Apple revenue tops bullish expectations by $1bn The Wall Street moneymen were expecting a big quarter for Apple, and with today's announcement that the Cupertinians had pulled in $15.7bn in revenue in their third quarter of fiscal 2010, those prognosticating financial folks got what they were hoping for — and a billion dollars more. "It was a phenomenal quarter that …
Since when did sales, turnover, profit, or any other market measure equate to quality? McDonalds is the biggest restaurant chain in the world, but I'd much rather eat at Big Bill's down the road.
Apple have an absolute stunning business model, all credit to them for that. I prefer my current combination of Windows on home-brew PC, Linux on home-brew server, and Android on a (currently) Samsung phone, each one carefully chosen for the functionality they provide rather than the company that sells them.
GJC
We seem to see a lot of anti-Apple posts by you lately? Fortunately we can agree on one thing. I too chose my computer and phone based on the functionality it provides, and I chose Apple. Your lack of understanding on why people choose Apple products continues on yet another thread. It may help you to sleep at night to think of Apple users as fools who buy shiny beads, but the reality is you obviously don't understand why Apple users buy their products or are so happy with them.
That's not my intention generally, and certainly wasn't in the comment you picked up on - I was simply trying to point out the inconsistency in the original posting, which seemed to be equating high turnover with a good product. The two are rarely linked.
You might find this hard to believe, but I *like* Apple products, and always have right back to the original Mac in '84. However, *for my usage*, I dislike Apple the company and their way of doing business, and I dislike the closed nature of their product offerings. I entirely understand why some people choose the products, and long may that continue - a market with just one dominant provider is a bad market.
I reserve the right, however, to continue poking fun at evangelists of all shapes and sizes, be they technologists, religious fundamentalists, sports fans, or any other type. It's the evangelising I'm attacking, not the products.
GJC
Microsoft and Google are far cheaper than Apple, only someone blind would dispute that
Apple is being seen as a must-have luxury by fanboys but clearly they are acting like a cult, blindly following and buying anything with the apple sign
Think scientology, closed off and secluded and expensive to join ranks with
A mac costs more than most windows pcs/laptops and Android phones are mostly cheaper than iphones
In 10 years apple will be a bottom feeder again when the fanboys see sense
"In 10 years apple will be a bottom feeder"
"the iPad will be a huge flop",
"antenna-gate has doomed the iPhone 4"
yawn, yawn, yawn.
I just love the wishful thinking of the Apple haters. How awful it must be for you to constantly see your predictions fail to materialize as Apple goes from strength to strength.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated :-)
...put you money where your flamebait is?
http://www.longbets.org/
"In 10 years apple will be a bottom feeder again when the fanboys see sense"
You see, the Apple gear that I use, I use because if find it the best equipment for the job and the switchers I know did so because they got sick of 'doze getting in their way.
And now that Android permits junkware (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/07/android-junkware.html) let's see which way the wind blows, eh?
"And now that Android permits junkware"
That's not from android its been put on the phone by the phone maker not the OS maker
Phones have always had added programs and demos
Does the iphone i suppose you have not already have programs on it?
You're grasping at straws Howard and your "switchers" you know do not represent the majority of people with a computer who run windows
apple lost the desktop war, they make less cash than Google and MS, and they have a closed Orwellian platform where they operate as God
It can't last, the fanboy bubble will burst.
**That's not from android its been put on the phone by the phone maker not the OS maker**
From the user's point of view, who gives a fuck? It is unwanted and unrequested clutter.
**Does the iphone i suppose you have not already have programs on it?**
Yep - the default ones all full versions (no bait wear, no demos nothing at the carrier's insistence) and the rest my choice.
**they make less cash than Google and MS**
Or rly? False re Google; borrowed time re MS.
So about the long bet...
"From the user's point of view, who gives a fuck? It is unwanted and unrequested clutter."
That's the point you made about Android permitting junkware sunk by YOUR own argument!
Easy not to care when it's pointed out you're wrong isn't it?
"**they make less cash than Google and MS**
Or rly? False re Google; borrowed time re MS."
I can offer a decent argument why apple won't be the biggest company forever, you can't
I started this by pointing out that fact and you argued about it trying to poke holes, yet here you are now claiming Google and MS will fall with NO evidence AT ALL
If you don't like my point of view mate thats fine but at least i can back mine up with evidence, which is more than can be said for yours
" (no bait wear, no demos nothing at the carrier's insistence) and the rest my choice."
proved too hard for you to understand?
Do at least *try* to grasp the difference between choosing to have something and not being given the choice. I know it's tricky, but think about it on your way to kindergarten on Monday.
"yet here you are now claiming Google and MS will fall with NO evidence"
Um, where?
"i can back mine up with evidence"
You might want to try showing some of it then...
Now, about the long bet...?
Maybe they don't have to, Microsoft and Google both make far more profit than apple and it's never been able to reach the audience they have for their Desktops and Search/Ad business.
Yet Google's Android phones stand a chance at taking customers from apple so it's quite possible in 10 years we'll see apple losing the phone war just like it did the desktop war.
@Tigra
Apple is set to surpass MS in revenue pretty soon. They've already passed them in market cap. Your attempt to hide behind those numbers pretty much fails from the outset.
And FYI, the phone business of 2010 is not the same as the desktop business of 1884. But feel free to insert your head into the sand and live in the land of denial.
Apple is set to pass Microsoft pretty soon?
Microsoft's Q3 won't be out until tomorrow, but from their Q2:
"REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 28, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today announced record revenue of $19.02 billion for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009, a 14% increase from the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $8.51 billion, $6.66 billion and $0.74 per share, which represented increases of 43%, 60% and 57%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period."
So I guess if you consider 15 bil and 19 bil "close" your argument would hold up, but the fact of the matter is even on their best day Apple is 20% behind Microsoft and will not be there any time soon.
>Come haters, come one and all - bring forth the bile, the insults, the loathing and resentment, the patronising and the oh-so-holier-than-thou sanctimoniousness...<
How much of that profit did you get? to be so happy for Apple.
It just goes to show the Dark Brotherhoods plans are reaching fruition, the utter stupidification of the human race.
Ooh, shiny!
...is not that Apple did so well, but that they did so when all the haters doomed both iphone4 and ipad to newtonian sales oblivion. Humble pie all round for them.
And don't think you're getting off lightly either 'bois'...how is Apple making so much profit with your cash something to celebrate? Good lord, man...
I guess it comes down to whether you consider the profits excessive or not.
If you work for Goldman Sachs, I'll wager you consider the margins here are chicken feed and to hell with public opinion, but if you work for another tech company, you're probably surprised how Apple manages to get away with not just charging a premium, but making a considerable %age in the process.
As the original poster, I'll put my PoV down as "ta very much Apple", since I own a good whack of AAPL. Capitalism WTF.
I'm not sure how much of this is reflection of how good Apple is, and how much of it is about how bad Vista was. I know that I personally have convinced 3 of my relatives to buy a Macbook in the last 12 months after years of being windows users. It was easier to convince them, as they were so frustrated with their last Windows machine.
In the same time frame, Apple merrily put UP the prices of most of its line, yet people still switched. Why? Vista really was THAT awful. And Apple knew it.
Apple don't want to be the majority PC supplier. With that comes awkward anti-trust questions, class actions and questions about dubious / unreasonable contract terms (like the iOS dev terms, for example) - they simply want to be very profitable. They are happier selling VERY EXPENSIVE devices to 10% of the population, that selling really cheap ones to 90% - I suspect if their market share goes up too much, they'll just put prices up again.
So Apple fans: don't wish for too much success for Apple, or your beloved machines will just get MORE expensive.
The Old Chestnuts story again.
Very expensive, eh? Check out the prices vis-à-vis the specs and you'll find very little difference (even with Dellboy) and when you check the longevity there's even less.
Regarding CHEAP machines ... tell that one to Sony! And when you factor in the Windows OS debacles (Vista, WinMob), Apple begin to look cheap.
I do agree, though, that we should not wish for Apple to grow too much. The lower orders might go from wanting them to actually owning them. Now that WOULD be a disaster!
Seriously? There's no comparison here. I can build a component box for about £1500, Which would out-spec and out-benchmark a £2500 MacPro.
The reason I don't buy that generic PC box is because I don't want the OS headache of Windows, and MacOS is the best GUI available for *nix
But hardware wise. Seriously: you can get the same numbers in your HW spec for about 70% of the cost of a mac. Fact.
But
I think you just described pretty much the whole foundation of consumerism.
I can live without it - 'it' in this case being Apple kit - if I choose, just as I *can* live without almost everything I own if i really had to. I just choose not to, as I have for nigh on twenty years. If someone else decides to deride me or think less of me because of that, well really, do you think I could give a crap? Of course not.
I do care about the value of my stock, so seeing Apple posting great results pleases me. I'm sure one day they will fall from their perch - no one rules the roost forever (just to mix my metaphors). It's just their turn for success and inevitably there are plenty of folks who are desperate to see them fail.
BB
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