Interesting numbers on Apple - Page 2

Sharky Forums


Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 25 of 25

Thread: Interesting numbers on Apple

  1. #16
    LOLWUT ImaNihilist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    14,034
    Quote Originally Posted by drdoom View Post
    That's exactly my point. Apple only started making money when they dumped their desktop computer sales model.
    They never dumped their desktop computer sales. Sales of the Mac have been profitable for a very long time. It's almost always been a good business. It was everything else that was the problem. They dumped everything else. It was things like the Newton that weren't profitable. Most people don't remember, but Apple used to make disk drives, modems, printers, scanners, speakers, Trinitron displays, and a bunch of other crap. They even made a digital camera and a console. They tried to diversify their portfolio looking for a high revenue item to drive their stock price, and they never found it until Jobs returned and invented the iPod.

    What sells computers is faster CPU's, bigger hard drives, more memory and better graphics.
    What sells PCs is price. The amount of people who have cared about technical specifications of hardware has always been slim. This forum is not representative of the larger population.

    I hate to tell you this, but Dell and HP didn't become empires selling good computers. They became empires winning huge corporate and government contracts for 50,000 low-tier workstations at $299. Apple wasn't even part of that market. The only place Apple was ever able to compete was in areas where the POWER PC architecture was superior—and there are a lot of areas where that was true—it just wasn't the home desktop or corporate workstation. POWER is still used today by IBM.

    While few consumers cared about technical specifications in the 90s, it's even worse today because no one cares outside of some enthusiasts. Most enthusiasts became engineers and they now care the least of all because the usability of software has trumped raw power of hardware. The MHz race ended long ago. Steve Jobs bet on this back in 1999 and everyone thought he was a bit mad, but he turned out to be right in the long run.

    You really can't make the argument that the Mac is a bad business. If you look at pretty much every year end, the Mac has almost always done well as a business unit. A few slipped quarters here and there with the IIGS and early PowerBook IIRC, but that's about it. The Cube was unusually expensive to build for some reason too, I forget why.

    Without the Macintosh, Apple would be gone. They probably will get rid of the Mac Pro at some point, because the reality is that it's no longer necessary. The tower is completely obsolete from a technology perspective. If raw horsepower or storage is needed locally it can be sold as an add-on Thunderbolt device. I have a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro and there are few times where I need more processing power and can't get it. This isn't 1998 where the only solution is to buy a new machine. I can just push calculations onto a platform like Amazon AWS and get the work done in a fraction of the time at a fraction of the cost.

    The only problem with getting rid of the Mac Pro is video rendering. Notebooks aren't quite there yet. Fixable with a small Thunderbolt rendering box though.
    Last edited by ImaNihilist; 02-26-2012 at 04:09 PM.

  2. #17
    I don't roll on Shabbos! Timman_24's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Urbana, IL
    Posts
    12,648
    Mac isn't going anywhere any time soon. IMO, they can't get rid of the Mac Pro workstation because high end studios use those and they are the ones that push software innovation. As long as Macs are known for content generation, there will always be a place for the workstation. You simply can't shove an 2x6 core board with 64GB of ram into a notebook.

    I find it strange Apple still hasn't upgrade to SB cpus for their Mac Pros. Hard to stomach spending that much on a 2-3 year old processor. BTW 700 dollars for a raid card lol.
    Last edited by Timman_24; 02-26-2012 at 04:08 PM.
    PC: Corsair 550D
    4280k | Asus Rampage Gene | Mushkin 4x4GB | EVGA 780
    Intel 120GB SSD + 2TB Seagate | Seasonic 660 Plat
    2x Alphacool XT45 | Laing DDC | Bitspower

    Currently playing: Civ 5
    Last Game Beaten: Walking Dead

  3. #18
    LOLWUT ImaNihilist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    14,034
    I could see them getting rid of the Mac Pro and just releasing a flat slab of aluminum that looks something like a 1U rack with two Thunderbolt ports, a power button and an optional 1U mounting kit (for $199 of course).

  4. #19
    Snarky Quorums MrDigital's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Canuckistan
    Posts
    8,224
    It wouldn't surprise me to see Mac take over 25% of the US market share within 2 years. People don't give a crap about PCs anymore and iDevices are pushing more and more people into the Mac ecosystem.

    Then again if Mountain Lion is any indication, OSX/iOS convergence is only about 2 releases away. Maybe 3 years?
    There is the theory of the moebius. A twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop.

  5. #20
    LOLWUT ImaNihilist's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    14,034
    Quote Originally Posted by MrDigital View Post
    Then again if Mountain Lion is any indication, OSX/iOS convergence is only about 2 releases away. Maybe 3 years?
    Probably has more to do with high I/O, larger capacity storage than anything else.

    I could totally see that in 3 years. Plug your iPhone into power nearby the monitor. Works with the BT keyboard and trackpad. Works with the display wirelessly or via Thunderbolt. Runs desktop apps.

    If the next iPad is really able to run applications at 2048x1536 it will be pretty incredible.

  6. #21
    I don't roll on Shabbos! Timman_24's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Urbana, IL
    Posts
    12,648
    ARM processors are quickly approaching the computing power necessary for normal desktop operation. This is why MS is going quickly to ARM support with Windows 8. The tower will be pretty much dead in 3 years (it is arguably already dead except for enthusiasts and schools/businesses.) Graphics cards can be linked through a thunderbolt equivalent for gaming.

    It will be sad to see the tower go eventually, but there are plenty of other things to tinker with for the enthusiasts (like raspberry pi.)
    Last edited by Timman_24; 02-26-2012 at 06:15 PM.
    PC: Corsair 550D
    4280k | Asus Rampage Gene | Mushkin 4x4GB | EVGA 780
    Intel 120GB SSD + 2TB Seagate | Seasonic 660 Plat
    2x Alphacool XT45 | Laing DDC | Bitspower

    Currently playing: Civ 5
    Last Game Beaten: Walking Dead

  7. #22
    Reef Shark
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    261
    Quote Originally Posted by Timman_24 View Post
    Yes, but it is time to cash in on the name they have been building for themselves over the last 15 years. Think of it this way, Dell, HP, and others fight each other for the low end price point (400-700.) If Apple struts in with a decent quality laptop with some of the high end features nipped off like the aluminum chassis, high end display, etc, then they could still make the same profit at a lower price point of 599-699. That leaves no room at all for the other guys. I mean, who would buy a dell when you can get an apple for around the same price?

    They would fly off the shelves. I think apple may be quite different in the coming years with Steve gone, RIP. I think he really pushed for the actual high end position and quality of Apple, but the new management may only push for the high end branding of Apple, which opens up new doors and endless money if done correctly.
    People have been saying this for over a decade now, and Apple have been smart to not do it. As soon as they cash in on the name by releasing a cheap crappy product, people will know. That's why Dell and HP's reputations are where they are.
    Apple doesn't make computers for everyone, but in a market of this size you don't need to serve everyone to make a profit.

    Quote Originally Posted by MrDigital View Post
    It wouldn't surprise me to see Mac take over 25% of the US market share within 2 years. People don't give a crap about PCs anymore and iDevices are pushing more and more people into the Mac ecosystem.

    Then again if Mountain Lion is any indication, OSX/iOS convergence is only about 2 releases away. Maybe 3 years?
    IMO it's never going to happen. The difference between touch input and non-touch input is just too important, no matter how good the trackpad gesture stuff gets. What will happen is exactly what Steve said (I think it was at the D interview with Bill Gates), iOS will be the car and MacOS will be the truck.

    RE: video editing - a lot of the video people I know who currently use Mac Pros can't wait to ditch them for iMacs and MacBook Pros with external screens. I don't know enough about Thunderbolt to judge if it could be used to juggle a bunch of 5K raw video files from RED cameras in Final Cut Pro, but if it can and an external render box thing gets released you can be sure that the Mac Pro's days will be numbered.
    Last edited by Steven P Jobs; 02-26-2012 at 07:05 PM.

  8. #23
    Mako Shark
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Location
    VA
    Posts
    3,277
    What sells PCs is price. The amount of people who have cared about technical specifications of hardware has always been slim. This forum is not representative of the larger population.

    I hate to tell you this, but Dell and HP didn't become empires selling good computers. They became empires winning huge corporate and government contracts for 50,000 low-tier workstations at $299. Apple wasn't even part of that market. The only place Apple was ever able to compete was in areas where the POWER PC architecture was superior—and there are a lot of areas where that was true—it just wasn't the home desktop or corporate workstation. POWER is still used today by IBM.



    Once again you make my point. That 299 dollar computer has become exponentially faster and stayed the same price. That's why they sell not just because they are cheap. Even when you are buying low tier computers you still upgrade when you need something faster not when the computer "wears" out. I have Dell PIII's that work fine. They just slow as crap.

  9. #24
    Great White Shark
    Join Date
    Nov 2000
    Posts
    21,595
    Actually Dell and HP high tier workstations and low tier PC's sell better than any Apple products because of better functionality and bang for the buck.

    I've consulted at engineering companies that threw out Apple in favor of Dell's running BSD Unix. Apple's OS is BSD under the covers. There is nothing very special about it other than a few proprietary enhancements.

  10. #25
    Reef Shark
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    261
    Quote Originally Posted by drdoom View Post
    What sells PCs is price. The amount of people who have cared about technical specifications of hardware has always been slim. This forum is not representative of the larger population.

    I hate to tell you this, but Dell and HP didn't become empires selling good computers. They became empires winning huge corporate and government contracts for 50,000 low-tier workstations at $299. Apple wasn't even part of that market. The only place Apple was ever able to compete was in areas where the POWER PC architecture was superior—and there are a lot of areas where that was true—it just wasn't the home desktop or corporate workstation. POWER is still used today by IBM.



    Once again you make my point. That 299 dollar computer has become exponentially faster and stayed the same price. That's why they sell not just because they are cheap. Even when you are buying low tier computers you still upgrade when you need something faster not when the computer "wears" out. I have Dell PIII's that work fine. They just slow as crap.
    hmmm i wonder how selling $300 boxes loaded with crapware to consumers is working out for dell

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •