“Apple investors aren’t going to like it, but it behooves them to consider “Can a Leopard Change its Spots,” Paul Sagawa’s critical analysis of the company’s competitive position vis a vis Google, Microsoft and Amazon,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune. “Sagawa, a former analyst at Stanford Bernstein, now covers technology, media and telecom for Sector & Sovereign Research in Stamford, CT.”
“Posted Nov. 19, the first trading day after Apple’s share price hit a nine-month low, his doomsday view is a bracing tour of the mindset of the traders who knocked $187 billion off the company’s market value in eight weeks,” P.E.D. reports. “‘Apple is at a crossroads,’ Sagawa begins. ‘After dominating the first decade of the millennium, the revolution that Apple started is shifting against it. The iPhone, with its single annual update and super premium price, has been run down from behind by a pack of rivals with segmented product ranges, 6 month product cycles and aggressive price points. Android phones now outsell Apple 5 to 1, and the iPad is on the same path, exacerbated by rivals willing to subsidize device sales in pursuit of e-commerce and advertising. At the same time, the nexus of the user experience is shifting off of the device and into the cloud, greatly disadvantaging Apple vs. its web-savvy rivals.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If the following is being “run down by rivals,” more, please!
• Apple’s iPhone takes top spot from Google’s Android in U.S. smartphone market share – November 27, 2012
• Study shows Apple iPad dominates with 98.1% of all tablet web traffic – September 28, 2012
• Apple rakes in 71% of the world’s smartphone profits – September 8, 2012Paul Sagawa’s so-called analysis has been iCal’ed for future use.
