Technology catch-all thread

[Balta1701]

Source for this? Is this smartphones only or all phones?

That's just for smartphones.

 

Apple currently has 5% of the total cellphone market share and 20% of the total cellphone profits.

 

Here's a link to a google search on smartphone profits. This one is all over the place. Apple currently takes in 2/3 of Smartphone point of sale profits.

[StrangeSox]

Once the market coalesces around a technological standard for a given generation, it's usually game over for everyone else. On the other hand, the leader of one generation is usually not the leader of the next, and Apple is best when it is disruptive.

 

edit think outside of the box, maximize core synergies!

Edited August 25, 2011 by StrangeSox

[StrangeSox]

That's just for smartphones.

 

Apple currently has 5% of the total cellphone market share and 20% of the total cellphone profits.

 

Here's a link to a google search on smartphone profits. This one is all over the place. Apple currently takes in 2/3 of Smartphone point of sale profits.

 

This just supports the claim that Apple products are way over-priced!

 

That also says operating profits from mobile phones, not just smartphones. But I don't know if smartphones have higher or lower margins. Apple does have significant market share with iOS, and since its concentrated on a single phone Apple is going to be profitable. Android, being spread out on dozens of different phones, isn't going to have a single dominant manufacturer.

[Y2HH]

This just supports the claim that Apple products are way over-priced!

 

That also says operating profits from mobile phones, not just smartphones. But I don't know if smartphones have higher or lower margins. Apple does have significant market share with iOS, and since its concentrated on a single phone Apple is going to be profitable. Android, being spread out on dozens of different phones, isn't going to have a single dominant manufacturer.

 

Most new androids are priced identically to the iphone...at least for a week or two until they have to give them away because nobody cares.

 

So much for your argument.

[iamshack]

I would think that while Jobs has been brilliant, he has worked with his team closely enough and for enough time that his vision can be replicated fairly accurately.

[StrangeSox]

Most new androids are priced identically to the iphone...at least for a week or two until they have to give them away because nobody cares.

 

So much for your argument.

 

Nobody except the 60% of the market? There's a lot of mediocre Android phones out there, and that's the difference between them and Apple: Apple wants to control the entire product from start-to-finish to ensure that they only put out what they view as high-quality items in which they can control the consumer's experience, for better or worse.

 

I'm not sure what that has to do with my "argument" that Android market share is exploding and that tech. innovation won't grind to a halt because Jobs stepped down.

[RockRaines]

So back to the original non-I hate Apple topic.

 

 

I dont think its totally out of bounds to think Apple and the rest of the technological world loses quite a bit with Jobs stepping down and probably focusing on his health. The guy has done more for technology then just what has happened the last several years. Dont forget that it was Jobs who helped start the PC business and revolutionized it with a mouse-based interface. In all fairness it most likely had alot to do with Woz, but Jobs was the guy who brought alot of these folks together.

 

He is also the single largest shareholder at Disney being that he completely revolutionized "cartoon" media and pushed it into the mainstream with countless box office hits. I am not sure how involved he is today, but its not out of bounds to think he still could have continued to move the rock within that area as well.

[StrangeSox]

Here's a good write-up of his greatest hits

 

http://gizmodo.com/5834413/steve-jobs-inve...r-android-phone

[Y2HH]

Nobody except the 60% of the market? There's a lot of mediocre Android phones out there, and that's the difference between them and Apple: Apple wants to control the entire product from start-to-finish to ensure that they only put out what they view as high-quality items in which they can control the consumer's experience, for better or worse.

 

I'm not sure what that has to do with my "argument" that Android market share is exploding and that tech. innovation won't grind to a halt because Jobs stepped down.

 

Tech innovation won't grind to a halt because Jobs stepped down. That's not the argument I was refuting. The argument you made was the typically repeated, "Apple products are way overpriced", bulls*** I hear over and over.

 

The numbers simply don't fit.

 

Does Apple charge a profit on their products? Sure...as does everyone...so long as they can. (HP could not, hence why they swallowed a loss on their 99$ tablets last week).

 

Apples typical margins are 25%, well below Microsoft's 35%+...that aside, a 25% margin across all products sold does not constitute them taking 60%+ of the smartphone industries profits (which they currently do), as competitors like HTC often charge just as much for their newer model phones as Apple does. It has more to do with the fact that they sell them in greater numbers, and with less models to support they have far less overhead, which other companies don't seem to care about. Meanwhile, a Droid 1, 2, 3, X, and who knows what else all in the span of 1 single year all from Motorola, and hardly any of them still supported and/or lacking updates. Congratulations Moto Mobility, before Google bought you, you sold MILLIONS of Android devices...yet somehow LOST money (a lot of it)...despite many of their new models costing 199$+, just like Apples iPhone. People may not have noticed, but over time Apple has also lowered the subsidized price of their 3GS and iPhone 4 models...yet their margins somehow INCREASED.

 

This is because they do business efficiently, and make changes when necessary to make them easier to produce.

 

Dismissing Apples products as merely overpriced is just wrong. SOME of their products are overpriced...some are not. I'd bet most companies work this way, but just aren't selling in the record numbers that Apple is.

 

The iPad 2 is as competitively priced in the industry as you can get...which is why nobody else can seem to make a dent yet. It's also why most Android pads with similar specs/ability (or more) cost the same (or more).

 

Yes, innovation will continue. Yes, Android is becoming a solid OS...but their distribution methods and shaky support hinder it...regardless of how much it spreads. People get Androids because they a) hate apple, or b) cannot afford an iPhone, want a smartphone, and get very cheap model Android instead.

Edited August 25, 2011 by Y2HH

[StrangeSox]

lol you took that joke way too seriously

[Y2HH]

lol you took that joke way too seriously

 

Repeating something I hear on a daily basis isn't a joke...it's repeating something many people actually believe.

[StrangeSox]

I know, I was poking fun at it. Their products are expensive because they don't produce bargain or mid-range products for the most part.

[Y2HH]

I know, I was poking fun at it. Their products are expensive because they don't produce bargain or mid-range products for the most part.

 

You took that more seriously than it was meant, too. I understood what you meant when you said that...that you understood what I was talking about and knew that before I elaborated...

 

I have to say, since becoming a Mac user, if/when you do need support, it's refreshing that you get an American on the phone, and/or in person at any Apple retail store. That kind of support is second to none.

Edited August 25, 2011 by Y2HH

[BigSqwert]

I have to say, since becoming a Mac user, if/when you do need support, it's refreshing that you get an American on the phone, and/or in person at any Apple retail store. That kind of support is second to none.

 

Racist

[StrangeSox]

You took that more seriously than it was meant, too.

 

Not possible, I didn't actually read the post.

[Jenksismyhero]

Nobody except the 60% of the market? There's a lot of mediocre Android phones out there, and that's the difference between them and Apple: Apple wants to control the entire product from start-to-finish to ensure that they only put out what they view as high-quality items in which they can control the consumer's experience, for better or worse.

 

I'm not sure what that has to do with my "argument" that Android market share is exploding and that tech. innovation won't grind to a halt because Jobs stepped down.

 

I thought I read somewhere that this is one of the main reasons Google bought Motorola. Too many iterations of Android out there causing it to be less recognizable/familiar to consumers.

[StrangeSox]

our terrible patent system is why google bought motorola mobile

Edited August 25, 2011 by StrangeSox

[Y2HH]

our terrible patent system is why google bought motorola mobile

 

No it's not...otherwise they would have made a serious run at the Nortel patents...OR, join Microsoft and Apple in their bid for them -- since Google was outright invited to join the Rockstar group and declined.

 

This is an excuse used by Google and regurgitated by their people.

 

Google could have had those Nortel patents if they choose too...in the end, they didn't want to share patents, they wanted them for themselves, and that's how they lost.

 

While people are making a big deal out of the Motorola patents, Google bought them because they want tighter hardware/software integration like Apple has. If it was merely about patents, there were better ways to go about acquiring patents, without spending 12+ billion dollars outright, plus all the ongoing operating expenses (effectively doubling Google's number of employees/payroll), not to mention...they just bought a company so fat and old it STILL loses money despite selling millions upon millions of Android devices.

 

It was about FAR more than patents.

 

This is a company that couldn't find a way to turn a dime of profit, despite having these glorified patents...

 

If it sounds too good to be true.

 

It is.

Edited August 25, 2011 by Y2HH

[StrangeSox]

tl;dr

[southsider2k5]

tl;dr

 

That's the best thing you have said all day!

[Steve9347]

Racist

Actually. Yes.

[RockRaines]

Is there a way to watch live TV through my imac?? For example can I tune into a feed of CNN while I work?

[Balta1701]

Is there a way to watch live TV through my imac?? For example can I tune into a feed of CNN while I work?

Go to http://www.cnn.com/video/ and click on the "Live" button. Only reason it might not work is if you can't play flash or have too slow of a connection.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Leaked AT&T Letter Demolishes Case For T-Mobile Merger - Lawyer Accidentally Decimates AT&T's #1 Talking Point

 

Might this be a dagger in the merger?

 

US government files to block proposed AT&T / T-Mobile merger

 

Bloomberg is reporting that the United States government (!) just filed court papers in Washington, D.C. to block the much ballyhooed tie-up between AT&T and T-Mobile USA. Oddly enough, T-Mobile and AT&T promised this morning that a total of 5,000 jobs would be hand delivered to the US if the two telcos were allowed to become one, but it'll take a heck of a lot more convincing now. For what it's worth, this doesn't mean that the deal is or isn't happening -- it's just another step in the process -- but it most certainly doesn't bode well for proponents. Nor for AT&T's share price.

 

According to the report, the Justice Department feels that the deal would "substantially lessen competition" in the wireless space. In fact, it boldly stated the following: "AT&T's elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market." If things end up falling apart, it's important to remember that AT&T would be forced to pay Deutsche Telekom $3 billion as a break-up fee, which ought to make Tiger Woods' misfortunes look like an outright bargain.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Athomeboy_2000

[StrangeSox]

Getting a new phone plan soon, switching to a smartphone and potentially switching carriers (currently on AT&T).

 

Any recommendations for phones or carriers? I think I'd like to keep the phone cost to $100 or less since we'll be picking up two phones.