

The fallacy of volume and revenue: The iPhone difference - raganwald
http://counternotions.com/2009/01/30/revenue/

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jacoblyles
Did he subtract out profit from Apple's many other businesses before
calculation profit per iPhone sold? It sure doesn't look like he did. That
would make this an apples-to-beef jerky comparison.

Edit: Nope! He didn't.

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wallflower
Take everything you read on CNet with a grain of salt, however:

"CNET News' Krazit wrote that an internal assessment at Apple--using
supplemental metrics--determined that the iPhone represents 39 percent of
company revenue, while the Mac accounts for 30 percent."

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10072404-37.html?tag=mncol...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10072404-37.html?tag=mncol;txt)

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GavinB
Yes, premium luxury products can make a huge profit. This doesn't mean that
someone who goes for the middle of the market and works on low profit margins
is somehow "wrong."

Apple nailed the market with a great product. What makes them special, and
profitable, isn't that they make a high-priced lower volume product. It's that
they make a product that customers love and value at much higher than its
cost.

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inovica
When we did a lot of consultancy-based projects we found we often had one of
the highest prices for a job. To be completely honest it allowed us to server
the customers better, by having higher margins than our competitors. We have
done the same with some of our products and whilst we look expensive to some
(who are always going to be price-conscious) again we are able to invest more,
offer better customer service and frankly sell less to achieve the same goals.
We've played with price points and often found that selling something for less
money sometimes means less sales. We had two very similar products - one sold
for nearly 3 times the price and had more sales as the perception was that it
was a better product.

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vivekkhurana
I find apple as a smart company, they make good products and they ensure
profitability of every venture. I dont count apple products as a premium
products but they are not making commodity products either. Overall apple has
managed to strike a balance between innovation, brand and profit (now we have
number for this too).

Higher profits means higher share holder value, something every corporate
strives for

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lacker
You don't consider Apple products to be "premium"? You can make a pretty good
argument that the iPhone is the best phone out there. It may not be, but it's
certainly successfully targeting the highest portion of the market. Same for
iPods - what would you consider a "premium" mp3 player if no iPod counts?

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wallflower
Motorola (US) "Latest Phones" offered: 83

Apple iPhones: 1*

(* 2 if you count the vintage iPhone)

