Apple: First cult to lead world in semiconductor spending

Apple has become the world's largest OEM buyer of seminconductors, leaving both Hewlett-Packard and Samsung in the dust, according to industry research outfit IHS iSuppli. In 2010, iSuppli says, Apple spent $17.5 billion on semiconductors, a 79.6 per cent increase from the $9.7 billion is spent in 2009. That year, the company …

[NoneSuch]

Well...

"Apple's growth, iSuppli says, is down to the company's knack for convincing fanbois to purchase everything it offers."

I am betting the Fanboi supply runs out before the semiconductors.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not necessarily

Fanbois and Fangals tend to get together and produce fankids.

An apple household is usually an Apple _ONLY_ household - from dad's iPad to junior's iPod.

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly!

Note the number of countries still fitting "civil wars", religious indoctrination, of which I suppose you could include Apple, is passed down the family line!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ride the bubble.

EOF

[Richard Scratcher]

Who are you calling a cult?

I wish you'd stop referring to Apple as a "cult", it's a religion.

Show some respect.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

You're right

I was going to ask "what's the difference" but on reflection, you're right. The activities of a cult only affect the lives of a small group of people. A religion operates on a much grander scale.

Not that a religion bears any more respect than a cult mind you, in that respect they are equal.

[Christian Berger]

What about self produced semiconductors

At least HP and Sony produce their own semiconductors.

[cloudgazer]

A man walked into a mexican restaurant

and got seated by a host wielding an iPad-2. No it's not bad joke (well ok it is), it's what happened to me today in Wahaca a popular London Mexican-food chain. Seems they've switched to fondleslabs for their queueing system (generally about an hour wait much after 7pm).

I dunno, maybe the owners are fanbois, or maybe this bizarre little device has hit an ergonomic sweet spot the way the original palm pilot did. This is the first time I've seen one used 'in the wild' for commercial purposes anyway.

[Eddy Ito]

Meh...

Big deal Apple bought more semiconductors than Samsung. Should we now compare their respective semiconductor fabrication capacity? Thought not.

[Chad H.]

Oh Come on

Every consumer-facing company in the world would kill to be Apple. Seen as a leader by the media, army of fanatic customers, the lot.

[Mage]

Suspect figures

What sort of semiconductors are they counting?

Which companies did they check?

[nyelvmark]

Interesting to note

...that more than 50% of all today's semiconductors are being used in the fashion industry.

Maybe that "wearable computing" that we all pissed ourselves laughing at 10 years ago might really be the coming thing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that your best attempt?

"Fanbois", "cult". Really? Is that still the best you can come up with?

I remember when The Register was informed and original, humourous and biting, but not just a place that baits people to get page impressions for advertisers.

[Dick Head]

Seems like you're alienating a growing share of your market...

...by mindlessly labelling Apple customers as fanbois or part of a cult.

May have been funny once or twice but after so many iterations it gets boring.

Oh, I forgot. It's all about clicks, whether they're done out of annoyance or otherwise.

[PhilipN]

Mexican Restaurant?

There's a restaurant here in Hong Kong which gives diners an IPad instead of a ginormous wine list (and a hernia).

Cheers