Apple doesn't waste time. Its own, or anyone else's. That's what I thought when I disconnected my phone Monday at 6:23 a.m., at the conclusion of the Apple teleconference to discuss its new dividend-payment plans.
In 23 minutes, the company got out all its facts, answered some questions, prepared financial markets for its news and wrapped things up -- all while sticking to a carefully prepared script to explain the dividend and share buyback news.
Speaking of the script, and given how efficient Apple (AAPL) is with time, it's worthwhile to pause a day later to reflect on some of the elements of the message. Near the beginning of the call, in his prepared remarks, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a short homily on why implementing a dividend does not mean Apple will quit investing in its future or that it doesn't see growth opportunities. These are the reasons many tech companies give for not paying a dividend. Because we know the list is scripted, we know Cook and his communications team thought about each item on the list. So let's consider each item, why Cook mentioned it, and how he rank-ordered them.
"We are innovating at an incredible pace," Cook began, immediately launching into his list, which I will number and annotate:
1. "Building a tremendous ecosystem with apps and content." We all know about Apple's App Store ecosystem by now. The choice of the word "content" was interesting. Apple reportedly is discussing content deals with film and TV studios -- who, gloriously, leak more than the record companies did when iTunes was getting started. Apple also is building its e-book business, the subject of a Justice Department anti-trust investigation. It's noteworthy that Cook led here.
2. "Providing great services such as iCloud, which has already eclipsed over 100 million users within just a few months of its launch." For what it's worth, the people who like to chatter about this sort of thing don't consider iCloud a "great" service yet. It is clearly important to Apple, however.
3. "And we're delivering incredible developments like Siri, a profound new way to interface with the iPhone." Love it or hate it -- I don't love Siri yet -- the success of the iPhone 4S makes a mockery of those who were disappointed that it wasn't the iPhone 5. (I also don't love the use of "interface" as a verb. But I digress.)
4. "We are also investing in distribution around the world." Oh? More would have been great about this.
5. "We continue to open our own stores, including 40 this fiscal year alone." The Apple retail juggernaut continues, with or without Ron Johnson, now CEO at J.C. Penney (JCP).
6. "We are expanding our footprint with new carrier partners and other third-party resellers." Ho-hum. Boring business stuff. But wowza, more telecom partners than you've already got? And more retailers in addition to the likes of Best Buy (BBY), Walmart (WMT), and so on? Okay, good.
