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Originally Posted by yvanleterrible
There are aPple products that have little sale numbers such as aIrport. Yes it is an accessory but still it's aPple way through. There are exceptions but your argument stands. They're going for big bucks. If there hadn't been the iPod/iTunes phenomenon they might be in finantial trouble.
aPple is mostly specialized in niche markets, that is where they truly excell.
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Yes, but those are
big niche markets they're active in, where they can sell a
lot of devices.
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But still an iSlate or an iNewton would be cool and well accepted. aPple wouldn't do an ebook only device, a combo of some kind? Hey, a magazine reader would be plenty for me. The iMag ?
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I can see Apple possibly doing a tablet style device, if they think there's a big enough market. They have an existing distribution infrastructure with iTunes that could theoretically be expanded to other types of content.
My benchmark for things like this is Sony and the Clie line of Palm OS PDAs. The Clie line made money, but they folded it and got out of the market because it didn't make
enough money. Sony is a big outfit that needs to sell lots of product at a good margin to produce the ROI they are looking for. Senior management looked at the Clie line and decided they could make a better return on investment elsewhere, so they killed it.
Apple is in a similar position. Someone like Bookeen may be in a better position to field a dedicated reader, because their revenue and profitability requirements to justify doing it and continuing to do it won't be as great, and analysts aren't studying their stock like they do Sony, Amazon, and Apple. If Apple tried to produce a dedicated ebook reader, you can bet the financial types would be saying "Why are you wasting R&D dollars on a limited product like that? Come up with the next iPod!", and Apple's stock price would reflect those questions.
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Dennis