
Apple Inc: A Pre-Mortem - tdurden
https://medium.com/adventures-in-consumer-technology/apple-inc-a-pre-mortem-568d1a0b7d72#.ylvo4dpyf
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beezischillin
I'm sorry, but all these articles burying Apple are kind of dumb, if Ballmer
couldn't kill Microsoft, then it's not a long shot to say that Apple is going
to be alright

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Isamu
Apple is dead, if you re-define death to be something like "no longer in its
former glory" or something like that.

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xHopen
How many companies would love to be as successful as the apple watch alone.

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jondiggsit
So much conversation like this, it's crazy. Here's the simple truth. Apple
makes phones. The best phones you can buy. Nearly every person over the age of
13 buys a phone. Many buy a new one every year or two. Apple controls approx.
12% of the overall market and approx 91% of profits. That's it. Compare this
with the PC-market of the early 90s (10 years into a market segment). Apple is
CRUSHING it's closest competitor (Sammy). Their phones are literally BLOWING
UP. Take a flight recently? "No Samsung Galaxy S7s allowed". Sheesh. Apple and
Tim Cook can piss into the wind for the next decade so long as the iPhone
engine continues. And it WILL CONTINUE. It's getting better every 12 months.

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bdcravens
I'm an Apple fan, and have spent several thousands of dollars with the company
over the years. I've owned 8 different iPhone models.

> Here's the simple truth.

I think you're not letting facts interfere with your theory.

> Apple is CRUSHING it's closest competitor (Sammy).

Depends on how you measure that. Samsung sells more phones. Also, about 45% of
the market is "other", compared to Samsung's 20%, so it's not like Apple has
the one competitor to worry about. And those competitors have nice products.
I've owned both the S7 Edge and the Google Pixel - the Pixel is a very nice
phone. Were I not so dependent on the Apple ecosystem, I'd happily make the
Pixel my primary phone.

> "No Samsung Galaxy S7s allowed"

Galaxy Note 7. Even after the recall, their S7 sales actually remain strong.
Samsung isn't the only competitor.

> Apple and Tim Cook can piss into the wind for the next decade so long as the
> iPhone engine continues.

I'm sure the company will definitely survive, but non-iPhone sales are very
important. They made about $24B from the iPhone, about $14B from other
products (Mac/iPad/Watch mostly), and $6B in services (like iTunes).

[http://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-
share/vendor;jses...](http://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-
share/vendor;jsessionid=7B1F2B6DB5D605B3654D2DB397A64D5E)

> It's getting better every 12 months.

Read any article on marketshare. Apple is losing marketshare every year in the
smartphone segment. Their Q4 2016 across the company was lower than Q4 2015.
(about 8% drop; if you look at only the iPhone, it's about 12%)

[http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/apple-q4-2016-financial...](http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/apple-q4-2016-financial-
results-iphone-mac-sales-down-again-3581769/)

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basch
I think everyone looks at this backwards. The iPod didnt change the world, the
iPod changed Apple. The iPhone is the next evolution of the iPod. The question
isnt whether Apple can release a revolution that changes how we use
technology, the question is whether Apple can release a revolution that
realigns Apple around that product.

And whether Apple wants to admit it or not, the iPod and iPhones success is in
part due to them being cross platform devices that didnt require Macs.

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sjg007
To extend this idea, you can see Siri (Alexa) and some sort of AR device in
the near future. These could be centered around the iPod/iPhone ecosystem.

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basch
Siri doesnt run on my android. Alexa runs on everything. Siri will never be
the iPhone next while it runs exclusively in a closed ecosystem.

