There were 11 episodes of the Above Avalon podcast recorded and published in 2021, totaling 4.5 hours. The five most popular Above Avalon articles in 2021, as measured by page views, were:Īpple Has a Decade-Long Lead in Wearablesĭesigned by Apple in California, Not Assembled in ChinaĪpple Watch Is Now Worn on 100 Million Wrists It’s a number that deserves further investigation as Apple’s M&A strategy and philosophy play a big role in how Apple was able to get to where it is today. That’s a record low for Apple with Tim Cook as CEO. In 2021, Apple spent just $33 million on business acquisitions (M&A). Instead, it was the lack of cash spent on M&A. It wasn’t the record iPhone sales, strong margins, or phenomenal free cash flow. While going through Apple’s 10-K for FY2021, one number jumped out at me. What explains such a dramatic change? The Apple share buyback debate ended, and Apple was declared the winner.Īpple’s Extremely Quiet Year for M&A. To be precise, I didn’t receive an incoming question about buyback in nine months - from when the stock market put in a bottom in April 2020 to the start of 2021. I received far fewer questions about Apple’s share buyback program. Everyone wanted to know about Apple’s share buyback program. In previous years, one topic has been far ahead of any other as a source of questions. The evidence points to Apple having a wearables lead of not just a few years, but more like a decade.Īpple Won the Share Buyback Debate. I receive many questions about Apple from Above Avalon readers, listeners, and members. The technology is just the latest example of how Apple’s lead in wearables is still being underestimated. A series of hand and finger gestures can be used to control everything from answering a call to ending a workout. AssistiveTouch allows one to control an Apple Watch without actually touching the device. Here are a few of my favorite articles published in 2021 (in no particular order):Īpple Has a Decade-Long Lead in Wearables. In looking through the articles, which are accessible to all, there was one overarching theme: Apple’s ecosystem continues to gain strength and is ready for the next major product category launch (a mixed reality headset). In 2021, I published 10 Above Avalon articles. The Apple Watch installed base surpassed 100 million people. This total is on top of lingering demand issues associated with wearables that arose from the pandemic.ĭespite the challenges, 2021 was a record year for Apple on a number of business fronts:Īpple sold 260M+ iPhones - a record high for a 12-month period.Īpple sold 25M Macs - a record high for a 12-month period. While society did largely open up halfway through the year, which allowed Apple’s retail apparatus to return to normal operations, Apple continued to face once-in-a-few-decades challenges when it came to the supply chain, product manufacturing, and navigating its 154,000 employees through a pandemic.Īccording to my estimate, Apple experienced $10 billion of unmet demand in 2021 as a result of supply chain issues. Expectations that 2021 would be much smoother turned out to be optimistic. As discussed in last year’s Year in Review, the pandemic turned 2020 into a steady stream of unexpected challenges for Apple. Heading into 2021, Apple had just gone through one of the more tumultuous years in its existence.
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