Quote:
Originally Posted by
trumptman 
It isn't bias. The market for this phone is really clear in my mind and I'm getting very worried for Apple with this latest Google response. It's beginning to feel a little like 1995 around here again.
Apple absolutely needs LTE in their flagship phone of which they produce one a year and also it is the phone that justifes fat margins and a minimum price of $650 per phone.
The Nexus line has not been a true flagship line but more like a baseline platform target for where Android should minimally be for the next year.
Apple has had two quarters now where the first hit their targets but did not hit their whisper number and now a quarter where they just outright didn't hit their own targets. It is clear that the slowing of growth with regard to Apple is OUTSIDE of the United States. In the United States, subsidy model helps hide the true cost of buying an iPhone. Outside the U.S. it is a completely different story. This phone is clearly targeted for stunting and stopping the growth of Apple outside the U.S. It is $300-$350 out the door, barely half the price of an iPhone. It has the latest 3G standard but doesn't sweat having a divided 4G standard.
It is clear U.S. carriers are using 4G/LTE to push people into more expensive plans, take away their data options, lock phones to their network again, etc.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 OUTSIDE the U.S. has 3G and a quad-core processor. Within the U.S. it has a dual-core and LTE. Samsung has had no problem selling them worldwide.
Google's eco-system is inferior to Apple's but they are now beating Apple on price, beating them on most specs and it appears their OS is at least on par if perhaps not better depending upon your view.
That doesn't mean Apple dies overnight. It doesn't mean Apple has no momentum to sustain them.
It does mean we should be concerned. Apple has already fired their holiday season shot. This isn't six months later and we all don't mind waiting until close to Christmas knowing that Apple will produce something amazing again.
This....this is six days later.
Fully agree. I see this as an emerging threat to Apple. I'll ride the stock as long as its good. But in the long run, I am skeptical. While there's no certainty, I can see a rerun of Windows-Mac episode.
A lot of Apple blogs are US and more broadly, first world centric. The reality, however, is that, this is not where the growth markets are anymore. And given long term economic trajectories, it's unlikely that substantial growth will happen in the first world for years to come. But today's growth markets are tough slogging for Apple. China is a notable exception. But Apple is going to find India/South Asia, South-East Asia and Africa far tougher to crack.
And the competition (not just the Google Nexus lineup) has a winning strategy here. Just undercut on price. Mobile users in that part of the world rely on secondary markets to allow them to pay for updates every year. They don't rely on subsidy plans....particularly given the shabby state of personal credit markets there. At $300, the initial layout will be really cheap, and the disposal price will be even lower (so more buyers). And this is isn't for run of the mill crappy Nokias (which many in those areas have already paid more than $300 for, in the past). This is decent hardware (even if it's not accepted as such by the finicky members of this forum).
I see this as a brilliant strategy on the part of Google and the Android OEMs (Nokia is pursuing a somewhat similar strategy with Windows Phone). They will target markets that Apple has no desire to compete in, or is struggling to do so in. They'll aim to capture Apple's potential future users and get them to commit to their ecosystem before Apple can gain traction. And it's going to be tough for Apple to compete with a phone, mini-tab and full size tablet that are all $100 more expensive (25% to 50% more depending on the product) each. Oh and consumers don't really care that much about the "ecosystem" in that part of the world. App makers really haven't targetted them wholesale to begin with. So the app disparity is less. And buying media content (music, movies, etc.) is exceptionally rare, rather than the norm. So you won't find too many who are worried about their iTunes library.
I am curious to see how Apple will attack these markets. But so far, I don't think they are even trying. They don't need to. They sell every device they maket. But the day is coming, when this won't be true anymore. Hopefully, by then, my AAPL will be well past the $1000 mark.....
