Apple's Yearly Profits Surmounts Entire PC Industry

[vertigo_2000]

[citation][nom]clonazepam[/nom]I'll give Apple a nod. Bill Gates and Microsoft never saw it coming. Who would have thought that a cell phone or music player would enter the realm of status symbols like high-end watches, fast cars, and expensive jewelry? If I were in my 20s, and still chasing tail, I'd probably have an iPhone too... lol[/citation]
How are they a status symbol like high-end watches, fast cars or expensive jewelry when 70-80% of people living in 1st world countries have the means to purchase one? A status symbol is "a possession which is regarded as proof of the owner's social position, wealth, prestige, etc." http://www.thefreedictionary.com/status+symbol
So people are buying them as proof of their mediocrity? I'm special like everyone else?
You want to know the real reason Apple is so successful? It's not rocket science.
With the iPhone/iPad/Apps store, Apple came to market with a unique product which they marketed well and people bought it. Now people had the phone/tablet and started to invest in Apps. Developers started to make money on the Apps and started flocking to develop for the App store. More Apps means more purchases. Every purchase means more money for Apple. Now customers have vested their hard earned money into Apps. Switching would mean losing everything they've already bought. It's like throwing money away. So instead of switching to Android, people upgrade to the next big Apple product because hey, all my Apps will work on it too.
And don't get me wrong, Apple's products are good. I have no issues with them. I actually own a new iPad 4. But it's like a cult of money, once you start investing, people find it hard to walk away. Especially when the economy is the pits.
Now that Jobs is out of the picture, Apple's "innovations" have started to stagnate, and the economy improves, things will start to change. Apple will begin to decline. Mark my words.

 

[spartanmk2]

Thats a lot of iSheep welfare money.

 

[Guest]

[I'll give Apple a nod. Bill Gates and Microsoft never saw it coming. Who would have thought that a cell phone or music player would enter the realm of status symbols like high-end watches, fast cars, and expensive jewelry? If I were in my 20s, and still chasing tail, I'd probably have an iPhone too... lol]

Cell phone has always been sort of a status symbol. Looking at their stats it is the tablet which generates more profit for Apple anyway. Profit from iPhone would have been better too if not the erosion of market share from Android phones. Imagine how much more money Apple can make if they can kill off Android. That's the reason they make it a business strategy to kill Android whatever they can using lawsuits.

Well, Apple is indeed the pioneer in creating this brand new tablet category, so it is only fair that they are being rewarded now with the initial run. A few years down the road though, their market share even in tablet space can be much smaller with competition from both MS and Google. So if Apple is smart, they will make good use of the profit now. Or they could be one of those company that becoming rich too quickly, unable to manage the new wealth properly, and end up wasting their cash on failed projects. Remember Microsoft was once the largest and most profitable tech company too. Nothing will last forever in the tech world. Who know, it might be Google's turn next.

 

[clonazepam]

I think its pretty clear that Apple products are status symbols. People that have absolutely no business owning an expensive smartphone or tablet or even a data plan, who drive beat up old cars, raggedy clothing, malnourished, uneducated, etc, run around with these devices. Hell, people sell their body parts for the damned things. I'm not speaking about how I feel or think toward them, but the writing is on the wall. People want to feel included in this imaginary click and rise above their own reality.

It's clear what Apple spends its money on. It's not bleeding edge R&D. It's all about product placement in commercials, tv shows, and movies.

Just before the 2008 movie, Vantage Point released, Dennis Quaid was interviewing on some talk show. He spent less time talking about the movie, and more time showing the audience his brand new yet to be released iphone model (3G i think). It was hilarious to hear all the "ooohs and aaaahs" of the studio audience as he swiped his finger from photo to photo.

I don't know where I'm going from here so I'll just stop. Need to brew more coffee. Maybe it's like the Matrix. The majority of people just allow them to be lead to the usual drinking hole, while others feel compelled to resist. I'm a resister, and I've more or less sold my soul to Google. I feel better about that prospect than say, selling to Apple or Microsoft. Though, Jessica Alba is hocking windows phone now, and hers was a nice fiery red color... hehe...

 

[DearSX]

[citation][nom]NoLoyaltyToCompanies[/nom]DearSX 11/28/2012 2:05 AMHide-0+hahhahaahaha, Apple already won long ago. Even if the company declines now or in the near future, they are filthy rich.Why are you happy that a company overcharges for underperforming tech?Won what? Why do you cheer for corporations than for the consumer? Isheep sure are a dumb lot![/citation]

I'm not cheering for apple. I don't own a single apple product, never bought one either. It was funny to me because people wont stop wanting apple to fail. It does not matter if they fail or not, this problem is bigger than apple. People are starving and working like slaves, profit or not.

 

[davemaster84]

Of course it is. Apple is good yeah, we know bu it's the hell of expensive. Besides they make you buy all sorts of adapters and stuff for everything, they are smart and people just have the money to spend on it

 

[wemakeourfuture]

[citation][nom]jimbo007[/nom]There is some phony stat games going on here. IBM+Intel make almost 29b of profits annually. Adding HP which made a huge loss of more than 12.5b to 2 very profitable companies does not make sense and is deceptive: IBM+Intel+HP = 29b + (-12.5b) = 16.5b. If we go into the senseless business of adding companies regardless of profitability=> Apple+HP (28.5b) == Microsoft+Google (28.5). So what? what a waste of time. You know people get the idea of how much money Apple makes. No need to do idiotic math.[/citation]

HP makes PC products not Apple products, makes more sense to group them with Intel and other PC makes. That being said, IBM shouldn't be in the "PC" group since they really have become more of a services company with R&D.

 

[mihaimm]

[citation][nom]echondo[/nom]Apple doesn't have quality products and sure as Hell doesn't have quality support.[/citation]You are entitled to your opinion but as a previous Samsung Galaxy owner I was told it's my fault the SIM card is no longer seen by the phone (unless forced pushed). As an iPhone owner I was told the phone has oxidation problems (sensor gone red and all) but "we'll change it anyway because the main problem is not from oxidation". So... bad products... maybe. Bad support... not from my experience.