Posted on 09/01/2009 10:24:22 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Well, that didn't take long.
In a decade, Apple (AAPL) has gone from niche-market roadkill to a company whose growing dominance and competitive tactics in a booming market are thrilling investors, angering competitors, and drawing regulatory scrutiny.
Unless Apple shows a quick change of attitude, the benefit of its market position--power, scrutiny, and tens of billions in profit--are only going to grow.
Apple is no longer the beloved underdog that Microsoft kept alive in the late 1990s to improve its own standing in the eyes of regulators (remember the investment and agreement to keep building Office for the Mac?). Apple is now the wildly profitable owner of the dominant iPod platform and rapidly-becoming dominant iPhone platform, which are really one in the same. Unlike any other competitor in the industry, moreover--including the still PC-centric Microsoft--Apple has managed to link the two big personal computing platforms together, through its software and resurgent Mac business.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I am always amused by you armchair quarterbacks who know how to run Apple better than they do.
Every phone maker puts together exclusive deals with carriers - I remember when the Motorola Razor V# first came out - if you were an Altel, Sprint, Verizon, etc. customer, you were just out of luck.
If you want a Palm Pre - guess what - you had better be a Sprint customer.
So why is Apple getting such scrutiny for having a similar arrangement with AT&T? Because of the wild success?
And Apple still has a relatively small piece of the overall PC market share.
So where is this monopoly/Microsoft behavior?
To maintain their profit margin and still reduce prices, Apple would have to cut something. Just using the example set by the big names in cheap PCs - that means cutting quality, much higher hardware failure rates, and alienating a customer base that has certain expectations about the quality of Apple’s hardware.
And at 10% share, that is up pretty significantly from 3% just a few years back.
There is a very thin profit margin to the cheap-PC market. Apple chooses not to try to compete in that sector. Apple competes very well in the markets they choose to be in - the mid-range and high-end users, and they continue to give good value in that sector. No way to compare a $1000 MacBook to a $500 cheap-o laptop. And as many have finally admitted - in the high-end category, Apple’s hardware is actually better than competitive in price (in most formats, having a better price for similar hardware configurations).
The only reason they are stuck at 10 percent is the price. While their product is better, it’s not as much better as the price is higher. If they want to stay a niche market, that’s fine. I just see a unique opportunity for them to strike while windows is floundering under the failure of Vista. And it seems Apple is indicating in its commercials that it wants greater market share. The way to do that, especially in today’s climate, is to lower prices.
And Microsoft proudly proclaims itself as being the 2009 winner of the Special Recognition Award From the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights org. Way to go Windows!
I apologize for the harsh words, they were unnecessary, I am sorry.
That’s ok, lol. Those among us who have not responded harshly to something that makes us mad can cast the first stone. I know I won’t be casting any stones.
Well, no wonder that had to spend so much money de-buggering Vista!
that=they
A decade ago Apple had billions in the bank and a popular product.
A decade later and Apple has billions in the bank and a popular product.
I guess if the author reviewed the past news from a decade ago instead of the company financials he/she could incorrectly conclude that a decade ago Apple was a roadkill company with a niche product.
But it turns out that the facts are that Apple was a solid company with a popular niche product and that the niche market has proven ultimately more profitable than the commodity market where most analysts and manufacturers placed their bets on where the money would be. A decade later those companies are struggling and the analysts are pretending they hadn’t predicted Apple’s imminent doom for years.
Let's say you're right. Then let me propose a theory:
APPLE SETS THE PRICES OF WINDOWS PCs.Why?
Because in order for a Windows PC to appeal to anyone but a Windows fanboy, it has to be noticeably cheaper PURCHASE PRICE than an Apple. This is because the Mac is a clearly superior product in enough ways that most people would get a Mac over a Windows PC, IF THEY COST THE SAME. (This is your argument -- recognize it?).
Therefore, in order to stay viable, Windows PC makers MUST ALWAYS LOWER THEIR PRICES TO STAY BELOW APPLE'S PRICES. (This is why Apple sets the prices of Windows PCs.)
But there isn't much room for Windows PCs to get cheaper. They're already pretty much at rock bottom.
Now, if Apple wanted to, they could drive the Windows PC makers into the ground, simply by lowering their own prices enough that the Windows PC makers go out of business.
What would this gain Apple? NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.
They don't want to be the majority player. The oh-so-cool cachet of the Mac would wear off quickly if every joker had one.
So think about what you're saying. Yes, Apple could theoretically increase their marketshare by lowering their prices.
BUT THEY WOULD BE CRAZY TO DO SO.
Nice. It only took 5 posts before the gratuitous insults.
The fact that the author buys into this hoary old urban legend pretty much tanks his credibility right there.
You can't see that's it is very possible that they won't?
Microsoft is seen as the OS that dominates the computer market.
Apple is the music player, cell phone designer.
a very WIDE brush but hardly the big deal.
Apple would have to fundamentally change its toll bridge acess to its platforms to be more than a portion.
Remember apple has always had more computers in grade schools and colleges, yet when you enter the real world you have to know microsoft products in business.
Um, I don't use a Mac because it's cool. I use a Mac because I like its interface and it's Unix inside.
I, for one, cannot resist a system that installs /bin/zsh by default.
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