least 20. $13.1m revenue per store. 91m visitors per store. 17,500 visitors per store, per week. Now Peter moves on to the stock buy back.
This is the largest share buyback operation of any company in history. Revenue is projected to be $33.5 billion and $35.5 billion, compared to $35 billion in the year-ago quarter. That’s more flat-ish growth.

Some serious numbers. And fortunately as Apple conduct the buy back program their stock value is at its lowest for a while. Coincidence ?

Apple reported revenues for Q2 of $43.6 billion, which beats Apple’s estimates for the quarter of between $41 and $43 billion. This revenue compares to a revenue of $39.2 billion in the year-ago Q2.

Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones, 19.5 million iPads, and just under 4 million Macs. This compares to 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, and 4 million Macs, sold in the year-ago Q2 2012 quarter.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on the results:

“We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer as well:

“Our cash generation remains very strong, with $12.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter and an ending cash balance of $145 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.

Apple’s guidance for next quarter is revenue between $33.5 billion and $35.5 billion.

So much for the doom and gloom reporting.

Apple announced a few days ago that it is opening its new store in Plymouth this Saturday at 9am.

It is located practically opposite Stormfront, an Apple Reseller, who had built up a superb reputation since 2007. Today, I received an email confirming their closure the day before Apple opens.