Analyst Says Apple Will No Longer Be Cool in 2012

[Mojosodope]

I for see a lot if people including myself and my wife eventually leaving apple...we have spent tons of money getting their stuff but the lack of innovation or something groundbreaking is becoming old fast and is boring. They need to do something big and soon

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[thewitt]

I for see a lot if people including myself and my wife eventually leaving apple...we have spent tons of money getting their stuff but the lack of innovation or something groundbreaking is becoming old fast and is boring. They need to do something big and soon

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How would you define "big" in this context?

 

[KevinJS]

How would you define "big" in this context?

How about the new 27" iMac. I've had computers from the very first, and this is the first time I've decided on a buy based on æsthetics, and only later looked at the specs. Add the 3Tb fusion drive, no tower and wireless everything, and I think this beast qualifies as "big".

 

[AQ_OC]

That's a given: Make money or go out of business. But that doesn't mean there's not room for multiple companies.

Who suggested there wasn't room for competitors? There is plenty of room. The point is competitors wont be competitors for long if they don't start making some decent profit. Being a long distant no 2 isn't such a big deal when your profit is in the noise. This is the problem with how google and amazon are competing right now, tossing out low cost devices that earn them little, if any profit. Google is even making it hard for other android tablet manufacturers to compete, buy offering up the nexus 7, which just kills what others like samsung can get for their wares. Samsung's 7-inch tablets took a real killing from Google's low-cost models. Amazon is the content king, so they have a hope to ring out a little extra on books, music, and video. Few others can hope to match them, beyond apple.

Bottom feeding is not good in the long term. It's not true competition.

 

[Kaykaykay]

Who suggested there wasn't room for competitors? There is plenty of room. The point is competitors wont be competitors for long if they don't start making some decent profit. Being a long distant no 2 isn't such a big deal when your profit is in the noise. This is the problem with how google and amazon are competing right now, tossing out low cost devices that earn them little, if any profit. Google is even making it hard for other android tablet manufacturers to compete, buy offering up the nexus 7, which just kills what others like samsung can get for their wares. Samsung's 7-inch tablets took a real killing from Google's low-cost models. Amazon is the content king, so they have a hope to ring out a little extra on books, music, and video. Few others can hope to match them, beyond apple.

Bottom feeding is not good in the long term. It's not true competition.

The thing with competition is that you take your chances, and everyone can pick the biz model that they think will work. If everyone competed like Apple, many buyers would be shut out of owning tablets, because they couldn't afford them, or because they didn't want to spend as much. It's not bottom feeding to go for another demographic. It's an old model to offer razors and then charge for the razor blades. Consumers can choose what they want.

I'm not worried about companies making money (or not). That's their prob.

 

[AQ_OC]

The thing with competition is that you take your chances, and everyone can pick the biz model that they think will work. If everyone competed like Apple, many buyers would be shut out of owning tablets, because they couldn't afford them, or because they didn't want to spend as much. It's not bottom feeding to go for another demographic. It's an old model to offer razors and then charge for the razor blades. Consumers can choose what they want.

I'm not worried about companies making money (or not). That's their prob.

If you like competition you should be.

These days, it is standard practice to sell a printer for nothing but then sell printer ink so as to make a profit. Same as with razor blades. But tablets are much more complex then that model can accommodate. In this analogy, content is the razor blade or ink. Anyone can make a razor blade or ink, but content is much harder to come by. Not many can truly offer it. One reason why apple is successful is because they developed that business long ago. Same with amazon. Few others can play in this game. Sony already got out.

I bought a low cost google tablet but they will never get a dime on content from me. Many who buy a low cost google device will be the same way, too. Amazon has a chance, though, because they are king of customer service (I buy content from them, but I don't like their tablets) and content. Google has no idea of how to treat a customer, or at least, not a consumer. The winners in this whole space will likely be determined by who has deep enough pockets to survive through until the end of the bottom feeding.

 

[tlbaker]

The reminder that I set last year popped up a few minutes ago. It seems to me that Apple is still a leader and going strong. It would be interesting to see if the author of the initial article still feels the same.

Yes, Android is winning the market. Apple has remained with just one product while Google has opened their OS to a number of different vendors.

I've have phones with iOS and Android. Both have advantages but I prefer iOS.

Apple is more polished and I like that my devices can all synch together. If I had to go android I would try the Asus tablet. Looks nice, one day I will take a look at best buy. I think android is winning mainly due to their price points; however, you get what you pay for. I don't like plastic devices. Apple's products are very well made. I am still on iPhone 4 and it feels brand new. I don't have a strong desire to upgrade as I don't use it that much, we get upgrades via iOS, and I have a new iPod touch - that's my iPhone 5 w o the voice capability

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[tlbaker]

How about the new 27" iMac. I've had computers from the very first, and this is the first time I've decided on a buy based on æsthetics, and only later looked at the specs. Add the 3Tb fusion drive, no tower and wireless everything, and I think this beast qualifies as "big".

I love my new iMac. I have not had a new computer since 2004 and it was a junky Dell. Poor people who bought their newest model were having problems with it right out if the box (was reading the reviews) and Dell was not very accommodating when it came to repairs or customer service. Apple has excellent customer service!!

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[tlbaker]

The more the merrier. Competition is good for consumers, as you've often pointed out, Kay. I just think a lot of us are getting tired of the circling vultures, who seem to be almost praying for a catastrophic failure on Apple's part, so they have something to report for a few days, until the NEXT BIG THING blows up.

Like KayKayKay said they want Apple to fail because maybe they cannot afford to buy their products (or at least one of the reasons she pointed out).

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[Kaykaykay]

If you like competition you should be.

These days, it is standard practice to sell a printer for nothing but then sell printer ink so as to make a profit. Same as with razor blades. But tablets are much more complex then that model can accommodate. In this analogy, content is the razor blade or ink. Anyone can make a razor blade or ink, but content is much harder to come by. Not many can truly offer it. One reason why apple is successful is because they developed that business long ago. Same with amazon. Few others can play in this game. Sony already got out.

I bought a low cost google tablet but they will never get a dime on content from me. Many who buy a low cost google device will be the same way, too. Amazon has a chance, though, because they are king of customer service (I buy content from them, but I don't like their tablets) and content. Google has no idea of how to treat a customer, or at least, not a consumer. The winners in this whole space will likely be determined by who has deep enough pockets to survive through until the end of the bottom feeding.

You argued against your own case. As you said, Google doesn't know how to treat customers. Deep pockets aren't magical. If you can't provide good service, you're not going to make it. That's the point of competition.

Tablets are becoming commodities. Content is where long-term profits will be, and it's available from more and more sources. Search for apps in news, books and movies; there are plenty of content choices. But how do companies like Amazon become giants? They deliver great service and innovation or someone else will come along and eat their lunch. For instance, Sony had plenty of money before Amazon ever existed, and they had content to sell. Note that they've failed miserably at selling their ebooks, even though Sony had ereaders and book rights long before Kindle emerged and changed the industry. Sony had tons of movie rights, too. Yet the company is struggling to compete effectively on multiple fronts.

Why would I worry about competition by rooting for companies that can't figure out how to survive? Customer service and innovation will win out (except in cases where the game has been fixed, as with carriers).

 

[Wingennis]

Apple moving production home to the US is pretty cool.

 

[Kaykaykay]

Apple moving production home to the US is pretty cool.

It's a drop in the bucket. More symbolism than anything else:

Apple's US Manufacturing: Meaningful Shift or PR Move? - Forbes

 

[Mojosodope]

I was saying they need to do something big in regards to their phones, not their computers

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[Wingennis]

It's a drop in the bucket. More symbolism than anything else:

Apple's US Manufacturing: Meaningful Shift or PR Move? - Forbes

Okay, the one day per week my glass is half-full...

 

[s2mikey]

It'definite to make the most money, but there's room for many companies in the marketplace. Being No. 2 or 3 is nothing to sneeze at.

I'm glad for competition and don't feel invested in any brand being No. 1 or such. If someone makes something I find useful, it doesn't matter to me whether they make the most money in their field.

The only thing with a company making insane amounts of profit is that basically that says that they are charging too much for their stuff. That being said, people are still buying it so maybe they aren't charging too much? I dunno. It does make you wish they'd give people a little break on some of the hardware pricing. Maybe a little less jump for storage between models or something. Profit is good and makes the business world go around. But most companies operate with smaller margins than apple does. Good business model for apple, for sure!