The new iPad is great, but Apple is still a long way from returning to its former glory

Less than a week before Apple's spring conference, Apple's official website quietly launched the latest generation iPad Air and iPad mini. Almost at the same time, a US court ruled that Apple's iPhone X and other models infringed Qualcomm's patents.

For Apple, this new product launch may be a warm-up for the press conference, or it may be a test of the market. In short, Apple is indeed not having a good time.

iPad business may become Apple's weapon for recovery

On the afternoon of March 18, the APP Store suddenly displayed "Wait a moment". Usually, this means that Apple is about to launch new products. Sure enough, not long after, the new generation of iPad mini and iPad Air were officially launched.

From the product sales interface, each person is limited to two units of both products, and they will be released after approval. The iPad mini starts at 2,999 yuan, and the iPad Air starts at 3,999 yuan.

In terms of appearance, the new generation iPad mini has not changed significantly compared to the fourth generation, but the A12 chip and embedded M12 coprocessor, the same as the iPhone XS series, have become the highlight.

At the same time, the new generation iPad mini began to support Apple Pencil, which greatly expanded its scope of use. The new generation iPad Air, which is 1,000 yuan more expensive, has been upgraded in terms of screen size, compatibility with blue keyboards, resolution and other parameters.

In fact, in recent years, the popularity of the mobile phone market has continued to rise, while the popularity of the tablet market has continued to cool. In July 2016, computer manufacturer Dell announced that it would stop producing the Android tablet Venue. In December of the same year, Microsoft also stopped producing the Surface 3 tablet.

However, Apple has always been an unshakable leader in the tablet market. According to the latest tablet data report released by IDC, the shipment volume of tablet computers in China in 2018 was about 22.12 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 0.8%, and the decline continued to slow down.

From the perspective of manufacturers, Apple, Huawei, and Lenovo ranked the top three in China's tablet market share in 2018. Among them, Apple shipped about 8.37 million units in 2018, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4%, accounting for 37.8% of the market share.

On the other hand, Apple's fourth quarter 2018 financial report showed that its fourth quarter revenue was $84.31 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5%, mainly due to the decline in iPhone sales. The iPad business revenue was $6.73 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17%, which significantly exceeded consensus expectations.

From this, we can see that although the overall development of the tablet market has been declining before, with the introduction of tablets by the government and education industries in the commercial market, the overall market has gradually recovered and developed in the direction of specialization.

For Apple, based on the weakness of its mobile phone business and the recovery of the tablet market, continuing to tap the development potential of its tablet business may yield greater returns.

However, due to the characteristics of tablet usage, consumers replace tablets much less frequently than mobile phones, so the competition between Apple and other major manufacturers in terms of brand, quality, service and channels will become particularly fierce.

The blow of three consecutive patent case losses

While many Apple fans are excited about the new generation of iPad, on March 15, local time, a jury at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled that some of Apple's mobile phones infringed three Qualcomm patents. The models involved are iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X.

According to foreign media reports, the three infringed patents support the mainstream functions of different smartphones, affecting the mobile phone's rapid access to the Internet, fast and efficient upload and download of Internet data, high-performance performance of games, and rich visual graphics.

In fact, in December last year, a Munich court in Germany ruled that Apple was not allowed to sell iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models in Germany.

In December of the same year, the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled that Apple had infringed Qualcomm's patents and banned Apple from importing and selling unauthorized products in China, including the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.

As of this ruling, Apple has suffered three consecutive defeats in China, Germany and the United States.

The patent war began three years ago when Apple was dissatisfied with Qualcomm for paying $40 for each mobile phone. The following year, Apple sued Qualcomm in China, the United States and the United Kingdom for illegally using its monopoly in the field of mobile phone chips. But soon, Qualcomm counter-sued Apple for interfering with its agreements with manufacturers and defaulting on patent fees.

The result of three consecutive defeats has undoubtedly had an unpredictable impact on Apple's iPhone business. Although joining hands with Intel is a feasible solution, the gap between Intel and Qualcomm in terms of baseband comprehensive performance is still very obvious.

Some people even said that due to the backwardness of Intel's 5G baseband, the progress of iPhone's support for 5G functions will be delayed. Obviously, Apple is also looking for a solution. Previously, Apple released a recruitment information showing that Apple is recruiting two cellular network modem system architects, hoping to recruit engineers who can design and develop layer 1 cellular PHY chips.

Although we have not yet seen the results of Apple's independent research and development, if Apple really develops a cellular network modem that can be used on the iPhone, it can not only save high patent fees, but also reverse the current predicament. However, to achieve this, it still requires a long period of dedicated research and development.

Monopoly behavior may be sanctioned

Apple, which is under siege from all sides, has recently caused public outrage in the industry for its commission from the APP Store. Among them, Daniel EK, CEO of music streaming company Spotify, directly stated that Apple's App Store rules restrict innovation and consumer choice.

The two companies are arguing over Apple's 30% tax on software revenue and Apple's restrictions on the development of the Apple Music app. Spotify even released an animated video showing how Apple is restricting Spotify's development by prohibiting it from using the Siri virtual assistant, HomePod voice-controlled speakers, and Apple Watch.

This accusation against Apple's monopolistic behavior has now been fed back to the EU's market competition regulator. The relevant commissioner has begun planning to examine the role of Apple and the App Store. If evidence of market dominance is found, Apple will face sanctions.

The situation in China is very similar, with a large number of APP teams reporting Apple's monopolistic behavior. The lawyers of the reporting party stated that Apple may have abused its dominant market position and violated the state's laws and regulations on Internet information services and online publishing services in the process of operating the App Store, which may damage the legitimate rights and interests of mobile application developers, operators, and consumers.

Although Apple has made public statements in response to these complaints and reports, given the current situation, if the final result shows that Apple will be sanctioned, it will not only affect its revenue, but also greatly reduce its image.

How can Apple return to the top?

Once upon a time, Apple was the most powerful company in the world. Using an iPhone was even equated with status. But now Apple is under attack from all sides and has lost its former glory.

Apple once had a group of loyal believers, called Apple fans, who would cross time zones to watch every new product launch conference on time, queue up overnight to be the first to get a new product, and want to get every product.

Then, as time went by, the number of loyal Apple fans decreased due to fewer innovative products and higher prices. Apple was left with a crisis of falling stock prices, sales that could not be recovered even with price cuts, and difficulties after the patent dispute.

With the spring conference to be held in six days, many people predict that Apple will focus on streaming TV services and news and magazine subscription services, and the new generation of iPad products will also be equipped with these services.

After a series of "Mercury retrogrades", this conference is particularly important for Apple. On the one hand, the impact on the hardware business has adversely affected Apple's revenue and reputation. On the other hand, in the fourth quarter of 2018, service revenue reached US$10.88 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19%, so it is a good strategy for Apple to continue to increase its advantages in this area at this time.

Apple has been hyping up its streaming business for a long time, and according to The New York Times, Apple has now completed the filming of five original TV series. However, it is still unknown whether Netflix, Hulu and HBO will log on to Apple's streaming platform, and it is still difficult to achieve a breakthrough by relying on the streaming business.

For Apple, if it wants to return to its former glory, it still needs to make comprehensive efforts in all aspects. Strengthening the update and iteration of hardware products, breaking through the possibilities of other businesses, and maintaining the level of service business will be possible to win back more Apple fans and write a negative answer to the question "Has Apple lost its ability to innovate?"