No it is you who is missing the forest. Apple has immense momentum. Consumers are buying anyway and just rolling with some of the hassles whined about here. For example, how many of those who passionately argued against removal of the headphone jack actually voted with their wallets and refused to buy the iPhone? Instead, they buy and roll with the hassle. Why? Because abandoning a whole ecosystem over any one hassle is more painful than just rolling with it and hoping the company comes to its senses in the next round... or maybe "I" can get used to carrying the dongle... or maybe "I" can get used to Bluetooth, etc. Accumulated goodwill plus this "roll with it" mentality will work for a while.
We have seen this over and over and over again. How many companies carve out very successful businesses, get complacent on sales that keep coming in as they burn goodwill and then shrink when consumers finally give up on them? We here have poked critiques at countless Apple competitors who used to dominate businesses for doing exactly that kind of thing as Apple swept in and ate their lunch. Those companies had roaring revenues. They had record profits. They could lay claims that consumers loved what they were (or were not) doing based on the ongoing flows of cash... until their bases gave up on them due to too many disappointments. Can you name any such companies? Do you really believe that Apple's story can't replicate any of them?
The money argument does not prove the point. It just illustrates ongoing momentum. Momentum doesn't last forever unless the consumer side is regularly fed what it wants too. Too much consumer disappointment and they shift to someone else's products... even if the pain of entire ecosystem change comes with it. We've seen it happen over and over with many other companies.
What's more disturbing within our little niche of consumers is the seemingly recurring trend of Apple rolling out a big product update and "us" Apple fans proclaiming the prior generation superior and, apparently, choosing to buy the prior generation before they sell out. In the last few years, that's happened a few times- this rMB pro, Mac Mini, iPhone, etc. Conceptually, newer (tech) should almost always be obviously superior to it's older "parent." But lately, that obviousness seems challenged.
Exactly.
Apple's current huge succes is due to the brilliance of the past.
Succes trails some years after the introduction of great products. The early adaptors path the way for the masses to follow.
But, the same applies to the failure after complacency. It takes time for the masses to get bored of the new products and actually start switching.
Same story has happened before to Apple. See the successes of Scully. It took a while before the products became really bad enough for people to actually realise that they had to jump ship.
Microsoft had come along with Windows which gave them options.
Apple is really digging out maximum profit for the current lineup:
• Keep current customers in the Apple-ecosystem (via iCloud, App Store, etc.)
• Maximize margins on products
• Seek new markets (like India, Indonesia, etc.)
• Introduce "business-features" (i.e. remote management, deals with Cisco / IBM, Microsoft) for the current consumer-products.
I just wonder how long it will take before current customers become too bored with Apple's lineup and don't want to pay so much for the products...
IMHO, the "alternatives" are still not good enough. But, they are catching up.
