Read this and tell me if Apple is dead or dying.
http://techpinions.com/androids-market-share-is-literally-a-joke/16709
http://techpinions.com/androids-market-share-is-literally-a-joke/16709
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Is Apple Finished?
- Thread starter Renator
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PC sales are down quarter after quarter; laptop sales are not something Apple wants to rely on. Not to mention, PC makers all have ultrabooks for 25-50% less. The only advantage is the retina display and OSX. Apple was lucky Microsoft stumbled with Windows 8 this time around!
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This report has real numbers and from a far more reputable source:
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24108913
Apple's market share has been declining significantly over the past year... down 6% internationally. Marketshare is importance in the overall health of a product line, you can only squeeze so many dollars out of fan boys before even they revolt:
http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-incredible-profits-and-small-market-share-2013-5
Again shipments mean nothing, sales and web usage tells the real truth. But nice try
Business insider needs to stop letting 14 year olds write articles. Just adolescent writing.
Interesting article! Since their comeback starting with the iMac, Apple seems to be on a roll and is now consolidating world dominance.
The question is what will be the next big thing and whose device will it be? My understanding is that Apple's genius is not coming up with completely new devices, but coming up with a better technology implementation with user experience as a primary factor. This has always been Apple's strength.
The problem with Android is that complete freedom does not make a better product. Because if it did, Google and Microsoft would not now be creating their own hardware devices so they too can shape control the user experience.
Again shipments mean nothing, sales and web usage tells the real truth. But nice try
Android sales are going up while iOS sales are going down.
While iOS still dominates web usage, iOS web share is going down as well, 6% since last year, while Android has gone up 7%.
Things are going the wrong way for Apple; but like I said, they have plenty of buffer room for 2 or 3 generations before things become dire. But 2 - 3 years passes by pretty quickly, look at how things turned out for Blackberry.
People are severely underestimating the iPhone 5s. This is partly due to the overdone "Apple-is-Doomed" meme sold as a narrative by the 24-7 news cycle of today's media.
There is a cyclical nature to iPhone sales....iPhone 4 users comprised the majority of iPhone 5 sales, and iPhone 4s users will comprise the majority of iPhone 5s sales, simply because of the 2 year upgrade cycle that carriers have.
The increase from 4 to 4s was huge, from a sales standpoint. We will see a similar jump from 5 to 5s, as the 4s owners will be coming off their 2 year agreements right as the iPhone 5s debuts later this year.
If you combine this with iPad mini w/ Retina, and Haswell powered MacBooks, Apple will have a monster finish to 2013.
There is a cyclical nature to iPhone sales....iPhone 4 users comprised the majority of iPhone 5 sales, and iPhone 4s users will comprise the majority of iPhone 5s sales, simply because of the 2 year upgrade cycle that carriers have.
The increase from 4 to 4s was huge, from a sales standpoint. We will see a similar jump from 5 to 5s, as the 4s owners will be coming off their 2 year agreements right as the iPhone 5s debuts later this year.
If you combine this with iPad mini w/ Retina, and Haswell powered MacBooks, Apple will have a monster finish to 2013.
From the IDC link you posted:
Apple iOS marked its largest ever first quarter volume on the strength of its iPhone shipment volumes, yet the operating system posted a year-over-year decline in market share and lower year-over-year shipment growth than the overall market. ... [underline added]
A decline in market share isn't necessarily a decline in sales or shipments.
A decline in growth isn't necessarily a decline in sales or shipments, either.
You should really read the techpinions article, even if you end up disagreeing with it. It makes the point that market share alone means almost nothing, when profitability isn't taken into account.
In business, market share is a means to gain profit, it's not an end in itself.
Citation needed.
That's your prediction. Others have different predictions.
"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future."
-- Niels Bohr
-- Niels Bohr
Everybody knows Apple doesn't have focus group. They don't do marketing research. Steve Jobs is famous for saying customers don't know what they want.
YOU MEAN, Apple is down because they don't give me what I want.
My problem with Android is their products simply do not look good. They do not feel good. The materials look and feel second-hand, tacky, and cheap.
Regardless of what Apple does with iOS 7, I will remain loyal to
because their products are head and shoulders above everyone else in terms of design and form factor.
You didn't like their 21 page slide show about how Apple is making your life harder?
You didn't like their 21 page slide show about how Apple is making your life harder?
Haha, slideshows are indicative of hacks masquerading as media sources. Business Insider, Bleacher Report, etc. Self-respecting publications do not convey ideas through slideshows.
show me a PR from Samsung realeasing actual sales and return rate numbers. I'm wating
Of course I speak for myself - my beef with Apple is that they're releasing poorly tested and buggy software. They are also forcing customers to go to Apple stores to upgrade their hardware at spectacularly inflated prices.
You propose a good argument though - maybe there are customers who specifically want poorly tested buggy software, and to pay almost double the market rates for hardware upgrades.
I stand corrected.
It just means that shipments have gone down and prices remain high. This may work for the short term, but you can only squeeze so many dollars from even the most ardent fanboy!
Sorry, but this is simply wrong. Go look at the actual numbers. Phone shipments were up. The highest ever for a calendar Q1 (fiscal Q2).
Every source I can find says that sales (i.e. the number of units sold) increased year over year, despite the market share decreasing.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/04/23Apple-Reports-Second-Quarter-Results.html
http://investor.apple.com/results.cfm
I don't think you understand the basic math here.
Market share is a percentage of all sales, i.e. "all sales" is the market as a whole, and the percentage of that is a "share". If the market as a whole expands (i.e. total sales grow) at a rate higher than one company's share, then one company's market share can decrease even when the total number of that company's sales increased.
Example: say the market as a whole grows 25%. To maintain market share, a company's sales would also have to increase 25%. If the company's sales increased only 20%, then they lose share but still have a 20% increase in sales. That is, they sold 20% more units.
So losing share doesn't necessarily tell you anything about whether a company sold more units or fewer units. You have to look at the raw underlying numbers, and then work out growth (sold more units) or decline (sold fewer units), share growth (increased market share) or decline (decreased market share), etc. It's basic math.
And once again, this is all without taking profit into account. If a company has a large share but loses money, it won't stay in business for long without some other source of income. Apple is still taking in the largest share of profits, by far. Again, look up the numbers yourself and do the calculations. Or simply read the previously linked articles.
All your points are valid. Yes, Apple is still growing revenues and units sold while market share is shrinking but the biggest worry is that net profit has peaked. Profits are actually FLAT and declining.
That's what competition can do. Once competitors have legitimate market share, they can compete on price. That is why the stock has been down.
Which isn't a massive problem in of itself. It's simply impossible for profit to go up forever - at some point you reach a ceiling that any company is going to face. About the only growth left is horizontal growth (in other words, new products or services). But they are still making profit every quarter - they aren't loosing money, just not making as much profit. They aren't loosing money at all - they make profit every quarter.
Finances being what they are, there is no way you can really accurately predict that this is a trend of any kind that one needs to worry about. Their profits can be down for a quarter or two and then be back up at the top again. Heck, they may never vary much at all (it can hover at a particular range). None of this is doom for Apple. It just means they are a mature company that knows how to make products that people will buy. Its not about growth or by the price of the stock. Not even by the buzz word "innovation" that people like to toss out.
The questions we need to ask is "are people buying Apple products" and "is Apple making money by doing this" Apple is indeed doing all of these and there is no way to argue that Apple is doomed based on anything going on right now. Apple is still selling stuff faster then they can be made and they are making big bucks doing so.
I disagree, I don't want feelings to get involved with things, but unless you possess a working crystal ball, there is simply no way that anybody can say that Apple's best days are behind them. Sure, one can argue that there is an upper limit on profit, but that doesn't preclude them from changing another market.
It's like saying that since Steve died Apple has stopped innovating. It's an empty statement that ignores the fact that major innovations take lots of time. Apple spends years between major new products. Nobody except Apple knows what will come out from their headquarters and nobody can predict what will take off. I remember people saying that everything from the iPod onward would never take off and it was proof that Apple was just as doomed as they were in the 90's and their resurgence was nothing more than a fluke.
It's like saying that since Steve died Apple has stopped innovating. It's an empty statement that ignores the fact that major innovations take lots of time. Apple spends years between major new products. Nobody except Apple knows what will come out from their headquarters and nobody can predict what will take off. I remember people saying that everything from the iPod onward would never take off and it was proof that Apple was just as doomed as they were in the 90's and their resurgence was nothing more than a fluke.
The iPad will continue to lose market share to cheap Android tablets. But that's a race to the bottom that Apple will avoid. Apple will continue to own the profits in the tablet market for a long time.
Haha, slideshows are indicative of hacks masquerading as media sources. Business Insider, Bleacher Report, etc. Self-respecting publications do not convey ideas through slideshows.
Unfortunately most publications use slide shows these days. More ad revenue I guess but I hate it.
Couldn't have said it better myself! +1
We'll never know, they hide behind their anonymity, much like snipers do. They're annoying, but have the right to be here.
That's the whole thing. I don't believe APPLE is striving for a phone with the most features, but rather a solid user experience, and they will add those new features when they can do so without impacting that all-important user experience. Many people are clearly willing to forego a few features, to have a more stable OS.
Well I said it before and I'll say it again, it was all Wall Street short selling. Proof: Short interest: How Apple Inc. got mugged in April.