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Apple R&D expenditures up 32% in 2013
As part of the Apple earnings folderol earlier this week, the company today filed a Form 10-K with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. There's some good news in there for those who want the company to continue to innovate with new and improved products: Apple spent 32 percent more on research and development in 2013 -- US$4.5 billion -- than it did in 2012. The company revealed that R&D expenses, when compared to net sales, actually remained fairly constant. Since net sales have ballooned, so have R&D costs. Much of the growth in R&D expenses was attributed to additional personnel. Apple's filing states that, "The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company's core business strategy. As such, the Company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive." Also in the 10-K were these tidbits: The company had 80,300 full-time equivalent employees as of September 28, with more than half (42,800) being employed in the retail operations. At the end of the company's 2013 fouth quarter, the company occupied about 19.1 million square feet of building space, most of that in the US and about 63 percent of it leased. Apple owns 1,428 acres of land, which we calculated to be roughly 9.5 percent of the size of Manhattan Island.
Sprint reveals it spent $15.5 billion to fuel its iPhone hunger
Sprint's SEC filings have revealed that the carrier has committed to purchasing $15.5 billion worth of iPhones as part of the long-promised $20 billion gamble. If each handset costs around $630 at trade, then we're talking about the network holding nearly 24 million units. Given that the company most recently ate a loss of $1.3 billion, most of which was caused by carrier subsidies for the 4S, there's a genuine fear that the company won't be able to make enough back on each customer to offset the initial outlay. Given the Baller-style purchasing decisions of Dan Hesse of late, we'll be watching how this unfolds with great interest and our fingers very firmly crossed.
