I would almost think that's no longer the case. I know the iPhone has developed into one of the core products in the portfolio, but I have noticed that even here on Macrumors - when it comes to news concerning macbooks and iMacs there is very little news in comparison to many other products such as the iPhone ans iWatch.
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Are computers still core business of Apple?
- Thread starter Mdv2
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Yes of course they are
Phones and pads are the money spinners at the moment but as market saturation starts to happen they'll be relying on the computers as much as anything else. The integration between devices is a big part of the apple vision and computers are very much part of that. People love their phones and pads enough to give macs a try and they have much better sales and profit figures than almost all PC makers at the moment...
Phones and pads are the money spinners at the moment but as market saturation starts to happen they'll be relying on the computers as much as anything else. The integration between devices is a big part of the apple vision and computers are very much part of that. People love their phones and pads enough to give macs a try and they have much better sales and profit figures than almost all PC makers at the moment...
No, not for years, it was 8 years ago that they dropped Computer from their official name, i.e., now just Apple and not Apple Computer.
Macs are an important segment in their line up, but clearly the driving force for the revenue and focus has been iOS devices.
Macs are an important segment in their line up, but clearly the driving force for the revenue and focus has been iOS devices.
The OP started the thread in the MBP forum and it was moved to this forum, so the OP was meaning Macs.
as long as the iOS dev tools are Mac only, they're going to need to keep supporting the computer side of the business. I reckon if they ever produce a Windows dev environment for iOS, the writing will be on the wall for the OSX range.
I'd take Rogifan's statement as rhetorical, a la, "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" If you program them, do they not compute?
Sure, if by "computer" one means, "PC," then computers have become a sideline product at Apple.
From my perspective, the genius of the smart phone is that it has repackaged the personal computer into a far more personal and universally acceptable form. It has eliminated dedicated devices like pocket calculators, pagers, cameras, iPods/MP3 players, and dumb phones, and replaced them with a single, general purpose computing device.
If anything, Apple hasn't abandoned its roots with the iPhone, it's returned to them following the detour into consumer electronics called "iPod" - a device dedicated, like transistor radios and the Walkman, to a narrow range of tasks.
I realize but the OP was asking about Macs being core to Apple's business, and the thread was started in the MBP forums. We can split hairs and say the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch are all computers because they contain CPUs and I'l not argue that but its not what I believe the OP intended.
Apple's focus has been on business segment other then the Mac line because I believe the desktop/laptops are not a growth industry, at least like it was. Mobile computer has taken off, i.e., iPhone and iPad. Apple has a better revenue stream with the iPhone. They make money on the sale of the phone and get a piece of action of any apps sold. So of course they want to focus on the segment that provides the most stable income and has the greats odds of continued growth.
That doesn't mean they'll abandon the Mac line but its not their primary focus.
Of course it's a core business for Apple. You may not like the direction they've taken but they gobble up the lion's share of laptop profits and their Mac business on its own would be a Fortune 500 company.
As for what MacRumors publishes, I fail to see any connection to whether of not Macs are still a core business for Apple.
As for what MacRumors publishes, I fail to see any connection to whether of not Macs are still a core business for Apple.
If it helps...
(1Q 2014 Chart from TUAW, using Apple earnings report. Note that this is sales revenue, not profit.)
(1Q 2014 Chart from TUAW, using Apple earnings report. Note that this is sales revenue, not profit.)
iPads and iPhones are PCs.
I think Apple will for the forseeable always have it's Macs as part of it's business model. The Mac business on it's own is still a fortune 500 company. But Apple, no longer being Apple Computer showed that it's core business will be whatever the current market is in need of. Apple wants to diversify. And it is now.
Estimates are that Apple makes more profits from selling computers than all other computer manufacturers combined. So yes, selling computers is a core business of Apple. If you check statistics that is being released all the times, that part of their business is growing year after year after year.
Well said. And Apple keep their Mac business alive in part because they know the iPhone boom will not last forever.
If selling Macs was still Apple's core business the MP wouldn't have sat in the corner gathering dust for years on end.
Apple's core businesses is making great products, not making a specific product. Desktops used to be their main source of revenue and now it's 11% of their revenue. The iPod was a runaway success savior halo product and now it's dead. Killed by the most recent king of the Apple hill, the iPhone. The iPad eats into Mac laptop sales but that doesn't bother Apple because the real growth is in mobile devices, not mobile computers (let alone desktop computers).
We used to need a Mac to be the hub of your digital lifestyle but now the hub has moved to the cloud. Apple has no fear of cannibalizing its own products to move the company forward.
When the iPhone boom ends, it certainly won't be desktops and laptops that make a raging comeback to fill that growth void. They need the iPad to do better and the Watch to be the next big thing.
Yes, they are, but they are related to Macs in the way that a capon is related to a rooster.
I guess, from a business perspective, it's not really a surprise--even now, when Mac sales aren't that bad, it's still not more than a tiny fraction of desktop pc use. With the iphone, ipod, and ipad they were able to reach markets not already saturated. But if you are a longtime mac user, it is hard to avoid the feeling of being left behind, especially after supporting the company in the lean years.
Not only are the iPhone, iPad and Watch computers, but they are all massively more powerful and capable computing devices than many of the Mac's that I've owned. An iPhone 6 is not only more than a thousand times faster than a Mac Plus, but can do heavy number crunching faster than a Cray 1.
It's the direction that the computer industry is heading. Mainframes and minicomputers are no longer the most common computer that most people see or use anymore (as they once were). The same has already happened to desktop PCs, and is now happening to traditional looking laptops. Apple is leading that wave.
Software and chip design are the key components of being a computer company these days, and it appears that Apple is still a leading, if not the leading developer of consumer-facing software, sharing tons of technologies between OS X and iOS, as well as giving Intel and AMD competition in the space for low-power computer chips.
So, yes, it's still their core business.
It's the direction that the computer industry is heading. Mainframes and minicomputers are no longer the most common computer that most people see or use anymore (as they once were). The same has already happened to desktop PCs, and is now happening to traditional looking laptops. Apple is leading that wave.
Software and chip design are the key components of being a computer company these days, and it appears that Apple is still a leading, if not the leading developer of consumer-facing software, sharing tons of technologies between OS X and iOS, as well as giving Intel and AMD competition in the space for low-power computer chips.
So, yes, it's still their core business.