No Flame Wars!
Discuss hardware.
Don't attack people!
Apple iPhone Profit Ping!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Posted on 08/18/2010 11:15:27 AM PDT by Swordmaker
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Uh, this idiot of a researcher left out HTC.
HTC has been trading publicly since 2002 (well before the iPhone’s introduction).
This stupid “analyst” negates to even include reasoning as to why HTC is not considered a phone vendor in the US.
Swordmaker, it figures you’d post this.
Let’s see this chart re-visited 5 years from now.
The one thing we know about the mobile industry is that it is fast-changing and today’s winner is not tomorrow’s winner.
PS: You left HTC off (since they just broke into the top 10 device manufacturers). Watch them.
I actually disagree with this analysis. The author is failing to see that Android has become a very mature platform and that people are flocking to it in droves. The same forces that pushed Apple so fast are clearly at work over recent months in pushing people to Android. It’s the OS that is becoming important, not the manufacturer. This author makes the same mistake that happened during the Apple/Microsoft battles of the 80s. Apple had the major share of the business market with their hardware, but Microsoft won with their OS. The hardware manufacturer is irrelevant so long as devices are “cool” or “unique”.
Seems like Motorola’s gains would be attributable to Android.
I am using US Cellular for my carrier because in my neck of the woods, they have the best signal.
On August 27th, I'm picking up two HTC "Desire" units; one for myself and one for my daughter. They are cool, unique, Android based...and inexpensive for what you get.
So there!
I read a while back that Apple internally in many ways operates like a startup, not a big corporation. That's probably a reason why the company is able to remain so dynamic despite having one of the biggest market caps in the world.
I think you'll see RIM and Nokia slip even more because of Android. Don't expect an appreciable effect on Apple any time soon. Apple has locked in hundreds of thousands of developers, many of whom will also offer Android versions, but are unlikely to leave iOS.
Apple had the major share of the business market with their hardware
Apple never had the major share of the business market. Apple didn't even have the major share of the pre-PC general market, and then the PC beat the Apple II within a couple years of introduction in the early 80s. Macs never had close to the marketshare of the PCs.
The hardware manufacturer is irrelevant so long as devices are “cool” or “unique”.
That seems to be everybody's problem. Apple hardware is usually deemed to be cool by the buying public. Other manufacturers try to create cool, but the public rarely accepts it. Just look at the latest crop of smartphones. They all pretty much look the same except for the iPhone. With Apple's recent exclusive licensing of LiquidMetal's moldable alloys, I expect the trend to continue.
HTC is on the chart in volume, but is it on the chart in terms of profits?
This analyst is correct in everything he predicts and he is wrong for everything he leaves out.
This is my take on the situation.
Apple will remain the largest profit making vendor. For all the reasons stated above in the article and by many posters on this thread.
But the others aren’t going away.
They are all going to go to Android and it WILL dominate “marketshare”.
That will keep the dinosaurs alive, but never will they recover their profit margins.
Apple will continue to innovate and provide the top of the line must have experience.
Going off the ATT exclusive in a few months will only HELP Apple and HURT everyone else.
But cheap plastic Low End “smarter” phones will be dominated by all the rest and because of that be stuck with Android.
Just like the $150 junk Tablets at Kmart.
Apple will not even care about marketshare in terms of how many plastic virus laden screen falling off under powered low battery life knock offs out their choose to run Android.
Any more than they care about $199 PCs. Hasn’t effected them one bit. They don’t want to make crappy cheap products with a $10 mark up and that’s fine by me. I don’t want to be that junk either.
Remember the first ever spreadsheet Visicalc? Until Lotus 1-2-3 was released in 1983 it was the platform of choice for business and on the Apple II. In the late 70s and early 80s, the business choice was the Apple II.
Your faith in Apple is greater than mine. They have been known to make stinkers in the past.
I believe Apple is making the same mistake in the mobile space that they made in the desktop space. Their cost premium and proprietary OS will be their ultimate undoing.
You “believe”? And what “mistake” would that be?
More market capitalization than Exxon ?? (or close depending on the day)
How is that any kind of mistake?
Apple is not about “blanket” “Marketshare”.
If you have 99% of the marketshare and only make 1% profit on those, and I have 1% marketshare but make 99% profits on my product, we are TIED.
And on paper, for stockholders and investors, Apple and Microsoft ARE tied and Apple beats Dell, Acer, Gateway, etc to a plup!
You don’t see Dell Stock ready to trade at $400 a share.
That isn’t faith... it’s just good simple logistics.
You change the subject. I’m not talking about current market cap, I’m talking about product development choices and their impact on future market position.
In the long run the guy at the top always make a mistake. I suggest you read “How the Mighty Fall”. No corporation is ever too big to fail. If you make poor business choices they will eventually bite you. My take is that long term Apple is making business choices that will marginalize their position in the mobile phone space. You can argue current market cap all day...I’m talking about what will be happening in ten years.
By the way, you seem to have taken my comments personally. Do you work for Apple or have some emotional connection to them? Apple has shown a distinct preference for closed systems since its inception. Remember how they killed their own clone market? Apple sells hardware...the future is software. If you get your software in every ecosystem and dominate...you win.
By the way, you seem to have taken my comments personally. Do you work for Apple or have some emotional connection to them? Apple has shown a distinct preference for closed systems since its inception. Remember how they killed their own clone market? Apple sells hardware...the future is software. If you get your software in every ecosystem and dominate...you win.
And on others such as the popular TRS-80 and Commodore PET business computers and the more home oriented Atari 800, all before the PC. Apple did have a pretty good lock on the education market though.
I see. Predictions 10 years out?
Uhm. 10 years ago, Mac was DEAD, and Windows wasn’t even at XP. And PCs still cost thousands and AOL was pay by the minute Dial up.
10 years from now? Muslims may have taken over the world for all we know.
Or some new quantum computer may be invented by some company that doesn’t even exist right now.
10 years is way too far out to make Tech Predictions.
But 2 or 3 years, we can see much better and Apple will still be making more money on fewer products than the rest of the entire market combined.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
