“Mobile phone markets have been treacherous ground for many players,” Michael Blair writes for Seeking Alpha. “The decline rates in market share ranged from 24% annually in the case of LG all the way to 62% year over year for Nokia. In each case, the vendor flirted with disaster and in the case of Palm eventually disappeared.”
“LG survived and is growing,” Blair writes, “BlackBerry is alive but a shadow of its former self; Siemens has left the playing field; Motorola was rescued by Google but continued to struggle; Palm was acquired by Hewlett-Packard and eventually disappeared from sight; Windows Phone almost disappeared but has been resurrected by Nokia now owned by Microsoft; and, Nokia had a near death experience but was saved by the Microsoft purchase of its handset business.”
“I believe Apple’s strategy to focus on margins and the “premium” end of the market while conceding market share to competitors is penny wise and pound foolish,” Blair writes. “A sub -10% share of the world smartphone market seems to be Apple’s destiny, eaten alive by Android and in danger of being pushed into a tiny corner of what is left by a resurgent Microsoft who is making sure that it expands device sales at no profit to expand the use of Microsoft software into every home and business possible.”
Blair writes, “I believe 2014 will be the tipping point from which Apple’s decline will follow. The Q1 results were spectacular and may not only be a record for Apple looking backwards but also an all time record for years to come.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: When we entered this one, Calendar smirked.
Were these analysts hiding under a rock for most of 2013? Things can only go UPhill from here! Either that, or they think iOS 7 was the worst thing Apple made since the Pippin. If that’s the case, then they should be ignored.
Good grief, whatever you do don’t mention iOS7. It is the name that must not be spoken, and will awake the evil one.
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Pippin: It’s amusing how this albatross dross has floated to the top of the cesspool of history in recent months. It’s lifetime was, technically, 1993 – 1997. (Note that deadly time frame, Apple’s years of decay under the rule of Marketing-As-Management). During that period of time I heard not-a-peep about it from Apple. Occasionally it would show up in a tech article as an oddity. I had no idea that any rendition of the thing was ever released. That’s how successful it was. And yes, I knew who Bandai was at the time. And yes, I enjoyed keeping up with Apple’s experimental projects. That’s how much Apple really cared about Pippin, IOW: Not much at all. * f l o p *
Here is one version of Pippin’s history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin
iOS 7 is the greatest Apple mistake.
Quite contrary, iOS7 is an Apple-designed triumph.
iOS 7 is the biggest piece of turd shat out by Apple.
Normal consumers disagree
You squeeze out the biggest turds here idiot.
You don’t bother commenting on any article that is positive, only bad news or any mentioning iOS 7.
Do us all a favor – shut the F up.
Quite the contrary, iOS7 is an Apple-software triumph.
iOS 7 is a usability nightmare. Shit is too kind a word for it.
Only if you’re old and unemployed, which you obviously are.
If it’s so bad go and buy an ‘android’ phone you asshole.
Your constant whining here accomplishes nothing.
Blair is a self-described contrarian. In what sense is his assertion of Android’s increasing dominance of market share contrary to the overwhelming consensus of analysts? No, just another click-bait rabbit snare.
Sorry but Blair’s comments are total bollocks.
Hey, bollocks aren’t all bad. In fact, I’m quite attached to mine. Well, one of them.
Bollards are better for attachments.
Some “analysts” like to make invalid PC comparisons.
In this case, I think a PC comparison has some validity.
Apple refused to make bargain basement desktops and cheapo netbooks. Analysts yelled for YEARS how Apple MUST start building cheap desktops and then cheap netbooks. Result: Apple became the biggest company on the planet and computer sales are enormously stronger and enormously more profitable than the rest of the nose-diving Windows PC companies.
Apple continues to make high-quality phones and iPads. What is the result now? What will it be in the future? Massive profit share now, that will, I think, continue.
I don’t think cheapo phones are going to erode Apple’s profits any more than cheapo PCs and netcrapbooks did.
You can always tell an analyst . . .
. . . but you can’t tell them much!
Apple has enough leverage to buy most (if not all) of the “competitors” named in this article. It’s amazing how unimaginative these “Analysts” are. Write whatever unsubstantiated, skewed trash you want, add Apple to the mix, and sit back to watch all the click-hits as you balloon your own existence. It’s a wonder they can wake up in the morning! Yawn!!!
Just read the entire article what a load of crap. The whole thing is written like Apple tomorrow will not produce another thing and that it will suddenly just disappear. The fact that they have little debt, or no debt, 159 billion in the bank, and the most industry profit in all sectors they compete means nothing to this moron. His article needs to be filed in the circular bin.
“His article needs to be filed in the circular bin.”
Careful, that circular bin might be a Mac Pro! 🙂
Actually, Apple took on debt to buy back stock as a less expensive option to re-patriating profit held overseas that would incur 30% or higher US income tax rates to bring them into the United States so those assets could be used for the buy backs. Ergo, the $159 billion is still on the books, but must be offset by a liability.
Tags: Apple, blind bastard, confused idiot, general stupidity, iCal’ed, insipid clod, iPhone, Michael Balir, smartphones, vapid moron
TAG SAYS EVERYTHING……………!
Just finished reading the entire article what a load of crap.
The whole article is written as if Apple is suddenly going to just disappear tomorrow and never make another thing. It totally ignores the fact that they dominate money made in every category they compete in and have little to no debt, and forgets that they have 159 billion in the bank and its growing by huge amounts every quarter. The people in this morons comment section agree that he is just about wrong in every way with this article. Again what a moron.
sorry about the double post this stupid site has no edit.
Apple has debt-on-paper. Apple has NO debt-in-fact. Apple has massive assets-in-fact. And yet, they’re gonna die, again, again, again.
Just another idiot.
Hey! Just wait a Ding-Dong Minute!
I thought 2012 was supposed to be THE BIG DOWNTURN! Wasn’t that why the AAPL price was flushed by 30% while Apple thrived??
Then I thought 2013 was supposed to be THE BIG DOWNTURN! Wasn’t that why AAPL stagnated while Apple thrived?
So now it’s supposed to be 2014? I’m supposed to believe these monkeys-with-calculators for a THIRD time?
When THE HELL is Apple Gonna Die?! Dammit!
/s 😛
Every company has their own way of running things. Apple has already outlived a fair number of businesses that were a lot stronger than Apple at one time or another. Wall Street predicted that RIM would definitely overpower and outshine Apple’s iPhone business and it didn’t happen. People have been wrong before and they can possibly be wrong again. Apple’s share price might be in a decline but the company still appears plenty strong in my eyes. There’s still no layoffs and more retail stores are on the way. Apple really seems to me as a company still on the rise. A decline in the rate of growth is not the same as the decline of a company’s business. But then again I never saw the death of Steve Jobs taking most of the value of the company, either. Perceptions seem to rule in Wall Street and it’s something I don’t quite understand.
I don’t see Apple’s business failing but I no longer have any confidence that the company’s value will ever rise. Apple can’t seem to get loyal investors like Google has and I really don’t understand why Apple can’t get more long-term institutional investors either. Maybe the dividend is still too low or it’s just the nature of Apple’s business not to attract big long-term investors. I’m really going to hate seeing Google blow by Apple in market cap in such a short time and I don’t even know what’s driving Google’s share price so high considering Google’s revenue hasn’t increased to such a degree.
“Apple’s share price might be in a decline…”
Huh? Take a look at a 5 year graph. Last year I bought AAPL for $400. What’s the price now?
I no longer have any confidence that the company’s value will ever rise
So, you IGNORE the quarterly reports? You IGNORE the fact that Apple just had yet-another RECORD quarter? WTF is wrong with you? Go get some treatment for that depression. Get out of that state you’re in!
I don’t even know what’s driving Google’s share price so high
No you don’t! Doesn’t that SHOUT at you that you do not comprehend the current state of Wall-Nut Street?
One tiny clue: Human perception bubbles. Full of GAS.
MDN, please enable the feature that allows readers to block posts from those that they consider to be morons.
Apple is pound wise, and it is foolish to chase after the pennies of the Android market… 😛
Blair is a perpetual Apple bear. He constantly looks for the clouds around Apple’s silver linings.
Correct terminology: Blair is an Apple Bear Bullshitter. 😉
Yes, a record sales quarter usually indicate extinction is just around the corner. Is this anal-yst drinking water from W. Virginia?
MDN can be as snarky as they want but it doesn’t change the fact that Apple’s best growth days are behind it and it’s only a value stock now.
In your expert opinion, which company is showing more growth: A 10 billion dollar company growing at 20% or a 200 billion dollar company growing at 5%
I patiently await the appeals court ruling for the ORCLE versus GOOG lawsuit which rightly accused GOOG of violating ORCL Java API copyrights. Jury found GOOG guilty. Judge in effect vacated jury decision by ruling against precedent that the APIs were not copyrigghtable. If trial judge is overruled, which is likely in my opinion Android and may have to be re written and GOOG and perhaps all makers of Android devices are on the hook for big bucks. Unfortunately , it may take a few more years. (It took over 10 years for RAMBUS IP issues to be resolved.)
A favorable decision could perhaps immediately stop US Gov’t use of Android, as it would become a party to using illegally obtained software. (However, the Samsung violations seem not to have had an impact and Obama can use the “stroke of a pen” to approve the violation).
There is no honor among the Android cabal of thieves.
Long live Apple.
What Blair has failed to appreciate is the morphing of technologies that has occurred in the list of mobile devices made by the companies he names.
Palm started as a PDA, Nokia started as a mobile phone, blackberry as a phone/messaging system, iPhone as a combination of all the above. As processor power and speed has increased the handheld device has swallowed more categories and includes video calling with 3/4G networks.
So the real question is what are the next functions that will emerge and who will develop the hand-held computer to win market share. Remote home control, home security, personal medical monitoring, distributed medical monitoring, all of these do not require the computer to be held up to your ear like a phone – but we are really talking about hand held computers not the phone as a separate function for a device.
Modern Day Wall-Nut Street:
1) Addicted to coke: Gotta have a new perk now now now, everything I know is right, everything you know is wrong, narcisism, feed me thrill pills, I know best, you know nothing voluminous expulsions of vacuum. Illness.
2) Technology Illiterate: Tell Apple how to run itself. Why the hell should I know what a diode does? Just make it cool and totally new. To hell with usability, where’s the money?
3) Customer Contempt: The dump wags the dog’s butt. Marketing Moron tyranny. Herd the sheeple. Lead the horse to water and shove the water down its throat with hardcore deceitful coercion. To hell with users, where the money?
Getting the idea?
Get the clinic beds ready.