Apple Incorporated investors have disregarded concerns raised by two shareholders about children‘s addiction to iphones, saying a little addiction might not be bad thing for profits.
California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) pension fund and Hedge fund JANA Partners LLC noted on Saturday that the overuse of iphone is hurting the dvelopment of children’s brain.
Some investors said the habit-forming nature of gadgets and social media are one reason why companies like Apple, Google parent Alphabet Inc and Facebook Inc added 630 billion dollars to their market value in 2017.
One Apple shareholder Ross Gerber, Chief executive officer of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management said. “We invest in things that are addictive,”
Gerber further added saying. “Addictive things are very profitable,”
Reacting to the development Apple said to Reuters that it has offered quite some numbers of controls on iphone since 2008 which allows parents to restrict content, including apps, movies, websites, songs and books. It also includes password settings and other features.
“Effectively anything a child could download or access online can be easily blocked or restricted by a parent,” Apple said in the statement.
Also reacting to the development, the manager of USA Mutuals Vice Fund, Jordan Waldrep who invests in alcohol, tobacco and gambling stocks said blaming Apple for its customers’ addiction was synonymous to blaming makers of cigarette packs instead of tobacco companies.
“The social media, the cigarettes, are the addictive product”.
Meanwhile in a statement made available, Apple did not directly respond to the investors’ demands but said changes are in store for its parental controls.
“We are constantly looking for ways to make our experiences better.
“We have new features and enhancements planned for the future, to add functionality and make these tools even more robust.”
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