WWDC announcements disappoint some investors, analysts
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Aug 8, 2006 at 10:40am
Apple’s introduction of the Mac Pro and the Intel Xserve, as well as the first demo of Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”) disappointed investors expecting new consumer gadgets.
Shares in Apple fell more than 2 percent as investors had been hoping Apple CEO Steve Jobs would unveil his trademark surprise at Apple’s annual software developers conference, such as a new iPod music player or a new digital movie rental service.
“It’s a slight disappointment,” Gene Munster, analyst at Piper Jaffray, told CNET. “They announced exactly what people were expecting. To get a rise (in stock price) you have to surprise investors.”
Shares of Apple fell $1.50, or 2.2 percent, to $66.80 on the Nasdaq during Jobs’ WWDC keynote presentation.
Rick Says:
This was a developers conference - not a consumers confab. They announced products germaine to their target audience. Should not be a real shock to anyone… Also, didn’t, during the keynote, Steve J mention that there would be additional announcements/releases this week?
Posted on August 08, 2006
Richard Says:
This is the WWDC, not a user or financial conference. So the content of the presentation was targeted at programmers, developers, etc. So the new hardware, ideal for programmers, and introduction to Leopard was appropriate.
The new iPod, 8GB Nano etc., are not ready for shipping so not good business sense to announce at the developers conference.
As regards the stock, I think the test will come around January 15, 07 after Mac World. Probably over $80 at that time.
Posted on August 08, 2006
Miguel Says:
Don’t expect new “Apple” annoucements this week… If you read the transcript carefully, it seems clear that Jobs’ comment during the keynote was related to “3rd party” annoucements this week regarding new universal versions of their apps.
Posted on August 08, 2006
David Says:
The analysts are not looking at Apple correctly, as usual. Do you think Apple is going to announce everything at the Developers’ Conference that apply to the consumer? They always plan their product announcements tailored more towards the audience. If they announced everything at WWDC, I am sure the Keynote would be 5 hours long. The Developers paid to attend seminars and talk about the upcoming OS rather than a new iPod. WWDC is for developers. Hence more professional based systems and the upcoming OS version.
Anything related to the iPod or iTunes are consumer based products and require a special event. Apple, in my humble opinion is going to have a wonderful year ahead. Pent up demand for the high end Intel based systems.
Posted on August 08, 2006
David Says:
Another possibility why the analysts are giving high marks. Isn’t the stock going down because of “their” comments? Hmmmmmmmm...... They’ll buy the stock at a reduced rate and make more money when the consumer products get announced just in time for Christmas.
Think Different. :-)
Posted on August 08, 2006
David Says:
Don’t worry, I was being a little sacastic on my last comment. The analysts aren’t giving high marks, but they should have. LOL.
Posted on August 08, 2006
David Says:
A message to the analysts… WWDC is for Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers................ Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers.............Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers................ Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers.Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers................ Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers.
Posted on August 08, 2006
David Says:
Another message to analysts: Apple makes more money from each Server and Mac Pro than they do from an iPod… Do the math.
Maybe they are just artificially manipulating the market so they can aquire at a lower strike price to make more money when Apple blows out the quarter. Either that or they are just plain stupid.
Posted on August 08, 2006
Charles Says:
I’m not necessarily an analyst advocate, but they make decisions based on the information at hand and they don’t like to include vaporware in their projections. The lack of a “big” consumer announcement is seen as a disappointment from the standpoint of near-term profits. The math is simple…
40MM iPods @ $50 profit = $2,000,000,000
1MM Mac Pros @ $500 profit = $500,000,000
Posted on August 08, 2006
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
MacGig.com Says:
personally, if they didn’t introduce a new ipod, thats a good thing. I think they churn out too many new models too soon personally.... people buy something new and 6 months later it’s outdated. that sucks.
Posted on August 08, 2006