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Each Time I See Google's Android Pitch I Like It Less and Less
On Google's finance forums, the level of spam is horrific. Try searching for some of Sumer's posts. They are vile, and yet, Google keeps letting this person post. I understand 1st Amendment rights, but this person is seriously deranged. Is anyone monitoring Google's finance forums?
Gmail goes offline every once in a while, with little comment from Google.
Does the fact that everything they release is "beta" give them carte blanche to not provide any customer support?
If they take this hands-off approach to Android apps, they are going to have a big problem.
Apple vs. Microsoft Vista: The Ad Budget Wars
It's only hypocritical if Apple spends that money on advertising while not spending that money on fixing any OS bugs.
Is iPhone Leading the Way in Smartphone Evolution?
Apple's Greatest Idea Yet
With the iPhone, I think they are going to exceed what they accomplished with the iPod. No, not 70% marketshare. Just look at Jason's article, he's effusing like a little boy. It's just like the movie, Field of Dreams, when the brother-in-law looks up and asks "when did they get here?" referring to the ballplayers. All of a sudden, they are the biggest cheerleaders around, as if they discovered gold.
Look at the iPhone, it already generates more in non-GAAP revenues than the iPod, ever did. The iPod had iTunes to drive follow-up sales. You loved your iPod when it shuffled to a song you hadn't heard since highschool. The iPhone is better. It has Apps to drive follow-up sales. Anytime you want to fall in love with your iPhone, just download a new App, a free one or a 99 cent one like Ocarina. Pure joy, that's what it is.
And, what's great, is it builds on top of the existing iPod ecosystem. The 3rd-party mfrs are already making iPod cases and speakers have very little retooling to make iPhone and Touch cases and speakers. How many iconic devices have a Billion-dollar ecosystem, a virtuous cycle?
@Dividends, margins are not declining. The more iPhone revenue that hits the bottom line lifts gross margins, as the GM on the iPhone is 47.8%, far above Apple's normal GM of between 30 and 33%. Now, GMs have been guided lower, as the cost of mfring the unibody Macs is expensive, but Apple CHOSE to spend more on mfring. That's a key difference.
Who Will Take GM's Place in the Dow?
Buy, Sell or Hold: Apple's Cohesive Strategy to Survive and Thrive
Question, your Chart 1, is that the installed base market share figure or is it the one year sales figures? Cause you state that Apple sold more than Rimm, and yet, Rimm is at 12% and Apple at 7%. A little disconnect between the chart and what you are talking about.
Data security - unless Apple is doing something different than what they announced in March at their press conference, I'm quite sure there is a "remote wipe" feature for IT departments. And, Apple announced a special program for corporations to allow custom app solutions. How is the cost, "lower"? You don't say. Is it because Apple's email server is more expensive than Blackberries? Oops, Apple doesn't sell a email server.
WalMart? You do know that WalMart has tried to sell music before, at 88 cents, and failed. What makes you think they'll succeed now?
Nokia's Ovi? It only comes on a couple of their handsets.
Google's G1 comes thru T-Mobile. They are #4 in a 3 carrier market. They have 3G service in how many cities? 20? AT&T has 3G in something like 280 cities. No matter how good the G1 is, the sellable market is virtually nil. How is the G1, "revolutionary&qu... Because it mimics the iPhone? You do realize that Android is built around a browser that uses WebKit. Who developed WebKit? Apple. As for "location services", you do realize that the iPhone has it, and many more apps that use it.
Open source means nothing to the consumer. If it did, Linux would sell better. It is just as easy for anyone to develop for the iPhone and the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The iPhone has over 5500 apps already. The G1? 50? More?
You mention the Tube, Bold and Instinct. The Tube is a joke, it doesn't use a capacitance touchscreen. The Bold's screen is too small. Did you see Sprint's latest numbers? I don't think people are buying the Instinct.
The Nuvifone was "launched" where? In a vacuum? I love Garmin, but the last I heard the Nuvifone was delayed until next year. And, turn-by-turn directions, apparently, TomTom and Garmin have developed apps for the iPhone, but are waiting for Apple to lift their restrictions on it.
In other words, you don't really know your products very well, otherwise, you wouldn't have cited a whole slew of criticisms that just don't hold very much water.
For an analysis that recommends buying, your conclusion is rather negative. Read some of Andy Zaky's analysis on SA for comparison. Also, read Roughlydrafted.com for some insight into the actual product side.
Apple's Future in the Mobile Phone Market
Apple Rumors: Mac Upgrades and iPhone Production Drop
An Alternative Perspective on Apple's iPod Growth
www.deepcapture.com/ji.../
An Alternative Perspective on Apple's iPod Growth
www.deepcapture.com/ji.../
Apple's FY09 Gross Margin Expectations Are Too Low
Apple's FY09 Gross Margin Expectations Are Too Low
However, the canadian dollar has weakened against the USD. I plan on going to Quebec for Xmas!
And, Apple's international revs are a good fraction of Apple's total earnings:
Of the $7.9B of GAAP revs reported last quarter, here's a breakdown:
US = $3.6B
Europe = $1.7B
Japan = $320M
Retail Stores all over = $1.7B
Other = Mostly Asia, not including Japan = $562M
So, if you could break out Retail Store earnings by country, you'd pretty much know Apple's international sales, but even without that, you can see they equal about $2.6B compared to US sales of $3.6B.
Share of Online Searches by Engine, Sept. 2008
Reconstructing Apple Earnings, Including iPhone
iPod Sales Only 14.2% of Apple's Q4 Total Revenue
It's good to see that your numbers on Apple's non-GAAP revs are within $0.1B of my own, that I calculated on the back of an envelope back in April. I posted over at MDN's Opinion page that Xmas quarter last year the sales were really $10.5B, not the reported GAAP $9.6B; and that the quarter afterward was $8.0B not the reported GAAP $7.5B.
I got no traction back then, but you seem to have gotten the ear of Elmer-Dewit and others. Keep going, we're all behind you.