ICYMI: What Apple & Twitter's Results Say about Tech (April 27, 2016)

Happy Friday, everyone.

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The biggest story from yesterday:  Both Apple and Twitter reported earnings yesterday, and while both missed analysts' estimates, they did provide some interesting looks at where the people -- and money -- are actually (not) going.

Twitter made a mere $595 million, apparently disappointing people for failing to make an extra $13 million for projected revenues of $608 million. This is only the beginning of a downward trend this year; Twitter warned that it will only make $590 million in Q2 2016, well short of the $670 million analysts think it should make.

The more ominous sign for Twitter? Its service's growth is stagnating: It only has 310 million active users, up only 5 million accounts from Q4 2015 and 8 million from Q1 2015. More ominously, U.S. users are flat -- 65 million in Q1 2015 and 65 million in Q1 2016. Twitter's moving to try and broaden audiences with initiatives like increasing tweet character limits, making a live-streaming deal with the NFL, and monkeying with the Twitter timeline to surface "buzzy" tweets. The big challenge the service will have is trying to convince the people who control marketing and advertising that Twitter's on the verge of grabbing bigger audience.

Meanwhile, Apple's $233 billion cash pile and $50.6 billion in sales for the Q1 2016 apparently failed to impress Wall Street. The big worry? Apple's iPhone sales dropped 18% to 50 million units and iPad sales dropped 18% to 10.3 million units. And that's not the end of the slide: Apple said sales may fall again this quarter. 

Both Twitter and Apple are running up against the reality of investor expectations: It doesn't matter how many millions you make if you're not making more millions than you were a quarter or a year ago. But in a year where computer sales are slowing, consumers hold on to their tablets and phones, and social media audiences find new outlets regularly, the brand-name giants may find themselves struggling just to stay in the same place they were last year.

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