On 10/8/12 2:49 PM, in article rTHcs.273631$2%5.10...@fx05.am4, "Goblin"
<
bytes...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On 08/10/12 21:58, Snit wrote:
>> From what I have read Apple continues to sell them as fast as they can make
>> them. Apple has never had a majority of the market.
>
> Please I haven't much time to make this into a back and forth. I think
> I've made my view clear.
You have - but your claims fall apart if Apple is selling product as fast as
they can make them (unless you think they would have enough additional sales
so that they would find a way to increase capacity).
> The point was....of course Apple sells many many units, thats not in dispute,
> what I am saying is that the only other big smartphone player in the game is
> Android devices, so its fair to say that should Android disappear overnight, a
> considerable amount of those Android users would go to Apple.
And that is the claim that is in question. Now if all other makers were to
magically leave, sure, Apple would increase production capabilities. This
would take time.
> What other choice do they have? Do you think they seriously would consider
> WP7? or what about the waning Blackberry?
From the little I know of the WP7 product, it gets good reviews. I have
never used one (and have used fairly modern iOS and Android products only
slightly)
> Even if only 10% of Android users went to Apple, that would be worth a
> hell of a lot to Apple considering how many Android devices there are
> out there - regardless of who has the bigger market share of the two.
>
> So yes, it does hurt Apple. If Android was not here, Apple would have
> more users, more customers in its store spending money.
Assuming they could keep up with demand. That seems to be a challenge for
them.
>> Only if Apple could have sold more units, which has not been shown.
>
> No, but in light of their being only two big players, that of Apple and
> those providing Android devices, I would suggest its more than
> reasonable to suggest that if one went away the other would further
> increase its massive share of the market.
Over time - sure: Apple would increase production. Now has Android made
Apple increase production slower than they would in an alternate world where
Android did not exist? I do not know - chances are in that alternate world
there would be someone else filling the niche (perhaps MS would have gotten
into the market more quickly, I do not know).
> As I said before you can argue the reverse for Apple harming Android,
> but then Android is not limited to one "company" is it? I expect Samsung
> are quite happy with their sales and unlike Apple Android is an option
> to other manufacturers such as HTC.
Apple, I am sure, is quite happy with their sales - they make more money
than the rest of the smart phone makers combined (or at least that is what I
recall).
>> If Apple could make products fast enough.
>
> Im sure it could. And certainly in the UK Apple doesn't seem to be
> running out of products in any of the shops I've seen locally. Thats
> not suggesting they are not popular, thats suggesting that in at least
> my part of the UK, supply has successfully matched demand and nobody is
> left without the product of their choice.
I would have to look up the articles again, but I am pretty sure Apple has
maxed out their production capabilities. If they could *make* more they
would be selling more, even with Android being there.
Of course, they might be keeping their production at a level with what they
predict they *will* be selling in a few years, and they might fear that
Android will reduce their sales below their production capabilities. I do
not know the back-story on that.
> A question that doesn't need answering.... Can anyone honestly say Apple
> is happy to share the market with Android and can they honestly say, if
> given the choice, Apple would want a competing product like Android
> around? Of course they wouldn't. They want to make money. They want as
> many people as possible buying their items and they want as many people
> as possible spending money in their stores both on and offline.
Sure: Apple has concerns of Android hurting their sales. It might have done
so already... but it might not have. Doing research right now:
<
http://onforb.es/STp8SK>
Forbes:
------
Google�s Android made significant strides over the past year when
43.1% of mobile devices sold in Q2 2011 operated on Android. Apple
remained about the same. Should investors care about these
statistics?
While Google gained 20.7% market share over the same period a year
ago, Nokia and Research in Motion, together, lost 21.7%. Google�s
gain may have more to do with Nokia�s and Research in Motion�s
losses than a win against Apple.
Does Google�s lead with Android over Apple iOS matter?
...
So, what is the impact of Google Android�s greater market share?
This is one business where market share leadership doesn�t seem to
matter.
-----
Does not matter much for investors (nor, one can assume, the company
itself).
> And before you read an argument in the making in the above statement,
> that is no bad reflection on Apple itself nor is it making any
> suggestion towards the products. If people want to buy Apple they can.
> My wife does. I do not. Freedom of choice, no problems there.
Absolutely agreed. Just got off the phone with a friend who is rabidly
anti-Apple and will never own an Apple product. So be it. He likes his
Samsung phone. Again, I have no problem with that. He does buy into the idea
that it is fine for Samsung to copy Apple all they want - and that I
disagree with, but it is a different topic. :)
> But to suggest anything other than Apple does infact lose out to Android
> (whatever the figure) seems rather strange since the big two are the
> only real players in the game at the moment.
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