“We have always built and destroyed monopolies. Companies often start out good but slowly turn, for lack of a better word, evil. The twin dark stars of profit and market share bring even the kindest companies into a collision course with failure,” Matt Burns writes for TechCrunch. “I’d say Apple is headed down that road.”
“A dive at wireless carrier’s financials shows that the iPhone accounted for a whopping 59% of smartphone sales in the U.S. last quarter.,” Burns writes. “The iPhone 4S downright crushed a league of new Android flagship handsets. Android is faltering at the hands of the iPhone. Apple is on pace per some analysts to be the first trillion dollar company in history and will do so on the back of a trivial amount of products and services.”
MacDailyNews Take: It isn’t the amount of products and services that matters, it’s the impact and quality of said products and services.
Burns writes, “Apple’s success is made possible by keeping things simple… There isn’t a better universal smartphone on the market. This isn’t open for discussion and the numbers prove it. Smartphones are now outselling less expensive feature phones with the iPhone as the number one seller. That states above all else that consumers overwhelmingly prefer Apple’s take on mobile phones. And for good reason. I’m downright fed up with Android. Others must be with me. I’m ready to jump ship to the iPhone after being an Android user since the original Droid. Updates aren’t regular or useful and the vast fragmentation in hardware causes apps to be very inconsistent in quality. The only thing holding me back is Android’s workflow allowed by homescreen widgets. But the average consumer doesn’t care about workflow nonsense. They want a phone that works and they’re choosing the iPhone. And the iPad.”
“As dominating as the iPhone is to the mobile phone market, the iPad is even more so to the tablet market,” Burns writes. “It’s hard to imagine a future without Apple. Per a study released today, 33% of American households already own an Apple product. The iOS behemoth will not be stopped. Android’s needless fragmentation and constant infighting will ensure that. The iPad will slowly morph into the de facto personal computing device. There will still be alternatives. Android and Windows will not completely go away, but Apple’s massive cash reserves will allow it to sway markets and assert unquestionable power. Apple could, if it really wanted, cut the price of the iPad in half and absorb the losses.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In the United States of America, it is not illegal to build a monopoly (it is, in fact, the ultimate goal). It’s only illegal to abuse a monopoly position. Ask Microsoft about the distinction.
Apple, which, by the way, does not have a monopoly position in any market, deserves their tremendous success and their patented innovations deserve to be protected from theft. If they ever do attain a monopoly position in any market and abuse it, Apple certainly would deserve punishment. Unless that happens, go, Apple, go!
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