

What the iPod tells us about Britain's economic future - ojbyrne
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/edmundconway/100002310/what-the-ipod-tells-us-about-britains-economic-future/

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dtf
_"...after writing my column I’ve received a few emails from readers who have
themselves made the switch from finance to manufacturing."_

Isn't it tradition for those bored of making mega-money in the City to retire
into "manufacturing" - the manufacturing in question being invariably that of
bourgeois foodstuffs? Organic smoothies; organic hand-reared pig farms;
organic gin; organic English sparkling white wine; organic unpasteurized
cheese; organic luxury takeaway services; etc etc. Either that or they'll snap
up a few struggling restaurants and learn how to cook. It's like they feel
dirty after handling all that grubby money and need to get their hands back in
the fertile soil to nourish their withered souls.

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Maktab
It could be that many people have a yearning to work with and produce
something tangible after all those years of working with abstract columns of
numbers. I think we've discussed a similar psychological tendency amongst
hackers before as well, in terms of the desire to create things.

After all, when given a Lego set most kids build something out of the bricks
instead of just laying them out and counting them.

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stcredzero
What the iPod tells us about the economic future: Added Value is going to be
about _design_ and _execution_. It's absolutely true that Apple products
aren't composed of anything special. It's the particulars of how these things
are put together and made to work together that holds the most _value_.

People who are still going over component lists, and insisting that Apple is
just a ripoff because you can get the same ingredient list for less elsewhere
just don't get the key idea. As our technology for producing _stuff_ advances,
even complex components are commoditized. So it's how everything fits together
and _works_ which will be the hard part with the big payoff.

American car manufacturers had to be schooled by Japanese companies in the
last century. Apple is currently schooling Microsoft, and Microsoft is slowly
learning. Apple doesn't quite get this when the scope of "how the system
works" extends out to include he dynamics of developer communities. What they
have with the iPhone and the developer community works better than what's come
before, but it can certainly be beat.

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pmorici
Wouldn't a more true indicator of economic benefit be the per capita benefit
to a countries labor force or something to that effect? If of the $80 that
Apple gets from each iPod 90% of that goes into the corporate savings account
that really doesn't help out a whole lot of people. On the other hand if that
$4 that goes to China goes mostly to the factory workers then that helps out
quite a few people.

Point being this guy is trying to say that corporate profits are equal to jobs
which isn't really the case. One benefits a small group where the other
benefits a wider section of society.

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SamAtt
The problem with that logic is that Apple doesn't just put its money in a
corporate savings account they invest it (a savings account of any kind would
be financial malpractice on the part of the CFO). When you hear about how much
money Apple has that isn't their bank balance its their easily liquidated
assets (a.k.a. assets that can be turned into cash quickly)

Those investments are split into groups depending on their levels of risk but
just about every cent gets pumped into the economy in some way. Whether its
CDs which guarantee the bank funding so they can give loans or investing in
companies which employ people. One way or another that money is active in some
way.

Companies have CFOs in order to get the best return on their assets and that
requires investment (and investment is what fuels an economy)

