Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple | Hacker News Reader

Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple

nytimes.com

8 pointsnickb11 comments

"Andy Hargreaves, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, describes the iPhone as 'the hottest consumer electronics product in the world'"

That would be the Nintendo Wii. It's been putting up iPhone-like sales numbers for 2 years, and only that low because it can't produce them fast enough. It's profitable out of the gate, and immensely so when factoring in game royalties, virtual console game sales, etc.

Yeah. And yet, for some reason, the Wii still has awful third-party support. The games library is nothing compared to the 360 and the PS3 has better non-Sony games than the Wii has non-Nintendo games. I've never understood that.

Game companies did not bet on the Wii.

And it takes a long time to develop a modern game.

So, it's a lack of foresight, more than anything else.

Right. Making a game for both the Xbox 360 and the PS 3 isn't a big deal. You probably have to code a lot of the same things twice, but you don't have to fundamentally rethink much of the game's mechanics. The game is pretty much the same to the user.

The Wii's controller makes it very good at different types of games. It's kinda sucky for the old FPS or fighting games. Plus for anyone who has both a Wii and an Xbox or PS3, you're going to buy games like Madden on the one that offers it in high-def.

So the gaming companies went with what they knew. And they certainly couldn't have guessed that the Wii would have sold more units than the other two combined. I think now that they know that, they'll get a little more creative.

I am typing this on the new Macbook.

I completely agree with the conclusion of this article, after using this Macbook for a week, the changes from the previous generation are phenomenal. The whole case is made out of one piece of aluminum which means that there are no screws anywhere, and that provides for a much more durable and robust case. The integrated GPU is AMAZING, I am getting 40-60 FPS in World of Warcraft, that is better than my previous Macbook Pro. The keys are awesome, the screen is brilliant, battery life is stellar, this notebook is 3-4 years ahead of its competition in almost every way.

If you just look at Apple's history, the iPhone is the best smart phone on the market, no other smart phone even comes close (look at the multiples of user engagement on the iPhone vs any other phone). OS X is so much better than Windows, look to any review or any user of OS X. And now, even the Macbook is leaps and bounds beyond its competition.

Like I said in a previous comment, surviving the recession is easy: make good (or for Apple, the best) products, charge for them, you'll do very well, recession or not.

Regarding the iPhone, I agree completely (no one else comes close). However, not so sure on laptops. I think when your "big change" is that the body of the laptop is built out of one piece of aluminium (as Ive prounouces it), then you might be in trouble. The average consumer does not care about that.

The competition has figured out that design and weight matter and as a result has produced some pretty nice looking, very portable machines... for a lot less.

I personally am sticking with my iMac/Macbook, however as price becomes more of a factor, I think that negatively impacts apple.

That doesn't mean the storm will pass them over at all though. No matter how high the quality people will buy cheaper ones in bad times. Real people everywhere are seeing their retirement nest eggs cut in half. That's pretty serious stuff.

There's definitely some chance Apple will lose some market share back to the Dells and HPs selling $500 units, even though they may be vastly inferior.

Enjoy the koolaid though.

Lets face it, he was probably thinking about his Apple shares when writing this article.

That's the only logical explanation. As he himself points out, people shy away from expensive products in bad times. When your liquid net worth drops by 25% in one week, you switch from buying the products you believe to be the best to the ones that provide the most value. I know multiple people who are now considering postponing their retirement. A $500 Dell is going to be their laptop of choice.

Apple as a company is in great shape, especially with that balance sheet, but I wouldn't look for their stock to soar any time soon.

This article isn't so much content-free, as conclusion-free. It's like the key word in the headline is "may." It says "at the helm of the good ship Apple, all seems well", then 2 paragraphs later says the stock has fallen 51% so far this year. It goes on to talk about how big a deal the new macbook pro cases are, only to compare to to the Next cube ("Metallurgists were impressed; prospective buyers were not).

Personally I think the new MBP is a misstep, and my 17" is still the best MBP available.

I think they might still be pretty durable in terms of market share. But not against deferred purchases. Apple's stuff tends to be discretionary. People buy when they want. That can be delayed.

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