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Face it: the global economy sucks. There are various types of crisis in the US, UK, EU, Japan, and China. Every government is desperate to raise money i.e. incr

Face it: the global economy sucks. There are various types of crisis in the US, UK, EU, Japan, and China. Every government is desperate to raise money i.e. increase taxes (cf France's various recent disastrous forays in this area). So the point that Apple, Facebook, Google, Starbucks et al may have to pay higher corporate tax is a good one (and let's hope they do). More importantly for AAPL though is the generational shift, I think. People in their 20s (just), 30s, 40s know about the Apple 'cool' factor but on a recent trip to SE Asia I would guess 60% or more of the teens were using non-iPhones. (And NB smartphone usage in this group in Singapore is probably 90%+). The newspapers had multiple full-page ads every day for Android phones (paid for by the telcos I guess). And needless to say the Androids are far cheaper than the iPhone. Finally if the iPad mini is "good enough" for most people then it will cannabalise the full iPad sales. I don't foresee another blockbuster product rollout though I'd love to be surprised. I used to have some AAPL shares -- I sold at a tidy profit (though not at the peak) and now just observe from the sidelines and sleep better at night :) I just wish they would improve the working practices in China, or at least pay higher wages and take a bit less in profit.

czhiddy 14y ago
> People in their 20s (just), 30s, 40s know about the Apple 'cool' factor but on a recent trip to SE Asia I would guess 60% or more of the teens were using non-iPhones. I can't speak for the rest of Asia, but judging by my extended family, the Apple craze in mainland China is still pretty ferocious. A combination of the materialistic culture and view of Apple as a luxury brand often leads to situations like [1] and [2] popping up in the news. Of course, each country is different. Was it Indonesia where Blackberry had a 90% market share among the youth? [1] http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/chinese-freshman-girl-demands-apple-iphone-ipad-macbook-3-piece-set-for-college.html http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/chinese-freshman-girl... [2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126172/Chinese-boy-sells-kidney-buy-iPad-iPhone.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126172/Chinese-boy-... > Finally if the iPad mini is "good enough" for most people then it will cannabalise the full iPad sales. This was the same argument against the iPod mini. As Apple has stated before, they'd much rather cannibalize their own products than have a competitor do it.

czhiddy 14y ago

> People in their 20s (just), 30s, 40s know about the Apple 'cool' factor but on a recent trip to SE Asia I would guess 60% or more of the teens were using non-iPhones. I can't speak for the rest of Asia, but judging by my extended family, the Apple craze in mainland China is still pretty ferocious. A combination of the materialistic culture and view of Apple as a luxury brand often leads to situations like [1] and [2] popping up in the news. Of course, each country is different. Was it Indonesia where Blackberry had a 90% market share among the youth? [1] http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/chinese-freshman-girl-demands-apple-iphone-ipad-macbook-3-piece-set-for-college.html http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/chinese-freshman-girl... [2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126172/Chinese-boy-sells-kidney-buy-iPad-iPhone.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126172/Chinese-boy-... > Finally if the iPad mini is "good enough" for most people then it will cannabalise the full iPad sales. This was the same argument against the iPod mini. As Apple has stated before, they'd much rather cannibalize their own products than have a competitor do it.