The Problem Factory: Where Apple problems get manufactured

We’re close to the end of yet another year, but take heart! Some silly pundits made progress this year! Take Business Insider’s Jay Yarow, for example, who no longer believes market share is a problem for Apple. No, he just believes the perception of market share is a problem for Apple. OK, it’s pretty minimal progress but still...

Actually, what Apple says is “off the mark,” but you can’t write a Business Insider headline without BLAZZLEFROZZLE.

Actually, things have been pretty great since they started selling the iPod back in 2001. But go ahead, caller.

Oh, well, the Macalope was directionally correct. Because that’s the only group that obsesses over market share.

At least Yarow has come to accept this fact, after years of reality intervention therapy. His boss, Henry Blodget, however, not so much. Blodget still believes that any day now, like crabs migrating across an island, driven by a complicated biological imperative, developers will summarily throw out Xcode and suddenly start coding in Java. Because to Blodget, market share means money. Only in this case it actually doesn’t mean money so they’d really just be doing it out of mass insanity.

Still! I work at Business Insider and Apple doom is our business model so... here we are.

Pity Yarow who, despite knowing that market share is meaningless, has to come up with increasingly convoluted arguments for why it matters. The Macalope’s had crazy bosses before, who insisted things were one way despite all evidence to the contrary, so he can sympathize.

“Hey, Macalope. This thing that’s more expensive? We need a presentation showing that it’s actually cheaper.”

But did you know you can just create problems for people by talking about them? It’s true. In Business Insider world, anyway.

People! They think this! It is a thing that people think! Who are these “people” of whom Yarow speaks? Well, his boss, mostly. But is his boss really “people”? There’s actually some evidence he’s a form of jerky-based lifeform. Some of it turkey, some of it teriyaki, but all of it jerky.

Having established this “fact,” Yarow will now helpfully find a solution for Apple as if the problem were actually market share and not his employment situation.

“You don’t have a zombie virus working your way up your arm, but some people think you do, so we should cut your arm off to solve the ‘problem.’”

Now, who exactly has the “problem”? Is it Apple, or is it the serial jerky meats like Yarow’s boss who don’t understand market dynamics? Presumably educating Henry Blodget is off the table.

Yarow notes that Apple’s the only company that regularly reports its smartphone sales. Market share numbers, therefore, have to be based on estimates of shipments of its competitors’ phones, which often go unsold (cough—Samsung—cough). Also, if we’re talking about what developers might be more interested in, installed base is probably more important and Apple’s devices retain their value longer.

It turns out what’s most important for Business Insider is writing a piece about an Apple problem. Even if that problem is one they made up.

Dude! You’re going bonkers, and all unnecessarily.

Look, you’re still not reading for comprehension, and/or you’re failing to engage your brain, because, you’re too far gone with your devotion and love for Apple anything.

Apple could have sold over 1 billion devices in the last 13 years, since 2001 when the iPod debuted. That does not mean that, there are 1 billion or more instances of “active” iOS devices. iOS does not have that many more than 400 million installed and active devices. Furthermore, iPods are lowing sales dramatically, and so are the iPads. The iPhones are the only devices setting records. But, even if iPhones were to sell 100 million in a quarter, the majority of them are to the same user-base, and not to new customers for iOS. It’s not a simple equation where the number of “new” sales adds to the count of current users. It just does not work that way. Get that through your thick skull.

Compiling long post with quotes and links wont change the facts, and the facts don’t point to anything even close to 1 billion active iOS devices.

Look, you’re still not reading for comprehension, and/or you’re failing to engage your brain, because, you’re too far gone with your devotion and love for Apple anything.

The ONLY ONE ON THIS THREAD WHO HAS A READING COMPREHENSION PROBLEM AND FAILURE TO ENGAGE HIS BRAIN IS YOU, adorno!

Adorno. . . the links and citations and quotations, the ones you so blithely dismiss, especially the citation from Wikipedia on the history of iOS, which SPECIFICALLY states that iOS's history does NOT extend back beyond the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, demonstrates quite completely YOUR argument that "Apple could have sold over 1 billion devices in the last 13 years, since 2001 when the iPod debuted,", is entirely fallacious! The iPods made before the iPod touch DID NOT OPERATE on iOS! Your argument devoid of factual foundation, and is therefore, without merit!

This is just one more example of YOU not having a clue about what you are writing about.

The rest of those links, quotations, and citations are authoritative source references about SALES of iOS devices specifically in the SEVEN YEARS since 2007 documenting the number of iOS devices sold totalling upwards on ONE BILLION iOS DEVICES, from that date forward, backed up with quotations from audited documents submitted to the United Stated Government's Securities and Exchange Commission under penalty of PERJURY . . . further shooting YOU, and your idiotic claims, completely out of the water. I specifically provided you with links to these financial statements.

But, even if iPhones were to sell 100 million in a quarter, the majority of them are to the same user-base, and not to new customers for iOS.

ROTFLMAO! How stupid are you, adorno? More importantly, exactly how stupid and gullible do you think the readers of FreeRepublic are?

In the last seven years, Apple has moved from selling iOS devices in just ONE COUNTRY, the United States, to selling iOS devices in OVER 156 COUNTRIES around the world. Do you seriously claim that the buyers in 155 countries are part of the "same user-base, and not to new customers for iOS?" Are these "same user-base” including the 15.2% market Share the iPhone has IN CHINA despite just entering that HUGE market, the 48% market share in Japan, the 40% market share in Australia, the 21% in Europe, the 11% in Russia (although that may drop with the Ruble tanking). . . the iPhone even has a 14.2% market share of the SOUTH KOREAN MARKET, adorno, the home market of Samsung; are they? I could go on-and-on, but the point is that these iOS users are NOT repeat buyers as you so idiotically claim. . . but even if they were, they bought iOS originally when Apple moved into their countries—or are you maintaining these are all Apple Cultis who've merely moved to these nations from the Ubited States, taking their iOS addiction with them? The user base IS REAL, Adorno, and the statistics show that each year 60% comes from NEW customers in every market where Apple is established. . . and 90% in new markets! Sorry, you are wrong again. All of these current market-share data are easily found from independent sources, yours for the Googling.

Compiling long post with quotes and links wont change the facts, and the facts don’t point to anything even close to 1 billion active iOS devices.

On the other hand, except for the AppleTV which is limited to YouTube and other video content, every Apple iOS device can surf the Internet, receive email, buy products, and do pretty much anything on the Internet. Not so those non-smart Android devices including many of the Android "tablets" that are best described as "toys" that cannot even connect, that make up a good portion of those "billion" activated fragmented Android devices you tout.

A June 2nd, 2014 report:

CEO Tim Cook announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday that the company has sold "well over" 800 million iOS devices to date. Cook then broke down the numbers by type of device: Apple has sold more than 500 million iPhones, 200 million iPad units and 100 million iPod Touch devices to date.

Granted, that was a bit more than 6 months ago, and by now, Apple has sold more than 200 million iOS devices, and undoubtedly, included in that figure are several new customers to iOS.

The argument is still true, that, the number of devices sold does not equal the number of "currently active iOS users".

Like I said, if the number of Windows devices sold in the last 10 years were still active, then, Windows would have at least 3 billion active users. But, it doesn't work that way, and the number of active Windows machines is likely 1 1/2 to 2 billion, and likely less than 2 billion.

Android is the OS champion when it comes to the number of devices sold with that OS installed. If the sales numbers were to be converted to active users, with no de-activations and nobody leaving the ecosystem, then, Android would have several billion active users. Logic says that, that is impossible, and it's just as impossible for iOS devices.

But, you can go ahead and imagine and use any numbers you wish to attach to iOS active users. Love is a very hard thing to let go. ;)

That discussion was apparently pulled.

However, your argument is still invalid. Here’s my argument, being made by a ZDNet blogger who loves Apple stuff...

“Now, a billion devices sold doesn’t mean the ecosystem is that big. Some of those devices will be dead, others will be lost or forgotten, and some will have been recycled into new devices.”

Though the blogger doesn’t agree with your numbers, I believe that his numbers are still too big for the active iOS ecosystem. I say, more realistically, that it’s somewhere around 500 million.

Remember that, sales does not equal active user-base.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-big-is-the-ios-ecosystem-answer-huge-and-growing-fast/?tag=nl.e019&s_cid=e019&ttag=e019&ftag=TREd47db54

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