It's Time To Admit That Apple Is Blowing It

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I don't know if I would say Apple is blowing it (they have a mountain of cash and legions of faithful customers), but the company sure is getting its butt kicked by Samsung.

Apple fans have developed excuses for Apple's lagging sales. The most popular is that Apple is a "premium" gadget maker, not a hoi polloi gadget maker, and it only wants to sell its phones (and tablets) to people who can afford to pony up for them. Apple, in other words, is like BMW, not Ford.
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Both iPhone 5 products are a bit meh, but iPad Mini and Air seems to be solid. Will their popularity drop off? A bit, but I doubt it will drop too much.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Both iPhone 5 products are a bit meh, but iPad Mini and Air seems to be solid. Will their popularity drop off? A bit, but I doubt it will drop too much.
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Ummm... I'd say Apple's popularity has already dropped off. They own maybe 32% of the tablet market now, at best.
 
So Apple releases a cheaper smartphone to target the growing market of low priced devices. They slit their own throat because those who normally buy the high end now will buy cheap.

A company/product doesn't always need to appeal to everyone. If you try to do that you make no one happy.
 
If only every other company could fail so well.

clickbait
 
I think the Note 3 could have been huge but it just didn't materialize. Their was so much heat built up for it. Had it actually delivered on half it's promises, it could have taken the top seat. Especially vs the really lame new iphone lineup. As it is though, the Note 3 was basically just a more complicated Note 2, probably didn't pull any iphone users to it, and now the iphone 6 is going to have a Note 3 sized screen and the chance Samsung had is gone.
 
Hard to say. The only product I've ever owned of theirs was bought at a charity auction, and I used it for about a month before getting bored of it.

But hey...they got brand. That's all that matters, right?
 
Analysts who cover the company point to the fact that while Apple's share of the tablet market has indeed fallen from 70% to under 30%, it's not Samsung and those folks so much as it is the growth in el cheapo tablets from China.

The iphone still makes up a little more than 1/2 of their revenues by product type, and it looks as if analysts are banking upside for Apple on the China Mobile deal going through. Some analysts think that Apple could add up to 12M iphones sold in the first year of this deal, which would be a strong boost to their most popular segment.
 
That is the thing about HYPE. Someday you have to live up to it. People are realizing that Apple is not the only place to go for the same (or better) quality. Apple cannot ride on the ghosts of Steve Jobs forever and it would appear it wont last very long at all.

Even Bill Gates admitted once in an interview that all monopolies fail eventually. That is just common sense.
 
I think primarily Apple has failed to innovate. Recycling the same design elements from four years ago isn't going to drive people to the Apple store. That, and they have a reputation for being owned by douchy hipsters, and no one wants to look like one of those.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Both iPhone 5 products are a bit meh, but iPad Mini and Air seems to be solid. Will their popularity drop off? A bit, but I doubt it will drop too much.
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Apple paces too slowly for the smartphone segment. They can get out the door on big innovations, but they can't maintain pace with their competitors over longer periods of time.

They establish their own high-margin product lines and reap the benefits of it for a long time, though, so it doesn't seem like too terrible a situation.

bigdogchris said:
So Apple releases a cheaper smartphone to target the growing market of low priced devices. They slit their own throat because those who normally buy the high end now will buy cheap.
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The 5c is reportedly selling poorly relative to the 5s, even in China. I don't know if that was actually the intention, but it's had an interesting effect: instead of the 5s not being able to differentiate well from the previous model, which would've been offered at the lower mid-tier price point instead of the 5c, the 5s becomes easily worth the premium to Apple customers.
 
bigdogchris said:
So Apple releases a cheaper smartphone to target the growing market of low priced devices. They slit their own throat because those who normally buy the high end now will buy cheap.

A company/product doesn't always need to appeal to everyone. If you try to do that you make no one happy.
Click to expand...

I'd say they slit their own throats when they released the cheap phone at price level too high.
 
iOS is even with the 7 update is stale. Apple basically has products priced for the top of the market with a OS that feel like it belongs on a out of date devices.
 
They just fucked up big time with the new iPad Mini. Screen retention AND lower gamut. What the fuck?
 
wonderfield said:
Apple paces too slowly for the smartphone segment. They can get out the door on big innovations, but they can't maintain pace with their competitors over longer periods of time.

They establish their own high-margin product lines and reap the benefits of it for a long time, though, so it doesn't seem like too terrible a situation.


The 5c is reportedly selling poorly relative to the 5s, even in China. I don't know if that was actually the intention, but it's had an interesting effect: instead of the 5s not being able to differentiate well from the previous model, which would've been offered at the lower mid-tier price point instead of the 5c, the 5s becomes easily worth the premium to Apple customers.
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What's confusing to me is that the 5c is basically the 5, but with plastic housing... is that right? If so, their price strategy is no different than every other release where the previous model gets discounted to $100 on contract.
 
Apple needs to expand their portfolio of smartphone and tablet varieties, ala Samsung. Give more options to the customer. They've done this with the iPod, and very successfully, at that. You think that would have dawned on them by now...
 
Apple makes sub-par gadgets and always has. I admitted Apple was blowing it years ago, but the cash paid to their marketing team and review sites have led those who didn't know any better to think Apple was actually something special. I'm sorry for these people, but do your research and purchase something that's actually good, not because you jumped on a fad bandwagon.
 
John P. Myers said:
Apple makes sub-par gadgets and always has. I admitted Apple was blowing it years ago, but the cash paid to their marketing team and review sites have led those who didn't know any better to think Apple was actually something special. I'm sorry for these people, but do your research and purchase something that's actually good, not because you jumped on a fad bandwagon.
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Oops...did i say "Apple makes"? Let me fix that statement..."Co-designs". They don't actually make anything...except ridiculously high profit margins.
 
Megalith said:
They just fucked up big time with the new iPad Mini. Screen retention AND lower gamut. What the fuck?
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Sharp sucks, apparently.

DyNe__ said:
What's confusing to me is that the 5c is basically the 5, but with plastic housing... is that right? If so, their price strategy is no different than every other release where the previous model gets discounted to $100 on contract.
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Pretty much, yeah. I think Apple intended the 5c to be more appealing to the Chinese and to a younger demographic than it ended up actually being.
 
I had to cave once, and hand it to them. I dig the Iphone, I had a 3, now a 4 and soon a 5. However I will still say everything else they make is pure crap and I won't use it.

It still kills me to admit the Iphone is great.

And forget working on Mac computers, the fuck is a snow leopard, airport? ......Children they are
 
Differences between BMW and Apple.

BMW makes its own product.

A BMW will actually last longer than it's warranty

BMW's actually are worth more than lower priced competitors.
 
Why all the hate against apple? Did their latest commercial suck or something? The products have remained consistently terrible..
 
Apple hate is now going to mainstream from previously being specialisation of educated tech enthusiasts.
 
The iPad Air was actually the first iPad I seriously considered buying and it is great so far, only thing I miss from my (Android) Nexus 7 1st Gen is to be able to plug it in and drop files, instead I need iTunes to drop files in to something like FileApp Pro or VLC, but the point is, I can now. It plays back my anime MKV (1080p) without issue issues with subs or multiple audio tracks, I can download zip/rar/7zip files and decompress them and my Amazon Kindle graphic novels have never looked better. Gripes thus far, the official Google Play Music app is iPhone only, no torrents and now way to zoom in on my purchased movies in the youtube app (huge black bars at the top and bottom. Major pluses include an Amazon Video app so I can finally watch my Prime movies on the go, which on Android I can only do on a Kindle device :-(

I was surprised that Apple held the touch ID back from the Air and the new Mini Retina, I bet that is one of the first things they will add next year...in spring. I also have an iPhone 5, another thing I'm really happy with.
 
Hey, I just bought my first Apple product ever. A 13" 2.4ghz (Haswell)/8GB//256GB Mac Book Pro with a 2560x1600 (Retina) display, for $1,510...lol. I think it's nice overall (overpriced though) but the main reason I got it is to just be more familiar with OS X itself. It turned out to be pretty fucking easy too. My next serious machine build will be Windows though just like the last one was, Windows 8.1 too!

Back to phones though: I'm thinking of using my meows upgrade to get me the iPhone 5s to play with. Seems kind of small but it'll be $100-$200 as she likes her current iPhone 4. That said my next serious phone upgrade will be either the current Note 3 or the unreleased S5. I guess I currently walk both sides now. Also, click-bait.
 
Steve said:
I don't know if I would say Apple is blowing it (they have a mountain of cash and legions of faithful customers), but the company sure is getting its butt kicked by Samsung.
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Is any of this surprising? Apple's following the Mac game plan, and eventually they'll be a low volume high priced alternative that most people won't use. The iPhone is a good phone, but let's face it, aside from LTE and an extra row of buttons, the 5 wasn't a huge improvement over the 4s and the 5s is a minor update too.

Meanwhile, Samsung has the Galaxy as it's normal phone, with a screen that dwarfs the iPhone, the Note dwarfs the Galaxy and the Mega is bigger still. I know some long time iPhone users that like the Galaxy, because it's both bigger and lighter than the iPhone. Now move over to emerging markets and people that aren't willing to spend a ton on a phone (cause in most markets, phones aren't subsidized).

It's not over for Apple, but barring a strategic change (and/or a groundbreaking iPhone 6) their days as the king are over.
 
Why is Apple failing?
Their products are electrocuting people, catching fire, and randomly exploding and taking people's eyes.
For a company that preaches they're better than everyone because they're made better, they're sure not doing that good of a job.
 
Bullshit.

Samsung 2013 YTQ Net Income: $26.2 Billion
Apple 2013 YTQ Income: $37.03 Billion

Apples is triple that of Google's, nearly quadruple. My one single Android experience (HTC Droid Incredible) was a nightmare - a crashing and horribly slow phone with an awful touch screen.
 
Apple wants to sell you a Ford, but at BMW prices...;) Thanks, but no thanks.
 
I have disagreement with the foundational premise of the article.

Obviously, given apple's complete avoidance of the poor end of the markets, they arent going to be producing phones on the cheap. So why compare apple's free phone "sales" to samsung's free phone "sales", which this article is doing by using global sales across all products.

Its like suggesting that the best hamburgers in the world are mcdonald's hamburgers because they have the largest market share (because they cost as much as samsung phones :D .)
 
shade91 said:
Bullshit.

Samsung 2013 YTQ Net Income: $26.2 Billion
Apple 2013 YTQ Income: $37.03 Billion

Apples is triple that of Google's, nearly quadruple. My one single Android experience (HTC Droid Incredible) was a nightmare - a crashing and horribly slow phone with an awful touch screen.
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MOTO's had random reboot problems, but other than that, I don't think Android was anyworse than iOS, which also has random crashes. The difference is that when IOS reboots, it comes back with the same apps running --OK sleeping -- so if the phone wasn't on your desk in front of you when it happened, you'd never know. It's not as bad as the Moto Droid, but that's a Motorola issue (one that I assume has been fixed by now, though it spanned across several generations). And it happened more than it does with iOS.

I've also had to reboot my phone on occasion because it gets sluggish. iOS is good, but it's best asset is it's relatively simple/limited settings. Android's settings plentiful, but it's often hard to find what you want.

New android devices dont' have the UI issues than the old ones did. The issues you're referring to haven't existed in at least a couple of years (unless, perhaps, you went for a really low end phone)
 
Ocean said:
I have disagreement with the foundational premise of the article.

Obviously, given apple's complete avoidance of the poor end of the markets, they arent going to be producing phones on the cheap. So why compare apple's free phone "sales" to samsung's free phone "sales", which this article is doing by using global sales across all products.

Its like suggesting that the best hamburgers in the world are mcdonald's hamburgers because they have the largest market share (because they cost as much as samsung phones :D .)
Click to expand...

How made more money on computers: Apple or Microsoft?

That's why volume matters. Even if you believe that the Mac was the best computer in 1995, the fact is MS killed them in sales.

The only issue Google has to solve is how to get insure that developers can make money on their platform. The one thing that Apple has going for it is that people are more likely to pay for an app on iOS than they are on Android.
 
On Thursday, however, another report revealed that despite Android's overwhelming market-share lead, Apple's operating margin of 33 per cent enabled it to haul in 56 per cent of all handset profit.

The figures demonstrate two simple facts. First, that in the world of smartphones and feature phones, it's very much a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung – and Cupertino doesn't even play in the feature-phone market. Second, market share does not equal profit share. Not by a long shot.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/1...ore_handsets_than_iphone_but_apple_bags_more/
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(disclosure: use/own neither mfr's handsets)
 
I've been expecting for awhile now that Apple will eventually be relegated to single-digit marketshare in the mobile industry much like the way that Macs were always the also-rans of the PC space.

The difference is that Apple has insane profit margins w/ mobile products. This is because they sell generally inferior hardware for insanely high prices. The very definition of a high profit margin is providing a consumer something of much lesser inherent value than the cost to the consumer. I literally lol'd when they announced the iPad Mini at $400. It didn't surprise me, though. People will pay that kind of money, mostly because they still think iStuff is "magical" or the only game in town. It's all an illusion.
 
John P. Myers said:
Apple makes sub-par gadgets and always has. I admitted Apple was blowing it years ago, but the cash paid to their marketing team and review sites have led those who didn't know any better to think Apple was actually something special. I'm sorry for these people, but do your research and purchase something that's actually good, not because you jumped on a fad bandwagon.
Click to expand...

John P. Myers said:
Oops...did i say "Apple makes"? Let me fix that statement..."Co-designs". They don't actually make anything...except ridiculously high profit margins.
Click to expand...

awww shucks, no citations, evidence, or otherwise :eek: :cool:
 
I love my iPhone. My MacBookPro and iPad are collecting dust though. Well designed, but useless.

Does Apple sell anything I want to buy today? No.

And in there lies the problem. This is a luxury brand name. You need desire. I'm not seeing anything Apple offers today that gives me wood.
 
When Apple's 4.7" and 5+" iPhone 6 hits next year, they'll finally be in a position to take back some of that lost market share. I'm currently using a Note 1 and haven't bothered upgrading to the latest iterations because I find Android too laggy and inconsistent. While it offers more features than iOS and is easy to root, it simply is not nearly as fast/smooth or stable. Working in the medical field, I need something fast, dependable with a long battery life and Apple + iOS deliver in spades.
 
Huge screens aren't going to win.

I have a Dell Streak webphone that was great at first, now it sits. BIG screen.

A cellphone is a shitty web-browser or email device. It is a kludge to use when you aren't around your computer.

Somebody is going to come up with the answer. Cellphones ain't it. iPads ain't it. Ultrabooks ain't it.
 
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