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Apple detractors keep predicting its downfall due to availability of commodity hardware, however Apple fans continue to purchase Apple gear because everything e

Apple detractors keep predicting its downfall due to availability of commodity hardware, however Apple fans continue to purchase Apple gear because everything else is commodity hardware.

jayd16 12y ago
The only reason they're relevant is the iPhone. If they didn't become the lead platform in a market that exploded shortly after, they would hardly be where they are today. Once again they're losing marketshare to commodity hardware now that the path has been paved. You can assume they'll strike lightning again but we'll see.
- ricardobeat 12y ago
  And the iPad. Oh, by the way, Apple has been on and off as the top PC vendor in the world for the past 3 years...
  - mcintyre1994 12y ago
    I thought they were a firm number one and iPads the number one computer. Just to clarify because I didn't know it was on and off, do you have a source at all just to see the details of that statistic?
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > Oh, by the way, Apple has been on and off as the top PC vendor in the world for the past 3 years... Sure, Apple makes more desktop/laptops than any other manufacturer; but far less than the entire Windows market; they are a great hardware manufacturer and remarkably durable there, but they have a history of establishing a market and then receding in relevance as a platform even if they remain the biggest single hardware manufacturer. Microsoft's OS did that to them in the PC market, and Google's may well do it to them in the mobile space.
    - anko 12y ago
      You're right, but this round developers are also considering how much 1) people are spending on each platform, 2) how fragmented each platform is If people are spending 80% of software sales on a platform with 15% of the market, with 5% of the support costs (due to lack of fragmentation) it's still a compelling platform for developers. I haven't looked up the exact numbers, I'm just saying that there are some combinations which are pretty compelling as a developer and actually make a platform more relevant even if it has a small percentage of the market's install base. Lastly, the market is growing rapidly - Apple still has the highest customer satisfaction which means people are more loyal to the brand.
      - dragonwriter 12y ago
        The fragmentation and brand loyalty issues were real, frequently cited, and considered by developers in the PC market as well. Heck there are still forms that do Mac-only development in the PC space for that reason, and this was a lot more common in the first decade and a half or so of the era of personal computers.
- robg 12y ago
  The only reason? They struck lightning twice - with the iPad.
- shawnc 12y ago
  Isn't there some 'reason' why any company becomes the lead platform? It's silly to say Apple is less special because they too, had a reason.
- sailfast 12y ago
  I think a 30% cut of all media sold in their app store, on their Apple TVs, and on their phones and tablets will sustain them quite well for a long while, especially from an investor perspective. That said, as a user and fan I am also expecting Apple to produce another game changing device / platform and they haven't delivered in the last couple of years (need a compelling reason to buy the new iPhone, for example). I gather this is what people mean by downfall? Unfortunately I can only aspire to such a level of irrelevance hehe.
  - fleitz 12y ago
    Keep in mind that the app ecosystem from apple provided payments is on par with greek yogurt in terms of total sales. No not yogurt, just greek yogurt.
beedogs 12y ago
To be fair, Apple's hardware lately has been unimpressive to me (a longtime Apple buyer) and their increasingly locked-down, inflexible software is calling any future purchases into doubt, too.
- TwoBit 12y ago
  The iPhone5s and iPad Air came out more than six months ago and still trounce all Android competitors in performance. How can you call that unimpressive?
- threeseed 12y ago
  How has Apple's software become increasingly locked-down ? OSX hasn't changed. iOS hasn't changed.
  - jstelly 12y ago
    Gatekeeper was explicitly designed to make OSX more locked down with respect to third party applications. You could also argue that the numerous rejections of third party applications that conflict with various Apple goals are changes in the iOS ecosystem that make it more locked down.
  - beedogs 12y ago
    Are you kidding? You used to be able to jailbreak iOS; now it's nigh-on impossible. Isn't that enough of an indication as to where the platform's headed? As far as OSX goes, the fact that it now prevents applications which weren't purchased from the App Store from running by default worries me. I guarantee future versions of the OS aren't going to make it any easier for end users.
fleitz 12y ago
There's also the issue of being laughed out of the room if they said the same thing about software. To me the biggest threat to iOS is the web, not Android, as long as everyone continues to push Apps on their website there's not going to be any real threat.

Apple detractors keep predicting its downfall due to availability of commodity hardware, however Apple fans continue to purchase Apple gear because everything else is commodity hardware.

jayd16 12y ago

The only reason they're relevant is the iPhone. If they didn't become the lead platform in a market that exploded shortly after, they would hardly be where they are today. Once again they're losing marketshare to commodity hardware now that the path has been paved. You can assume they'll strike lightning again but we'll see.

ricardobeat 12y ago
And the iPad. Oh, by the way, Apple has been on and off as the top PC vendor in the world for the past 3 years...
- mcintyre1994 12y ago
  I thought they were a firm number one and iPads the number one computer. Just to clarify because I didn't know it was on and off, do you have a source at all just to see the details of that statistic?
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > Oh, by the way, Apple has been on and off as the top PC vendor in the world for the past 3 years... Sure, Apple makes more desktop/laptops than any other manufacturer; but far less than the entire Windows market; they are a great hardware manufacturer and remarkably durable there, but they have a history of establishing a market and then receding in relevance as a platform even if they remain the biggest single hardware manufacturer. Microsoft's OS did that to them in the PC market, and Google's may well do it to them in the mobile space.
  - anko 12y ago
    You're right, but this round developers are also considering how much 1) people are spending on each platform, 2) how fragmented each platform is If people are spending 80% of software sales on a platform with 15% of the market, with 5% of the support costs (due to lack of fragmentation) it's still a compelling platform for developers. I haven't looked up the exact numbers, I'm just saying that there are some combinations which are pretty compelling as a developer and actually make a platform more relevant even if it has a small percentage of the market's install base. Lastly, the market is growing rapidly - Apple still has the highest customer satisfaction which means people are more loyal to the brand.
    - dragonwriter 12y ago
      The fragmentation and brand loyalty issues were real, frequently cited, and considered by developers in the PC market as well. Heck there are still forms that do Mac-only development in the PC space for that reason, and this was a lot more common in the first decade and a half or so of the era of personal computers.
robg 12y ago
The only reason? They struck lightning twice - with the iPad.
shawnc 12y ago
Isn't there some 'reason' why any company becomes the lead platform? It's silly to say Apple is less special because they too, had a reason.
sailfast 12y ago
I think a 30% cut of all media sold in their app store, on their Apple TVs, and on their phones and tablets will sustain them quite well for a long while, especially from an investor perspective. That said, as a user and fan I am also expecting Apple to produce another game changing device / platform and they haven't delivered in the last couple of years (need a compelling reason to buy the new iPhone, for example). I gather this is what people mean by downfall? Unfortunately I can only aspire to such a level of irrelevance hehe.
- fleitz 12y ago
  Keep in mind that the app ecosystem from apple provided payments is on par with greek yogurt in terms of total sales. No not yogurt, just greek yogurt.

beedogs 12y ago

To be fair, Apple's hardware lately has been unimpressive to me (a longtime Apple buyer) and their increasingly locked-down, inflexible software is calling any future purchases into doubt, too.

TwoBit 12y ago
The iPhone5s and iPad Air came out more than six months ago and still trounce all Android competitors in performance. How can you call that unimpressive?
threeseed 12y ago
How has Apple's software become increasingly locked-down ? OSX hasn't changed. iOS hasn't changed.
- jstelly 12y ago
  Gatekeeper was explicitly designed to make OSX more locked down with respect to third party applications. You could also argue that the numerous rejections of third party applications that conflict with various Apple goals are changes in the iOS ecosystem that make it more locked down.
- beedogs 12y ago
  Are you kidding? You used to be able to jailbreak iOS; now it's nigh-on impossible. Isn't that enough of an indication as to where the platform's headed? As far as OSX goes, the fact that it now prevents applications which weren't purchased from the App Store from running by default worries me. I guarantee future versions of the OS aren't going to make it any easier for end users.

fleitz 12y ago

There's also the issue of being laughed out of the room if they said the same thing about software. To me the biggest threat to iOS is the web, not Android, as long as everyone continues to push Apps on their website there's not going to be any real threat.