Apple And Samsung: Here’s What Happens When The Money Begins To Run Out

PixoBebo ^ | Friday, December 26, 2014 | Kate MacKenzie

[Star Traveler]

You knew this had to happen. While Samsung and other Android smartphone vendors bask in the glory of marketshare vs. Apple’s iPhone and iPad, it’s Apple that walks away with most of the profits. Without profits, tech companies have to tighten their belts, cut back on R&D (research and development), close stores, and reduce the product line.

Guess which high profile tech company is doing all that?

If you guessed Apple, you’d be so far off the mark that you’re probably in need of public assistance for watching too much Faux News and reading Business Insider. It’s not Apple. It’s Samsung.

The Korean giant’s profits have been on the wane for a year, matched in dropping velocity only by the mostly flatlined stock price. Samsung has cut back on the number of smartphone and tablet models, reduced spending, laid off employees, and now it’s in the process of shuttering a flagship store.

[adorno]

Nope! No Apple devices for me.

However, my daughter and her husband own iPhones, and an iPad. I know first hand what they do and how they work and how much they cost. My daughter fell for the hype and so did her husband, and they now say that, their next device won’t be from Apple. Not that the iPhone and tablets aren’t nice devices, but, she has noticed that, they don’t need to pay high prices for good enough technology, especially when they don’t need that many apps, and the apps they do use, are also available with the other platforms.

But, to reiterate, I myself never fell for the Apple hype. I’m too smart for that. ;)

[amigatec]

I rest my case.

You have NEVER owed any Apple devise, EVER, so you speak with ZERO Authority.

I have seen this time and time again, its always the ones who have NEVER owned Apple products that ALWAYS make themselves the spokesperson for APPLE PRODUCTS.

When you go buy one and use for a while then and ONLY then will you have any credibility with me.

Because as of right now ALL your INFO is second hand at best.

Have a good day!!!

[adorno]

I rest my case.

You have NEVER owed any Apple devise, EVER, so you speak with ZERO Authority.

Oh, that's rich. You rest your case, without having a case. How silly.

I just told you that my family already has several Apple devices, and I've used all of them. I don't need to own one in order to know and use and understand one. Heck, most companies that I worked at, I didn't own their equipment, and I knew what he equipment's capabilities were, and I used and understood them.

Every time Apple or Samsung or HTC or Sony or Nokia/Microsoft release a "new" device, I make it a point to go and check them out, and to even try them at the local Best Buy or other tech vendor. I don't need to own every device on the planet to know their capabilities. I don't own a super-computer, and the closest I'll get to one, is by reading about it, but, I'll get a good idea about its capabilities from the reading material and from reviews.

But the biggest point remains, and that is that, regardless of the features and capabilities and platform, no smartphone should have to cost $900 or even above $500, and in reality, none of them should cost more than, perhaps, $200. There is really nothing that iPhones offer that can't be found in lower-priced devices. Nothing at all!

[amigatec]

Like I said you use somebody else’s iPhone and read a few reviews online and you become an expert of everything Apple. You must be a genius.

I have asked you several times what features does your phone have that makes it better than iPhone, and you haven't given any answer.

[usconservative]

Apple has traditionally spent a lot on development, IIRC.

One of the benchmarks of a successful product is how much was spent on development vs. how much the product generated in sales.

I'd love to see Apple's iPhone & iPad product development budgets vs. the actual sales both products generated.

I have an iPad and iPad Mini, but use a Samsung Galaxy phone. Wife uses an Apple iPhone 5 and wants an iPad Mini II. So I'm not an Apple OR Samsung hater. I use both products, like both, but would love to see Apple's product development spend vs. those products revenue generation.

My hunch is that if that ever got out, Apple's development budget is HUGE. Only a hunch though. If true, their stock price wouldn't be justified.

[amigatec]

You do understand that the average price for a smartphone without contract is around $600, you keep stating iPhones cost $900. My iPhone 5c without contract is actually cheaper than a Galaxy S5.

[rlmorel]

I don’t have any issues with people using whatever platform they like...competition is a good thing, usually getting more features over time for less or same money.

Apple has always had a HUGE reservoir of cash on hand, presumably to buy ideas or competitors when they think it fits their plans.

I wonder if they siphon off some of that money to use for R&D as needed.

[adorno]

You have got to be kidding!

The price of the iPhone, no matter what version, is high, and people might think they’re paying virtually nothing by opting to get the device with a plan, but, the price is part of the plan, and it’s paid as part of the monthly charges, which includes the cell service plan plus the monthly payment for the device.

So, in the end, the price of the iPhone still ends up being much higher than any other device.

[adorno]

Feature-wise, my smartphone can be used for talking, and for texting, and for playing games, and for using the social networks, and for e-mail, and for internet browsing, and for just about anything that the iPhone can do.

Heck, my wife’s LG G2 was more advanced than the iPhone 6, and the G2 came out last year. The iPhone was just catching up to the technology that was already available in other phones from 2011-2014.

I don’t have the fingerprint reader in my phone, but then, I was never going to use it, and neither are the vast majority of people who do use smartphones. I’ll be using the CurrentC type tech that will be available to the general public some time in 2015.

So, basically, there isn’t anything in iPhones that people really do need to have that doesn’t exist in other phones.

[adorno]

You keep failing to engage your brain.

Look, what the iPhone can do, is already being don by others, and some of those others already had technology that the iPhone finally got in 2014, except that the others were already doing those things a couple of years earlier.

I know, and I’ve used my daughter’s iPhone and there isn’t a single feature in it that I haven’t used, and there isn’t a single feature in the device which I can’t get with the competition. In fact, I hear that the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 7, might finally be getting features that already exist in the Nexus 4 and in Nokia phones. Heck big screens existed in the Nexus phones of 2011, and when Apple put the bigger screens in the iPhone 6, it was “new” to Apple’s blind followers.

So, in a way, Apple is following the “leaders” and “innovating” after those leaders did the development.

[amigatec]

You must be some special kind of STUPID a, ALL smartphone cost about the same, look it up Mr. Know it all.

I have explained what my iPhone does that your stupid phone doesn’t do.

Let me explains this ONE MORE TIME, what you have is a “phone”, what I have is an extension of my computer.

When you finally pull your head out of your back side and wipe the crap out of your eyes, then get back to me.

[amigatec]

Price of iPhone 5c WITHOUT contract. $404
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=iphone+5c&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aiphone+5c

Price of Galaxy S5 without CONTRACT. $649
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-Black-16GB/dp/B00IZ1XA94

Its clear you have NO idea what you talking about.

Let me ask you JUST one more time, tell me how you sync your data with your computer?

[Wonder Warthog]

"No, you didn't. You said he was a monopolist. I called you on it. No you're backpedalling on it. . . trying to justify your fallacious position.

Here is exactly what I said: If Jobs was any sort of capitalist at all, it was of the "John D. Rockefeller" school....make and keep a monopoly.

"You don't have a clue what a monopoly is."

Apparently, neither do you. But I know enough history to know that even John D. Rockefeller didn't actually succeed in establishing a true monopoly, but he sure as heck tried....and so did Jobs.

But the simple fact is that Apple did NOT drive the personal computer industry except for a very few years at the start (the days of the Apple II), and still doesn't.

Apple established ultra-tight control over both hardware AND sofware, and thus had a far easier job of "making things work together".

Microsoft and Intel did come to drive personal computer industry.....they addressed the far harder problem of setting up a business ecosystem capable of working successfully with a much larger population of hardware and software makers. They succeeded in "herding cats".

Jobs implemented the strategic plan of Nathan Bedford Forest....."hit'em where they ain't", and was profitable in doing so. But Apple never dominated in any market except desktop publishing and similar graphics-oriented businesses. They "almost" succeeded in becoming a force in technology, due to their strong discounts for university users...but the sheer better capabilities of "Wintel" hardware and software eventually drove them out.

[Swordmaker]

Apparently, neither do you. But I know enough history to know that even John D. Rockefeller didn't actually succeed in establishing a true monopoly, but he sure as heck tried....and so did Jobs.

No, you don't know your history, Wonder Warthog. . . John D. Rockefeller did indeed achieve a monopoly position in oil with his Standard Oil Company, controlling more than 90% of the U.S. market for a number of years until it was forcibly broken up. I think I told you I have an degree in Economics. . . and it is obvious you don't know what you're talking about!

[Swordmaker]

Do you even know that, those features are very recent for Apple devices? Fact is that, Apple had been selling their devices at very high prices before they improved on their OS platform. The devices being sold are still, basically, not that much better than the competition's, so, my comments about how stupid it is to pay premium prices for iPhones, are still very true.

There writes a person who simply does not know tech history. . . or makes it up as he goes along to bolster his arguments.

As for cost? You are apparently unaware you can get an Apple iPhone 6 for the same cost or lower as a top of the line Samsung, LG G3, or any top tier Android smartphone from the carriers. You can get an iPhone 5C for $99, or another model iPhone for FREE with a contract, just as you can your Android junk phones. It just depends on the model iphone you are willing to accept. An iPhone 6 is $199, as is the top tier Samsung Android Galaxy (it was actually selling on release for $249!), although right now at several retailers, you can get the iPhone 6 for under $130 with contract. An iPhone 5C is $99 with contract, and a 4s is $0 with contract, so your price argument is bogus. . . and all of those tie into the features that the Apple users are praising which you denigrate.

And you're wrong about which company has the largest share of smartphones. . . Apple consistently has the three top spots in the top five best selling smartphones. Samsung sells a lot of phones, but the vast majority, over two-thirds are dumb or feature phones, the cheap, bottom of the barrel, low price model phones, where Apple does not compete at all. In only one month in the last year did Samsung's full featured smartphones outsell Apple's. Android as a platform outsells Apple, but no single manufacturer of smartphones does.

[Swordmaker]

Oh, that's rich. You rest your case, without having a case. How silly

Adorno, you have literally zero experience to be talking about Apple products. You've NEVER synced one to a computer, never experienced "hand off," or any of the advanced ecosystem. You've "played" with them in a store, and maybe touched your daughter's devices, but never used them. You, sir, do not know what you're talking about. You looked at them with a confirmational bias. . . and found what you wanted to find!

[Swordmaker]

I'd love to see Apple's iPhone & iPad product development budgets vs. the actual sales both products generated.

Apple's quarterly R&D budget is averaging $1.6 Billion. Yearly that would something over $6.4 billion.

[Swordmaker]

I wonder if they siphon off some of that money to use for R&D as needed.

Currently, Apple invests almost 6.5 billion dollars annually on R&D.

[Swordmaker]

’ll be using the CurrentC type tech that will be available to the general public some time in 2015.

So, you'll be using the CurrentC system that has ALREADY been hacked, stealing ID data from beta testers, the one that provides to the retailer the same kind of information that allows them to know everything about you, to have your credit information, to directly debit your bank account instantly by ACH transfer—which by international banking law you have only 48 hours to challenge any errors or fraudulent charges before they become irreversible and you have NO RECOURSE for recovery from your bank—and by which last year alone 375 million consumers in the USA had their data stolen from the retailers' POS servers of the very kind of data that CurrentC is going to provide, an insecure system that can be accessed by anyone who steals your phone? And you claim you're smart??? I don't think you know at all what you are talking about.

As for not using the fingerprint sensor? More of your confirmational bias. . . You can't use it, so no one will in your closed world. I use it multiple times every day. And I use ApplePay. Very convenient and easy.

[rlmorel]

I remembered hearing that Apple invested far more (proportionally speaking) than Microsoft in R&D.