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11/12/09
Hell yes. Dell's market share make's apple's look pitiful. You here so much about "Apple Fanboys" because people who DO use macs tend to live and die by them, where as PC users aren't so loyal to a specific brand. Dell makes cheap, affordable PCs, and to many people, thats the #1 factor in buying a computer.
No matter how much apple is worth, or how "awesome" you think they are, they still have less makeup than 4% of the computer market worldwide, and less than 8% in the US.
By comparison, HP's worldwide market share is over 18%, And Dell's is over 15%.
More than 4 to 5 times that of Apple's.
And in the last fiscal year, Apple lost 16% of it's 4% market share to ACER. Wow. Big company there. Overall it lost 23% of its market share to Acer, Dell, and HP.
So in business terms, Apple isn't really much of a threat to anyone in the PC market.
Now that doesn't really matter because the markup on their products is so ridiculously high.
But fanboy's like you are more than willing to pay for whatever the benevolent Apple God's choose to provide you with.
I have nothing against mac, I think they make a great product, but it is extremely overpriced and contrary to what anyone thinks, they are still, at best, a minor force in the PC market.
11/12/09
Looking at just absolute market share is meaningless. As a profit making business it’s important to look at what market share you have of the most profitable segment of your market share. Only a dumb ass would be in the business to break even or lose money.
As far as I know, Apple has the highest share of the most profitable segment of personal computers. If I had to guess I would say it’s well in excess of 50%. Ditto for the smartphone segment.
Now, some would argue that having volume is beneficial in that it reduces costs in that your fixed costs are then spread over more units. But that’s just dumb. Dell, HP, ACER, and whoeverthehell else would not be able to compete with Apple overtime because their businesses are flawed. Do you know why?
I’ll tell you. They own their own production. This day and age it no longer makes sense to own such fixed plants and equipment. Apple is the IP business. They’re competitive advantage is in design. Someone like Foxconn’s competitive advantage is in production. You cannot compete against companies like Foxconn in production because they will kill you.
Companies like HP and Dell are drowning in their own fixed production costs. The management team not only has to worry about designing the best computers but also becoming the most efficient low cost producers of computers. That’s way too much for any single company to handle. Overtime, they will lose. That’s why their margins are way lower than Apple. They’re bottom feeding in the low margin business. Jobs has already said thanks but no thanks to that and he’s absolutely correct.
So, if you think about the 80/20 rule you can think about how 20% of the PC business derive 80% of the profits and Apple’s share of that 20% is way over 50%. What does it matter that they don’t have the other 90% of the low margin business? #chartoftheday
11/12/09
Profit is profit, compared to Nokia, SE and RIM apple still has quite a small % of the smartphone market, they're building, but they're still small. I'd go on, but I doubt I'd reach you, just look up figures before making them up, it just makes sense. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
[arstechnica.com] #chartoftheday
11/13/09
11/13/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
[www.appleinsider.com]
It's an estimate that they captured about 32% of total global handset profits. If you were to limit that figure to just smartphones, anyone with a brain can deduce that it’s over 50% since it's a much smaller market segment.
11/16/09
11/12/09
WHY?? Why would Apply buy any PC manufacturer? Here are some simple answers to possible reasons why they have no reason to:
1. They'll buy Dell/Gateway/Asus/Whomever for their R&D!
Sure, because the new products Dell is turning out would be extremely helpful to what Apple produces. The Dell PDAs are dead, the Dell media players are dead, and Dell really hasn't turned out much more besides PCs, not very "creative".
2. Apple could rebrand Dell PCs and essentially make "hackintoshes" at the factory!
Would Apple really have that on their homepage next to an iMac? "Buy an iMac or MacBook Pro and have one of the coolest computers around! Or, you can purchase our black or white unreliable desktop line for $300 that will have failing hard drives!"
3. Apple buying Dell would remove a large worldwide competitor.
This makes the "most" sense, but still, does Dell really compete? Unreliable, expensive comparatively to other brands, and rather "uncool" compared to Apple. Also, no one talks about being a "Dell fanboy" like Apple buyers do.
4. Apple will use Dell's already outsourced tech support because they are extremely helpful.
I threw this in just as a pun.......
My honest opinion is that Apple will continue saving and perhaps pick up a few small businesses for various new ideas and development.
Nothing huge like nVidia or AMD, perhaps their own Flash manufacturer for the iPods and iPhones.
Within 3-5 years all shipping laptops will most likely be running flash hard drives standard anyway, why not make your own?
Also, having a nice reserve is very smart. Why do companies always have to "be up to something"? Never know when you need to pay legal fees for some lawsuit from some angry patent holder or pay nVidia or Intel some anti-trust settlement.
S**t happens.
11/12/09
And companies have to be "up to something" because they have shareholders to respond to. Apple is getting fine returns so the grumbling about this is pretty low but its still there. Its good to have a reserve but this high is ridiculous. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
11/12/09
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11/12/09
I can have the best job in the world and still bounce checks or I can work at McDs and put away 50% of each check in a high yield savings account. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
ah I gotcha, totally misread into that title #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/12/09
He starts giving away my money and I'm going to be pissed. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
And pekosROB is right. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has nothing to do with Microsoft. If Steve Jobs wants to create a foundation, great. But I doubt he will, because he strikes me as much more of a dick than Bill.
Either way, keep that stock climbing. I don't want to have to work after 50. And I want to be able to own a monkey. And the moon. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
Bill Gates != MS.
MS isn't giving any more of their shareholder's money away than apple is. Shareholders get pissed when you do that. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
1) R&D - they can out R&D spend the opposition and stay 3+ years ahead, as they did with the iPhone.
2) Exclusivity - when they find a product/technology they need, they can buy up all of it, for an extended period, thus lowering their buy price, and shutting out the opposition.
3) Takeovers - we haven't seen this much yet, but when you have that much money you can grow your business by acquisition, as Cisco do. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
Thats the thing.
Yes cash can do all of those things but apple budgets those things in and then just keeps hording the cash. Whenever anyone asks why or what they're going to do with it they give the boiler plate response of "divined or stock buy back is possible" but they never do it. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
They also built the manufacturing facility for the unibody macbooks, and are currently building a huge data center in the mid-west.
3 - well they bought coverflow, but that's the last company I remember.... #chartoftheday
11/12/09
I'm not disputing that they don't do those first two things, but it doesn't come out of cash on hand. It comes out of operating expenses. Thats the 10. odd billion they have as operating cash flow. Thats not what this is. This is just cash sitting around not doing anything. If they chose to put more into those operating expenses I'd be all for it. Instead they continue to operate at the current level and do nothing but horde away cash at unprecedented levels.
This is the you or me equivalent of putting money under the mattress. It doesn't do anything. I could use the money to go to school and get a better job (the closest I can come up with for a "you or me" example to your first two points) but I just keep it under the mattress and stare at it.
Your third point is also valid, but again they're not doing it and they really should be. My whole point is they're way way past that at this point. Their last major purchase was PA Semi and that was $278 million. They could do that a hundred times over now. A million dollars is a lot but when you've got billions of dollars even millions ends up being little more then a rounding thing.
The overall point is yes, that is all stuff they should be doing but they're not doing it. Again, not that they don't do those thing but that isn't what they're doing with this money.
I imagine they'll do something major soon just because its becoming such an issue. It comes up every quarter and eventually I think they'll do something with it just to quite the shareholders and the analysts.
Thats the real issue when it comes down to it. That isn't "apple's" money. Its "my" money and I would either like to have my money (dividend) or see them use it in ways that will make me more money. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
As a shareholder I gave apple some money to work with on the hope that I would get a return on my investment. I do get that so I'm not really complaining at this point. But its precisely because they're not using the money that I'm starting to wonder about it.
If I give you $50 and you take it and get something out of it I'm fine waiting for my $50 back until you get there. If you just put it in the bank I start to wonder why you aren't giving it back to me. Same thing here. They have a duty to their shareholders to do something with it. If I were there are multiple remedies then just selling my shares. After all apple asks me every year what they think they should do. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
11/12/09
Its not the first thing. Like I said, I'm not complaining right now. I'm making a good return.
There is a lot of noise about it out there. Every quarter it gets brought up, every quarter it gets swept under the rug again. There is a point at which its going to come to a head. Any investor is concerned about the facets of any company their involved in. If part of it is "dammit you're hording all my money" then its something to look at and be concerned about. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
MS has a bunch of cash on hand too. Difference is they actually use it (or at least try and use it). #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
It's best for Apple to continue to focus and advance what they are good at now, not spend cash entering industries they aren't experienced in (semiconductors). #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
Its a ten year old essay and is still relevant and contains more than a couple brilliant cultural observations.
Its available for free just google it. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
I'll read it some day, I promise, I even downloaded it, just not today. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
The real genius of the essay though is the cultural parallels he draws from other parts of life. Mainly how we knowingly pay for illusions we know are false because its easy and comforting. As he puts it a man standing with a shopping basket while his girlfriend piles in cosmetics.
Its a brilliant piece of writing you can get thru on a lazy sunday. #chartoftheday
11/12/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
Even if it was thats all the more reason that they should be investing it in technologies and companies then just hording it. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
You'll note that things really start to climb mid-2004, roughly one upgrade cycle (3 years +/-) after XP came out. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
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11/12/09
155 million at the time could buy you over 5% of the entire company in stock. Hell I think people had valued it around 1.5 billion total. Good thing they didn't sell out ;)
11/11/09
11/11/09
That "only" cost Lucas $350 million. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
I would expect Apple to use this cash for something more productive than financial holdings once the worldwide economy turns around. If you are a shareholder (and I am), you shouldn't be upset that Apple is sitting on a big pile of cash when financing is hard to come by and short-term financial investments have a large potential upside.
It's not like the CFO put the cash under his bed and refuses to let Apple have it back... #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
Its sitting there now. I'm sure they've got it in some great stuff that I could only dream of having similar returns but its not being used.
$34 billion is a lot. A lot is an understatement. Its the GNP of a small country.
Yes, financing is tough to come by in this economy. What are they going to have to finance for $34 billion though?
Its very, very similar to the money just sitting under Steve's bed. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
During recessions cash is king. Especially now when liquidity is hard to come by, it gives Apple complete freedom on how to run their business.
Agreed that 34B is a lot, but not for a company with the growth like Apple. #chartoftheday
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/11/09
11/12/09
What can't they buy? #chartoftheday
11/12/09