Posted on 09/21/2010 5:44:34 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Those greedy bastards at AAPL! (/sarcasm)
Either figure is still remarkable!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
It’s all about good marketing. There is a funny on youtube (using stick figures) and the girl goes into the store to buy an I-phone. The guy says “We’re all out of I-phones, but we have a whatever.
“I want an I-phone”
“They just came out this morning, and we sold out”
“I want an I-phone, I’ll go to another store”
“All the other stores are sold out, but we have the xbrand with 10x more memory, better screen, better speakers, for $100 less”
“I want an I-phone”.
“But the xbrand comes with a 2 million dollar rebate.”
“I want an I-phone”
“The xbrand grants you three wishes, one of which can be for a new I-phone”
“I want an I-phone”.
Funny - but true I think for many of the consumers. Apple has done a great job in marketing - obviously.
All I know is my son (15 yrs), when he realized that it was not just the price of the phone but the plan that he would be paying for - he got a midrange Samsung. He probably doesn’t pull it out in front of his friends though!
This proves exactly why I argue with people all the time who think that Android is going to upset the applecart (so to speak). Apple’s hardware and OS are sufficient, but neither is the source of their financial performance. What Apple has done is create a business model around their content-distribution engine and use case. I suspect they could stop making hardware and port everything to an Apple-branded Android platform and still make almost as much money.
Its better to be an Apple shareholder.
Obviously their great marketing hasn’t gotten to me! ;)
I tell my kids I’m an analog guy in a digital world. Which is a drag sometimes in conversation with folks talking about all their new doodads! (iPhone, iTouch, iPad....) Impressive stuff - just not my bag.
apple ping
What? Your son doesn't have to pay for a plan with the Samsung? That really makes no sense. The AT&T voice plans are the same. . . so the only difference has to be in the data plan. Guess what? They're the same or less for the iPhone.
You've been listening to that troll extraordinaire, John Dvorak, who predicted a few years ago that Apple would drop the Mac OS and start making Windows machines.
Apple is not a hardware company, a software company, or a content distribution company. It is a user experience company, and its control over the whole widget, as Steve likes to say, is what allows it to maintain that user experience -- and along with it, its cachet and its profits. There is no upside for Apple in tearing that down and getting into the undifferentiated commodity hardware business.
“...so the only difference has to be in the data plan...”
Correct. I think they make you take the $10 plan no matter what (for texting). But the data plan was something like $35 a month. So he didn’t go for the higher plan, and then figured why have such a nice phone if he wasn’t going to use all of its capabilities. I think he mainly wanted to have it for phone and text (he already had a phone) and for the music (But - he already has an MP3 player).
Of course once he got it in his head that he needed a new phone he still had to buy a new one. (”The keypad is a lot cooler.”)
I’m glad he didn’t get the fancy one - but figured he could make his own decision. I remember saving up my money to buy a pair of Nike’s like my friends as a kid. The luster sure wore off though after the first touch football game and they were just as dirty as my previouse sneakers!
I think he was looking at a Zune(?) too - but that seemed to be pretty limited in the “apps”.
It’s pretty amazing what these “phones” can do. A guy at church has a decibel meter on his to check the sound system!
Well, in the interests of accuracy, the iPhone's data plan started at $20 a month on the original model including 200 text messages. With the release of the 3G and its faster data and larger bandwidth usage, AT&T raised it to $30 a month for unlimited service and split off the texting to 1500 texts for $5. Original iPhones are still $20. Then, this June, AT&T dropped the unlimited plan instead offering a 2GB $25 plan and a 200MB $15 plan, both without texting. You can switch plans anytime. If you don't change plans members with unlimited plans at $30 can remain on that plan. Texting is $5 for 1500 or $30 for family unlimited.
Dang - where were you when I was helping him research this stuff! (I get readily confused and give up after awhile with all the different plans, etc.)!
I just hope Obama doesn’t see this pie chart and go after Apple for it’s “excessive” profits.
How would Obama making an enemy of Apple (and its ever-growing user base) be anything other than A Good Thing?
Better yet to be an Apple shareholder with an iPhone, an iPad ... and throw in a MacBook Pro.
Nowadays, your Nikes synch with your iPhone. I'm not sure how many models are offered. But they act as a pedometer and track distance and terrain. The iPhone also hook into the cardio machine at the gym.
http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/
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