Time to spend our slice of the Apple billions

APPLE issued a profit warning recently, causing its share prices to plummet. To put it in context, the loss amounts to a mere $55bn.

The Chinese are getting the blame for it, which is grand, but I’m afraid I think it’s our fault.

The company’s dominant product is the ubiquitous iPhone, which accounts for 59pc of its business. This is probably a mistake (you’re welcome, Mr Cook), as once everyone has one, you’re kinda done. Most people can’t or don’t want to spend up to $1,000 for a new phone, especially as there seems to be an upgrade every five minutes, so it’s going to hit your profits eventually.

Anyway, back to us. We love to talk. We spend more minutes blathering than other Europeans (212 minutes a month, although I suspect most of this is hanging on hold to call centres).

Ninety percent of adults in Ireland own a smartphone, but the interesting (if slightly bewildering) statistic from ComReg is the ‘penetration rate’ of mobiles, that is, the amount of live numbers in existence: it’s 128pc, which, by my rudimentary maths, is more than one for everyone in the audience.

OK, so some people have separate “work” and “personal” phones, but honestly, isn’t that mad? I don’t see the point of carrying about (and paying for) a selection of phones. I can’t even keep track of the one I have.

As we’re over saturation point if Apple continues to tumble, it’ll need another strategy. For our part, maybe it’s time to spend the $13bn they gave us last year before they look for it back.