What is Digg?99 Comments
- hootpie, on 09/30/2008, -2/+24I think it's still too soon to tell what type of an effect this economy will have on Apple's business. It may force them to cut prices to help gain market share, which would be great for consumers.
- MacParrot, on 10/01/2008, -6/+22Let me ask you something. Let's say that Apple goes bankrupt and OS X disappears. That pretty much just leaves Windows for everyone since the Linux market is severely fragmented. How much do you think Microsoft will innovate if they have almost the entire market to themselves without a company like Apple pushing them to improve their products?
Without the Mac would MS have created Windows? Would we still be having to use the command line for every function we wanted a computer to do? What would the internet look like without a graphic browser?
Competition brings innovation, When you're older you might understand why. - Zippo, on 10/01/2008, -1/+14*shudder*
- TheFinaleofSeem, on 10/01/2008, -1/+14Apple has already announced that they will be reducing margins. I think Jobs knows that they've probably come about as far as they can with their current pricing model in terms of market share. Now they need to trim prices a bit to keep the gains rolling. The new Macbook may well be $999 or less at the entry level.
- jmpeagle, on 10/01/2008, -1/+11why would it effect the business? Stock markets are secondary markets that only provide capital to the business when there is an IPO...every day after the IPO, the stock price has no effect on the business what so ever (excluding pissed of shareholders voting out board members)
- sdwilly, on 10/01/2008, -3/+13Owning a out of warranty BMW is like playing Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic.
- mdude85, on 10/01/2008, -1/+9Such a stupid article. There are very few companies that are going to suspend manufacturing or reduce R&D based on a stock drop. The money to invest in and manufacture products is largely based on revenue stream, not on public trading of stock. Does Wal Mart stop filling their shelves with dog food, flat screen TVs and frozen pizzas because its stock falls 10%? Of course not. It's ridiculous to assume Apple would either.
- RennyB, on 10/01/2008, -2/+10Top of the line MacBook Pro: $2799
17 inch display
2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo
2 GB ram
250 GB storage
Nvidia GeForce 8600m GT, 512 MB
HP HDX18t: $2182.99
18.4 inch display
2.5 Ghz Core 2 Duo
4 GB ram
320 GB storage
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
I loves me an Apple (I really want one), but they are undeniably more expensive. The cost difference is even greater at the mid-level price points. One more issue, the HP I speced was strait from their web site. One can often find great deals on non-Apple pc's, not so much for Apples. - tcardone05, on 10/01/2008, -2/+9In related news, Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner has just been let go from the company after advising previously rich clients to 'buy Wachovia in addition to AAPL' just last week.
- SeaICIubber, on 10/01/2008, -3/+10Apple is doomed!
I don't actually believe that but it's been a while since someone's said it. - cheezygrin, on 09/30/2008, -15/+22Apple products, in very general terms, tend to be more expensive than their equivalent counterparts.
Theoretically speaking, as the credit crunch bites, people will be less likely to spend their money on "luxury" items like ipods and expensive notebooks.
In practice, the sheer buzz of excitement around Apple products, coupled with a very loyal fan base, may mean that sales continue to be strong for Apple. - atdakore, on 10/01/2008, -10/+17Do you understand style or functionality?
Or just enjoy fraggin noobs?
Because that really is what it boils down to.
Windows is awesome for gaming and financial services.
Apple is Awesome at computing on every other level.
If you fail yo understand this, you will inevitably fail to understand a lot of other things.
If this is truly your opinion, it's like your stuck in 1999. - representDLV, on 10/01/2008, -4/+11Ipods are cheap products that break all the time. They are hardly "BMW's".
- worminater, on 10/01/2008, -0/+7"That assumes that Apple's products are priced higher than the hardware of equal specs to that which comes with any of Apple's products... and that is simply not true. The only time when a competitor's product is priced less... is when its equipped with less."
Or anytime aside from exactly when the Apple product launched (in other words, no price drops until right before next product in the line comes out)
Other vendors continually release products with equal or better specs between apple releases at lower price points. Exceptions to this rule of thumb? There may be some; especially in markets where Apple has an advantage (special SSD vendor deals for instance), but that goes in both directions. Price an ipod shuffle vs any other small flash based player for example.
So.... your wrong for 11 months out of the year; congrats. - cam0man, on 10/01/2008, -3/+9not only that, but they have a weak global reach outside the US. You'd be an idiot to invest in luxury products targeted towards the middle class americans right now.
A lot of the luxury markets will survive because of the upper class in the US, but ipods/iphones/macbooks can only sell so well to those markets. Kids in high school, college, and their 20's in the US who have typically been large apple purchasers will certainly be reducing their spending. - archer104, on 10/01/2008, -0/+6People are also underestimating how bad the economy can get.
- nkassi, on 10/01/2008, -2/+8who buys Dell's in a store
- forgeflow, on 10/01/2008, -0/+5I realize that this might not be common knowledge: The price of a company's stock has NO RELATIONSHIP whatsoever with that company's value, sales, liquid assets... nothing. The price of a stock is— get this—an opinion on what that company is worth, at this moment, nothing more.
- cam0man, on 10/01/2008, -0/+5I don't need to hear the Apple PR speech. The bottom line is that during economic turmoil, people look at a computer as a computer. What's the best computer to buy now? The one you already own. For the majority of household computer users, they've already been commoditized - they all do email, internet, word processing, listen to music, watch videos, etc.
Looking at them across the board with other high end systems - sure they might be equal because you're getting a ton of features with it. But are those features you would otherwise be paying for if you settled with a cheaper system? Most people that buy a $500 computer aren't going to spend another $1000 over the next year buying audio editing software, image editing software, etc. The purchase of a stripped down system makes more sense.
The feature sets of Apples aren't value added - spending $1000 more on a MacBook won't return you money in the long run therefore it's hard to justify the cost.
Look at the stocks that ARE doing well now. General Mills? Kraft Foods? STAPLES will be doing well....personal computers will be down and high end personal computers will REALLY be down. - timusca, on 10/01/2008, -1/+6Hence the price cut. Sheesh.
- RennyB, on 10/01/2008, -1/+6"Acer, Dell, HP, Sony... they all make $1100 notebooks. Are those considered luxury too" Depends on one's requirements. For most users, yes.
- dajuggernaut, on 10/01/2008, -1/+5Maybe if you read the article you would see that it talks about more than just " *their* stock getting assraped"
- 4NDr01D, on 10/01/2008, -10/+14Apple still has packed stores and long lines every weekend at the mall
cant say the same for
Sharper Image
Dell
Sprint
all closed their stores here... - dajuggernaut, on 10/01/2008, -0/+4buried for blatant misuse of copy/paste... and for being downright ***** annoying!
- Tenoq, on 10/02/2008, -0/+3Indeed. If they knew, they wouldn't be begging their reps to vote down the salvage package. :p
- Ellipsys, on 10/01/2008, -2/+5You know that the "Come in and browse myspace, or maybe leave a picture of a penis on the screen" atmosphere contributes to this? While it certainly gives apple a "hip, cool, relaxed" vibe to have their stores packed, most of the time they aren't packed by sales, but rather by people who come in to mess around on the machine. I've never been to my local Apple store without seeing at least one Myspace page open. You may also have the prospective "switcher" crowd, but if they can't afford the new shiny machines because of the economic slump, then they're not providing any benefit by milling about the store.
- ahhell, on 10/01/2008, -7/+10What the ***** does that have to do with there stock getting assraped?
- petard, on 10/01/2008, -2/+5Bought an Inspiron 13 for $750
3GB of RAM
DVD Burner
2.1GHz Core 2 Duo
Macbook base $1100
1GB RAM
no dvd burner
2.1GHz Core 2 Duo
Yeah VERY equal in pricing when all the specs are VERY matched up! (NOT!) - TheFinaleofSeem, on 10/01/2008, -2/+5Something tells me you've had little to no practical experience with Macs. Just a hunch.
- archer104, on 10/01/2008, -3/+6Not if people can't buy anything.
- MtheoryX, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2Apple-tini, light on the tini?
- inactive, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2Funny, I just read a report from various important analysts that said the opposite, and that Apple is and will continue to fare well in this current economic crisis, far better, in fact, than any of its rivals.
Here's a quote: "Citi and Goldman Sachs have rebutted notions that Apple is in danger due to the US economic collapse and say that strong iPhone sales, new MacBooks and continued healthy growth should keep the company successful in the long term." - crowbar77, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2@RennyB
I would expect the prices to be more competitive when the release a new product. Since they refuse to drop prices, when there computers are near the end of there lifespan they're usually much more expensive.
At least that's what i found when i bought my mbp. - Twee, on 10/02/2008, -0/+2It looks way better than the fatty one.
- YourMaster, on 10/02/2008, -0/+2Why would the Dell only last 12 months when a Mac would last longer? Remember, we're talking about laptops using the same parts. The only real hardware difference is in the casing & keyboard, and the Macbook case isn't actually renowned for being especially solid or good at heat dispersal (actually the more popular models are pretty poor on the latter issue). Hardware vendors aren't just giving Macs longer-lasting versions of the same parts.
As for the Genius bar, that's true, but beside the point when we're already talking about cheap money-saving versions. - Tenoq, on 10/02/2008, -0/+2Who buys Dells?
- TheFinaleofSeem, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2MacParrot:
Yes, Xerox DID come out with their GUI. It was called the Xerox Star, released in 1981, very similar to the unreleased Alto. It didn't do so well due to the $16k price tag. And my point was not that Apple came up with it, but that Apple was the first to make a GUI that was a success in the market. Without that, MS probably wouldn't have picked it up nearly as soon as they did. - c010rb1indusa, on 10/01/2008, -1/+3It's not so much the price of Apple that made it take a hit, Apple comps are primarily consumer comps. Consumers aren't spending right now, that's a fact.
- inactive, on 10/01/2008, -2/+4lol wut?
- MrSkills, on 10/01/2008, -2/+4"they aren't packed by sales, but rather by people who come in to mess around on the machine"
Well since Apple's stores are consistently some of the biggest selling in the world per square foot, I'd say they *are* packed by sales. - RennyB, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2For around $700 I CAN* get...
*fixed - RennyB, on 10/01/2008, -1/+3@davidlow,
"Apple does not have a low-end product line" I would consider the cheapest macBook, $1099, a low-end (though stylish) product based on its specs, 2.1 GHz core 2 duo, 1 GB ram!, no DVD burner. For around $700 I can't get a better speced, although admittedly less sexy Dell Inspiron 13. - monkeyrun, on 10/01/2008, -2/+4They have 20 billion in cash.
Even if they beat it down to 1 cent per share, they'll be just fine for at least a year or two. - inactive, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2When we actually get to the recession, then you can play armchair economist. Until then, keep dreaming up doomsday scenarios.
- 0livero, on 10/01/2008, -6/+8Well, I bought my Macbook Pro last August, I figure it still has another 3-5 years of use left in it, easily. By that time the economy should have bounced back. So, looks like I'm okay, and so is apple in terms of keeping their customer.
- inactive, on 10/01/2008, -0/+2I doubt Apple needs to borrow much, since they have $20 billion in cash.
- inactive, on 02/25/2009, -0/+1right on :)
- jmpeagle, on 10/02/2008, -0/+1so what you are saying is that is still has no effect...all you are saying is it reflects something else. The fall in stockmarket value is the result of a bad business environment and not a CAUSE.
- ultrasparc, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1The man likes to throw chairs around.
- ath1337, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1I was planning on buying the new MBP when it comes out, but now the way the economy is... I don't think that's happening.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 100 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is