In general however I agree with your sentiment.
In what way? It's three words "Has Apple peaked?".
They have made the EXACT same arguments since after the iPod.
The Zune was to kill it, cheap alternatives were going to kill it. Didn't happen.
Then they put out the iPhone.
It was doomed, they said at first, then Android was going to kill it, then the Antennagate, then the 4S was not impressive enough, etc.
Then the iPad came out, and at first it was "just a large iPhone" and it will fail, then it was gonna be killed by Windows tablets, then by Android tablets, then the Kindle Fire.
They never stop in the same bloody vein. How about instead of BS predictions they do some REPORTING?
I.e tell how Apple does based on numbers, and report it when they --inevitable at some point-- start losing out? Why do they feel they have to play prophets?
Not Quarterly results and SEC fillings.
>Note the recurring statistic in which Apple's (continuously dropping) market share is compared to that of 15 handset manufacturers who run Android as though that is a reasonable comparison.
"Continuously dropping"? They sell more units with each new device up to now (and the 5's preorders see that trend continuing). So, if their "market share" also drops, then that just means the market is expanding at a faster rate.
>Note the recurring statistic in which Apple's (continuously dropping) market share is compared to that of 15 handset manufacturers who run Android as though that is a reasonable comparison.
In what way is it not?
Meanwhile we have tablet/laptop hybrids, which Microsoft has been taking the lead on (facing a similar reaction to the early iPod, which history may or may not prove to be similarly ill-directed) and then virtually-deviceless-devices, which Google has been pushing into with their Glass project.
You can't count Apple out because of its infamous development secrecy (who knows what they might do next?), but visibly a lot of the cool potential Next Big Things in the gadget/device space seem to be forming at non-Apple companies.
Having control of the OS gives Microsoft a lot of power Asus doesn't have with their Android hybrids. Also, as cool as the Transformer is, it still doesn't feel quite like a true hybrid device because ultimately you're still running mostly software that was designed with touch-only in mind, at least assuming you're using it to run Android and haven't installed Ubuntu/ARM or something.
Just because something hasn't happened in the past doesn't mean it won't happen in the future.
In other words, it's not an argument that this can't happen, merely an argument that the original argument is baseless.
It'like responding to some guy saying that it will hit "in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011", to "shut up, stop playing the Oracle, since you suck at it, and just inform us WHEN it hits".