Apple rockets to most profitable quarter ever

You are not hooked on Apple products so lets leave you aside for the moment. My vast and correct generalization is that Jobs&Co. have had an 0bama like effect. A hypnotic effect over certain naive populations such as>>

-the young
-the artistically inclined
-gays
-women
- hipster types
- college students
- Wall Street types (CNBC pimps AAPL relentlessly)

All the above tend to be awful with technology. Apple offers safe but vastly overpriced solutions plus a cool and hip urban cache. These people are willing to have their pockets picked and pay extra to the JobsGang for numerous reasons and motivations.

Apple makes its extra big profits off the above hapless dupes....Without their willingness to be conned and robbed Apple profits would be lower

Apart from Apple I have often seen friends bragging about how they got robbed when they bought something. But they got some bragging rights and will also brag about getting ripped off too for their new toy

Dennis,

Let's assume your "vast and correct generalization" is on the mark, with regard to who buys Apple products (leave cost out for the moment). I don't know enough about their customer base to argue about it, so I'll accept your characterization:

- the young
- the artistically inclined
- gays
- women
- hipster types
- college students
- Wall Street types (CNBC pimps AAPL relentlessly)

You missed two groups that I happen to know something about: Professional musicians and audio/video recording studios. (I'm assuming you were not lumping them in with "artistically inclined".)

It happens I know personally that the Macintosh totally owned the professional audio and video recording markets up until very recently, when Windows finally got stable enough that it could be used in a studio (home or pro) without falling over its own feet.

During that time I was primarily a Windows and Unix/Linux user -- I avoided the Mac because of unsatisfactory experiences with pre-OS-X releases. But from about 2001 until 2006 I worked at a place that sold products into the professional audio/video recording market, and it was essentially all Macintoshes.

Anyway, I would ask, "Why would you pay so much for a Mac setup?" And the answer came back, strong and consistent:

Because the Mac stuff returns value for my investment, far above what I can get any other way.

These were not dupes or fanbois -- they were business-savvy professionals, and poor musicians with home studios, to whom the bottom line was survival, especially in the post-9/11 economic world.

If the return on investment is the best available, it does not matter what the initial purchase price is. Your argument about cost may apply in some cases of the ultra-hip cretins who will always pay more just so that they can say how much they paid. Of course there are those folks.

But my own experience says that there are plenty of Apple customers who are hard-nosed business-savvy individuals who know that sometimes buying the best, even if it costs more, is the best deal.

You missed two groups that I happen to know something about: Professional musicians and audio/video recording studios. (I’m assuming you were not lumping them in with “artistically inclined”.)

You are correct that I missed musicians
From what I have read Apple has historically been favored by musicians and has been superior the way you describe. I know this is true for home recording studios and portable
recording while traveling

IMHO this is a professional situation where you are making money and making a living off your product. Then Appple is the better deal for you even though you can find muscic software for PC.....It is so inferior that laying out for Mac equipement and software is justified

As far as graphics artists I met a free lancer in 2005. He visits TV stations and ad agencies and on their premises with the computers at hand he creates moving graphics you see on TV. Such as on CNBC that whoosh in and out

In 2005 he told me he could create them equally well w Macs and PCs. Like I said, he works with the computer equipment at hand at the TV station or advertising agency be in Mac or PC.

I have not seen him since. He and his wife live in Cambridge Massachusetts. For all I know he carries around a loaded 17” Mac Book Pro these days to do his graphics work. Let us say he does. I would not argue with him if he said the Mac was so superior for his profession that at twice the price of a PC it is justified and is what is called mission critical

You entire post was why musicians need a Mac setup because it is so superior to Windows solutions. You won’t get an argument from me there. A Mac seems to be what is needed

But that still leaves us with the bulk of Apple customers who are overpaying UncleSteve thus giving UncleSteve his mega profits

Apple advertising shows a neutral observer like me what its target audiences are-—>>>

- the young
- the artistically inclined
- gays
- women
- hipster types
- college students
- Wall Street types (CNBC pimps AAPL relentlessly)

All these people can get what they want done much cheaper with a PC.
Never in a million years would I buy a Mac when I hear about these mega-ripoff-profits. I would be embarrassed to. Which as I have said only come from a hypnotized fan base. They are slavish fans, not consumers. I give Steve Jobs credit for creating such millions of zombies, dupes and stooges. Well done Steve! You have trained them to overpay (the Apple equipment tax) the same as Pavlov conditioned his dogs

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.