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Android L is now smoother, faster, nicer looking than iOS

Apple doesn't charge any premium anymore. iPhones are the same price as any other high-end flagships from reputable OEMs whether subsidised or unsubsidised. Ditto for most tablets outside the nexus line. And even Macs.

Android isn't exactly a saint either, neither is Windows Phone. Software development in general has taken a ship first, fix later approach across the board.
 
Kariya said:
Apple doesn't charge any premium anymore. iPhones are the same price as any other high-end flagships from reputable OEMs whether subsidised or unsubsidised. Ditto for most tablets outside the nexus line. And even Macs.

Android isn't exactly a saint either, neither is Windows Phone. Software development in general has taken a ship first, fix later approach across the board.
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Apple has a reputation for taking the lion's share of money from the entire smartphone market for a reason. An iPhone 6 costs them $234 to manufacture and they charge a minimum of $650 for it. And the only difference between a 16gb memory module and a 128gb memory module is about $20, but Apple rakes in over $300. People pay, so Apple can charge as they see fit. Android OEM's try the same thing and that lasts for a few months before we see the price drop. They are just way to many choices in Android land compared to Apple land. You want an iPhone, you only have one option. And even though I have bought 2 iPhone 6's (64gb versions), I still think they overcharge. Examples:

$100 was the price you had/have to pay to go from 16gb to 32gb on an iPhone. Not a good deal. In fact, a complete rip-off. Android charged less than $50 to upgrade.
$100 is the price from 16gb to 64gb on an iPhone. Still not a good deal.
$200 for 16gb to 128gb a pretty good deal, but most people don't want to pay over $1000 for a phone.


Apple has and likely always will overcharge for memory for some reason. Even on the computer RAM.
 
Lloydbm41 said:
Apple has a reputation for taking the lion's share of money from the entire smartphone market for a reason. An iPhone 6 costs them $234 to manufacture and they charge a minimum of $650 for it. And the only difference between a 16gb memory module and a 128gb memory module is about $20, but Apple rakes in over $300. People pay, so Apple can charge as they see fit. Android OEM's try the same thing and that lasts for a few months before we see the price drop. They are just way to many choices in Android land compared to Apple land. You want an iPhone, you only have one option. And even though I have bought 2 iPhone 6's (64gb versions), I still think they overcharge. Examples:

$100 was the price you had/have to pay to go from 16gb to 32gb on an iPhone. Not a good deal. In fact, a complete rip-off. Android charged less than $50 to upgrade.
$100 is the price from 16gb to 64gb on an iPhone. Still not a good deal.
$200 for 16gb to 128gb a pretty good deal, but most people don't want to pay over $1000 for a phone.


Apple has and likely always will overcharge for memory for some reason. Even on the computer RAM.
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Are you taking into account R&D? Dat **** expensive man.
 
TechGod said:
Are you taking into account R&D? Dat **** expensive man.
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I read an article about a year ago that showed Apple spends less on R&D than any other major tech company. True or not, I don't know, but considering Apple only does minor modifications to internals of phones every other year and hasn't really modified an iMac, MBP or MBA in years, I find that probably is true.

If we add in an R&D budget of half a billion dollars (way more than Apple spends in a year), you simply add $20 to the cost of that $234 price tag over the course of a single quarter. Add in advertising, taxes and distribution costs and you are looking at another $50 per phone.

All told cost to Apple would be roughly $300 and they still profit at twice to thrice manufacturers costs.

(And no my numbers are not literal. They are rough guesses and painted in broad strokes just to get an overall feel of the sheer capitalistic magnanimity Apple is able to achieve. )
 
Lloydbm41 said:
I read an article about a year ago that showed Apple spends less on R&D than any other major tech company. True or not, I don't know, but considering Apple only does minor modifications to internals of phones every other year and hasn't really modified an iMac, MBP or MBA in years, I find that probably is true.

If we add in an R&D budget of half a billion dollars (way more than Apple spends in a year), you simply add $20 to the cost of that $234 price tag over the course of a single quarter. Add in advertising, taxes and distribution costs and you are looking at another $50 per phone.

All told cost to Apple would be roughly $300 and they still profit at twice to thrice manufacturers costs.

(And no my numbers are not literal. They are rough guesses and painted in broad strokes just to get an overall feel of the sheer capitalistic magnanimity Apple is able to achieve. )
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What you see as minimal probably isn't.

E.g. the cooling system was totally reworked from the ground up for the rMBP, are you aware hoe expensive that would have been to design?Same goes for new nMP...
 
TechGod said:
What you see as minimal probably isn't.

E.g. the cooling system was totally reworked from the ground up for the rMBP, are you aware hoe expensive that would have been to design?Same goes for new nMP...
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I know they just tore apart the new iMac and it was identical to last year's model. Only thing they did was put a 5k screen in. I have seen this over the years. Apple doesn't make drastic changes every year or even every other year. That is what I am referring to.
 
People need to watch Josh Topolsky interviews with Matias Duarte. How people love Jony Ive's hardware design, Matias Duarte is a genius at software design. He probably has more talent than Scott Forstall or Jony Ive when it comes to software design. Google is very lucky to have a talent like Matias Duarte.
 
TechGod said:
Are you taking into account R&D? Dat **** expensive man.
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Only an armchair CFO but i'd imagine you also you have to consider supplier, retail, and even marketing costs (jimmy fallon ads don't pay for themselves).

Shifting 37m units within 4 weeks is not an easy feat. Someone has to foot the bill for production and transport. Also Apple's retail stores don't run themselves.

Other OEMs only have to worry about carrier stores for the most part and don't shift as many units (with the exception of Samsung) or deal directly with retail the way Apple does.

But what do i know.
 
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daneoni said:
Only an armchair CFO but i'd imagine you also you have to consider supplier and retail costs.

Shifting 37m units within 4 weeks is not an easy feat. Someone has to foot the bill for production. Also Apple's retail stores don't run themselves.

Other OEMs only have to worry about carrier stores for the most part and don't shift as many units (with the exception of Samsung) or deal directly with retail the way Apple does.

But what do i know.
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It's all free. Apple pays $234 per phone, no overhead no salaries(it's a cult people donate their time), and the rest is pure profit.
 
Yes everyone pays costs over and above bill of materials

Regardless it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that iPhone often times is lower bom and higher or equivalent cost. Ye olde apple tax
 
gotluck said:
Yes everyone pays costs over and above bill of materials

Regardless it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that iPhone often times is lower bom and higher or equivalent cost. Ye olde apple tax
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Competition is good, you are not forced to buy any Apple product. I'm fact I'm sure you were following the news about Apple quarterly financials.
 
I7guy said:
Ah well the upshot was it was a gangbuster quarter.
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yes, but it's not all peaches an cream. While they are riding high on profits, the growth is slowing and that's what investors are counting on continuing.

Apples two strong areas are iPhones and iPads and the latter slipped for the 3rd quarter in a row. Key to why Apple needs to really come out with their next big thing. Especially with such a saturated tablet market.

Their retail store sales have slowed dramatically too. Down from 47-44-33% in 2010, 11, 12 respectively to only 6% growth thus far in 2014. Can you say time for a fourth head of retail in as many years? That might happen. Again, the likes of Microsoft and Samsung mimicking their model is likely taking a toll.

The real test of Apple's might will be if they can continue on up the growth ladder.
 
pdqgp said:
yes, but it's not all peaches an cream. While they are riding high on profits, the growth is slowing and that's what investors are counting on continuing.

Apples two strong areas are iPhones and iPads and the latter slipped for the 3rd quarter in a row. Key to why Apple needs to really come out with their next big thing. Especially with such a saturated tablet market.

Their retail store sales have slowed dramatically too. Down from 47-44-33% in 2010, 11, 12 respectively to only 6% growth thus far in 2014. Can you say time for a fourth head of retail in as many years? That might happen. Again, the likes of Microsoft and Samsung mimicking their model is likely taking a toll.

The real test of Apple's might will be if they can continue on up the growth ladder.
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Really? I thought investors care about profits and earnings per share. Not all of their enterprises might be showing the same growth rate, but they don't have to.

As Timmy acknowledged iPad is a bump. However it still did well. Little debt, lots of cash, good institutional stock.
 
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I7guy said:
Really? I thought investors care about profits and earnings per share. Not all of their enterprises might be showing the same growth rate, but they don't have to.

As Timmy acknowledged iPad is a bump. However it still did well.
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no one wants to see products being discontinued and drops in current products that make up a sizable are of the company sales on top of no real new products or markets being launched. Again, let's see if they can overcome the bumps in the road and remain strong. hopefully apple pay succeeds.
 
pdqgp said:
no one wants to see products being discontinued and drops in current products that make up a sizable are of the company sales on top of no real new products or markets being launched. Again, let's see if they can overcome the bumps in the road and remain strong. hopefully apple pay succeeds.
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That is always the case for any company since day1. However Apple as I said above lots of cash, no debt and an investment favorite. And the stock is up.
 
I7guy said:
Right and there was a workaround. Connect to iTunes done, end of matter. It was blown out of proportion because WHAT IF games were being played by people who weren't even affected by it.
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When someone says they hate iTunes and having to deal with it for iOS they are invariably met with something like this: YOU DON'T NEED ITUNES ANYMORE.

Ironic.


Michael
 
I7guy said:
It's not clear to me what your are trying to say.
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You wrote how iTunes was needed to fix a bug with iOS. There are iOS fans who like to brag iTunes is not needed anymore. This usually follows someone noting that iTunes is a negative for iOS.

I did not mean that you were one of those iOS fans who has bragged that iTunes is no longer needed. But there is one right here in this thread. ;)



Michael
 
Tinmania said:
You wrote how iTunes was needed to fix a bug with iOS. There are iOS fans who like to brag iTunes is not needed anymore. This usually follows someone noting that iTunes is a negative for iOS.

I did not mean that you were one of those iOS fans who has bragged that iTunes is no longer needed. But there is one right here in this thread. ;)



Michael
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Gotcha. iTunes is a companion product to IOS. In this one case to fix the 8.0.1 issue iTunes was needed. Also if you don't have enough space on your phone for an OTA update, iTunes will do the job. Also iTunes will reset a bricked Apple tv.

There isn't much to spin on this topic, do you need iTunes? no. Is it helpful to have? Sure is.
 
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