Apple is forecast for the slowest holiday sales growth in a half decade. The trend was outlined yesterday when the company announced its revenue for the current quarter would be $55 billion to $58 billion, up 0.9 percent to 6.4 percent from $54.5 billion a year earlier. According to SFGate, that marks the lowest holiday-sales rise since 2008, when revenue jumped six percent.
The forecast is a turnaround from previous years like 2011 and 2012 when Apple saw holiday sales grow by more than 70 percent. CEO Tim Cook has overseen a stock fall of 25 percent in the past year as profit declined for the first time in a decade. The world's most valuable company is having trouble staying competitive with new innovations from its emerging rival Samsung Electronics Co.
Samsung recently unveiled new additions to its Galaxy family of smartphones including a mini version of the flagship Galaxy S4 and the phablet Galaxy Note III. Now it is getting some traction with the recent unveiling of Galaxy Round curved display smartphone and its Galaxt Gear smartwatch. While neither product has a particularly large fan base, they'll make for great gifts for the tech savvy in the family.
Although not particularly successful upon launch, these products and others like them represent the kinds of innovations that Apple has been lacking since Tim Cook took the helm of the company after the passing of Steve Jobs.
One thing working in Apple's favor this holiday season is the fact that Apple has new smartphones and tablets on store shelves. Meanwhile, Samsung's Galaxy S4 is still the flagship smartphone design and the company doesn't have many top-of-the-line products for people to buy these days.
Tell us what you'd prefer in your stocking this holiday season, a product from Apple or a Samsung Electronics device? Tell us why in the comments section below.
