Joe Jenkins is an assistant editor-in-chief at The National
January 28, 2022
Apple's earnings hit a record $34.6 billion net profit in the last quarter. What is most remarkable about that?
Is it the almost impossible to comprehend number - that is $34.6 billion of net profit, not even just sales?
Is it that the company continues to advance and consolidate its position as the world’s most valuable brand and a company by market capitalisation worth $2.6 trillion in the face of the disruption of on-off store closures, the pandemic affecting staff and customers, the global tech supply chain and distribution?
Is it that it defies what everyone has warned about for some years now, that a consumer market so saturated with devices would meanthere is less room to grow than in the heady days of five or more years ago?
Or is the real surprise here – and I leave myself wide open for a pummelling from Apple nerds – that the company continues to soar and outdo even its own outrageous success despite this admittedly a bold statement: Apple has launched just one major new product line in more than a decade.
Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook said that the quarterly results were made possible by the company’s “most innovative” line-up of products and services. If you are the CEO with oversight of all that a company is doing – and charged with selling it to the world – then of course the company is busy reinventing itself and its sources of revenue. That is how successful companies work, they evolve, they are breathless, there is always more to do and improve, there is no standing still.
But the reality for the consumer is a little different. After the iPhone came the iPad in 2010. I would argue that Apple’s only major new consumer product between 2010 and today was 2015’s Watch, which is now in its seventh iteration. Where are we with iPhone? It is on its 13th major iteration. That is famously what Apple does so well: iterations, not new products. Since its earliest days Apple has been about the next version of an already good or great product, less so about true innovation or being first. And it works! Get the product right then make the next one in that series just enough of an upgrade to be worth acquiring for those who are hooked or aspirational in what they carry around in their pockets. Leave the less profitable, more "out there" R&D to others and once that is perfected buy it, or adapt it, for Apple. Or so it seems.
I mentioned the excitement of a decade ago in the world of mobile. When I was consumed by all things mobile in my job at the time, smartphone launches seemed genuinely exciting, with Samsung and Google vying with Blackberry, Apple, HTC, Nokia – remember Eriksson? – and then the domestic Chinese giants entering the global market. Going to the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona back then seemed hugely glamorous given it was a trade show, and genuinely the cutting edge of many things that would help to shape our day-to-day lives in the years to come. It was ahead of its time, or perhaps we have just not caught up with that early promise. The Internet of Things was one of the big displays back in 2013 and we are still talking about it now one way or another, our lives gradually adjusting to the new technologies available in our homes, offices and cars.
There was genuine innovation in the industry: near-field communication, mobile payments, advances in cameras and all the features that Apple subsumed into its products after they had been rolled out in less glamorous handsets by companies with less focus on design – there is only one Sir Jony Ive – and less focus on marketing. But then the chin-strokers who have watched the mobile industry evolve have always had Apple down as a style over substance specialist, even if they love it. Its products are truly great, simple to understand, indeed essential now for many of us, as well as being lifestyle accessories. It is why Apple is the world’s biggest company and one can argue deservedly so. But its business model suggests that the field is wide open to competitors to introduce us all to the next big thing, which is unlikely to come from Cupertino, even as Apple's profits soar.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993 Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE Marital Status: Single School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University Job Title: Pilot, First Officer Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200 Number of flights: Approximately 300 Hobbies: Exercising Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
The flights Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania Publisher: EA Sports Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S Rating: 3.5/5
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
