Chris Krasowski

Apple Is Still Giving Its Competitors Headaches

Well of course $99 is the subsidy price, but this isn't just an iPhone specific thing. Every carrier in the world, on virtually every phone in the world offers some sort of subsidy. So whether you pick up an iPhone, a Pre, some Sony Walkman phone or a Nokia, your phone company is picking up part of that tab.

I don't believe a car analogy is effective in the same way as cell phones because it is not as if Exxon Mobil pays for half the car but then only lets you fill up at Exxon Mobil owned stations for the next 2-3 years and if you "roam" to other stations you pay twice as much per gallon.

The subsidy is part of the phone business and seemingly always will be.

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Chris

Apple in the Bargain Bin

Disclosure: Author is long AAPL.
It was included in my original article first published on the WC Power Tech Fund Investment Blog

Apple Earnings Sweet in Sour Economic Times

You are right from a semantic point of view. What I was illustrating with that statement is the fact that no new iPhone revenue will be counted in the quarter. It is clear, due to Apple's spreading of iPhone sales over 2 years, that all of the previously sold units will provide revenue.

Apple Might Have Fallen Unfairly, but Look Before You Take a Bite

In the opening paragraph, the unrealisitc expectations and results are meant as part of the Investor stumbling blocks set by the world at large/investing community, not by Apple itself.

Hope that clarifies

Apple and Intel Fail to Impress: Waiting for the Fed's Next Move

Hello all,

It is nice to see some discussion come out of this. But I'm a little perplexed at how a "market overview" article has taken such an Apple centric approach. I'm merely commenting on how recessionary fears have taken out the best in technology. I've been an Apple long for a very long time, and have written focused articles on the company many times before.
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I know that's a lot to focus on one company but it was and still is the biggest holding of the WC Fund.

I'm not a professional analyst, never claimed to be, I write about markets, things I would be investing in and things I would stay away from. SeekingAlpha has chosen to reprint my articles and I believe that stands for something from a quality perspective.

Regards,
Chris Krasowski

Universal Music Group Readies DRM-Free Music, Sans iTunes

I had another quick point to add briefly but I didn't want to make the above comment too too long.
I don't think companies should be forced to license anything. You've made a great successful product, and consumers have embraced it. That's the end of that.
Would you also deman that Microsoft for example licensed the Halo games so they can play on PS2 or PS3. No! Because that would completely cannibalize sales of XBox so why would the company do that.

The simple fact of licensing is that it only makes sense to do it if it makes strategic sense for the company.
The way iTunes and iPod work so seemlessly together is one of the main selling points for a lot of consumers so why would Apple want to knock the fence down?

Universal Music Group Readies DRM-Free Music, Sans iTunes

While you have valid points about Apple licensing their DRM software, I don't think it'll ever happen. The simple solution of DRM free is best, so why would licensing DRM be better?
I don't think it's a fair guess that most of the music on iPods is pirated. First off, the biggest capacity iPods also store a lot of video for a lot of people and secondly, I think a majotiry of iPod users used iTunes to digitize their entire CD collections. Another point of contention in the entertainment business model is making consumers pay several times for the same entertainment. It happens in music, movies, tv, almost every form of entertainment. Vinyl, tapes, then cds, now mp3s. In films, theatres, pay per view, and you had VHS, then DVD and now blu-ray or HD-DVD.

When people throw around numbers like 100 million ipods sold and 3 billion songs so only about 30 songs per iPod so the rest of the space must be pirated, they always fail to mention how many people have vast CD libraries that they've burned to MP3 format to put on their iPods. So I feel like that point of piracy is not a strong one without and concrete study facts. Yes there is piracy in the digital world, you have to face that, but at the same time, making a consumer buy the same song or album from the same artists just cause its in a different format is an entirely different form of piracy.

I think this Universal DRM-free test will not fare well simply because those other stores do very little business, so to expect a massive uptick when most digital music consumers are already familiar with iTunes is very optimistic. I think if Universal were to embrace iTunes Plus they would see a much much higher increase in interest in their online music offerings.

Each side has had their faults in negotiations but it seems like Apple fights for the consumer (and of course their bottom line) and Universal fights simply for the bottom line. The way the music industry treats not only consumers but also artists I can't help but feel that them being well behind the curve in digital music is for the better in the long run. The trend of indie labels and bigger bands moving to indie labels has slowly started with this digital revolution and I think you'll see more of it as digital music becomes more and more of a social experience over the internet. Bands won't need massive major label marketing budgets, because word of mouth is your biggest selling point. Now if only the Payola would stop so some of these truly great musical acts can get their songs played on the radio once in a while we'd be living in a beautiful world, musically.

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Chris Krasowski
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Apple Still Growing Computer Market Share

We've certainly been hearing about the halo effect for a couple years now and it seems to be really taking into effect in terms of converters to the mac platform. Great point about ownership aswell, as this definitely is a factor in the amount of "mac" users at are currently out there

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Chris
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Why Apple Should Collaborate With Satellite Radio

Hey Everyone, thanks for your comments.
I see that due to Seeking Alpha changing my article title things seemed to be a bit confusing. The original article title Satellite Radio and Apple Inc. ( wcpowertechfund.blogsp... ) was supposed to read as if the Sat Radio companies should try to do everything in their power to strike a deal with Apple, not the other way around.

So iPod owners would not have to pay monthly fees for the technology, it could be implemented or made as a clip-on plug to iPods/iPhones, or they could stream sat radio through the web on iPhones. The fees paid by iPod users would be only those that they would incur if they sign up for the sat. radio service. Apple would probbaly also demand a percentage of this.

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Chris