Are Apple today the Sony Ericsson of the 2000's?

[MickdaMan]

Unfortunately the measure is not handset to handset, it's iOS vs Android. It's like comparing Mac to a HP computer.... its PC vs Mac. The only way to measure.

I am not sure what you are alluding to:

The measures and charts I have provided are comparisons between all variants of the iphone to all variants of the GalaxyS series including the Note which I think is a fair comparison of flagship phones. Please also read the article I provided from CNET which provides further insights on Raymond James's data. Up to 2012 the iphone sales are nearly 2X that of the Galaxy handsets for the total units sold.

Excerpt; >>That's according to Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt, who compiled the cumulative sales of the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5 and stacked them against the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note smartphones. In total, Apple outsold Samsung 219 million to 131 million.<<

If however you are insinuating that the comparisons should be between OSs, I find that it would be a comparison which does not matter too much to Apple as a company and in terms of it's profitability and niche market (it never did). Analagously, why would Porshe care if Nissan sold more cars that it? It would care if say, if it was competing with Aston Martin for a key demographic (i.e. the rich segment in this case).

Frankly I have encountered many similar discussions of Samsung Vs Apple, the iphone vs GalaxyS and Android vs ios. These discussions usually end up in flame wars with personal likes and dislikes thrown into the mix (some have technical merit but most do not). Most of these discussions involve the imminent demise of Apple/ios and the near certainty of android dominating and totally obliterating apple in the near future (in fact this notion was bandied about as far back as 2010).

These things don't matter because the only real thing you can conclude as to whether android or Samsung will annihilate Apple/ios will be from the data that's out there. What can be concluded is that notwithstanding the obvious ubiquity of android, it is still not a threat to Apple at this point of time nor in the near future as the data simply does not support it.

 

[vomhorizon]

We are looking at two different market strategies from companies that have their own strategic ambitions. Apple makes Just the IPHONE therefore there is no way it will ever surpass android in terms of market share in the world market. That will simply not happen, nor will apple ever aim for it. Apple cares more about selling their iphones in increasing their number every subsequent launch. They seem to be doing this and doing it rather well.

Unfortunately the measure is not handset to handset, it's iOS vs Android. It's like comparing Mac to a HP computer.... its PC vs Mac. The only way to measure.

Why is this the case? Why should apple or its shareholders bother about a statistic that is not relevant to the apple business model? Apple could continue to loose market share to android globally and yet sell millions of iphones, even more than they have done in the past...Apple can keep doing this and make a ton of money for its shareholders. Thats how they operate..They MAKE THE IPHONE..Thats the product they are selling, and IOS is the software that product runs on. Apple could at some point develop a wider range of I devices as far as price point is concerned but I seriously doubt that will happen as this is quite uncharacteristic of apple...You will probably never see Apple come out with over a dozen Iphone models in all price ranges and shapes and sizes. You'll have a C variant and regular iphone and/or a slightly bigger iphone 6. Thats pretty much it.

What the market share is for the IOS compared to android is irrelevant to the Apple bottom line. They (apple) do not make money by selling software, they do so by selling IPHONES as such, what is paramount is the SALES number of the Iphone and IPAD family and this can keep on going up generation to generation despite of the strengthening of android as a platform. Apple would care about IOS market share if they were pitting IOS against android for cell phone makers to choose, which is not the case.

 

[opinio]

I think Apple today is more like the Sony walkman error of the 80's. They brought out the coolest tape player, CD player and MD players. Innovative, cutting edge, stylish and maximum consumption bling. Apple will eventually go like Sony did.

 

[Crazy Badger]

Has something bad happened to Sony?

Last time I looked they were still in the top 100 fortune 500 companies and employing hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

I wonder how many companies in the world would like to end up like Sony, even with their record of backing the wrong (often their own) horse

 

[CEmajr]

I think Apple today is more like the Sony walkman error of the 80's. They brought out the coolest tape player, CD player and MD players. Innovative, cutting edge, stylish and maximum consumption bling. Apple will eventually go like Sony did.

One of Sonys problems in addition to their own bungling, is that ironically they allowed Apple to come along and eat their lunch with the iPod. They resisted rather than embraced the coming digital music age. Plus it seems like Somy has never been able to tightly integrate operations across all of it's sectors. They have their hands in a lot of markets while Apple has a more tightly integrated and managed product line. I don't think they'll fall like Sony did.

The only way I could see it happen is if se groundbreaking new revolutionary technology comes out (think iPod) and Apple is slow to adopt or resistant to the change. As it stands right now and the near future, the iPhone is two-thirds of Apple's profit and there doesn't appear to be any new type of tech coming to smartphones that consumers would leave Apple en masse for if they chose not to offer it.