Linked by David Adams on Fri 29th Jul 2011 03:15 UTC
In the News Apple is now more liquid than the United States government, the Financial Post reports. As the government struggles to resolve the debt ceiling debate, the operating balance in Washington is at US$73.768 billion and falling. Meanwhile, Apple has US$75.876 billion.
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RE: 75 billion
by Laurence on Fri 29th Jul 2011 10:16 UTC in reply to "75 billion"
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If we taxed that at the rate we used to (c. 1960 rates), we wouldn't have a deficit now.

And if we spent the biggest unit in the deficit (right now and for the next ten years or so, paying our expenditures of the Iraqi/Afghan wars) and put that into science and education and infrastructure, we might have enough of a science- and engineering-based culture to by today have options other than Windows and Apple for our computers, Google and Apple for our phones, and more than one internet/cable provider per city.

There are other options to Windows and OS X for computers and Android and iOS for phones. In fact Android and iOS aren't even the biggest two phone OSs let alone a joint monopoly (though I admit I'm using global market figures which do vary from the US market specifically)

As for whether there'd be more competition: I doubt so. In any competitive market you'd expect to see a small number of dominant players stand out once the industry has stabilised. The reason being that:

A:- it's harder for smaller companies to compete against larger companies:
1) they lack the same financial backing for marketing, R&D, and so on,
2) they lack the same patent portfolio,
3) consumers will naturally flock to recognised brands,
4) they have less weight to pull off sales deals (eg brand exclusivity)
B:- smaller companies are often bought out by larger companies.

This is the reason there are anti-competition laws - to ensure that the larger businesses don't abuse their market position and thus create a market were smaller business have a fair chance to compete. Sadly this doesn't always work out as well in practice as it should in theory - in my opinion at least.

Edited 2011-07-29 10:18 UTC

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