Apple products are just a little bit popular, and the company confirmed yesterday during a complex earnings call that they achieved record profits in the last quarter of 2015.
There was also news that Apple had over one billion connected devices - phones, tablets, Macs and wearables - engaging at one time during the same period. That's a pretty staggering figure, accounting for one seventh of the Earth's population using their hardware. Of course it's a fact that many people in the Apple eco system also have multiple devices with an iPad, iPhone, a Macbook and maybe even a desktop as well. Add in the Apple Watch and those legacy iPod Touches out in the wild and it's fair to say that the numbers of actual engaged users are much lower.
Still, it's an impressive achivement and one which might be Apple at it's peak. All estimates are suggesting a fall in profits and sales for the first quarter of 2016 and it might be the beginning of a downward spiral as Apple searches for new ventures to take over from the smartphone boom. There's just too much competent competition out there in the mobile space, and upstarts like Huawei are on a race to the top.
What's next for Apple then? There's still room to muscle in on the wearable market but that's still a relatively niche world and doesn't have the profit margins the company will want to pursue. They still have their digital music business and there are also rumours of a possible Apple car coming down the line in the next few years.
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