Apple clobbers the competition—Commentary: The carnage of Apple’s spectacular success

Market Watch ^ | 09/24/2010 | By Ashley Allen and Douglas McIntyre

[Swordmaker]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Apple Inc. is a Death Star. It pulls in most of what comes into its orbit and either overtakes or assimilates it.

The success of the company is particularly spectacular because it is largely a four-product enterprise, consisting of the iPad, iPod, Mac, and iPhone. It also produces a suite of supporting software that includes its OSX, the Safari browser, iTunes, and the App Store. These non-hardware products knit together the “iProduct” universe.

Apple’s product line stands in stark contrast to tech giants like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT 24.75, -0.03, -0.10%) , Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ 41.02, +0.04, +0.10%) , Oracle Corp. (ORCL 26.96, -0.16, -0.59%) , and Cisco Inc. (CSCO 22.17, +0.08, +0.36%) , all of which have a multitude of product lines that spreads risk and increases sales opportunities. As a result, Apple’s revenue run rate, is only over $60 billion — much smaller than that of Cisco.

Some consumers are wondering whether a tablet like the iPad can replace a laptop for travel purposes. On a recent trip to Paris, Walt Mossberg decided to find out, saying au revoir to his laptop and relying on a tablet and smartphone for work and play.

However, despite the competition’s size, Apple’s market cap is $240 billion, more than those of Oracle and Cisco combined. Perhaps the thing that Wall Street loves most about the company is that it is growing quickly, especially for a company of its size.

The reason behind its growth is simple: Apple clobbers the competition.

The Blackberry

Amazon’s Kindle

Asus

Microsoft Windows

Mozilla’s Firefox browser

Sony

Adobe Flash

Google

[stripes1776]

So in the year 2015, Apple will sell its billionth iPad.

I think you are probably on track. I don't have an iPad yet, but next year I plan to buy one.

[Swordmaker]

I would ask that mac fans not post their attacks on other threads. The one below is an example. If that is out of line then I am not sure what to say.

There are no "attacks" from Apple fans in that thread, only discussion of topics and issues opened by being mentioned in the article. Totally legitimate.

[stripes1776]

iCeberg

That says it all!

[Lurker]

I'm using the Bria app by Counterpath. Too bad about the Cisco thing. You guys have spent WAAAAAY more than you had to.

Trust me on this, we're Cisco partners. I'm willing to bet that you spent at least 30% more than you should have. And the licensing for that feature on the Cisco platform is going to be ugly to say the least.

On Planet Cisco you're going to need a SIP license for every user. Prepare to bend over for that. Plus Cisco will nail you for the SmartNet on each and every user and as an added bonus all the licenses will expire after 3 years.

Then you get to buy them all again.

You should have looked at Mitel or even Avaya. At least they'd let you keep what you bought for as long as you owned the system.

And the folks at Cisco Tech Support will repeat endlessly that this application isn't officially supported. Sorry...does it seem like I hate Cisco? That comes from working with them for the last 3 years or so....

Anyway, look at the Bria app from Counterpath. Then call your Cisco rep in. Then open your wallet. I'm sure they'll get it to work just about the time you're completely out of money.

LOL

[Swordmaker]

iPads aren’t for work, iPads are for reading. The might sell lots of them (though soon when the Android competition comes out that has all the reading capabilities at the price of a Kindle that’ll probably slow down) but it cannot replace computers. They don’t have the computing power, the screen size, the typing capability or the storage capacity to replace the desktop or laptop.

Strange... I sure get a lot of work done on my iPad. The dental office I manage for one of my major clients is going to be adding iPads to replace manual writing of patient notes and entering procedure codes directly into the office management software completely eliminating one step in the billing process. That's work.

It's likely that none of the Android tablets are going to work with any of the vertical solution software out there. . . Just like none of the car makers are making Android dedicated interfaces for their vehicles. The small price difference to go with iPads instead of a somewhat cheaper alternative will not be a major factor when you're paying thousands on a mission critical software and a device to interface with it.

Other clients of mine are using iPads to read x-rays, access patient records, and even order prescriptions. Sorry, that's work, too.

I'm entering this post on FR on my iPad. Not work, but it could just as easily be. By the way, my Bluetooth keyboard works just fine with it... and while i'm not that fast a typist, my daughter CAN type 100 WPM on it.

Screen size? The iPad's 9.7" screen is almost an inch larger, and has far higher resolution, than the original Macintosh screen had in 1984, a screen which redefined desktop publishing and magazine production.

Oh, and storage? I keep my documents on my computers at home and in my office and they are all instantly available to me on my iPad. That's about four Terabytes of storage. I think I have enough.

[WVKayaker]

[Swordmaker]

500 of your fellow Freepers

And some of your customers....C'mon Sword - fess up...

To my knowledge, I do not know any of the members of the ping list personally. I do know a couple of Freepers... and none of them are members of the list under the Freeper name I know them by. That is the truth.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Your maturity knows no bounds... I guess this is what we can expect from the pro-Apple camp?

[dennisw]

You have just praised your iPad as a work device, thus you have proven what I have said to you for months. That modest PC laptop&desktops are good enough for 85% of the population. That they have no need to buy fancy schmancy Apple laptops or desktops that go for 2x-3x the price.

What is the iPad if not an underpowered computer with little storage? Of course it is ultra-portable and convenient with a built in LCD screen which is why they are selling like hot cakes. But it has enough juice to get things done. You just said so

Here is a current $349 BestBuy special——>>>
Toshiba - Satellite Laptop / Intel® Celeron® Processor / 15.6” Display / 2GB Memory / 250GB Hard Drive - Black

Lets put aside size and portability. This Tosh has more storage and processing power than an iPad any day of the week. So if you can do work on an iPad and find it useful in many other ways...... Then this modest Toshiba laptop is easily powerful enough and good enough for 85% of computer buyers and comes in at one third the cost of an Apple laptop

[dennisw]

That was 2003. These days you can buy a good MP3 player at 20% the price of an ipod. Heck, you can buy them for 5-10% the price of an iPod.

You will hate this example but ——
A few years ago I bought a few generic MP3 players for $5 each. They have 500mb of storage. This is more than I need actually because I only use it when out walking or jogging. I plug it into my computer and transfer a few tunes same as I would with a flash drive. I use no special software

So for me at least..... Why on earth would I spent $150 on an iPod?

[usconservative]

Lets put aside size and portability. This Tosh has more storage and processing power than an iPad any day of the week

I wouldn't argue processing power of a laptop vs. an iPad any day of the week. Clearly laptops win on that point.

Where iPads excel that many people completely miss the point on is that they are extremely good at a few specific things, and those few specific things are easily exploited in a number of vertical markets. My rheumatologist the other day had an iPad with my xrays and MRI's on it along with my medical records during my consultation with him. He was easily able to find my records, show me high-definition pictures of my A.S. to explain the pain I've been experiencing, complete a script for meds, then handed the device to the RN to schedule my next appointment.

In banking where I work, we use them for our high-end wealth customers to complete their information forms using an electronic forms app on them, and submit them to our system - encrypted and wirelessly - to submit transfers, orders, etc.. Our clients are completely wow'ed by the fact that we use them and it's a huge convenience for them to be able to do it thatway.

For our Senior Exec's at the bank, we're enabling wireless, accessible anywhere email, calendar and contact info. with document viewers for word/powerpoint/excel because they don't need a laptop nor do they want to carry one. (They complain about the weight, the sissies.) All they need "pc" or device for is the functions above, which the iPad happens to excel at.

Now in all three use cases above, the functionality of the iPad is exploited to enable a business use. Keep in mind, these are very narrow use applications that rely on a web browser or browser with eform capability, and electronic email capabilities - again which the iPad excels at.

If this is all an end user needs, it seems to me to be a complete waste to give them a laptop or pc with 10x the power and storage since they aren't likely to use it anyway, even if the pc/laptop is cheaper. I want to give them the device that makes them the most productive because that's where the "cost" of the device really is.

That leads me to my next point. There's also the added "benefit" of boosting the productivity of users who enjoy using a device as a work enablement/productivity tool vs. a laptop that they view as "cumbersome" or "heavy" or "takes too long to boot." These are their perceptions of laptops which once overcome with a slate (iPad) does impact in a positive way their productivity.

Then there's the education I received on this thread on how to turn an iPad into a VOIP device that follows you everywhere using your corporate phone system's VOIP capabilities and a cheap, easily donwnloadable client for the iPad. When I demonstrate that on Monday morning, I'm going to be a HERO because I'll be showing our Senior Exec's how to eliminate one of the devices they carry daily - a cell phone - and use their iPads instead if they so choose. This is pure enablement of business functionality that our Senior Management is demanding that we cannot yet deliver on a laptop and I'll be able to do it in a matter of minutes per device.

Historically I've been no Apple fan. I agree their devices are horribly overpriced for what one gets. What their devices are though, are transformational in nature, extremely easy to use for very specific purposes and as a result Apple's products make it very easy to exploit their devices capabilities for the specific functions users choose them for.

This is precisely where laptops "lose the argument" however I suspect it won't be long before good Win7 slate devices come along and change that. The hardest part for me as a pc guy of 25+ years in using an iPad was getting use to the interface and making it work for me. If a good slate running Win7 were available with a familiar interface, I'd have chosen that over the iPad assuming all else was equal with the ipad (ie: processing power, storage, etc..)

Just my opinion, YMMV of course.

[discostu]

Those aren’t the kind of work I’m talking about. Nobody is going to type up a 40 page document on an iPad, nobody is going to run a IDE on one, nobody is going to design a building on one. Sure as a replacement for clipboards it’s fine. But that’s not desktop computer work. The discussion you wandered into the middle of was if pads (i or otherwise) would replace DESKTOP computers, and the answer is no they won’t, they will never have the power of the desktop.

1984 Macs were 1984, nobody had good screens back then. And also nobody realized what tiny monochromatic screens were doing to their eyes. It’s 2010 we know better now. People that do real desktop tend to have multiple screens that are at least twice the size of the iPad.

And carrying around an extra keyboard for a pad is just plain silly. At that point you’re carrying around 2 things that together are about the size of a laptop only with a fraction of the computing power.

Cloud storage (which is what you’re doing) sounds great until the network has issues. Then you find out about the big gaping hole in the cloud. Someday you’re computer at home will be inaccessible, and you’ll find out that your pad has basically no storage. Of course even with the cloud most of the pads don’t even have the memory to open some of the documents I deal with.

Pads are great for what they are. But even Jobs knows that what they are is NOT a replacement for desktops or even laptops. The only people that will get rid of their computers for a pad (which is part of the original post I replied to) are the people who got rid of their computers for WebTV, the web and e-mail and now e-book crowd have never really needed a computer. Which is fine, there’s nothing wrong with capturing that market, but there’s a fat gap between that market and replacing the computers in the HR departments and architectural firms, and even animation houses of the world. Supplement sure, replace, not gonna happen.

[TomServo]

Sorry Sword - I was sorta joking with you. But thanks for your honesty...

[StrictTime]

Well, I didn't buy it; it was a gift. I don't need to hang on to 3,000 books. I only read one at a time, so what good is having a storage device that keeps multiples? Once I read a book, I donate it.

Again, the price on Amazon is ridiculously expensive for most books; I can wait 4 weeks and get used books online for less than half the price of what Amazon wants for a download. Then I get to make a tax-deductable contribution to Goodwill to recoup some of my expense. So why do I need a Kindle again?

[ar15cz75]

... yawn ...

[Mr. Blonde]

iPod Shuffle’s are $49 for a 2GB drive. For that you get a higher quality product in addition to the larger storage space. Not hard to see.

[TomServo]

Maybe you should tell the person that gave you the kindle to please quit wasting their money on an obvious POS, that you can’t and won’t use, and next time just give you that ipad you want.

I’m sure they’ll appreciate your gratefulness and thoughtful appreciation.

[dennisw]

iPod Shuffle’s are $49 for a 2GB drive>>>>>>

I am aware of the shuffle. But does that not pick out tunes randomly? Hmmmm I go to website and it say you can go random or to playlists

[dennisw]

All you points are well taken. You have shown how the iPad works out well. It shows how much you or anyone can do with what is essentially an underpowered computer with little storage. For years computers got more powerful and the OS from Microsoft got larger and bloated. Windows 7 is the first Redmond OS that has lower hardware requirements than its predecessor.

Instead of more powerful, the fastest growing computer sectors are the ultra-portables. Meaning smart phones, iphones, ipads, netbooks and new tablets (ipod clones) to come Taiwan, HP, Dell and others

[Swordmaker]

Pads are great for what they are. But even Jobs knows that what they are is NOT a replacement for desktops or even laptops. The only people that will get rid of their computers for a pad (which is part of the original post I replied to) are the people who got rid of their computers for WebTV, the web and e-mail and now e-book crowd have never really needed a computer. Which is fine, there’s nothing wrong with capturing that market, but there’s a fat gap between that market and replacing the computers in the HR departments and architectural firms, and even animation houses of the world. Supplement sure, replace, not gonna happen.

And, Discostu, I've seen no one claiming the iPad was ever intended to replace the workstation class machines you are talking about or even all desktop computers. However about 75% of desktop machines in enterprise ONLY do things at which the iPad excels... and are prime candidates to be replaced, increasing their users' productivity. You claimed iPads were mere "readers," implying they were not useful for anything but display of media. I showed you were wrong. They are that and more. A lot more.

As for storage. 64 GigaBytes is a lot of space before I have to start worrying about that "hole" in the cloud. Frankly, it's just not a concern.