“Lines stretched around the block and giddy groupies held cameras ready to record a historic moment. But there were no pop idols or movie stars in sight – only corporate-casual-clad employees preparing to unlock the doors and let in a throng of Apple shoppers at a typical store opening,” Lisa Schmeiser writes for Investor’s Business Daily. “When the first two Apple retail stores opened in May 2001, press accounts estimated 1,500 people snaking around the block at the Glendale, Calif., location; when Apple opened a store in Tokyo’s Ginza district on Nov. 30, the line stretched back 2,500 people. Many had waited outside for two nights.”
Schmeiser writes, “Few consumer brands draw such intense loyalty from their users. So why hasn’t Apple parlayed that fervent devotion into bigger sales and profit? Apple holds less than 5% of the personal computing market share, and its sales history has been rocky; net sales in 2003 were $620.7 mil, an 8% rise from the year before, but still 22% below what they were during the tail end of the tech boom in 2000. The company bumped its 2003 income up only 6% to $69 million – a dramatic turnaround from its $25 million loss in 2001, but still well below the $786 million it made in 2000. In 2000, it made $1.69 a share, but in 2003 its earnings had plunged 88% to 20 cents a share.”
“By comparison, Microsoft increased its sales 35.8% from $22.3 to $32.2 billion and pushed up net income 5% to $9.90 billion from 2000 to 2003. In 2000, it made 86 cents a share; in 2003, it made $1.05, a 22% improvement,” Schmeiser writes. “And personal computer rival Dell’s income rose 27% from $166.6 million in 2000 to $212.2 million in 2003, with sales climbing 40% from 2000 to $35.4 billion in 2003. The company earned 68 cents a share in 2000; in 2003, it had improved 18% to 80 cents a share.”
Schmeiser then looks at why Apple may be uniquely positioned to grab a larger slice of the digital entertainment business with its potent combination of iPod hardware and iTunes software.
Full article here.
The whole article is useless. Steve Jobs’ pic is distorted. The chart beneath the pic is very misleading and too general. And the rest of the article is nothing but a string of visionless analysts… Bobby says… Mikey says… Sally says… all spewing opinions regurgitated from each others previous rantings.
They come to a bizarre conclusion that Apple will/should go into the home entertainment business and that an iTunes Video Store isn’t far behind. They obviously have no clue as to what drives the Apple team.
People actually PAY to subscribe to this tripe (Investor’s Business Daily).
I really need to know how I can get the job of an “Industry Analyst”!
More wrong percentages! $22.3 to 32.2 is a 44.4% increase. How do people like this get jobs? Who are their bosses? It is getting so that I just don’t believe any of this stuff. Numbers don’t mean anything. If people like this are determining market share maybe Apple’s share is 13.2% instead of 3.2% or whatever! Who cares if the tens digit is missing, just make up some numbers, this is more fun than flipping burgers.
Plus, a 22% improvement over 3 years is only 7% A YEAR, not that big a deal, especially for a convicted predatory monopolist. This also does not take into account what the inflation rate during that three years was. It had to be 2 – 4% a year anyway, which reduces the 7% to bravo foxtrot delta. Give me a break. The whole thing is a bunch of deliberate and accidental (benefit of the doubt) distortions.
“$22.3 to 32.2 is a 44.4% increase”
Idiots 🙁
Just for fun, I computed the percentage as (32.2-22.3)/32.2*100% to see if he used the wrong denominator. It came up 30.7%. I have no idea how he got 35.8%
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> A magic number, maybe?