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It's about half the market as far as profit goes – the low-end stuff is absurdly low margin and customers have very little brand loyalty. Yes, that's true. But

by scholia 11y ago

It's about half the market as far as profit goes – the low-end stuff is absurdly low margin and customers have very little brand loyalty. Yes, that's true. But Apple needs to have a high profit margin because it only makes $1 billion a week (after tax) and has only $200 billion in the bank. It would obviously be a waste of money to serve more people, or even pay its Chinese workers a living wage. More importantly, the netbook and other low-end market has been fading as people buy tablets and large smartphones. The netbook market hasn't existed for a very long time, but sales of $199 laptops like the HP Stream 11 seem to be pretty good. Obviously they don't include the ability to overcharge users by $100 a shot for small increases in RAM or storage. However, the tablet market -- including iPads -- is declining faster than the PC market. Nowadays even Apple has followed Samsung etc in making phablets.

s73v3r 11y ago
" It would obviously be a waste of money to serve more people, or even pay its Chinese workers a living wage." They do. Compare the workers at Foxconn Apple factories to other factory workers. And remember that just about every other tech company also makes their stuff in China.
- scholia 11y ago
  Every company makes stuff in China, but not under the massive pressure that Apple's big-bang marketing puts them under, where workers are forced to deliver many millions of devices in the shortest possible time. It was Apple production lines that were driving suicides, and hence the nets round Foxconn dorms. Pegatron has had Chinese workers doing 90-100 hours a week, sometimes more, just so Apple fanboys can get their fancy new toys without the massive loss of kudos that waiting a month would cost them. http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/107 http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/107 And Apple workers do not get a living wage, according to China Labor Watch, even though -- as I stated correctly -- Apple is making a billion dollars a week in profits and has more than $200 billion in cash. Of course, this isn't brutal capitalist exploitation. Or if it is, well, who cares?

by scholia 11y ago

s73v3r 11y ago

" It would obviously be a waste of money to serve more people, or even pay its Chinese workers a living wage." They do. Compare the workers at Foxconn Apple factories to other factory workers. And remember that just about every other tech company also makes their stuff in China.

scholia 11y ago
Every company makes stuff in China, but not under the massive pressure that Apple's big-bang marketing puts them under, where workers are forced to deliver many millions of devices in the shortest possible time. It was Apple production lines that were driving suicides, and hence the nets round Foxconn dorms. Pegatron has had Chinese workers doing 90-100 hours a week, sometimes more, just so Apple fanboys can get their fancy new toys without the massive loss of kudos that waiting a month would cost them. http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/107 http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/107 And Apple workers do not get a living wage, according to China Labor Watch, even though -- as I stated correctly -- Apple is making a billion dollars a week in profits and has more than $200 billion in cash. Of course, this isn't brutal capitalist exploitation. Or if it is, well, who cares?