

Apple’s Cash Hoard - fogus
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/08/14/apples-cash-hoard-it-just-keeps-on-growing/

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arfrank
I think this is one of the reasons Apple makes hardware products that are so
polished when they finally are released. It lets them try things until they
get it right, and if they haven't gotten it right then usually they just keep
on working towards it.

I just read the book about the making of the Segway "Code Named Ginger" and in
it there is a Jobs quote where he says "Screw the lead times. You don't have a
great product yet! I know burn rates are important, but you'll only get one
shot at this, and if you blow it, it's over."
<http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3533.html> In my opinion this is how Apple
operates for a lot of products where they are seen as innovative and the cash
in the bank allows them to do this.

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adamc
Great quote. Blizzard has seemed to operate that way as well (taking a very
different example).

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pclark
I believe, and I might be wrong, that Blizzard were on the brink of serious
financial woes before world of Warcraft came out.

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jedc
I'm not sure why this is so important; it's a bit of a fluff/filler piece.

Every major software company hoards cash. MSFT, GOOG, APPL, everybody. So
Apple's got a lot of cash... so what?

It's a lot of cash, but they've been doing well lately. :)

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newacc
i know i'll be downgraded for saying this and i'm ok with that because most of
the hackers are apple lovers and this is hackers community and not marketing
forum :) but anyway if you think that apple charges reasonably for their
products then you've no clue how apple is doing in other parts of the world -
marketing research says that companies like apple had made money from
westerners ONLY !!!

yes, apple offers quality products

yes, apple charges for premium

yes, apple has all the innovation working for them ....

But

Apple is a hit in western world only where people spend blindly .... look at
the success rate of apple in 3rd world countries (where population is huge) -
you will know that they are nowhere in top 10 --- surprised? let me give you
an example:

ipod: a music player that is a huge hit in north-america is a super-flop
product amongst south-asians!!! WHY? Why people who are known as a smartest
consumers in the world don't buy ipods? the reason is not only the price of an
ipod but also the lack of features in ipods ... the other mp3 player offer way
more features than ipods ... and sound quality is as good as ipods .... So why
one would pay more price for less features and get a same quality of
output???????????? this is not me who is saying it, its a huge market research
for all the premium products that has a good following in western countries
but no takers in other parts of the world.

So the same product that we call "premium" in america (or western world) is
labeled as a "rip-off" in other parts of the world where a person is called as
a foolish for paying more price and getting same quality output but way less
features...

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allenbrunson
yes, a lot of us here are partial to apple's products. but we still like to
hear opposing viewpoints, so long as it's done respectfully. telling us that
we 'have no clue' is _not_ respectful. that's why you're getting downmodded,
_not_ because you're taking an opposing view.

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onreact-com
Well, no wonder, they sell their exploding crap for double the price while
producing Made in China as everybody else.

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joubert
Perhaps, BUT: Designed by Apple in California.

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onreact-com
Even better - Design stolen in Germany:
[http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-
secr...](http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-
apples-future)

~~~
inovica
Very interesting. I had not seen that before. Some of those Braun designs are
lovely (I've looked further at this). Even if Jonathan Ive has borrowed from
this design, the Apple designs do look lovely in comparison to many of the
other computer company designs out there. I must admit to being conflicted
though as to whether this should be treated as inspiration or not. Thanks for
sharing this

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jsonscripter
To those that think Apple's products are reasonably priced: Where do you think
they got all this money from?

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jsdalton
I think they got all this money from selling lots of products at a price
people were willing to pay.

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onreact-com
And other people to work 60h+ a week for Chinese minimum wage (a dollar a
day).

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potatolicious
Are you suggesting that this is different with _any other_ electronics
manufacturer?

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onreact-com
No, but like I pointed out in my first comment on this post Apple sells the
same products for twice the amount of money:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=762944>

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joubert
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

