Apple’s leadership structure is a holdover from Steve Jobs that allowed the company to be fast and nimble

A new report from The Information takes a look at some of the changes that Apple’s leadership has undergone over the last few years, the company’s employee growth, and how that’s spread the executive team thinner than ever. Notably, a former Apple executive believes that the current leadership structure “doesn’t look particularly effective.”

The report highlights that as Apple executives like Angela Ahrendts and Jony Ive have left (or will leave soon), those taking their responsibilities are assuming larger workloads with more direct reports.

Apple had only 115 executives in the U.S. who reported either to Cook or to one of Cook’s direct subordinates, out of a U.S. workforce of almost 84,000, as of December 2017, it disclosed in a federally mandated employment survey. By comparison, Microsoft had 546 executives in the same classification overseeing 74,000 employees during the same period.

 

Congress wants Tim Cook’s emails for investigation over App Store monopoly concerns

Congress has asked Apple along with Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet for emails and other communications between executives as it continues its antitrust investigation into the major tech companies. In Apple’s case, Congress wants to look over Tim Cook and other leaders’ emails and more as evidence relating to the company removing third-party Screen Time apps, its App Store algorithm, and potential efforts to Sherlock apps.

 

iPad mini helps Apple grow its share in EMEA’s declining tablet market

IDC reports that Apple’s share of the EMEA tablet market grew from 21.9% in Q2 2018 to 25.1% in the same quarter this year.

Although the iPad mini wasn’t updated with Face ID, it remains popular with consumers who value portability over screen size – and sells well in the enterprise market. It is widely used by business customers for everything from taking orders in restaurants to carrying out warehouse inventories.

Samsung saw its tablet shipments fall by 13.4%, similar to Lenovo’s drop of 13.2%, while Huawei fell 19.6% year-on-year.

Amazon was the biggest winner in relative terms, experiencing growth of 53.7% thanks to updating its highly-affordable Fire tablet range.

IDC reported back in July that Mac shipments were up 10% in Q2, but said earlier this week that iPhone shipments are likely to fall 2.2% as customers wait for 5G models.

 

The AppleCare+ subscription (just for iPhone, iPad and  Watch) could see Apple making twice the money

Apple this week very quietly launched another new Services product: an AppleCare+ subscription. It’s a move that could see the company doubling its money on what is likely to be a very profitable product.

Previously, you could choose between a one-off upfront payment for your AppleCare+ policy or a monthly one, but either way, it ran for a fixed period of either two or three years, depending on the product. Two years in the case of an iPhone.

Now, however, it runs indefinitely – for an indefinite payment…

 

Apple Card partner Goldman Sachs expects 26% AAPL hit over misunderstanding

Apple Card partner bank Goldman Sachs expects a significant AAPL hit over a predicted misunderstanding by investors and analysts. It says the downside for the stock is likely to hit 26% thanks to the way it thinks the market will react to an accounting decision made by the Cupertino company…

When you buy an iPhone from Apple, the company doesn’t count all of that revenue as hardware. As Apple offers some free services to customers – like (the ridiculous 5GB of) iCloud storage, Siri, and Apple Maps – it assigns some of the revenue to Services. Apple is reportedly taking the same approach with the one-year of free Apple TV+ service you get with a hardware purchase, says CNBC, citing an investor’s note.

…

In other words, it thinks investors will simply look at the headline margin on hardware, see a decline in the apparent Average Selling Price and think hardware margins are falling.

Hall provided a somewhat convoluted calculation which produces an apparent 7% reduction in ASP, and which he thinks will result in the AAPL hit.

Apple has shared an official statement with CNBC refuting that the launch of Apple TV+ will have an “impact on our financial results.”