chano

Apple: 3 Reasons Not to Fear the Fluctuating Stock Price

Compared to what the 2001 iPod cost and its very basic feature set, even $1000 is not so bad. Of course such a price will limit interest especially in these uncertain times but 1% of the world population is 60 million after all and such a device will have a list of USPs to buy for. That said, I fully expect a subsidised option that brings initial cost of ownership right down to say $700.
There is so much riding on this, expect a few surprise WOW factors

Why the Magazine Industry Wants Its Own App Store

Flint is right. Print publishers just don't get it.
The game has changed. It all started when CDs were introduced and people learned how to rip them. Apple and iTunes are the only viable route to monetisation of media IP. Although traditional news will struggle and die because they had their pockets picked by invitation. Who can put that particular genie back into the bottle? Only Apple can achieve even a partial success here because the battle has really been lost on news.

It's a Large World After All

@ Brewer
Why do you, and so many others, think that they understand mobile phone marketing strategies better than the immensely savvy marketing group at Apple? So far, they haven't put a foot wrong in this global challenge dance.
I am not trying to be sarcastic but what market intelligence do you have that Apple is unaware of?

Apple to Open 50 More Stores - Let's Be Careful, Steve

As is usual with most articles on AAPL on SA, the intelligence is evident only in the responses from its readers. Sad but true.
Carl Howe is an exception I must say, but then he doesn't write unless he has something to say that is worth hearing.

The Power of Instant Approval

Really, if you write here because you think your words are worth reading, then you need to look in the mirror. I think your talents are needed on the Betamax users' blogsite.
Fool, for wasting my valuable time.
I gave you the benefit of the doubt. You failed.
Another loser on Seeking Alpha.

Apple's iPhone Dev Kit: That's How You Launch a Platform

Time has proven you not just right, but almost prescient. We witness a runaway success.
tilled, seeded, watered and fertilised ... indeed. And what a bumper crop Mr. Howe.
No one else saw that coming and all we got from the analysts and media was a loud chorus of naysaying.

Motorola's Droid Comes in Peace - For Now

Carl is a marketeer. The advice to Apple, not to underestimate future revisions of Android phone is good advice. The paid for hype surrounding the Android launch cannot compare with the unpaid 180+/- days of unceasing blasts of coverage that Apple secured for the iPhone simply by pre-announcing it six months before release .... and then keeping silent till launch day. The tension, caused by the lack of further hard info, led to manic levels of discussion, speculation and press coverage. That is why there were, and remain, thousands who will queue for the iPhone. It is the mystery factor stupid. It's the 'I gotta have it' craze.
Of course, it helps that Apple has a superb pedigree and an unmatched reputation for quality, support and user-centricity.
btw
Welcome back Carl. You are the chief reason for my visiting SA.
Please do consider a regular personal blog. You will gather a following.

While Rivals Jockey for Market Share, Apple Bathes in Profits

And there I was for years under the impression you and TC were committed Apple haters. From a business perspective, this is a fine article. You should reflect a little on your (presumably) sane penchant for the word 'insane'.

Volatility Driving Microsoft Trades

Or better still, buy a Mac. There is no longer any reason not to and many reasons to make the switch.

When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get an Apple

Thank you for an intelligent and insightful post. Being an Apple user over the last 30 years has given me an edge and allowed me to skate into areas of endeavour that I never thought I would even look at, never mind enjoy success in.
When you're right sir, you are right, as Jeremy might say.

Apple: Not All Smooth Sailing Ahead

Agree entirely with mollytjm. Apple's success has always been due to the loyalty of its customers even through the manic, near-failure days of the late 80s and early 90s. Then there were relatively few who knew what Apple really stood for. Today that number is growing towards the billions - and the reason for this? Yes it's the products but the real reason goes far deeper with actual users. It is an addictive culture. It is about empowering the user and saving them money and giving them products that cause buyer's joy rather than buyer's remorse. It is about serving the customer in every way and even new customers realise this championing role pretty quickly. It works. It endures. It makes for lasting growth.
Which other tech company can match even one of these threads of customer-centricity?
Hint: You won't need even one finger to count them.

Apple: Set to Double Again

And did I forget to mention turning the whole mobile communications and computing markets on their heads and setting the bar higher than ever before. And this is before they start to put the squeeze on the TelCos to offer much much better services and value for money packages to their customers .... to bring down the cost of mobile comms to a fraction of what the average customer pays today. It will happen and the winner will be the customer and the agent of change will be Apple.

Apple's Hoard

And this is worth posting Paul?

You are becoming truly yawn-worthy and it gives me no pleasure to tell you that.

Chandra Coomaraswamy

Apple: Not All Smooth Sailing Ahead

You are articulate, I will grant you that. But your article lacks merit. You clearly do not understand Apple's true franchise. It's not about the products. It's about where Apple's true focus is centred. In that arena, they cannot fail, no matter the recent volatility in prices.
To say 'What makes a stock great is a price' is nonsense. It is about the scope of its future operations and that seems to have little to do with Macs, iPods and phones.
Even visionaries will visit an optician fttt.
You are no visionary but you do need to have your eyes tested.

Chandra Coomaraswamy

Apple: Set to Double Again

Apple will continue to thrive for as long as Steve Jobs is there.

I say this because Jobs will never allow himself to become lazy, comfortable or complacent with Apple's MO and its present arc of ascendancy.

If the Innovator's Dilemma is a factor to insert into the Apple success equation, as Skeptic suggests ... and it is a valid suggestion, then so too must allowance be made for Jobs' influence as the 'Innovator's Solution'. He has been a disruptor and he has been rather spectacularly disrupted by the thief Gates and the wimpish Sculley.

Now,we may all be wowed by Apple's results and its products, and why not my dears - they are wonderful. But that would be to miss the point of focus. Consumers will continue their love affair with Apple for reasons most of them may never understand. The world is falling in consumer-love with Apple. It is a heady experience for them. The thing is, they are just not used to being empowered rather than screwed by a vendor. They don't realise it yet but it is there in their unconscious understanding. That is a raw and very powerful place for any company to position itself so firmly. It affects our paradigm of life as consumers. And we like that soooo much.

I see it like this.

Yes, yes, yes .....the products are great. They call to customers like sexy sirens and appeal as must-have items in most cases. They are the Merc or Omega offering in a market with too many GM and Timex offerings.

But the products are merely the easily visible shell of Apple's strategy for 'never' being disrupted out of business by another, greater, upstart of an innovator. It is less and less about the products my dear bedazzled ones.

The hidden kernel of the Apple strategy is full of goodness. It is about empowering the customer. It is about democratising whole marketplaces. It is about being recognised (in time) and remembered (in perpetuity ... maybe) as the one Company, the ONLY significant champion of the ordinary Joe, to win back for the consumer the power of choice and free access to common wants at a fair price with less and less room for vendors to gouge their customers. What am I talking about?

Excellence in COMPUTING at a fair price to quality ratio. I mean, if you want the Proton car experience, go buy one and don't complain to me later as I wipe your saliva off my Merc.

Liberation of the MUSIC market away from the grasping record companies to the huge benefit of new bands/musicians and giving the consumer back the right to buy only the songs that were wanted, soooo easily and at a fair price.

The same for the MOVIES market in time. Everything from AppleTV to Mac to iPod/iPhone video.

Ditto the domestic GAMES market. AppleTV anyone? !!Danger!! Falling prices!!! Mind-boggling choice!!!!

The same for the PUBLISHING market in 2010 onwards. Newspapers, magazines and books at a rock bottom price because you will buy only the news or articles that interest you and not have to stomach what an editor decides you should HAVE to read. There will be an explosion of new writing by authors who stood no chance of publication under the existing model. Journalists of merit will gather a following of people who will pay for genuine news or informed comment, rather than biased opinion.

The same for the TV VIEWING market in 2015 onwards. Pick the programs you want to watch. New production houses and groups will spring up all over the world. A huge choice of non studio-sourced viewing that is non-homogenized, not dumbed down gutless goo sanctioned by advertisers etc. In short a diversity of content beyond the wildest imaginings.

EDUCATION for all by bringing the best curricula from around the world to a global audience for free or for a small charge. No more student loans anyone? Build your own MBA from Harvard, London INSEAD and Yale whydontcha? Learn to program an iPhone from home. Learn whatever you want, whenever you want at your pace, in your place without going broke.

RETAILING GOODS AND SERVICES Create an app store like marketplace for STUFF. Manufacturers/Providers offer their wares and drop shippers/fulfilment operators do the rest. Prices may tumble.

HEALTHCARE SERVICES
Access to the best professionals, clinics and hospitals without the traditional routing processes and billing roller-coasters that often kill - death by dollars.

And so on.

And so on

You get the picture.

It is a nice picture because it puts you in charge of your choices and the value for money you deserve.

So.... tell me:

How do you disrupt the ace disruptor?

How do you displace the champion of consumer interests?

How do you undermine the one who destroys traditional business models across so many markets to the customer's advantage and completely democratises them in the process?

Amazing Apple.

An American treasure.

I can say that because I am not an American.

I can say that because I have been a customer since 1979.

Thirty years' easy loyalty.

And Apple is just getting started.

Think Different

I rest my case.

Chandra Coomaraswamy