The Rumored iPhablets Expected In 2014 Will Not Save Apple's Bacon

[Penforhire]

The new Pro is very cool but I don't like how they designed it for external expansion. That tastes like form over function to me.

You were talking video cards. Several of my past favorite past market leaders there are either "in the noise" or no more -- Hercules, Matrox, and 3DFX (Voodoo series). Back when, they were giants.

[cortman]

I do think it interesting that Android keeps gaining more marketshare to Apple's loss. I think with the advent of Jelly Bean iOS finally has nothing on Android in terms of polished appearance and great UI. My opinion, of course.
I'm an Android and Linux user, and like free software and sharing philosophies, so you probably won't catch me with an Apple device, but I try to be pragmatic rather than fanatic.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

The new Pro is very cool but I don't like how they designed it for external expansion. That tastes like form over function to me.

It's the same with the Mini.

It's a very small box, but that doesn't make all the cables go away; power and data for the monitor, the inevitable 3,5 inch external hard drive (if you want to have more than 1TB external storage), power and USB for the printer, and in my case, some other devices.

The Mini, as wel as the new Pro, look very cool and very small, until you set them up: then it's just as big a mess as any other computer, except if you take special care to fix the cables.

And no, apart from my mouse, I'm not a fan of wireless stuff. I'm in a crowded area, and sometimes wireless reception is exceedingly crap. I don't want to put a wireless repeater in each room.

If there's one thing that Apple could do to TRY and win me over, it would be to create a computer I could actually expand. (The new iMacs and MacBooks seem to actually be glued together. *shudder*)

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

You could add Palm to that list of failed companies who were once on top of the world as well. It's a shame, because there really isn't a good replacement for them as an address book/to do list/note taking device.

A base model iPod touch does all of that and more, with a base price around $200, which (given inflation) is very close to the selling price of the PalmPilot when it was first released.

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

You could add Palm to that list of failed companies who were once on top of the world as well. It's a shame, because there really isn't a good replacement for them as an address book/to do list/note taking device.

I used to use a Sony Clie and then a Tungsten T5. I liked my Palm devices very much. When I got an iPod Touch, I thought i0S is what Palm should have been. Then they might not have disappeared. Now that I've started using Android, I now think that is what iOS should have been. But I don't think Apple will share the fate of Palm any time soon.

--Pat

[frahse]

Perhaps Steve Jobs saw the future and put up that great store of cash for the apocalyptical days to come for Apple.

Still I don't think there is enough for Apple to last, say, as long as the Shipyards HMNB Portsmouth, UK did - 5 centuries.

Even so they might get another loan from Microsoft?

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by cortman

I do think it interesting that Android keeps gaining more marketshare to Apple's loss. I think with the advent of Jelly Bean iOS finally has nothing on Android in terms of polished appearance and great UI. My opinion, of course.

The polished appearance and great UI has been there ever since Ice Cream Sandwich. It's just the smooth performance that was lacking. Alas, while Android has been steadily improving performance and UI, iOS 7 is a jerky, crash-prone mess. Only reason I still stick to the iPad is because I really like it's 4:3 form factor. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see 4:3 Android tablets from the likes of Asus or Sony and performance of Chinese retina display tablets is still lacking so I reckon it might be a while before I can dump the iPad.

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by cortman

I do think it interesting that Android keeps gaining more marketshare to Apple's loss.

How can it be a loss, when they sell more and more units, earning more and more money?

[Teknikal]

I'm no fan of Apple in fact I actively dislike them but the way Google is acting recently I think they are pretty safe and might even gain back some market, I swear it seems Google is doing something pretty bad every single day lately even as an Android fan I'm getting sick of it.

[Sregener]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Granted I have limited understanding of the Smartphone market, but my impression is that the high end markets, U.S., Europe and Japan, are pretty much saturated at this point, hence the growth is in price sensitive markets that would favor low end Android phones.

The battle now isn't to get new smartphone users. The battle is to get smartphone users to upgrade their phones. Is that a 2-year-old dinosaur in your pocket? And who wouldn't want a shiny new phone every year or so? Thus the new plans that feature frequent phone upgrades at a "reasonable" monthly cost.

That said, I'm very happy with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the $15/month bill I get from Ting for using it. Maybe someday I'll get a Nexus 5 with all the money I've saved...

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by David Munch

How can it be a loss, when they sell more and more units, earning more and more money?

Because the market is growing. The loss is as a percentage of the market.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by David Munch

How can it be a loss, when they sell more and more units, earning more and more money?

Blackberry fans used to ask the exact same question about 4 years ago.

Obviously this is not the exact same situation, mainly due to Apple's huge pile of cash. But eventually if the market share continues to dwindle, so will developer support. And without developer support, iOS has little to offer.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by pl001

But eventually if the market share continues to dwindle, so will developer support.

Why?

If developers can make money on iOS now, with the existing number of users, and Apple maintains these users, why should they not be able to make money off a user base that size in the future?

What's more, even with the market share dwindling, Apple's user base is still growing, so the opportunity to make money is still increasing.

It's true that if Apple's total number of iOS users starts to drop then the developers will slip away, but we're not seeing that yet, or any indications that this will happen soon.

We may well see more companies developing for Android first and iOS second, but that's not the same as not developing for iOS at all.

Graham

[pl001]

Originally Posted by Graham

Why?

If developers can make money on iOS now, with the existing number of users, and Apple maintains these users, why should they not be able to make money off a user base that size in the future?

It's not that there won't be money to be made, it's that there will be more money to be made elsewhere. It's no different than what happened with Blackberry or what happens now with Windows RT/Phone.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by David Munch

How can it be a loss, when they sell more and more units, earning more and more money?

It's a loss if they grow below the market growth, which is what's happening now so, although they might sell more units, their market share decreases.