Google's contract with APple runs out any day now. What Apple's plans are seem to be top secret, not even rumors, or leaks, nothing. But this is a big deal. You could make a lot of money if you guessed correctly. I am trrying to do that. Weight in tech experts please. Which is most likely?
1) Re-up contract maybe charge Google more than the previous 2 billion per year
2) Replace with secret surprise new Apple Search maybe in conjunction with IBM Watson,
voice activated pure search, better than Google, so Google is finished on IOS
3) Buy or ally with Bing or Yahoo and upgrade to try and pull even with Google Search, and maybe start selling ads like Google without datamining customers for privacy reasons
4) Buy a smaller search engine and build it up to the top rung of quality ASAP
2 seems most likely.
If Apple does buy Duckduckgo I definitely don't want them using that URL. I don't think DDG isn't even that good.
I expect Apple to come out of left field with something so Much different and better than the current engines.
Siri Watson with minimal ads and better results would be cool. Have a web version to take from Giggle's PC searches.
When you already have 89% of the profits on a product that is grown to its full potential, the best you can hope for is getting the other 11% which is extremely hard to do, and even if you do it won't move the needle, for that reason I'm selling out my entire position. Thank you apple! I'm still a customer however, love them all.
I think the legal battle early on was an attempt to give Android manufacturers a chance to fess up. That's why Apple didn't bother suing Google since that would preclude destroying them utterly. Go Apple.
I certainly agree with that. I also believe that Strategy Analytics' figures are incorrect. Last year I heard from very reputable sources that Apple+Samsung make somewhere 106-109% of smartphone profits. Everyone else loses money and should be reported as NEGATIVE profit per share.
Last year 3 companies made money for sure (Samsung, Apple and LG (300M I think, mostly due to the LG G2/G3)), Xiomi (maybe made money, who knows really). Everyone else lost money for sure.
They also need to help out MS. I'm not saying with money, but Windows Phone is on life support. They need to bolster that as an alternative to Android (the world will never be 100% Apple no matter how much people delude themselves, and competition is good for innovation). Throwing some exclusive apps that direction (and not on Anderoid) could help. (Example: allowing iMessage integration, etc).
Agree, maybe license iOS to Microsoft? Seriously, 20% iOS, 40% Android, 40% Microsoft phone is better than 20% iOS and 80% Android.
"Apple's strategy of premium products and lean logistics is proving hugely profitable," said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. "Android's weak profitability for its hardware partners will worry Google. If major smartphone manufacturers, like Samsung or Huawei, cannot make decent profits from the Android ecosystem, they may be tempted in the future to look at alternative platforms such as Microsoft, Tizen or Firefox."
So....genius Neil Mawston says that smartphone manufactures might turn from an unprofitable Android ecosystem to even MORE unprofitable ecosystems like Microsoft, Tizen and Firefox?
Mr. Mawston, if there was a Mount Olympus of Stupid, you would be Zeus!
And I bet the guy pulls a good income from spouting nonsense like that.
Just think... that bald headed moron was in charge of a company that makes money hand over fist, sells an operating system that had close to a monopoly and he couldn't come up with a strategy to make MS number one in mobile.
He should have been fired in 2008.
I genuinely wonder if Ballmer ever used an iOS device. Last I heard, he was busy banning them for the Clippers.
Are his kids forced to use Windows Phone? Do they hide under the sheets in the night, secretly coveting an iOS device while keeping an eye over their shoulders just in case daddy walks in...
When you already have 89% of the profits on a product that is grown to its full potential, the best you can hope for is getting the other 11% which is extremely hard to do, and even if you do it won't move the needle, for that reason I'm selling out my entire position. Thank you apple! I'm still a customer however, love them all.
Hmmm...for such a short post, I'm amazed at how many things are wrong with it!
Who says that the product has grown to its full potential? 89% of the profits this year could be much less than 85% of the profits next year since the overall market segment Apple competes in is still expanding. iPhone today is certainly where the largest chunk of Apple's income comes from, but that may not be true 5 years from now! Apple could surprise again and come up with another product that outperforms the iPhone of today. Just because you (or I) can't imagine what that's going to be doesn't mean it can't or won't happen!
What needle are you expecting to move by capturing some or all of the remaining 11% of profits and how does it relate to being an investor in AAPL? If Apple currently only owns 15% market share and captures 89% of profits, then if they increase their market share to 20 or 30%, it stands to follow that they would capture up to 178% of this years market share. They may still only capture 89% of next years profits, but if the market itself expands, they could still increase profits dramatically. Selling out your entire position based on the logic (or lack of logic) you presented in your post makes no sense to me.
I'm definitely hanging on to my shares. I think there's still a ton of unrealized potential in this company and in its share price!
1. AppleSearch - Buy DuckDuckGo for $5 and improve it. Make it PURE SEARCH. No ads. No junk. Just the best results possible. This will not only HURT Google but also benefit iOS users and Mac users. I'd LOVE to have a decent search engine that does not feed me ads or spys on me that is backed by Apple.
2. AppleVideoShare - Like YouTube. But no ads. I'm sick of the constant ads on Youtube. Its an utter joke. Make a video sharing site for the benefit of iOS users.
Last year 3 companies made money for sure (Samsung, Apple and LG (300M I think, mostly due to the LG G2/G3)), Xiomi (maybe made money, who knows really). Everyone else lost money for sure.
"Apple's strategy of premium products and lean logistics is proving hugely profitable," said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. "Android's weak profitability for its hardware partners will worry Google. If major smartphone manufacturers, like Samsung or Huawei, cannot make decent profits from the Android ecosystem, they may be tempted in the future to look at alternative platforms such as Microsoft, Tizen or Firefox."
So....genius Neil Mawston says that smartphone manufactures might turn from an unprofitable Android ecosystem to even MORE unprofitable ecosystems like Microsoft, Tizen and Firefox?
Mr. Mawston, if there was a Mount Olympus of Stupid, you would be Zeus!
And I bet the guy pulls a good income from spouting nonsense like that.
Its Apple's profits BEFORE taxes and non-operating expenses (like interest expense)
Yup.
However, I'm surprised no noticed that the media and Strategy Analytics are making the same mistake again. Apple's reported net income, what normal people think of as "profit", for calendar Q4 2014 was $18.04 billion. How Strategy Analytics gets to $18.4 billion in operating profit is beyond me. They are not paying zero taxes or expenses, etc, and taxes are on the order of 25% anyways. It's SA's usual gamesmanship with the numbers, as they know the terms of art for how businesses report financial numbers.
I really wouldn't trust any single number reported by Strategy Analytics. Apple reported an actual number that they are legally obligated to report truthfully, and SA can't even get that right; hence, you must assume they did it on purpose. It's right there, in the financial reports.
Quote:
It's not ridiculous. Its Google's plan. They don't want profits for their hardware 'partners'. All they care about is the maximum number of devices that run Android to sell their ads. If Google was concerned about profits for their hardware 'partners' they would establish far better quality control on the units that get sold.
this can be seeing how Google has undermined their #1 hardware 'partner' Samsung. They have done this by releasing Nexus products that have the same hardware specs as Samsung's flagship but for the half the cost. Also by allowing POS companies like Xiaomi to use Android for free so they can sell simuliar hardware for half the cost of Samsung's flagships. But Google dont care. They dont care if the phones sell for $700 or $70 as long as they can sell people ads.
Yes, if Google continues on its ad-based business model, the eventual end point for them is to have ad dollars pay for everything. The business of selling hardware, software and services all go down to breakeven or maybe even a loss with an ad-revenue share in order to get as many eyeballs on ads as possible.
There were over 300 million Android phones shipped last quarter... but only 75 million of them were made by Samsung.
By my math... Samsung was only 25% of Android last quarter... not "most" of Android.
There were 1.1 billion Android phones shipped in all of 2014... but only 318 million were made by Samsung.
Samsung was roughly 29% of Android in 2014. Again... not "most" of Android.
I don't know where this myth originated. It might have been true long ago... but it's certainly not true anymore.
Samsung is the largest Android vendor with the biggest advertising budget... but more non-Samsung Android phones are being sold every day. And Samsung is feeling the heat.
Samsung's quarterly shipments have dropped YoY for the last 3 quarters.
Comments
2 seems most likely.
If Apple does buy Duckduckgo I definitely don't want them using that URL. I don't think DDG isn't even that good.
I expect Apple to come out of left field with something so Much different and better than the current engines.
Siri Watson with minimal ads and better results would be cool. Have a web version to take from Giggle's PC searches.
I think the legal battle early on was an attempt to give Android manufacturers a chance to fess up. That's why Apple didn't bother suing Google since that would preclude destroying them utterly. Go Apple.
I certainly agree with that. I also believe that Strategy Analytics' figures are incorrect. Last year I heard from very reputable sources that Apple+Samsung make somewhere 106-109% of smartphone profits. Everyone else loses money and should be reported as NEGATIVE profit per share.
Last year 3 companies made money for sure (Samsung, Apple and LG (300M I think, mostly due to the LG G2/G3)), Xiomi (maybe made money, who knows really). Everyone else lost money for sure.
So....genius Neil Mawston says that smartphone manufactures might turn from an unprofitable Android ecosystem to even MORE unprofitable ecosystems like Microsoft, Tizen and Firefox?
Mr. Mawston, if there was a Mount Olympus of Stupid, you would be Zeus!
And I bet the guy pulls a good income from spouting nonsense like that.
MS... what a sad sad mess in mobile.
Just think... that bald headed moron was in charge of a company that makes money hand over fist, sells an operating system that had close to a monopoly and he couldn't come up with a strategy to make MS number one in mobile.
He should have been fired in 2008.
I genuinely wonder if Ballmer ever used an iOS device. Last I heard, he was busy banning them for the Clippers.
Are his kids forced to use Windows Phone? Do they hide under the sheets in the night, secretly coveting an iOS device while keeping an eye over their shoulders just in case daddy walks in...
Hmmm...for such a short post, I'm amazed at how many things are wrong with it!
Who says that the product has grown to its full potential? 89% of the profits this year could be much less than 85% of the profits next year since the overall market segment Apple competes in is still expanding. iPhone today is certainly where the largest chunk of Apple's income comes from, but that may not be true 5 years from now! Apple could surprise again and come up with another product that outperforms the iPhone of today. Just because you (or I) can't imagine what that's going to be doesn't mean it can't or won't happen!
What needle are you expecting to move by capturing some or all of the remaining 11% of profits and how does it relate to being an investor in AAPL? If Apple currently only owns 15% market share and captures 89% of profits, then if they increase their market share to 20 or 30%, it stands to follow that they would capture up to 178% of this years market share. They may still only capture 89% of next years profits, but if the market itself expands, they could still increase profits dramatically. Selling out your entire position based on the logic (or lack of logic) you presented in your post makes no sense to me.
I'm definitely hanging on to my shares. I think there's still a ton of unrealized potential in this company and in its share price!
The should start 2 new new services:
1. AppleSearch - Buy DuckDuckGo for $5 and improve it. Make it PURE SEARCH. No ads. No junk. Just the best results possible. This will not only HURT Google but also benefit iOS users and Mac users. I'd LOVE to have a decent search engine that does not feed me ads or spys on me that is backed by Apple.
2. AppleVideoShare - Like YouTube. But no ads. I'm sick of the constant ads on Youtube. Its an utter joke. Make a video sharing site for the benefit of iOS users.
Yes please.
Last year 3 companies made money for sure (Samsung, Apple and LG (300M I think, mostly due to the LG G2/G3)), Xiomi (maybe made money, who knows really). Everyone else lost money for sure.
Not Asus .
Do you have a better answer?
Its Apple's profits BEFORE taxes and non-operating expenses (like interest expense)
Yup.
However, I'm surprised no noticed that the media and Strategy Analytics are making the same mistake again. Apple's reported net income, what normal people think of as "profit", for calendar Q4 2014 was $18.04 billion. How Strategy Analytics gets to $18.4 billion in operating profit is beyond me. They are not paying zero taxes or expenses, etc, and taxes are on the order of 25% anyways. It's SA's usual gamesmanship with the numbers, as they know the terms of art for how businesses report financial numbers.
I really wouldn't trust any single number reported by Strategy Analytics. Apple reported an actual number that they are legally obligated to report truthfully, and SA can't even get that right; hence, you must assume they did it on purpose. It's right there, in the financial reports.
It's not ridiculous. Its Google's plan. They don't want profits for their hardware 'partners'. All they care about is the maximum number of devices that run Android to sell their ads. If Google was concerned about profits for their hardware 'partners' they would establish far better quality control on the units that get sold.
this can be seeing how Google has undermined their #1 hardware 'partner' Samsung. They have done this by releasing Nexus products that have the same hardware specs as Samsung's flagship but for the half the cost. Also by allowing POS companies like Xiaomi to use Android for free so they can sell simuliar hardware for half the cost of Samsung's flagships. But Google dont care. They dont care if the phones sell for $700 or $70 as long as they can sell people ads.
Yes, if Google continues on its ad-based business model, the eventual end point for them is to have ad dollars pay for everything. The business of selling hardware, software and services all go down to breakeven or maybe even a loss with an ad-revenue share in order to get as many eyeballs on ads as possible.
No... not even close.
There were over 300 million Android phones shipped last quarter... but only 75 million of them were made by Samsung.
By my math... Samsung was only 25% of Android last quarter... not "most" of Android.
There were 1.1 billion Android phones shipped in all of 2014... but only 318 million were made by Samsung.
Samsung was roughly 29% of Android in 2014. Again... not "most" of Android.
I don't know where this myth originated. It might have been true long ago... but it's certainly not true anymore.
Samsung is the largest Android vendor with the biggest advertising budget... but more non-Samsung Android phones are being sold every day. And Samsung is feeling the heat.
Samsung's quarterly shipments have dropped YoY for the last 3 quarters.
I don't think Tizen is the answer either.