[opendtv] Re: I'm starting to feel sorry for, and worry about

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 07:50:53 -0400

At 4:35 PM -0500 8/6/10, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:

Come now. Why make up a different rule for Apple to go by, compared with industry in general? Any product made in a walled garden costs more than products made under less restricted conditions. Competition lowers price.

Really?

I thought volume was a major factor, not to mention product design. And then there is the small matter that people will ay a bit more for a higher quality product.

But I agree, competition does generally lower price - but the infrastructure around a product can be a major product feature - your so called "walled gardens" also can contribute to lower prices and more competition. Just look at the price of iOS apps compared to the cost of a game for the PS3, X-Box or the Nintendo DS.

No doubt you probably think that the iPod is another Apple "walled garden product. But for some reason it managed to achieve and hold onto nearly 80% market share. And this market evolved rapidly because of competition - Apple drove down the price and increased capabilities relentlessly, while the rest of the market was trying to compete with the previous versions.

The same thing is happening again with the iPhone and the iPad.


The fact that the faithful continue to buy Apple products is great news for Apple, and the faithful are happy to pay the higher price. That's as far as it goes.

No Bert, Apple is not growing at a 30% clip because of the faithful.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/15/gartner-u-s-mac-sales-market-share-nearing-10/

According to Gartner's report, Apple placed fourth among U.S. computer shipments with a 9.8% market share on unit growth of 24.7% over the year-ago quarter. The nearly-10% U.S. market share for the quarter marks a new high for Apple over the past 15 years or so according to Gartner's numbers, up from the previous quarter's 8.0% and from 9.1% in the year-ago quarter.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/20results.html

Apple sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, representing a new quarterly record and a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 61 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.41 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company began selling iPads during the quarter, with total sales of 3.27 million.

About half of the Macs sold at Apple stores are being purchased by customers who are switching from a PC. Apparently some folks think a Mac is a better value.

Regards
Craig



----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:

- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word 
unsubscribe in the subject line.

Other related posts: