“I’m not an Apple expert, nor do I read many blogs or reviews about each new product that the Steve Jobs co-founded company casts onto the market,” Antoine Gara writes for TheStreet. “However, every holiday season, as I pass Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan, I wonder the same thing: Is Apple a technology company or is it the fastest growing luxury brand in the world?”
“Every quarter I comb through Apple’s results and see few similarities between the profit margins and earnings of the iPad and iPhone manufacturer vs. its supposed competition,” Gara writes. “Mobile devices, which drive astronomical earnings and margins at Apple, have so-far proven to be a cost center for direct competitors such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon.”
Still, Wall Street analysts can’t help themselves from comparing one unit of Apple iPhone sales to those of Windows or Android,” Gara writes. “Google can take whatever global market share it wants from Apple, and yet when investors see both firm’s earnings it is clear who is winning the battle for mobile device profits.”
Read more in the full article here.