Apple is far from doomed. But those who were saying that Apple would dominate the tablet market forever were wrong. PS please don't answer "but look at the profits". They will come down too, as it's only right in a competitive market.
That is true. And is clearly true in the tablet space too (as well as PCs). It's just a lot more nuanced in both directions.
Android can have higher unit share and 'inferior' products while Apple can have higher profit share and the 'best' (single inflexible) product, almost indefinitely because they are satisfying different needs.
Which raises the question: where is there actual competition?
Clearly Samsung and Apple are competing for some of the same customers, but the overlap is small compared to the overall market.
Given that Apple are nowhere near
doing that and don't seem to be even going for that, why is that even a concern?
We have far more of a problem with Google in that regard, who do absolutely dominate search, and have clearly stated their wish to unseat Apple in order to have total dominance of mobile too.
There is no alternative URL to click on because a competitive global search engine would cost billions of dollars to build, the space is deeply encumbered by Google's giant patent portfolio, and the information used to build the index is to a great extent no longer available on the web.
That's why Bing is a distant second and there are no other players.
"The iPad didn’t enter the tablet market. It created the tablet market. The iPad’s role in the tablet market much more closely resembles the iPod’s role in the digital music player market a decade ago than it does the iPhone’s role in the 2008 phone market."
http://daringfireball.net/2011/07/ipad_dominance
It was a popular meme among Apple fanboys a couple of years ago....
Comments
Apple is far from doomed. But those who were saying that Apple would dominate the tablet market forever were wrong. PS please don't answer "but look at the profits". They will come down too, as it's only right in a competitive market.
You mean how their margins in iPods and phones and desktop computers have .... er ... What was your point again?
No I mean how their share of the profits in phones have come down. profits != margin
Share is pretty much meaningless, and assumes a zero sum game of direct competition.
I only cited it because it was a favorite argument when Android started to grow in the smartphones space - "but Apple gets almost all the profits"...
That is true. And is clearly true in the tablet space too (as well as PCs). It's just a lot more nuanced in both directions.
Android can have higher unit share and 'inferior' products while Apple can have higher profit share and the 'best' (single inflexible) product, almost indefinitely because they are satisfying different needs.
Which raises the question: where is there actual competition?
Clearly Samsung and Apple are competing for some of the same customers, but the overlap is small compared to the overall market.
Yes, and I have no problem with that. I don't wish Apple to fail - I just don't want it to dominate the market alone.
Given that Apple are nowhere near doing that and don't seem to be even going for that, why is that even a concern?
We have far more of a problem with Google in that regard, who do absolutely dominate search, and have clearly stated their wish to unseat Apple in order to have total dominance of mobile too.
Well, considering their patent litigations, I wouldn't say that Apple try to do that.
As for Google, I'm less worried because there is much less lock-in, both in search and with an OS that is mostly open sourced.
Search is entirely locked in.
How so? Switching is just an URL away...
Gibberish.
There is no alternative URL to click on because a competitive global search engine would cost billions of dollars to build, the space is deeply encumbered by Google's giant patent portfolio, and the information used to build the index is to a great extent no longer available on the web.
That's why Bing is a distant second and there are no other players.
Gibberish? Do you know what "vendor lock in" means at all? Your points have nothing to do with that.
Barriers to market entry are a kind of vendor lock-in. We are locked in.
I don't think anyone of note has said Apple will dominate the tablet market forever.
"The iPad didn’t enter the tablet market. It created the tablet market. The iPad’s role in the tablet market much more closely resembles the iPod’s role in the digital music player market a decade ago than it does the iPhone’s role in the 2008 phone market." http://daringfireball.net/2011/07/ipad_dominance
It was a popular meme among Apple fanboys a couple of years ago....
There are quotes from Gruber and Arment elsewhere in this thread that say pretty much exactly that...
No, they said there was no such thing as a tablet market, only an iPad market.