Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!news.glorb.com!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.supernews.com!news.supernews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:16:19 -0600 User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/12.30.0.110427 Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:16:20 -0600 Subject: Re: [OT, sorta] How Tim Cook Should Really Be Running Apple From: George Kerby Newsgroups: misc.phone.mobile.iphone,comp.mobile.ipad,comp.sys.mac.system Message-ID: Thread-Topic: [OT, sorta] How Tim Cook Should Really Be Running Apple Thread-Index: Ac3/zk33WQ0OqZ42SU2XdL8Ah7tB/Q== References: <51097b86$0$43826$c3e8da3$9deca2c3@news.astraweb.com> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Lines: 77 X-Trace: sv3-TTVXIBYZJli5IoItXhGlLvygPbUm3Tdfa83mm9s+FgXgsRNvDe91wsGyskZEe51brtAWOaHGpOg6k7g!ldLUIe/gZ/T28oPbDWYhzwAF1p7qmQ//OOqLcWLXGVi1EMKtnLWkMyFsEHLkEzQNNj2u8ALHpygh!VA== X-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/abuse.html X-DMCA-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 X-Original-Bytes: 4749 Xref: csiph.com comp.mobile.ipad:20915 comp.sys.mac.system:39219 On 1/30/13 1:59 PM, in article 51097b86$0$43826$c3e8da3$9deca2c3@news.astraweb.com, "JF Mezei" wrote: > On 13-01-30 12:53, Michelle Steiner wrote: > >> Unfortunately, no. It's an accurate summation of the contradictory >> criticisms being leveled at Cook. > > > In the last days of Digital Equipment Corp, there was much debate on > whether DEC should continue with its high price low volume or switch to > lower price higher volume mantra. > > DEC responded with its unwillingness to sacrifice profit margin and > *risk* going to higher volume because it wasn't sure it was able to > truly increase volumes sufficiently to balance out the loss of prfit margin. > > DEC is dead. > > prior to the iPod, Apple was a niche player. Not mass market. And Wall > Street didn't care about Apple. > > All of a sudden, with iPod and then with iPhone, Apple not only became > mass market , but also dominated it. That got Wall Street's attention. > > Now, Apple appears to be on a path where it must decide whether to > remain a dominent player or cede the place to Samsung without a fight > and downgrade itself back to niche player. > > Apple seems to have made it clear that it will hapily cede its market > dominence because it won't want to jeoperdize profit margin. And for > now, Apple continues to grow even if it is losing market share and > letting Samsung dominate. > > This isn't such a simple cut and dry decision. One must also consider > that Apple's ability to truly differentiate itself will diminish as > smart phones mature and they all get pretty much the same features (and > in many places, the iPhone is late to market with features such as NFC). > So the ability to command higher prices may also diminish, especially as > carriers wish to reduce or eliminate subsidies. > > The Wall Street Casino is short term machine. That pushes the "don't > sacrifice profit margin" calls. However, if Apple looks at the longer > term, it must ask itself what a niche player will look like 5 years down > the down. Will the iPhone still have sufficent market presence to still > attract developpers/applications ? > > What happens if Apple maintans high prices, loses market share, and then > carriers decide to no longer subsidize expensice iPhones ? Apple will > have to lower its profit margin, but by then, will have already lost > much market share. In this scenario, Apple would have been better off > lowering profit margin today in order to fight for market share it can > retain high volumes instead of being forced back to niche player. > > > The thing is that short term thinking is all in the pink because despite > loss of market share, Apple si sstill growing and still generating > record sales etc. > > And remember that with the smartphone market maturing, the ability to > for Apple to differentiate itself will diminish, so it will be harder > for it to command higher prices. > > The contradictory stuff from the Wall Street Casino Analysts reflects a > debate betwene short and long term thinking, a debate I am sure is held > within Apple's board. > Interesting comparison...