Apple and the world crisis

Guys, I'm looking for some lights here.

Live in Europe, where we hear about the crisis every ******* day. Salaries cuts here, factories closing there, taxes and joblessness are ramping up, looks like the worst context in decades. In the US things are not so good too.

And Apple continues to thrive to never-seen-before levels. People are queuing for hours to spend their hard-earned cash on technology they seldom need, re-selling old iPads for new ones six months after they've been issued.

How do you make these two things correlate? I know consumerism is not always rational. But here, the discrepancy between the economic context and consumer attitude seems gigantic--just beats me.

decafjava said:

You're right, it's not rational.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple

I think that sums it up.

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Yeah, it's so true. But you're from Switzerland... not a country with economic problems.

I'd like to see some sale numbers for Spain, Italy, and especially Greece. Did you hear about Apple stores closing in those crisis-ridden countries? Not me.

decafjava said:

Well, actually I'm an ex-pat Canadian in Switzerland and yes both countries have been battered less than others in the last few years.

FWIW, I don't know the sales figures of Apple in the countries you mentioned but do know I saw relatively few smartphones and even fewer iphones when I spent a week in Greece last summer. I saw one single ipad, that one being used by an Asian tourist.

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Thank you for the testimony !

A part of the answer is here

http://www.grreporter.info/en/there_no_crisis_apple_products_greece/7726

Mr. Pritis, how does the crisis affect the sales of Apple products?

There is no crisis for us. The people who buy Apple products are their greatest fans and prefer them purposefully. Customers buying cell phones of some of the most popular brands do not come to our shop. They continue to buy their new products.
Our customers buy only Apple products.

What is the profile of your customers?

The range is great. From a professional point of view, they are people from those who are dealing with new technologies to lawyers, physicians and others. Of course, the majority of them have better than average financial means. In terms of age, our customers are also very different. They start from 16-year-olds who clearly do not buy the products with their own money and end at the elderly. For example, our support technician has a meeting now with a 70-year old woman who has an iPad.