Can Apple Customers Still Feel Special?

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

That question might sound a bit odd at first, but it's a good one. When things, whether they be products or habits, tend to grow in popularity, they lose their initial lustre. If you're part of a rather small group of like-minded people, you might have reason to feel special. That's how Apple fans likely felt even just five years ago, and even more so ten to fifteen years ago. But what about now?

Wired takes a look at "8 signs" that Apple customers are no longer special, and for the most part, their choices are good ones. What would take away the special feeling? Well, over-usage is a good one... the fact that when one thing becomes so popular, it can suck the fun right out of things. I've had this happen with things I've liked, so I know what it's like. It's like following an indie band for years, and then they explode and hit the mainstream... it's hard to feel the same way.

In the case of Apple, the fact that Macs are deliberately shown on-screen in movies and TV shows is one good reason, and the fact that The Simpsons mocks the company doesn't help either. Then there is the fact that Wal-Mart is going to be selling the iPhone. Oh, and how about the fact that President-elect Obama uses a Mac as his main PC? So while it might be hard to feel special anymore, if there's one thing Apple fans have to be proud of, it's that Macs do seem to be taking over the planet.

Windows PC owners always pull the "Macs aren't compatible with any decent software" card when bashing Apple. But that insult is clearly outdated if Barack Obama was able to win the U.S. presidency with a Mac as his computing weapon (while using iChat to stay in touch with his family, no less). And wait - there's one more thing: Obama has his own official iPhone application! Can we all "think different" if we're all using the same trendy gadgets?

Source: Wired
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[Merlin]

it's that Macs do seem to be taking over the planet.

Not until they pry my CPU from my cold, dead fingers

 

[madstork91]

Can Apple Customers Still Feel Special?

now when you say "special" you mean?... "special"?

Then yes... I'm sure they can.

 

[Rob Williams]

Hah, Mac's aren't literally taking over the world, but their growth is huge. It's just too bad that Linux doesn't support the vast amount of applications out there (like Photoshop)... else I could see it being stiff competition.

 

[Kougar]

The only thing Apple has left is their brand name image. They make 31% of their revenue from Macs, 40% from iPhones, and just ~14% from anything with iPod in the name. Even less from their iTunes store. LINK

So, Apple doesn't have a core business or core product anymore. And during all of 2009, the revenue from iPhones is supposed to grow by huge amounts... somewhere between one half to 2/3rds of Apple's revenue will come from the iPhone. And they are not even selling it at Walmart yet.

Two year contracts for every iPhone and sizeable portions of every monthly AT&T bill in royalties means Apple is going to be rolling in the dough until 2011 regardless of what they do in the interim.

Not until they pry my CPU from my cold, dead fingers

Same exact CPU as what's in your PC... so what's the point?

 

[madstork91]

Buy stock now.

 

[Merlin]

Same exact CPU as what's in your PC... so what's the point?

Okay, re-stated
" Not until they pry my Q9450 from my dead hands "
Ah hem, you wont find that in a Mac

But then, you already knew that, right?

end of file

 

[Kougar]

Buy stock now.

Whoa... I'm looking at their stock right now... six months ago it was near $180. Right now it is $85. Knowing how much pure profit they are locked into receiving for the next two years...

Okay, re-stated
" Not until they pry my Q9450 from my dead hands "
Ah hem, you wont find that in a Mac

Well, technically they do. The Mac Pro uses the same Penryn Quad chip, just the more expensive Xeon model... base offering is two 2.8GHz Harpertown Xeons.

 

[Rob Williams]

Kougar, that's interesting analysis. I actually kind of find it rather sad, in a way. Apple was always known as a computer company, and lately they've been known as a cell phone manufacturer, heh. I'm interested to see if that will ever change, though. I think Apple's hope was that with the iPhone, it would bring more people to the Macintosh, but I'm not sure that's happened yet.

hoa... I'm looking at their stock right now... six months ago it was near $180. Right now it is $85.

It wasn't that low since before the launch of the iPhone, I believe. It was the iPhone alone that helped it skyrocket... I think it literally doubled within the first month of the launch.

 

[Kougar]

Well, first they were a computer company, but that went south on them... then they started selling iPods and their entire company was supported by iPod sales, making them a media/music player company... Now as ya said they are just a cell phone company. There are some analysts that claim the market was headed towards device integration with phones all along, so by that reasoning Apple just took the next step transitioning from something like an iPod Touch to the iPhone. I just know they have a guaranteed huge income for the next two years due to phone contracts, which is already equal to almost half their revenues! Just about $18 per month, per phone and locked by contract is a kickback to Apple. That's why there is no such thing as an officially unlocked iPhone, Apple wants their $432 in royalties + whatever they make off the initial sale.

Their success with iPods spilled over onto their Macs, and you can see where that's taken them today. I think at one time Macs were less than 10% of their revenue pie. Some have already said the iPhone is likewise spurring Mac sales, and considering how strongly Mac sales were growing into the start of Q4 I do think this was the case. If it wasn't for the interesting market mess and general recession news sweeping the globe that put a quick halt to their climbing sales figures, I bet they would have continued to climb.

Regarding the low stock price, I assume that's from the news of Apple pulling out of Macworld, and mostly because of Steve Job's deciding to be a no show to this last show due to possible health reasons (or at least the rumor thereof). Along with the usual market reasons, namely everything being down to 2002 levels again...

Lets see... 10 million iPhones sold, ignoring the minority that hack their phones and assuming they all bought the phone with a contract as they are supposed to, that would be $4.32 Billion that AT&T will collect off their monthly bill and gives to Apple. That's 99% pure profit too.

Which ignores the profit they make for every iPhone sold as iSupply's teardown estimates $176 for the 3G 8GB iPhone. They'd make even more off the 16GB model, and they made significantly more off the first generation model with this half a grand + prices they launched at...

 

[Rob Williams]

Haha, I think it goes without saying that Apple is going to be sitting pretty for a while. Any company would dream of having such a sweet revenue stream like that. The smartest thing they ever did was release the iPod, because without it, the iPhone wouldn't likely ever exist. I admit that the iPhone is keen in design, but I sure didn't expect it to take off like it did.

 

[Greg King]

The iPhone is a revolutionary product. 110%. We are slowly transitioning to them at work (at least the IT department) and a few of the remote apps are VERY solid. We can remote into a server if needed, open up IIS and do most any maintenance that the situation calls for.

I have also used a Mac Book Pro a few weeks at work when needed and I have to say, I love them. The only thing now that I dislike about Apple is the extreme arrogance that many of their users exude.

I own a Zune 2 8GB and having gone from an iPod classic to this, the difference is night and day. I love the Zune far more than I could have ever dreamed of loving the iPod. From the software to the device itself, its a class act all the way around.

With all that said, Apple users have never been special outside of their own minds and at the local Starbucks. Their machines do the same thing ours do, only they do it classy like but no, not special. Ever.