1. We've had very few donations over the year. I'm going to be short soon as some personal things are keeping me from putting up the money. If you have something small to contribute it's greatly appreciated. Please put your screen name as well so that I can give you credit. Click here: Donations
    Dismiss Notice

Apple: Will it Continue to Prosper? Should it?

Discussion in 'Tilted Philosophy, Politics, and Economics' started by MKOLLER, Jul 5, 2012.

  1. MKOLLER

    MKOLLER Vertical

    Location:
    Susanville, CA
    Back in March, when Apple was kicking considerable ass, I wrote a prediction, which I posted on the Dollars Message Board. Since I can't link yet, I'll quote: (Annotations in bold.)

    That's the whole story. Needless to say, my prediction was wrong. Yes, Apple did rise a little longer, peaking at $640. But a few weeks later, Apple got in some serious legal battles with Samsung Corp, as well as the Chinese government. Its stock fell continuously, with the absolute minimum being $530 on May 17th and 18th. It has since recovered to close at $610 on today's exchange, after some sharp gains over five consecutive days.

    My opinion is that Apple's shares do have the potential to continue to go up from here, especially when three things are considered:

    1) 2nd quarter earnings posted record highs. 3rd quarter earnings look like they'll do the same.
    2) Apple has recently released the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. At a base price of $2100, it's debatable how well it will sell, but since the technology can be improved upon, the price will eventually drop, and it will in time pay for itself, as far as Apple is concerned. Additionally, OSX Mountain Lion comes out, and that's going to be an important factor in the next quarterly earnings report.
    3) Yesterday, on July Fourth, courts ruled that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus can no longer be sold in the United States. This was at Apple's request. The reason was over a patent but we have to bear in mind that Apple is buying up every patent they can get their grubby little hands on, and when it gets down to it, they really are trying to monopolize.

    Of course, Apple can't monopolize in the US because of the Anti-Trust Act, but moving to another country or starting their own certainly isn't off the table.

    What do you guys think?
     
    MKOLLER, Jul 5, 2012
    #1
  2. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    Whew, there is an awful lot in the OP to digest and threads among threads that can be intertwined discussions.

    I can only really follow the way that the tech industry has followed over the years which is basically, continue to evolve or die. Some evolve too late, Palm and Kodak are examples of that. RIM and Nokia may also be in that same boat but we'll see if they can pull it out.

    Some like IBM and Sony evolve off other strategies and can live off their old earnings and processes.

    I think that Apple falls into that category in the future *IF* they can figure out a path. Apple can become a company of no longer having to attack, but more of a company of defend vis a vie the patent trolls.

    There are few great visionary leaders these days, in business or in government. Jobs was always a visionary.
     
    cynthetiq, Jul 6, 2012
    #2
  3. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Apple can only continue their current trajectory if they continue to innovate.

    Let's see: the iPod, iTunes, the iPhone, the iPad. How much have these contributed to their sales growth over the past decade?

    Short answer: a shit ton.

    Let's see. Is anyone else in the mp3 player market? The online digital media market? The touch-display smartphone market? The tablet market?

    Short answer: heck, yes.

    Apple has been winning because they've been the innovators who have either made markets or broke out in them. Others play catch-up and they get their slices of the pie. By then, Apple normally comes up with updated models with new features, etc., to stay ahead.

    They will only continue the way the have if they can innovate and keep ahead of the curve with features in software, hardware, and distribution/content. They will only continue if they come up with the next big trend in hardware on the category level. For example, what comes after the tablet? Apple needs to be the first to figure it out. Failing to do so will break their current trend.

    I could see Apple becoming like IBM, but instead of dominating in business, they'll dominate in portable computing.

    I'm wondering if computing innovations on the category level will plateau. I mean, what's next besides biocomputing and cybernetics? Personal nanocomputers?

    Man, I still can't believe Steve Jobs is dead.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2012
    Baraka_Guru, Jul 6, 2012
    #3
  4. the_jazz

    the_jazz Accused old lady puncher


    -+-{Important TFP Staff Message}-+-
    You have had the ability to post links for quite a while. You should try it.


    There is a zero percent chance of Apple monopolizing anything. The tech industry has taught us that there are multiple solutions to the same problem. Case in point - the creation of the integrated circuit. If you don't know that story, well then you're not really qualified to make predictions about the industry since you don't know any of the basic facts.

    Tech is truly global, both in terms of manufacturing and distribution. While the US may currently be the largest market, Europe and the various Asian countries are not that far behind. Apple, in the past 10-ish years, has dominated the consumer market in terms of innovation in hardware, and they've done it in a way that creates a need for their software. The biggest thing they've done is link their products to iTunes. Even if they don't develop a single new successful product (difficult to imagine at this point, but plausible), they'll be riding the revenue of iTunes for another decade.
     
    the_jazz, Jul 6, 2012
    #4
  5. Bodkin van Horn

    Bodkin van Horn One of the Four Horsewomyn of the Fempocalypse

    Location:
    Inside The Nucleus of Feminism
    Kind of tangential, but I suspect we won't see apple in any long term serious relationships with the military or medical providers because ipads and iPhones aren't really that secure. It seems like every few months a new article appears highlighting the various ways these types of mobile devices are whoring out our information without telling us. The last thing a hospital admin wants is to have pay HIPAA fines because apple or an app developer has been secretly uploading data contained on a device. This type of thing is true of Android devices too.
     
    Bodkin van Horn, Jul 6, 2012
    #5
  6. MKOLLER

    MKOLLER Vertical

    Location:
    Susanville, CA
    That's a problem with the application itself, not the device. A recent BBC article (BBC News - Researchers use spoofing to 'hack' into a flying drone) outlined that a military drone was hacked into, and that's a problem with its firmware, more or less. Researchers could overwrite that with something more secure without making changes to the hardware platform, and I believe the same can be said for the iPad and its sister devices.

    The only thing I dislike about your post is that the Mac is not mentioned. It all started with the Mac, and in my opinion, that's where it will all end. If Mac was a household name, I doubt alternate universe me would have made this thread because I would have been too busy fiddling around with features on a Macbook Pro with Retina Display. One of Apple's biggest criticisms is that the loyal Macintosh fanbase was ignored after the onset of the iPod revolution.
     
    MKOLLER, Jul 6, 2012
    #6
  7. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    Ignored? In 2007, they changed their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. Sure they sell computers too, but they do what they have done for a long time which is appeal to the consumer base not the corporate base.

    Render farms no longer depend on having Macs for their CGI processing.
    Video editing housing no longer depend on having Macs for their edit suites.
    Graphic design shops can accomplish what they need on PCs with lower TCO.

    The electronics industry is all what have you done for me lately. Anything not responded to is an opening for another company to gain a foothold and easily dominate from one simple innovation, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.
     
    cynthetiq, Jul 6, 2012
    #7
  8. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I left it out intentionally. I spend, on average, 8 to 10 hours a day on a Mac, and I have for years.

    The reason why I left it out of the equation is because of the distinction that the above-mentioned products/services have in terms of contributing to Apple's growth, influence, and, ultimately, bottom line. The impact of the iPod and iTunes alone is substantial (at first anyway).

    Mac isn't to be ignored, mind you. I just think it's important to point out that what Apple does above and beyond the Mac is important to its success as we see it now.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2012
    Baraka_Guru, Jul 6, 2012
    #8