Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#241

Post by stock_toaster » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 8:39 AM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #145

adl wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question, what makes Apple laptops beat the rest of the industry? No docking station, can't change batteries, no touch screens, no spill resistant keyboards, no matte screen option,etc. You also need those dongles for ethernet and video and can't upgrade RAM or hard drives on the retina models. Sure, the OS (if you need/like OSX, there is little choice), and the trackpad (if you like that those) are good, the…

No docking station - Don't really need one. Thunderbolt can handle most everything, and then you just have power. In my experience most people I see use a laptop only use power and maybe a wireless mouse receiver and a monitor. I don't see many people plugging 12 things in. Batteries - Macs get phenomenal battery life, it's not an issue for most people. Much like iPhones there is an argument for swappable batteries b…

  > Matte screen - That was an issue. I am typing from the last matte screen 
  > MBP Apple made, I didn't like the gloss. I've seen the newer machines in 
  > person and while they do reflect more light they're much better than they
  > were years ago. The better contrast and color saturation would be worth it
  > to me when I replace my laptop.

I am still rockin' my 2009 matte screen 15"! The ipad air 2 screen (in stores) seems like the new reduced reflectivity coating helps quite a bit. I am hoping they bring that to the next rev of the laptop screens.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#242

Post by hyp0 » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 8:47 AM UTC

james33 wrote: post #171

hyp0 wrote: post #44

Apple has the technology headroom to keep making more powerful iphones for several more generations... but will it reach a point where people don't need a more powerful phone? (that they don't get any benefit from it, so that power is not utilized). I would have thought they were more powerful than a phone needs to be already, but obviously not! One view is that they are still replacing desktops, suggesting users wil…

Why wouldn't gaming be a key usage? On iPhone alone it is a multi-billion dollar industry. I think gaming could be one of the big driving forces moving forward once they get serious about Apple TV. Give it a few years for the processing to catch up to today's consoles and you no longer need an Xbox/Playstation.

It's important, but not enough. I don't think it's important enough, to buy a super-powerful (future) iphone, for just that, for enough people.

Consider PCs: also used for gaming, and certainly much more powerful than xone/P4, but PC sales have slowed.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#243

Post by sbuk » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 8:49 AM UTC

adventured wrote: post #4

Cookingboy wrote: post #2

This is pretty insane, I think $18 billion in quarterly profit is the largest ever for any corporations. Also the revenue from iPhone business alone now exceeds Microsoft and Google combined.

Not sure that's true just yet, but it is close. Apple's December quarter tends to be particularly blowout, sales will fall by 30% to 40% by the June quarter. Microsoft and Google will combine for $160x billion in sales this nearest fiscal year. The iPhone for the same fiscal year will generate approximately $150 to $170 billion depending on how the year goes. Edit: What's with the stream of downvotes? What I said is…

You are making a prediction. How can that be accurate?

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#244

Post by icebraining » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 8:57 AM UTC

jsprogrammer wrote: post #236

amatix wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $184K is net profit, so each employee's salary is already counted. Another way of thinking about it: every Apple employee can get a $180K salary increase and they'd still make money.

Yeah, I think this is really showing how much Apple the organization is extracting from the individual Apple employees.

Would gas travel faster if it didn't have to drag the car along?

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#245

Post by jballanc » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 9:12 AM UTC

liquidise wrote: post #15

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_corporate_profi...

Always amazed by the lists one can find on Wikipedia. The largest losses also tell an interesting tale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_lists

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#246

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 9:12 AM UTC

clord wrote: post #219

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or to flip it around, an iPhone every 106 milliSeconds.

Ok this did it for me. That's incredible. It's almost into the audible spectrum. That means they're churning them out at something like that rate too. And then realize that not too long ago any one of those iphones would have been the most powerful computer on earth. Seems like a waste of effort? Why are we making smartphones with all of those resources? We could be doing something... less repetitious.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#247

Post by throwawaymsft » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 9:26 AM UTC

adl wrote: post #121

potatolicious wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More than Windows sucking, the OEM laptop industry has largely fumbled hardware. For a while it looked like Dell and/or Samsung might actually give Apple a run for its money in terms of design and quality, but that fell flat on its face. I'm a pretty biased sample, but honestly I know more people running non-OSX on Apple laptops than I know people running non-OSX on non-Apple laptops. Apple's laptops beat the rest of…

Serious question, what makes Apple laptops beat the rest of the industry? No docking station, can't change batteries, no touch screens, no spill resistant keyboards, no matte screen option,etc. You also need those dongles for ethernet and video and can't upgrade RAM or hard drives on the retina models. Sure, the OS (if you need/like OSX, there is little choice), and the trackpad (if you like that those) are good, the…

If you've ever used one you'd immediately notice the build quality, responsiveness, usability and a zillion other factors which are hard to quantify.

Comparing spec sheets doesn't do justice to the actual experience of using one. If you're serious, borrow one from a friend for a few days.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#248

Post by rjaco31 » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 9:27 AM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #116

ykl wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That number does not include things like airplanes and people and supplies that you need to actually make a carrier useful.

Staffing and supplies for the staff are cheap enough when you have billions. Let's say you forgo airplanes, how much is it going to cost to get that carrier ready to sail?

Airplanes ain't exactly cheap though

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#249

Post by icebraining » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 9:30 AM UTC

spullara wrote: post #197

pistle wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple laptop market share is Apple may sell more than any other single company in some markets, but their overall market dominance is mostly an illusion trumpeted by advocates.

All that is true, but it is also the biggest company in the world.

No, it's not. It's not even in the top ten.

Re: Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results

#250

Post by signal11 » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 9:30 AM UTC

thrownaway2424 wrote: post #183

adl wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question, what makes Apple laptops beat the rest of the industry? No docking station, can't change batteries, no touch screens, no spill resistant keyboards, no matte screen option,etc. You also need those dongles for ethernet and video and can't upgrade RAM or hard drives on the retina models. Sure, the OS (if you need/like OSX, there is little choice), and the trackpad (if you like that those) are good, the…

I'd rather have a ThinkPad, too, and I'm using one to write this. But I think you have to recognize that the PC market is massively fragmented and if you walk into a retail outlet you're going to see a lot of laptops, and none of them are going to be ThinkPads. Lenovo undermines their own products through the same fragmentation. If I just search on Google for "laptop" there are 8 top-ranked shopping items, one of whi…

Another Thinkpad (X230) owner here. Mine has an SSD and works really well, and I get a replaceable battery which I wouldn't with an Air. However -- my wife wouldn't consider buying one because of the quality of the display.

I suspect Macbook Airs sell well because they're designed with a wide swathe of people in mind.