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Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

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Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#121

Post by microtonal »

guelo wrote: post #100
ceejayoz wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the major players in the mobile space are suing each other. http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2010/10/08/whos-suing-whom-in-m...

That's a pretty disingenuous thing to say since Google, HTC, LG and Samsung are being sued, they're not doing the suing. Also, that graph is outdated, Apple is now also suing Samsung and Motorola... their other big smartphone competitors.

But then Google also does not have so many mobile patents as others. Currently royalty payments in all directions are 'fought out' through patent lawsuits. If you do not participate, you will be the sucker that only pays royalties, but doesn't receive any.

This is the annoying thing about the current patent situation: companies have to participate if they do not want to hurt their margins.

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#122

Post by danssig »

czhiddy wrote: post #120
billmcneale wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple hasn't been in the top 100 companies to work for in the past five years (probably goes back further), so... no. Several friends of mine confirm this: they're not treated very well nor recognized, they work 70 hours a week, but they love it. Obviously, it's not for everyone, you need to love the company to work there.

From what I've read, Apple has never participated in those "top workplace" surveys, so saying they've never made the top 100 is a useless statement at best. glassdoor.com satisfaction surveys place them somewhere between Intel and Google, but a lot of the reviews come from retail employees. I'd be curious to see what the average score is for corporate employees.

>Apple has never participated in those "top workplace" surveys

Which is sensible IMO. I worked at Walmart in IT at the time that they scored quite highly on one of those things. I couldn't name a single person who loved or even liked their job. Everyone I knew was there because they didn't feel they had a choice. I've never looked at one those surveys since then.

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#123

Post by shriphani »

Have to hand it to Apple leadership. How much has he accomplished in 12 years? Taking leadership, turning the org around, the iPod lineup, building a super-strong brand, then iPhone, iPad and now the Mac sees a healthy resurgence. I am sure that if he has to start afresh, Mr. Jobs will do it and build another apple.... what a fantastic leader.

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#124

Post by elemeno »

aeontech wrote: post #70
yequalsx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some things I really like and some I really hate. Overall though I like it (Macbook Pro 13" base model - no upgrades). I don't know why but I thought it would load applications faster than it does. Though, the overpowered Dell I bought last December is even slower. Why do I have this feeling my Mac should load applications faster? I don't know. I don't like traversing the file system in the Mac. Perhaps its familiari…

command-shift-n to create a new folder even in a save dialog. command-shift-g to quickly go to a filesystem path (supports tab completion. It's unix filesystem, so ~/ == your home directory. ~/Doc[tab] will take you to your Documents folder, etc). As for speed - RAM upgrade and an SSD make all the difference in the world (as they would for windows as well). Oh, also, if you're new to the mac, you might need some of t…

Personally, I'd go for Alfred ( http://www.alfredapp.com/ ) over Quicksilver.

While Quicksilver is supposed to be more powerful, it just never really clicked for me and didn't feel very smooth. Alfred felt like it fit it better and let me do what I wanted to do - especially with the powerpack installed.

Mostly I just use it as an app launcher, file finder (start with ' and only searches files), and file browser (start with / and you're browsing the filesystem). Anything much beyond that was just overkill.

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#125

Post by rimantas »

c2 wrote: post #76
bbgm wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if any company has a track record over the past decade of delivering "big things" it's Apple. No company in recent history comes even close. Can they? Who knows, but if anyone can, it's Apple.

One decade is great. Plenty of companies have had their one decade in the sun - Microsoft, Cisco, IBM... Standard Oil. I think your comment is a bit of hyperbole, the success of a company like Apple is not unprecedented in history. Apple could continue doing "big things" over the next decade, I just seriously doubt their ability to continue their growth and justify their market cap over the next 5-10 years. That's al…

Take Microsoft: they are making most of the money off the same two products for decades—OS and Office. Now take apple: 47% of they revenue is from product which was introduced four years ago (iPhone). 21%(!) comes from product which was released merely a year ago—iPad.

Apple is not afraid to kill its cash cow if they think they have a better product in line—see how they dealt with iPod line before the iPhone—they were replacing the most popular model with something new.

I have no doubt Jobs has a vision many years into the future. It was amazing to watch his 1997 WWDC keynote and realize that now we see the fruits of his thoughts then.

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#126

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

YooLi wrote: post #80
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the tablet to phone ratio right now is such that it's not that big a deal which it represents. That's not to say Android tablets won't take off, just that in the numbers that have been published until now they're not selling that well and the phones are selling like hot cakes.

The Nook runs Android. I wonder if it counts towards 'activations'. Last quarter B&N sold ~3M Nooks, which would be ~33k activations per day. Not that huge, but the difference between 465k and 500k activations. The Nook and other tablets and devices might actually end up combining to an appreciable amount (100k/day??).

Interestingly Tim Cook made some comments about the Android activation numbers on the Apple call yesterday:

"I think the Android activation number is a difficult one to get our hands around. Because unlike our numbers, which you can kind of go to our data sheet, and add the iPhones and iPads, and make a reasonable approximation of the iPod touch—which we said is over half of our iPod sales—you can quickly see that in June quarter we sold over 33 million iOS devices. And across time… we’re now over 222 million cumulative iOS devices. So we think this is incredible. So our numbers are very straightforward, they’re transparent, and they’re reported quarterly."

I'm not quite sure what he's getting at here. It seems he's suggesting that the Android activation numbers are, shall we say, soft, but if he is that's an interesting claim and one which I'm guessing can be checked relatively easily (add up what the major suppliers claim to be shipping - HTC, Samsung, B&N - if you can't get in the ball park then something might be up).

(via MacWorld via Daring Fireball: http://www.macworld.com/article/161226/2011/07/cook_speaks.h...)

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#127

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

billmcneale wrote: post #117
omouse wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did their employees all get a pay raise? are the manufacturing workers adequately compensated?

Apple hasn't been in the top 100 companies to work for in the past five years (probably goes back further), so... no. Several friends of mine confirm this: they're not treated very well nor recognized, they work 70 hours a week, but they love it. Obviously, it's not for everyone, you need to love the company to work there.

I think it's a good example of technologists wanting to be involved in great projects and products that end up getting used and making a difference.

I doubt anyone there is badly paid but that's not the reason they work there - they do so because they know that most other places would struggle to give them work they could be as proud of.

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#128

Post by hackermom »

jarek wrote: post #102
hackermom wrote: post #34

Bombastic numbers as usual. So, when can I get an MB Pro 13" with an up-to-par screen resolution? :)

Realistically, when OS X gets resolution independence Steve likes. So, not until the next OS after Lion at the earliest.

What's realistic about that? The 11" and 13" Air both got bumped over the 13" "pro", but I'm still stuck with my pricier 13" "Pro" model with screen real estate below what consumer grade PC laptops offer for half the price.

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#129

Post by danssig »

guelo wrote: post #57
aforty wrote: post #28

Absolutely absurd and amazing at the same time. Tip your hat to Apple, nothing else to do in this case.

Or you can marvel in amazement at their greed in suing their competitors.

They're not suing competitors. They're suing people who are profiting from Apple research without compensating them. You think it's good that one company spends billions on research and everyone else just steals it and undercuts them? Don't you realize that that eventually leads to no research being done anymore?

Re: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

#130

Post by maximilian »

r00fus wrote: post #75
yequalsx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some things I really like and some I really hate. Overall though I like it (Macbook Pro 13" base model - no upgrades). I don't know why but I thought it would load applications faster than it does. Though, the overpowered Dell I bought last December is even slower. Why do I have this feeling my Mac should load applications faster? I don't know. I don't like traversing the file system in the Mac. Perhaps its familiari…

Get yourself an SSD pronto. They are worth the money, and as many software luminaries have said, they are the best upgrade money can buy right now . You can take a Sandforce (or any TRIM enabled) ~64GB SSD and an optibay kit or similar and double to triple your load speed. Cost me ~$200 total. Here's my account of an optibay-like installation on my 2010 MBP: http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=10814085&post...

According to Anandtech[1], TRIM only works on Apple purchased SSDs. However, it is recommendable to get one anyway with or without TRIM support.

[1]: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4205/the-macbook-pro-review-13...

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