Apple's Share of Mobile Phone Industry Profits Pushes Toward 60%

[blackcrayon]

Apple's revenue is impressive...
I like them a lot but they could really lower prices a bit...

Well since I've "bought into" their products, so to speak, I'd appreciate them putting in the absolute maximum amount of unicorn tear, pegasus feather, griffin beak, etc. into each product since they can afford to provide the very best...

 

[Snowy_River]

I really don't get this. To be honest. It does seem weird to me that many if you are so happy with this news even though it is directly on your back.

I am not saying it is a bad thing they are making this money. I am saying it would be a good thing if they would sell the hardware for cheaper. The iPhone 4 without a doubt does not cost the same that it did 10 months ago. Why can these savings not be passed on to the end user. Especially when the user is purchasing 10 month old hardware with little revision in that time.

From what I can see this news should not really have the average (non share holding) consumer happy. Should they be mad. No they chose to buy the phone knowing how apple operates.

There are basic social economics reasons for this. If they drop the price over the life cycle, then raise the price again with the new hardware release, the result would be very negative for Apple's sales numbers. Aside from the fact that it would discourage consumers from buying the product when it is at its most expensive price-point, the variability of the price would bother the public, leading to fewer people buy in general. Remember what happened when Apple lowered the price of the iPhone a few months after the release? To placate their customers they had to give out "refund" gift certificates.

The way that many manufacturers handle this is to start off selling products at a loss. All evidence suggests that Apple doesn't do this, but rather maintain razor thin margins, to start out. They are not alone in this business model, but they certainly get a lot of attention for it...

 

[NebulaClash]

I really don't get this. To be honest. It does seem weird to me that many if you are so happy with this news even though it is directly on your back.

I am not saying it is a bad thing they are making this money. I am saying it would be a good thing if they would sell the hardware for cheaper. The iPhone 4 without a doubt does not cost the same that it did 10 months ago. Why can these savings not be passed on to the end user. Especially when the user is purchasing 10 month old hardware with little revision in that time.

I think I can explain. Primarily the reason Apple fans are happy to hear Apple is making good profits is because in the late 90s there was a worry that the company might not survive. We got so used to hearing the Apple-is-dying stories, that when they turned it around we felt relieved. Now we feel happy knowing they will have plenty of cash to fund their R&D which gives us these cool products. And since no one else in the industry is innovating the way Apple is, we would be worried if they were NOT making good profits, cut their R&D, settled into the me-too doldrums of other PC manufacturers. We might not get those cool products as often.

We don't want Apple to be yet another race-to-the-bottom pricer. We'd rather have better products.

 

[JAT]

I really don't get this. To be honest. It does seem weird to me that many if you are so happy with this news even though it is directly on your back.

I am not saying it is a bad thing they are making this money. I am saying it would be a good thing if they would sell the hardware for cheaper. The iPhone 4 without a doubt does not cost the same that it did 10 months ago. Why can these savings not be passed on to the end user. Especially when the user is purchasing 10 month old hardware with little revision in that time.

The reason for other smartphone generating less revenue IS the product life of each model. They waste a bunch of money trying to put out multiple models every year. How many new HTC Android phones are coming out in the first 6 months of 2011? 10? That is a waste of money, trying to hit the slightest needs of certain consumers. This one has a keyboard, this one has no keyboard. This one is 3.5", next is 3.7", now that one is 4.3". Etc.

I think you'll find that most Android phones are actually sold at $200-300 to consumers, just like iPhones. And the BOGO or even free sales amount to desperation to sell a few more before next month's version comes out. Possibly even because they made too many, simple "supply higher than demand".

Apple's plan is working better from a business standpoint. Make one model that does a whole crapload of stuff. If it misses two items some tech geek wants, oh well. No product can do everything. No consumer has only one need. Some days I need a basic phone and nothing more. Other days I need to use gps or internet, etc. It's my problem to decide what I need and buy accordingly, not Apple's or HTC's.

Also, I agree 100% with Snowy_River. Perception of a phone that drops from $200 to $0 in 2 months is that the phone is crap. Sure, there are some people who won't care. But many, many others will look at the next phone instead. Which, Hey!, is $200. And Much, Much Better!

My only annoyance is paying $100 for another 16GB of flash memory. The $200 is fine to get in the door, but it literally took me weeks of going back and forth to decide whether to get the 32GB. $50 seems more correct in my mind.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

When will people get it into their heads that the phones "given away" on BOGO offers are subject to a lengthy 2 year contract and the cost of the phone is swallowed by the additional line? HTC/RIM et,al all get paid for their phones still.

iPhone's are "given away" by the same means in Europe every day. The iPhone 3GS can be had free for as little as £25 a month. Do you really think Apple doesn't get paid for that 3GS?

 

[mack pro]

In other news Apple cut cdma iphone production by 57 percent due to poor sell through. In other words Android is kicking Apples but on Verizon. This is like the pc era all over again. Apple has a head start and is raking in all the profits but they're losing market share. After a while it wont matter how much they make off an iphone if they only have 5 percent of the market.

 

[liphonearth]

This gets the customer excited how?

While there's plenty of room for the winning revenue company to screw the customer, the hope is that profitable companies put more into R&D and develop better products and push the technology forward.

The best companies are rarely the cheapest... and if they are, they aren't for long. New product/technology is the only way to remain #1, and you can't do that just breaking even.

If there's adequate profit, the R&D pool grows and technologies become increasingly cheaper.. and the customer benefits.

T

 

[alhedges]

Only an Apple customer could be happy at such news. A normal person would think they are getting the shaft.

Apple's smartphone income includes not just the sale of handsets, but also the sale of smartphone apps and accessories (including licenses paid by case manufacturers). Those additional features are what makes the iphone so much more profitable than the competition. They're not selling the handset itself at some sort of huge markup. So no one is getting the shaft.

 

[NoNothing]

Here's my chart on how many use a pie chart to show this kind of data and how many use an unnecessary, weird set of boxes...

Image

Try this:

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html

It is sad some think the only way to visualize data is a pie chart.

 

[lsvtecjohn3]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

When will people get it into their heads that the phones "given away" on BOGO offers are subject to a lengthy 2 year contract and the cost of the phone is swallowed by the additional line? HTC/RIM et,al all get paid for their phones still.

iPhone's are "given away" by the same means in Europe every day. The iPhone 3GS can be had free for as little as £25 a month. Do you really think Apple doesn't get paid for that 3GS?

When phones are sold BOGOF and free on two year contract the manufacture aren't getting as much per phone as if they were to sale that phone for the subsidized price. The reason Apple is making so much money is because the carriers are paying Apple $599,$699 for every iPhone sold at least thats what the carriers in the US are paying Apple. HTC Samsung, Motorola, ect are getting at most $450 for their high end phones( from the last time I saw) from the carriers that's why Apple killing everyone in this area.

 

[NoNothing]

Not in these plots.

Apple's smartphone income includes not just the sale of handsets, but also the sale of smartphone apps and accessories (including licenses paid by case manufacturers). Those additional features are what makes the iphone so much more profitable than the competition. They're not selling the handset itself at some sort of huge markup. So no one is getting the shaft.

App Store sales fall into iTMS revenue and the profit is very tiny. These plots represent only the handset sales.

 

[SockRolid]

Android's last safe haven has been invaded

[...] In other words Android is kicking Apples but on Verizon. [...]

People are still locked into contracts on Verizon. After a year or two, iPhone will attain about the same market share on Verizon that it enjoys on AT&T. That would be 60%. (And in a year or two Android will either be extinct or Google will be paying big bucks to Oracle for every Android phone ever shipped.)

[...]This is like the pc era all over again. [...]

There you go again. Looking back to the '90s for a warning from history.

This is more like the iPod era all over again. Especially in the pad computing market, but that's off topic.

 

[liphonearth]

In other news Apple cut cdma iphone production by 57 percent due to poor sell through. In other words Android is kicking Apples but on Verizon. This is like the pc era all over again. Apple has a head start and is raking in all the profits but they're losing market share. After a while it wont matter how much they make off an iphone if they only have 5 percent of the market.

You are basing your hopes/assumptions on the idea that the current Hardware manufacturers are making enough profit to continue their R&D efforts. I sincerely hope they do, as it will increase competition and will result in better products for everyone.

As far as the Verizon numbers, I think you'd have to be really unhappy with your phone to buy an iPhone 4 on a 2 year contract when there' an iPhone 5 on the near horizon. I wouldn't have made the switch. The real success/numbers on the Verizon (and Sprint in September) can't be judged until the iPhone 5 hits the streets.

In either case, Apple will continue to do well, profit-wise, no matter how big or small their share of the market is, because their profits aren't dependent on market share. The hardware and software profits are there, but the app eco system is purely gravy and their most profitable revenue stream.

 

[lsvtecjohn3]

In other news Apple cut cdma iphone production by 57 percent due to poor sell through. In other words Android is kicking Apples but on Verizon. This is like the pc era all over again. Apple has a head start and is raking in all the profits but they're losing market share. After a while it wont matter how much they make off an iphone if they only have 5 percent of the market.

Apple sold over two million CDMA iPhones last quarter. Early this year there was a report that theres 5 million Android users on Verizon. So in one quarter the iPhone has cut Android lead lets say by one third. So how is "Android is kicking Apples but on Verizon?"

This nothing like the PC era. iOS never had a lead and theres too many OS, iOS will not have five percent market share it's about to pass Nokia to become the largest smartphone maker. I think when it's all said in done iOS will have 20-25% marker share.

 

[JAT]

In other news Apple cut cdma iphone production by 57 percent due to poor sell through. In other words Android is kicking Apples but on Verizon.

Without base numbers, there is no way to draw that conclusion. Simple supply error on Apple's part. Only becomes a problem if it is so bad that it becomes an inventory issue, as well. Probably won't, but again, you don't have the statistics to actually analyze everything.

 

[jboy123]

People are still locked into contracts on Verizon. After a year or two, iPhone will attain about the same market share on Verizon that it enjoys on AT&T. That would be 60%. (And in a year or two Android will either be extinct or Google will be paying big bucks to Oracle for every Android phone ever shipped.)



There you go again. Looking back to the '90s for a warning from history.

This is more like the iPod era all over again. Especially in the pad computing market, but that's off topic.

I have to be objective. The reason that the iPhone enjoyed 60% of the smart phone sales on AT&T is because AT&T had very ***** Android phones. AT&T made no real effort into the platform. Verizon Spends the same amount of money on the android that it did before getting the iPhone. People are still buying those androids.

Some people have had androids for the last 2 years now. They have gotten use to them and they have went and grabbed iPhones only to return them seven days later. They have gotten to use to many of the android features and don't want to go to iOS.

Android will push Apple to be the minority of smartphones. The iPhone cannot possibly meet all of the needs of the market unless it diversifies.

 

[Cinch]

As far as the Verizon numbers, I think you'd have to be really unhappy with your phone to buy an iPhone 4 on a 2 year contract when there' an iPhone 5 on the near horizon. I wouldn't have made the switch. The real success/numbers on the Verizon (and Sprint in September) can't be judged until the iPhone 5 hits the streets.

Count me as one of those unhappy "dumb" phone user with Verizon. Well, I love the iPhone 4 since February 11th, but I still dislike Verizon or any other carriers for that matter. I'm well aware of Apple's upgrade cycle, and I even paid extra ($125) to terminate my contract. So what if the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S comes out in a few months. If the next iPhone is compelling enough, I won't hesitate to terminate my contract to get it.

 

[alent1234]

When phones are sold BOGOF and free on two year contract the manufacture aren't getting as much per phone as if they were to sale that phone for the subsidized price. The reason Apple is making so much money is because the carriers are paying Apple $599,$699 for every iPhone sold at least thats what the carriers in the US are paying Apple. HTC Samsung, Motorola, ect are getting at most $450 for their high end phones( from the last time I saw) from the carriers that's why Apple killing everyone in this area.

just because that's the retail price of a no contract phone is there any proof that apple is getting paid this much? the cost of an iphone 4 is $220 or so including parts and apple's reported margins aren't that high to justify a $600 price tag.

and since most iphones are on family plans it's not like at&t is making $70 per phone per month

 

[dustinsc]

Apple uses long cycles of its single phone to make huge profit. By the end of its life it is safe to say they are making a killings off every phone. To bad Apple does not pass on those savings.

No corporation ever "passes on savings" unless it gives that company a competitive advantage. Companies don't exist as a service to you. They exist for one reason and one reason only: make money for shareholders.

 

[NoNothing]

just because that's the retail price of a no contract phone is there any proof that apple is getting paid this much? the cost of an iphone 4 is $220 or so including parts and apple's reported margins aren't that high to justify a $600 price tag.

and since most iphones are on family plans it's not like at&t is making $70 per phone per month

That is only for RAW parts and a guess on assembly. It does not include licensing, R&D, distribution, tariffs, marketing,...

If you look at the price difference in the iPad WiFi VS 3G, I think you can get a handle on the potential cost of licensing.

 

[johncarync]

Try this:

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html

It is sad some think the only way to visualize data is a pie chart.

I watched the video and agreed with everything McCandless said. However the data that Asymco is trying to convey is very simple. The Treemap graph type that Asymco chose is for making very complex data easier to digest. The Treemap also works better in an interactive setting where you can drill down and change the color scale.

I think the best way to visualize data is to carefully choose the best way visualize the data.

 

[vvswarup]

This is where you're wrong...

In other news Apple cut cdma iphone production by 57 percent due to poor sell through. In other words Android is kicking Apples but on Verizon. This is like the pc era all over again. Apple has a head start and is raking in all the profits but they're losing market share. After a while it wont matter how much they make off an iphone if they only have 5 percent of the market.

At the end of the day the only thing that matters is profits. Market share is not going to pay R&D for a new phone. Market share is not going to pay component suppliers.

Also, nice try with trotting out new about Apple cutting CDMA iPhone production. Your spin is completely off the mark. Presently, Apple has two separate iPhone 4 production lines because they use a different chip depending on the network standard. Apple partnered up with Qualcomm to build a chip that can incorporate both CDMA and GSM technology, eliminating the need to produce two different versions of the iPhone.

 

[MrWinters]

So you are saying normal people want the companies whose products they buy to be failures?

No, NOT FAILURES... Why do I care how much PROFIT a company is making off of me. This is PURE Apple Fanboy Nonsense!!!!!

Now you guys sound downright silly ya really do...

Profit Margin. Yeah, I could of gotten a Ford that got better gas mileage, had more features, and was a better looking car, but Chevrolet makes an extra $1000 off of me if I buy their cars - and afterall, it's that what's important, a manufactures profit..

Pathetic

 

[lsvtecjohn3]

just because that's the retail price of a no contract phone is there any proof that apple is getting paid this much? the cost of an iphone 4 is $220 or so including parts and apple's reported margins aren't that high to justify a $600 price tag.

and since most iphones are on family plans it's not like at&t is making $70 per phone per month

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2008/06/19/what-att-pays-apple-for-the-iphone/

I read some ere else that Apple was getting over $600 per iPhone sold from Att. the next closest was Verizon was paying Motorola $450 for the Droid but I can find that link

 

[AppleScruff1]

Apple's smartphone income includes not just the sale of handsets, but also the sale of smartphone apps and accessories (including licenses paid by case manufacturers). Those additional features are what makes the iphone so much more profitable than the competition. They're not selling the handset itself at some sort of huge markup. So no one is getting the shaft.

I didn't know that they were taking accessory sales into consideration with these figures. But I thought that the carrier subsidized the iPhone and that Apple still got the $599 per unit.

Then the "normal" person is getting the shaft by ALL of the smartphone manufacturers. It's just that Apple is getting a bigger share than the others. Apple made a good product and marketed it well. More power to 'em.

Apple is getting the lions share of the profits on a very small percentage of the sales. Customer is paying a lot more than the product is worth. Apple is the king of marketing and every company dreams of having that kind of blind following where all rationality and sense is throw out the window.

So you are saying normal people want the companies whose products they buy to be failures?

I guess that is why most normal people are in turn failures.

If a company makes good products and supports them well, I want them to be hyper succesful so they can keep doing the same. Apple is the blueprint for why this model works in spades.

I don't want Apple or any company that makes good products to fail. I just don't want them to make ten times the money that everyone else does and then listen to people who are happy to be bent over like Apple is doing them a favor.