Apple has been having issues as of late and they are looking at ways to regroup. I want to start out by saying Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world and they are not in any danger of going out of business but they have had signs of slowing sales. I would like to say Apples slowing sales while an issue for Apple is still more sales than any other smartphone company in the world.

Apple did mention that they are no longer reporting unit sales but will report overall sales. Which is a way of Apple not wanting to show iPhone, iPad and Mac sales? While revenues are up on the Apple Echo system their unit sales have slowed.

Apple has started selling hardware on Amazons site, Cosco and Best Buy. While Apple has sold products in retail stores for years they have never sold online on Amazon and have never offered sales on products like they have this year.

Apple is bringing Apple Music to the Amazon Echo platform. Apple has realized that there HomePod is not a huge success and that they need to bring Apple music to smart speakers if they want to keep their growth in the music market going strong and to compete with Spotify. Apple is now offering 6 months of Apple music free on Verizon as a way to entice users to Apple Music that are on Verizon.

Apple has started raising prices on hardware products more than 20% in some cases. Look at the prices of the new MacBook Air, iPad, iPhone and Apple Pen all prices are at least up twenty percent up from the last generation.

While I think Apple still makes great products Apples slowing hardware sales are because users are hanging onto hardware longer plus slowing innovation in mobile technologies has taken away the incentive to upgrade. I think as 5G becomes more available that might be the next incentive for users to upgrade.

While Apple is in no trouble of going out of business these are clear examples that Apple is putting more focus on their ecosystem since their hardware sales have fallen flat.