A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
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Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#2I am not an expert, but it's my understanding that what is R&D vs. "only" engineering is largely an accounting question. I don't think Microsoft is spending all of that $10B on MSR, for example.
As a metric I don't think it provides much insight.
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#3The article feels a little shallow on the analysis side.
For instance I would expect this oddity to be caused by the fact that they aren't a traditional hardware manufacturer (they don't have any fabs and outsource their production) nor are they a traditional software manufacturer (their software focus pales in comparison to Google or Microsoft).
Since developing silicon and software are two of the biggest drivers in the industry and Apple doesn't focus on either, it makes sense they have a low R&D budget.
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#4The article feels a little shallow on the analysis side. For instance I would expect this oddity to be caused by the fact that they aren't a traditional hardware manufacturer (they don't have any fabs and outsource their production) nor are they a traditional software manufacturer (their software focus pales in comparison to Google or Microsoft). Since developing silicon and software are two of the biggest drivers in…
"they don't have any fabs"
Isn't this not true anymore? I thought Apple brought chip production "in house" as well as other specific hardware related to their iOS products.
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#5The article feels a little shallow on the analysis side. For instance I would expect this oddity to be caused by the fact that they aren't a traditional hardware manufacturer (they don't have any fabs and outsource their production) nor are they a traditional software manufacturer (their software focus pales in comparison to Google or Microsoft). Since developing silicon and software are two of the biggest drivers in…
Don't Apple's A7 and other chips count as "developing silicon"? And you don't see Apple focusing on "developing software"?
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#6The article feels a little shallow on the analysis side. For instance I would expect this oddity to be caused by the fact that they aren't a traditional hardware manufacturer (they don't have any fabs and outsource their production) nor are they a traditional software manufacturer (their software focus pales in comparison to Google or Microsoft). Since developing silicon and software are two of the biggest drivers in…
"they don't have any fabs" Isn't this not true anymore? I thought Apple brought chip production "in house" as well as other specific hardware related to their iOS products.
They brought some chip design in house. Chip production is quite expensive that only a few companies do it in house.
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#7I am not an expert, but it's my understanding that what is R&D vs. "only" engineering is largely an accounting question. I don't think Microsoft is spending all of that $10B on MSR, for example. As a metric I don't think it provides much insight.
you are spot on with that thought. accounting for r&d is pretty much an accounting/financial call. rather than accounting for costs, you capitalise that cost/capex as an asset, which can later be amortised in x years. i'm guessing that given that apple generates billions in profits, it would rather account much of its r&d as an operating expense, reducing the immediate tax bill.
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#8This could be interesting to analyse but those charts are not really the best, mainly the pie chart. Maybe the best way to look at research costs is to compare it to the other costs of the company (maybe with the exception of those related to the cost of building the products).
I'm in no way an analyst so I might be way off on this recommendation though.
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#9Not surprising, since most of the core R&D needed happens in the supply chain -- the fabs, the screen manufacturers, the battery makers, sensors, etc. If the iWatch for example, uses new curved battery tech or curved screen, that will have arisen mostly from the R&D done by their partners.
With the acquisition of PA Semi, Apple does seem to be doing basic chip R&D now. But the industry as a whole would be no where without most of the traditional semiconductor manufacturers doing R&D to keep Moore's law going.
I do think it is sad that Apple, with $100+ billion in cash sitting in the bank, isn't spending more on basic research. IBM, HP, Bell Labs, Xerox, et al delivered a lot of serendipitous discoveries by spending money on stuff with no immediate product focus or return. Apple is sucking up the lion share of the mobile revolution's profits, but I think a bigger fraction of that could be channeled back into basic R&D as a whole.
Re: A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013
#10The article feels a little shallow on the analysis side. For instance I would expect this oddity to be caused by the fact that they aren't a traditional hardware manufacturer (they don't have any fabs and outsource their production) nor are they a traditional software manufacturer (their software focus pales in comparison to Google or Microsoft). Since developing silicon and software are two of the biggest drivers in…
"they don't have any fabs" Isn't this not true anymore? I thought Apple brought chip production "in house" as well as other specific hardware related to their iOS products.
Chip fabs are extremely expensive. You basically need to invest $5B+ every two years just to stay up-to-date on technology, and then the same amount or more to do the necessary research and build the thing in the first place.
(Reference in point: history of Globalfoundries)