How the iPhone and Poor Apple Management have contributed to the Downfall of Apple
Posted on January 19, 2009 by Andy M. Zaky| 61 Comments
In April of 2007, Peter Oppenheimer (Apple’s CFO) announced that Apple will be using what is commonly referred to as the “subscription method of accounting” for sales of the iPhone where the sales revenue from the iPhone is deferred and recognized over a 24-month period instead of at the point of sale. Both that decision and the underlying reason in support of the decision would go down as being one of the worst in Apple’s history. In his opening statement of the Q2 2007 earnings call, Oppenheimer made the following alarming comments:
“Since iPhone customers will likely be our best advocates for the product, we want to get them many of these new features and applications at no additional charge as they become available. Since we will be periodically providing new software features to iPhone customers free of charge, we will use subscription accounting and recognize the revenue and product cost of goods sold associated with iPhone handset sales on a straight line basis over 24 months. So while the cash from iPhone sales will be collected at the time of sale, we will be recording deferred revenue and costs of goods sold on our balance sheet, and amortizing both of them into our earnings on a straight line basis over 24 months. We will continue to expense our iPhone engineering, sales and marketing costs as we incur them. This accounting policy will have no impact on cash flow or the economics of our business.“
This was the first time the financial community learned about Apple’s plans to defer iPhone sales revenue. Until that moment, everyone was expecting some dramatic blow-out growth rates for 2008. Such hopes were dashed when Oppenheimer decided to give iPhone customers free $9.95 software upgrades at the inevitable sacrifice of Apple’s stock price. In August, I made several arguments on why such an accounting treatment would lead to the eventual manipulation of Apple’s financials both by analysts and the media. I warned that the market would be overly focused on Apple’s P/E ratio instead of its price-to-free cash flow and that such a result could lead to disastrous consequences.
A year and a half later, Apple is trading at the same price it was before the iPhone even existed, is portrayed as a company that struggles to grow and as a company that faced major financial headwinds in 2008 despite the fact that it grew its earnings 125% in Q4 alone. While the recent financial turmoil, the 2008 recession and serious concerns over Steve Jobs’ health is much to blame for the loss in share value, Apple could be trading at much higher levels if the revenue from the iPhone were recorded when received instead of how it’s treated under the current accounting regime.