









II. "Game-Changer" New Apple Products Company


What are those "game-changers"?



into a Smart TV set. [Image Source: Engadget]







III. Major Overhaul to iOS Confirmed



iOS 7 flat






IV. Lawsuits and Taxes

Apple v. Samsung













Apple money




Lisa Jackson




Source: All Things D

Comments     Threshold


RE: He meant to do that!
By BRB29 on 5/29/2013 1:57:26 PM , Rating: 2
At this point, having majority market share is more bragging rights. Smartphones used to be a premium product and now it is mainstream. Apple only wants to sell everything at a premium.

If they actually wanted to grab market share then they would make a low, mid and high end product and thus lower their profit margin. Instead, they have been making the same high end only product the entire duration. Look at all the products they sell, everything is only on the high end spectrum. They sell more $1200+ laptops than any other manufacturer combined. Ipods are all priced at a massive premium compared to other media players with same specs and features. Iphones have always been expensive unless you buy one gen behind. Look at all the sales for All-in-one desktops.

I don't like apple products but I have to give it to apple for not straying away from their business strategy.

RE: He meant to do that!
By ven1ger on 5/29/2013 2:13:06 PM , Rating: 3
Apple has changed their business strategy a little from prior. Now, they have incorporated using Patents as a weapon to try to stifle the competition. Bad for business but its a route they decided to choose.

RE: He meant to do that!
By TakinYourPoints on 5/30/2013 3:10:00 AM , Rating: 3
They probably see little reason to chase the low end. At best I think they're going to follow the iPod Nano or iPad Mini strategy with a lower cost iPhone: a product chasing the middle that is still more expensive than the low-end.

Here's a chart showing Apple, Samsung, and everyone else's unit sales compared to revenue and operating profit:

Low end devices are a boat anchor on revenue and profit, just look at those green sales from "all other" low end devices, 70% of units sold for ~5% of the profit. Who honestly wants that market share?

The thing that Apple and Samsung have in common is that they sell lots of high end smartphones. The more high end devices you sell, the more profit you get. The fact that Samsung sells the most popular high-end Android handsets is the only reason why their smartphone revenue and profit are as high as they are, even though they're under a quarter of their total smartphone sales and are a fraction of the iPhone's sales.

Its no wonder why Apple isn't chasing pure quantity with low end devices, and why Samsung spent more money than Apple or Coke marketing the GS3 and GS4 even though they are "smaller" products for them in their total sales. They'd love nothing more than for their expensive high end products to be the dominant ones in their portfolio.

RE: He meant to do that!
By captainBOB on 5/30/2013 12:05:12 PM , Rating: 2
Apple won't go below the high end because they already know the outcome of acing to the bottom.

Just look at the PC market, several major players are on the ropes, Dell is looking to pull out, HP is in dire straits and is stumbling to find some sense in the changing market. Only Acer, Asus, and Lenovo are doing ok so far, but their small profit margins are getting smaller.

Apple on the other hand is sitting comfortably in the high end PC market, Mac sales are down for sure, but they have a very comfortable profit margin to weather the storm. It's kind of funny, in the end they won in a way, they don't have a Mac on every desk, but they are making a lot more money than any other OEM.

RE: He meant to do that!
By retrospooty on 5/30/2013 12:41:53 PM , Rating: 2
Apple was very nearly extinct in the high end PC market. It got bigger again when the iPod and iPhone got huge. Not that I am saying they should change, they are clearly in good shape... Just pointing out if it were just Macs, Apple would still be a tiny player if still in business at all.

RE: He meant to do that!
By w8gaming on 5/30/2013 10:11:31 PM , Rating: 2
Samsung does have a whole spectrum of smartphone models that cover the low end to the high end. While Apple has no presence at low end at all. The market is transforming and there is download pressure on prices. Apple achieves its high share price, based on the assumption that they can sell the same amount of premium phones at the same high profit margin in the future. And the trend is showing that this is unlikely. Meanwhile, if Apple continue to stay with premium segment only, their market will shrink and they will sell less units. If they launch new models in the low end segment, their profit margin will shrink. There is no easy way out for Apple. Either their sales unit has to suffer or their profit margin has to suffer, hence their current share price cannot be sustained. Investors are demanding dividends as they doubt Apple management has a solution to their dilemma and may end up making a wrong decision and waste their current huge cash pile in bad decisions.

RE: He meant to do that!
By TakinYourPoints on 5/30/2013 11:17:39 PM , Rating: 2
There will certainly be a ceiling for high end phones. That said, high end devices like the iPhone and the GS3/4 sell more with each passing year. That ceiling in the high end hasn't been hit yet.

I don't think Apple has any interest in chasing the zero-profit smartphone market that is the majority of Android sales, just as they didn't chase that market with the iPod or iPad. A mid-range device that is still more expensive and powerful than the giveaway devices is much more likely, Apple really tends to go with that strategy.

A shrinking market share is something they don't seem concerned with as long as they continue to sell more product, and the trend in all high end devices is still up.

