“For the second year in a row, Apple held a developers conference that should frighten its competitors. Relying on a nearly maniacal obsession with the user experience, Apple is removing oxygen from every market that it plays in,” Neil Cybart writes for Above Avalon. “At the same time, the tech landscape is riddled with increasingly bad bets, indifference, and a lack of vision. Apple is pulling away from the competition to a degree that we haven’t ever seen before. Given how we are just now entering the wearables era, implications of this shift will be measured in the coming decades, not years.”
Consider the following trends:
• Apple hasn’t just held its own in the smartphone space but rather is continuing to take share from Android. Of all the smartphone manufacturers, Apple saw the largest sales share increase in the smartphone industry last quarter, and that was during a pandemic.
• Apple is adding approximately 20 million new iPad users per year despite the iPad being 10 years old and already having an installed base exceeding 300 million users.
• Apple’s oldest major product category, the Mac, is adding 10 million new users per year.
• Apple Watch and AirPods are quickly approaching 100 million user bases each.
• Apple users are paying for 518 million subscriptions across Apple’s platforms, which is up 126 million in just a year.
All of the preceding items amount to an Apple ecosystem gaining momentum… More worrying for competitors, Apple is still in the early stages of bringing its users deeper into the ecosystem. According to my estimate, approximately 50% of Apple users still own just one Apple device: an iPhone. This group serves as a prime market for products like the iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and various Apple services. In a few years, that percentage may decline to something more like 30%. Such a development will remove much of the remaining oxygen from the markets Apple plays in.
MacDailyNews Take: As long as misguided, confused, overzealous regulators don’t kill the golden goose, the world is Apple’s.
They should be after seeing the unbelievably compact 5.4 inch iPhone 12. I think it might change the smartphone landscape and singlehandedly reverse the big phone trend.
You could be right. The 5.4″ iPhone 12 is going to be my next iPhone
One thing you have to keep in mind is the politician is only working one problem, how do I keep myself in this position of power and influence. Apple is successful for one reason, it has always focused on the customer for the long term and not on how much money they can make. I have used that philosophy in my long career (82 years old) and have never made a decision on making money. The money will take care of itself.
Just to back up what I say, I own over $10M worth of Apple.
Maybe not Bernie as much, but all politicians need to raise funds mostly from big money for the current election campaign. That’s how current Capitalist Democracy works and has worked.
You’re a disgrace, Jihad John Commie, Dangler.
Time to recall Phil Schiller: “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass”
The whole article is worth a read. The author goes into more justification for the items MDN mentions – such as the stumbles the competition made and how Apple’s constant focus on the end user / design is hurting the competition.
Connell Allen – Congratulations on your position in Apple!
Kudos for Apple for such a success. They have to be careful as their size and base gets so big. They don’t want to be the overseer like the being on the screen in this shot:
It could be a slippery slope…
All I can think of is Apple Silicon in a MacBook and if it can really rival a 6-core i7 and run for up to 20 hours while streaming 4K Youtube videos. That would be absolutely bonkers. I’ve moved my attention from iPhones to Apple Silicon Macs. That would cause a mad scramble in the consumer laptop and desktop community and Apple supposedly already has a family of ARM processors waiting in the wings. I can hardly wait. I have been waiting years for Apple to put some real muscle in their Macs, not because I need it, but just to prove Macs can hang with Windows PCs. If Apple can do it with half the watts and offer a competitive price, that will truly be something incredible. If that doesn’t shut up the Apple detractors for a few weeks, then nothing will.