"However, more attention was directed to the idea that Apple earns most of its profits from a single family of products (iPhones) than the fact that virtually all of Google's profits come from surveillance based advertising. That's a market that is not only facing strong competition from players including Facebook, but is also at risk from ad blocking and a general user dissatisfaction with being tracked and sold to advertisers."
I've been saying this for years. To expand, Apple makes most of its revenue by selling products people want (iPhones). Google makes most of its revenue off something people dislike (ads).
That Google is rewarded for this is ming boggling.
Why wouldn't you reward a company for that. They are getting their product in front of people whether they like it or not. There's not much of a choice. Like driving down the highway and seeing billboards.
If people have a choice then they can choose no just as easily as choosing yes. So there's a lot of volatility in those markets. Just look what has happened over the past 10 years with Palm, Balckberry, Microsoft, and the the once king, Nokia. There are fears that this could happen to Apple, by people who don't understand that what Apple achieved is the pinnacle of handheld computing.
The 'P' in P/E ratio stands for 'P'rice not profit. It's hard to take anything you wrote seriously when you can't get that basic fact straight.
Even though all that does is strengthen his argument, since the price of the stock vs. the earnings of the company is the entire basis of this article. It's obviously a typo. Major eye roll.
Both are great American companies doing great things. Wouldn't want to live without either of them.
It is easy to live a productive without feeding google data about yourself whick in turn is sold to advertisers. You just have to make an effort. I did two years ago. I have to let googleapis through my block list otherwise around 50% of websites just don't work but the rest of google is a no go area for me. I don't use Bing (Bling) because MS is just as bad as Google when it comes to slurping data. If you are careful and use lots of different aliases you can remain anonymous on the internet. I know that this is a bit of a phyrric victory but I can sleep easy knowing that I'm not feeding the Google Dragon.
Both are great American companies doing great things. Wouldn't want to live without either of them.
It is easy to live a productive without feeding google data about yourself whick in turn is sold to advertisers. You just have to make an effort. I did two years ago. I have to let googleapis through my block list otherwise around 50% of websites just don't work but the rest of google is a no go area for me. I don't use Bing (Bling) because MS is just as bad as Google when it comes to slurping data. If you are careful and use lots of different aliases you can remain anonymous on the internet. I know that this is a bit of a phyrric victory but I can sleep easy knowing that I'm not feeding the Google Dragon.
With a similar effort you can also live without the iPhone
Question is why would you want to live without either of them. You can simply go into account settings on Google and shut down most data collections if you are so inclined.
I had a German friend who was so suspicious of Google that he got rid of his Gmail account and instead kept all his email in some giant pop mailbox on thunderbird on linux. Now he has no email on any other device. Plus he spends ridiculous amounts of time keeping his Linux desktop up to date.
He thinks of me some naive slave of the big tech companies but I think being a prisoner of your fears and obsessions is far worse. Plus I think his setup is much more vulnerable to hacking than consuming Gmail on an iOS, Android or Chromebook device.
Both are great American companies doing great things. Wouldn't want to live without either of them.
It is easy to live a productive without feeding google data about yourself whick in turn is sold to advertisers. You just have to make an effort. I did two years ago. I have to let googleapis through my block list otherwise around 50% of websites just don't work but the rest of google is a no go area for me. I don't use Bing (Bling) because MS is just as bad as Google when it comes to slurping data. If you are careful and use lots of different aliases you can remain anonymous on the internet. I know that this is a bit of a phyrric victory but I can sleep easy knowing that I'm not feeding the Google Dragon.
Yet almost anyone can buy boatloads of information about you from data aggregators both on and off-line including your real full name, your real address, any legal dealings you might have had over the years, your children's names, your employers past and present, your neighbors, who your extended family is and where they live and lots of other very personal details of your life. All your private financial information ranging from what you earn and from whom, to who you bank with, the value of your home, a description of how many rooms there are and what their purpose is, who you owe money to now and how much, who you've ever owed money to and how much, everywhere you've ever lived and when and anything else pertinent to finances is available for sale for a relative pittance. Avoiding Google didn't help nor does what Google "know" feed into any of it anyway. They don't sell personal data unlike your pharmacy, insurer, bank, various government and licensing agencies, retailers, credit card companies, business and social organizations, publishers, certain app developers, some website owners, etc. In fact stay off internet services altogether and Google would have zero connection with anything you do in real life unlike the actual Data Dragons.
But yes I can see you sleeping easier knowing that you didn't have to suffer an ad on a webpage for anything you might have had an interest in but could choose to ignore if you wished. It's a shame you can't so easily avoid local/state & national government, insurers, credit bureaus, banks, credit/debit cards, and pharmacies. You'd sleep even easier if you could.
I keep wondering as to the breaking point where Internet advertising loses its effectiveness and profitability in terms of advertising saturation! Advertising cannot grow indefinitely on the Internet or any other media without negative consequences. Even noted national magazines became swamped with torrents of page advertising at the expense of hard core journalism and stories. Google and Facebook must sooner or later run into the same problem.
I wonder how much the stock price is driven by the relative sizes of the various customer bases. All Apples competitors have much larger customer bases albeit much less profitable. I suspect it is a factor.
I wonder how much the stock price is driven by the relative sizes of the various customer bases. All Apples competitors have much larger customer bases albeit much less profitable. I suspect it is a factor.
I doubt that the number of customers is a determining factor.
Ten years ago, Apple had zero smartphone customers. Blackberry and Nokia were two of the biggest names. Today all of the smartphone profits are by Apple and Samsung; everyone else making smartphones is losing money.
Samsung has a much larger installed base than Apple, but they are barely making a profit. On the other hand, Apple is way more profitable on the handset hardware side as well as more profitable in terms of apps/services, even though they have a minority share of the marketplace.
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Why wouldn't you reward a company for that. They are getting their product in front of people whether they like it or not. There's not much of a choice. Like driving down the highway and seeing billboards.
If people have a choice then they can choose no just as easily as choosing yes. So there's a lot of volatility in those markets. Just look what has happened over the past 10 years with Palm, Balckberry, Microsoft, and the the once king, Nokia. There are fears that this could happen to Apple, by people who don't understand that what Apple achieved is the pinnacle of handheld computing.
If you are careful and use lots of different aliases you can remain anonymous on the internet.
I know that this is a bit of a phyrric victory but I can sleep easy knowing that I'm not feeding the Google Dragon.
Question is why would you want to live without either of them. You can simply go into account settings on Google and shut down most data collections if you are so inclined.
I had a German friend who was so suspicious of Google that he got rid of his Gmail account and instead kept all his email in some giant pop mailbox on thunderbird on linux. Now he has no email on any other device. Plus he spends ridiculous amounts of time keeping his Linux desktop up to date.
He thinks of me some naive slave of the big tech companies but I think being a prisoner of your fears and obsessions is far worse. Plus I think his setup is much more vulnerable to hacking than consuming Gmail on an iOS, Android or Chromebook device.
But yes I can see you sleeping easier knowing that you didn't have to suffer an ad on a webpage for anything you might have had an interest in but could choose to ignore if you wished. It's a shame you can't so easily avoid local/state & national government, insurers, credit bureaus, banks, credit/debit cards, and pharmacies. You'd sleep even easier if you could.
Ten years ago, Apple had zero smartphone customers. Blackberry and Nokia were two of the biggest names. Today all of the smartphone profits are by Apple and Samsung; everyone else making smartphones is losing money.
Samsung has a much larger installed base than Apple, but they are barely making a profit. On the other hand, Apple is way more profitable on the handset hardware side as well as more profitable in terms of apps/services, even though they have a minority share of the marketplace.
The point is to get Google a lot closer to Apple in value!