Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
Apple best products are the 13" Macbook and Macbook Pro. Refurbished is your best bet there over paying retail and education unless it's summer.

Otherwise it's diminishing returns per dollar for the consumer if you go up or down.
 

elppa

macrumors 68040
Nov 26, 2003
3,233
151
I guess I just get baffled when stories of Apple's ridiculous profit margins come out and people here go "Yeah, go Apple!" Huh?

A weak Apple means the platform is weak.

A strong Apple means a strong platform. That's more money to invest in OS X as a platform, more money to invest in R and D for future products, more money to help third party developers and build better tools. More money to invest in future platforms like the web and HTML 5.

If you're going to tell me I'm wrong and much of what I've stated is wrong then at least have the decency to tell me which parts?

Saying things like “Apple's all about the money” is 10x more wrong than anything I have said. Any company is “about the money”. It has some baring on quality control and pursuit of market share, but is by no means the full picture. You try and link the two together like a magic formula.

You said it “wasn't fair” when you championed the PC companies who provide all this great value and better hardware and still make profit.

Your criticism of Apple's “glaring faults” seemed to be:
[1] Apple charges too much (subjective). The 27" iMac is cheaper than some monitors of equivalent quality and resolution.
[2] Apple makes too much money.
[3] You couldn't get an appointment for 2x days (valid)

II have Apple stuff which is WHY I ask them to be much better than they are
Great, something we agree on. Apple can improve, but they won't improve by chasing market share and reducing profit and cash.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
[1] Apple charges too much (subjective). The 27" iMac is cheaper than some monitors of equivalent quality and resolution.
I keep hearing this without proof. The display fawning is getting tiresome.

I'll admit though that Apple did mention the margins are going to be a little lower on these iMacs.
 

nick9191

macrumors 68040
Feb 17, 2008
3,365
189
Britain
This shows in the actual quality of their products, which is dropping quite a bit in recent years, while the price skyrockets.
How far are you going back to exactly?

Because all I've seen since the Unibody is that quality control has skyrocketed.
 

MWPULSE

macrumors 6502a
Dec 27, 2008
706
1
London
Apple is the most profitable company that is going out of business.

hmmm dont really wanna point this out, but have you heard recently about apple, making money off every quarter for the last year or so.. in a recession, and are still going upwards, and have ~$34 in the bank.. doesnt sound like they're going outta business to me..

On other news this is quite impressive.. couple this, with the marginal market increase in the U.K earlier on a couple of weeks ago and this could be seen as quite impressive :)

PTP
 

topmounter

macrumors 68030
Jun 18, 2009
2,600
962
FEMA Region VIII
hmmm dont really wanna point this out, but have you heard recently about apple, making money off every quarter for the last year or so.. in a recession, and are still going upwards, and have ~$34 in the bank.. doesnt sound like they're going outta business to me..

On other news this is quite impressive.. couple this, with the marginal market increase in the U.K earlier on a couple of weeks ago and this could be seen as quite impressive :)

PTP

You may want to replace the batteries in your sarcasm detector.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
And the credibility and analysis goes about as far as what I can say.

With the desktop processors we're using now the iMac's hardware is peanuts. The display is now several times more than the computer hardware behind the panel. I'm not denying that fact. There's also the Dell U2711 in the cards as well.

The real money maker was the 3.06 GHz Early 2009 iMac compared to the E7600 at base today. The overnight price drop there was nothing short of comedy. The margins are lower this time around but it's not the value people are falling over to prop up right now.
 

Vulpinemac

macrumors 6502a
Nov 6, 2007
677
0
Hm...
Now that I'm thinking about this more, it is retail sales -- online sales not included. So this makes more sense to me.
I'm not sure this is a very good way to measure computer sales. Obviously, a lot of sales are going over the internet. E.g., does Dell have any retail sales?

As a matter of fact, yes they do. Just as HP sells a fair portion of their hardware through retail outlets in Staples, Best Buy, even Walmart* and other outlets, Dell is there, too. At least where I live, they are.

But the most interesting thing is, despite the much lower prices of the other PC brands, only Apple seems to be making any kind of real profit. Why? Oh, I know, they have 'oh so much markup,' but if that were really so true, why are people paying it? Have they decided that Apple really is the better choice? These numbers mean that Apple is now selling 25% of all desktop computers in the US. Are people finally tired of the poor quality of the cheaper PCs?

Only time will tell.
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
As a matter of fact, yes they do. Just as HP sells a fair portion of their hardware through retail outlets in Staples, Best Buy, even Walmart* and other outlets, Dell is there, too. At least where I live, they are.

But the most interesting thing is, despite the much lower prices of the other PC brands, only Apple seems to be making any kind of real profit. Why? Oh, I know, they have 'oh so much markup,' but if that were really so true, why are people paying it? Have they decided that Apple really is the better choice?

Apple's doing *something* right. Whatever it is, people keep coming back for more. And in a recession.

Customer satisfaction ratings are through the roof, each year now for several years running. People want Macs and other Apple products. Badly.
 

Vulpinemac

macrumors 6502a
Nov 6, 2007
677
0
Well I think it's clear that Apple is pretty much all about the money. They don't want more people using their products, they just want to make higher margins. This shows in the actual quality of their products, which is dropping quite a bit in recent years, while the price skyrockets.
Maybe you need to do a little research, since Apple's prices are lower than they were 5 years ago, not higher. They're just not as low as the PC prices.

The reason PC's are so cheap is because of competition. PC prices are the REAL value of the hardware you are buying, yet these companies are still making profits. Apple makes an obscene profit on the same (or worse) hardware that PC makers use.
Competition--and yet, Apple is competing with every one of them by offering not only better hardware, but a better OS as well. If your statements were true, would Apple even be close to the sales they're making? After all, Apple still holds an 80% Customer Satisfaction rating, despite the much higher price you say they're bilking from their customers.

Apple is able to make such absurd profit levels because it's basically it's own monopoly. Great business, but hardly benefits users. In fact it's pretty detrimental to them. If Apple was making such good stuff, why is it like 2 days wait just to get an appointment to get your broken gear looked at?
Ah yes, I knew that one was going to come up. Please explain to me exactly what 'monopoly' Apple is supposed to be holding? With only about 10% of the desktop computer market (supposedly) they certainly don't hold any monopoly over the desktop computers. The users are very satisfied with their hardware in general, and Macs have been proven to even run Windows better than any 'equivalent' PC. So being a monopoly is a patent impossibility at the moment. As for your "... like 2 days wait just to get an appointment ...," obviously, you simply don't know how to use the Genius Bar--assuming you've even tried.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
Maybe you need to do a little research, since Apple's prices are lower than they were 5 years ago, not higher. They're just not as low as the PC prices.
Overall hardware prices have dropped as well. The single socket Mac Pro stands out badly this time around like the Power Mac G5 1.8 GHz did. It took long enough to get a $999 base notebook again.

Apple has been well known to nickel and dime around on everything but the processor for their notebooks.
 

inlovewithi

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2009
615
0
This is great news for Apple, but not so for the consumer. It reminded me how for years I wanted a Mac Mini, hoping that it will god won in price some how, but now nettops are looking much more appealing. I'm sure some here would be willing to pay even 5 times as much for a Mac, if it means more stories like these.
 

LagunaSol

macrumors 601
Apr 3, 2003
4,798
0
Well I think it's clear that Apple is pretty much all about the money. They don't want more people using their products, they just want to make higher margins.

What's the margin on a $320 Window 7 Ultimate disc-in-a-box? Hmm, you would think that with 90% market share their products would be more...reasonably priced?

Where's your outrage?

Only ignorance keeps the idea that Windows is horrible alive.

Windows user since 1992 here. Windows is horrible.

The only thing ignorance is keeping alive is Windows' 90% market share.
 

inlovewithi

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2009
615
0
Competition--and yet, Apple is competing with every one of them by offering not only better hardware, but a better OS as well. If your statements were true, would Apple even be close to the sales they're making? After all, Apple still holds an 80% Customer Satisfaction rating, despite the much higher price you say they're bilking from their customers.

I hear that and I think ********, because judging by many of the comments that I hear from Mac users ever since I got my Macbook, their Macs can come filled with dog **** and they will still give Apple a high rating simply because it's Apple. Whenever I hear that, I always think that. My MacBook that I treat like gold is of such crap build quality.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
What's the margin on a $320 Window 7 Ultimate disc-in-a-box? Hmm, you would think that with 90% market share their products would be more...reasonably priced?

Where's your outrage?
How many retail Windows units does Microsoft sell? :rolleyes:

It gets old seeing $29 Snow Leopard get faced off against $320 Windows 7 Ultimate retail without any consideration beyond that.
 

Vulpinemac

macrumors 6502a
Nov 6, 2007
677
0
Only ignorance keeps the idea that Windows is horrible alive.

Ignorance? Or experience? While W7 is better than Vista, is it really that much better than XP? At least OS X improves with each new version... Windows seems be be running as hard as it can just to stay in one place. Run with the White Queen sometime; maybe you'll understand.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
Revenue != profit

I am surprised so many people are talking about profit margins. Did you read the article? It’s about revenue not profits (i.e. the total price of units sold). For Apple’s revenue share to be that high is rather unusual (profit is another story). So, it’s probably just a fluke. Besides, obviously these stats reflect the difference in sales/marketing. Unlike MAC users, PC buyers are accustomed for customization. You do not get it from the retail store (or from Apple in general to this matter ). That is why a lot of PC buyers use Internet. Also, they usually do not buy Apple/whatever care and thus do not feel a need to discuss related issues in person. The stats obviously do not reflect enterprise sales, Dell sales, significant share of HP sales etc. Without additional information these stats do not really tell us that much. The only piece of useful info here, as I understand, is that Apple’s share grew but as the article explained Apple releasing new products (which happens every day in PC world) and PC buyers waiting for Windows 7 explains this fact.
 

LagunaSol

macrumors 601
Apr 3, 2003
4,798
0
How many retail Windows units does Microsoft sell? :rolleyes:

I have no idea. Perhaps you can tell me?

And I assume the profit margin on the $50 OEM copies they ship with almost every single new PC on the planet is razor thin? :rolleyes:

Again, where is the outrage?

The only reason Microsoft's profits aren't even more obscene than they already are is because of their cash-burning adventures with Xbox, Zune, Bing, etc.

It gets old seeing $29 Snow Leopard get faced off against $320 Windows 7 Ultimate retail without any consideration beyond that.

Who said anything about Snow Leopard? People here are griping about Apple's profit margins on Macs - maybe they should look at Microsoft's profit margins on those 10 cent CDs they ship?

Hating on Apple is a one-way street.
 

LagunaSol

macrumors 601
Apr 3, 2003
4,798
0
I hear that and I think ********, because judging by many of the comments that I hear from Mac users ever since I got my Macbook, their Macs can come filled with dog **** and they will still give Apple a high rating simply because it's Apple.

Brilliant theory. :rolleyes:

My MacBook that I treat like gold is of such crap build quality.

Your current model MacBook or one from a few years ago?

I just got a brand new HP laptop at work today. And not one of the cheapo $500 models either. It's not even close to a MacBook in build quality.
 

JGowan

macrumors 68000
Jan 29, 2003
1,766
23
Mineola TX
More than anything else, this article demonstrates how the price of PC desktops and laptops has gone down dramatically over the last few years. To the point where new laptops are almost becoming impulse buys.
My sister got an Acer -- cute little thing that... that I found almost impossible to navigate with the "trackpad" and click button. Terribly frustrating.

I'll gladly spend more to get something that works and isn't frustrating.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.