Notes From All Over -- October 2, 2020

AAPL: to report 4Q20 earnings October 29, 2020.

App Store: Apple App store reportedly earned twice as much as the Google Play Store in 3Q20. Link here.

$29.3 billion was spent overall on Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, with over 35.6 billion app installs, in the third quarter of 2020 

App stores have seen significant year-on-year growth, with customers spending 32 percent more than at the same time in 2019, with 23.3 percent more installs. Large growth compared to 2019.

Being driven by remote learning, working from home.

Comment: I've bought annual subscriptions to piano teaching app ($129/year or something like that, maybe just $79/year -- I forget -- for Sophia; at her age beats hiring a private piano teacher); also bought Duolingo for $89/year, I believe -- incredible. Sophia loves it. In addition to all that, she must have two dozen school-approved / school-required apps on her iPad.

By the way, what else does this mean? Folks are going to have to upgrade to new iPads for additional memory, perhaps new operating systems to run the new apps.

The car wars: GM, Ford, and Tesla. Two of the three look to be contracting significantly globally. Does Ford become a niche player int the automotive world? South Korea, Japan surging. Is China automotive something to watch? Will Tesla implode (on the down side) or explode (on the up side)? Tesla is impossible to read. Cons: the elephant in the room -- too much competition. Pros: everything else. From the linked article:
 

Stock performance: Ford shares are down 52% over the last five years and over 40% in the last 10 years. Shares are down 25% in 2020. Ford has a market capitalization of $28 billion.

General Motors stock is trading flat over the last five years and down 7% over the last 10 years. Shares are down 13% in 2020. General Motors has a market capitalization of $44 billion.

Tesla shares are up 645% in the last five years and up 913% in the last ten. Shares are up 428% in 2020. Tesla has a market capitalization of $411 billion.

What's next?  Ford will be led by a new CEO soon as Jim Hackett, who has led Ford since 2017, will step down. Jim Farley, currently Ford's COO, will become the new CEO on Oct. 1.

The company’s new Mustang Mach-E, F-150 and Bronco make for one of the company’s strongest vehicle lineups going forward.