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Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#41

Post by ptomato »

pyre wrote: post #38
catch23 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide other examples where a gadget site pays money to a 3rd party who happens to have an unreleased development model of a future product? I can't think of any...

Don't be disingenuous. The exchange of money here is the least of the transgressions. I would think that someone sending Gizmodo a 'lost' iPhone prototype without the exchange of money would have gotten them into hot water too if they didn't try to return it first (before publishing the internals). In the past, most leaks have been information (specs,photos,etc) not the actual device.

Except for the bit where money being exchanged automatically makes it "purchasing stolen property".

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#42

Post by guelo »

czhiddy wrote: post #9
vtail wrote: post #7

"Journalists are terrified of this company too. Why? Just ask Jason Chen - the editor at tech blog Gizmodo who got his hands on the next iPhone. Apple's response? They sent in the police, who smashed down Chen's front door, ransacked his house -- while he was out -- and carted off computers and files. When Chen returned home from dinner with his wife, they frisked him too." This is the kind of argument they are makin…

> Apple's response? They sent in the police ... This, like much of the article, is complete hyperbole (unless you actually believe Apple controls the police force).

R.E.A.C.T. is an outrage. Most police departments don’t put a ton of effort into resolving nonviolent theft cases. Obviously big rich Silicon Valley companies like Apple are going to have a lot of political clout in Santa Clara county come what may, but that’s a reality that should be pushed against not formalized. Apple can afford its own lawyers, it doesn’t need the cops working for it.

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#43

Post by csomar »

I think it's very challenging for Apple. Apple is making a skyrocketing revenue because iPad and iPhone sales has boomed. But iPad won't sell for 300K piece everyday, that only happened the first day... actually it can sell! Yes, but there is an interesting point (so that it sells at such high rate): Apple "must" dominate the market.

For the iPhone, the competition is now fierce: Android, BlackBerry, Palm, Windows mobile and Nokia! Nokia is already a major player, they won't let Apple take the market easily and cheaply. They'll do marketing, new phones and crazy things to preserve their position.

That said, as competition is getting though, Apple has got to spend more on marketing and improving their products (taking down their profit, even if their sales are up, because they are spending more). Only if they dominate the market, then your investment will pay back.

My advice is: don't get in this stock. It's very risky; unless you believe that the iPhone and iPad will become standards ;)

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#44

Post by pyre »

tvon wrote: post #40
lurkinggrue wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With Apple the shortcomings are sold as features and then later given to you as an innovation. I almost expected them to release the iPhone shuffle that had no screen and randomly called people.

To an extent. Most companies seem to aim for a product that does well on a feature-grid of checkboxes more than in actual use. Apple would (apparently) rather that they had half the checkboxes but that those things worked very, very well (or intuitively, or smoothly, or in a magical way, etc). In other words, it's not as if an iPhone friendly multitasking setup was available and they just ripped it out so they could…

I think the point is that Apple poo-poos the idea that a phone even needs a background API, then releases a background API to great fanfare as if they were the first ones to have such an idea, all the while patting themselves on the back. (i.e. "We weren't the first ones to do multi-tasking, but we were the first ones to do multi-tasking on the iPhone! Yay us!")

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#45

Post by Tamerlin »

btmorex wrote: post #36
czhiddy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple's response? They sent in the police ... This, like much of the article, is complete hyperbole (unless you actually believe Apple controls the police force).

It's hyberbole, but on the other hand, it's ridiculous to think that Apple had nothing to do with it. If Apple remains silent, doesn't file any sort of police report, nothing would have happened. That said, Apple has been a litigious, heavy-handed company for it's entire history so their actions aren't surprising.

So has Jobs' other company (Pixar).

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#46

Post by zweben »

pyre wrote: post #44
tvon wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To an extent. Most companies seem to aim for a product that does well on a feature-grid of checkboxes more than in actual use. Apple would (apparently) rather that they had half the checkboxes but that those things worked very, very well (or intuitively, or smoothly, or in a magical way, etc). In other words, it's not as if an iPhone friendly multitasking setup was available and they just ripped it out so they could…

I think the point is that Apple poo-poos the idea that a phone even needs a background API, then releases a background API to great fanfare as if they were the first ones to have such an idea, all the while patting themselves on the back. (i.e. "We weren't the first ones to do multi-tasking, but we were the first ones to do multi-tasking on the iPhone! Yay us!")

Pretty sure that's more marketing than anything to do with their product strategy. They release the best products they can, but implementing features better than their competitors means it takes them longer, so they talk down any feature they don't offer yet, and then hype it up once they offer it.

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#48

Post by jackowayed »

smokinn wrote: post #24
TotlolRon wrote: post #4

Me thinks it is mainly because Apple delivers what others only envision. Which is scary.

I find it's rather that they take care of every detail. I refuse to buy an iPhone but I'm still not satisfied with the state of Android phones. There's the phones with the great cameras (but are underpowered). There's the phones with the great cpus (but wasted because of low ram) There's the phones with the good extra UI (wasted because they're underpowered) There's the good middle ground handicapped by a really old…

That's starting to change. The Nexus One is very nice, the Droid Incredible (which is basically the same thing with a better camera) is even better, HTC Sense is a very nice interface, and in June, Sprint's going to get the Evo, which is basically an Incredible with an even better camera (takes 720p video), a front-facing camera, 4G, a 4.3" screen, and the ability to act as a wifi router.

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#49

Post by sandee »

robotrout wrote: post #2

if you wanted to buy the entire company it would cost you about $240 billion. To put that in context, for the same amount of money you could own Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM - News), the world's largest gold-mining company, And E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. And Kellogg Co., And Shrek studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, And H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB - News), And The New York Times Co. And Molson Coors Brewing, And…

I think is that Apple is doing something which no-one else may have done in recent past.

1. Apple is in software business where it has championed the model of fixed engineering cost and variable revenue streams.

2. They execute well and their products are neat. (That is a understatement)

3. They are market makers. There products are not just stealing customers but also creating new customer base for these products

4. Their marketing model is un-parrelled. And no-one in industry has any chance to replicate that in near future

Compare that to other companies. Most of them are not innovative but profitable because they are big, have low cost products. Some are in utility/F&B domain where its tough to increase the price. And others don't have much competative advantage.

Software is still the most profitable business (by a big margin), if done right. Apple is just demonstrating that.

Re: Why Everyone is Afraid of Apple

#50

Post by calebgilbert »

Gotta post this somewhere to get it off my chest, so might as well be here -

...as someone who was using OS9 when Apple had a death watch on it there's a certain amount of schadenfreude, mixed with wonder, at this situation of Apple as the 800lb gorilla. I get a giant kick out of the whole thing. :-)

That is all.

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